The “key of knowledge” was the scriptural truth of Jesus’ Messiahship that would have allowed the Jewish people as a nation to be a part of the heavenly kingdom. In context, this was the first of seven “woes” Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees. The Greek word for “woe” means a primary exclamation of grief. Jesus was not “cursing” the religious leaders; he was expressing grief in their inability to see him as the Messiah, and in turn, their misleading the people they were serving.

Luke 11:52 is the first of these “woes.” Let’s look at it in the Matthew version from the New Living Translation:

Matthew 23:13: (NLT) (Woe) What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law (the scribes) and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. 

The Pharisees were “shutting this door” for the calling to the heavenly kingdom for both themselves and all those they were shepherding. Even though they were being called to something bigger and greater, they turned their backs on it.

The Pharisees created a very narrow path for acceptability before God because of all of their traditions. They were steeped in hypocrisy. Jesus talked to all those people who were outside that very narrow path and, of course, the Pharisees did not like it.

Following Jesus is the only way to receive a heavenly reward. By teaching the people to reject Jesus, they were, in fact, blocking the door—the only way—to the kingdom of heaven! They shut the door by literally shutting down Jesus.

The Bible is a revelation that contains that true philosophy which is the basis for all philosophies. It is the “key of knowledge,” the Standard of Truth, and all lines of investigative thought which ignore this Standard and are contrary thereto, are “vain philosophies and science falsely so-called” (1 Timothy 6:20). The “lawyers,” doctors of the Law of our Lord’s time, had made void the word of the Lord through their traditions and speculations (Mark 7:13). The people, looking to these “lawyers” for true instruction regarding the Lord’s Word, were deceived and confused by their false teachings.

Additional Resource:
Christian Questions Podcast 
Episode #1318: “What Did Jesus Really Think of the Pharisees? (Part I)”
How Jesus exposed the deep hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees
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CQ Rewind Show Notes