O Key of David / Liberation

The fourth of the Great “O” Antiphons heralds the coming of Christ as the great liberator. Through his ancestor King David, Jesus holds the power to overcome darkness and death and set captives free.

O Key of David, and Scepter of the house of Israel, you open and no one can shut, you shut and no one can open: Come and bring the captives out of the prison house, those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

Keys represent power and trust. Possessing the key that unlocks or locks something signifies the authority to give or take away, to open or to hide, to set free or to imprison. The season of Advent offers the opportunity to think about how Jesus used the Key of David to bring light and freedom to a dark, captive world.

“I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his ancestral house.” ~ Isaiah 22:22-23