Heaven is not locked...There is no key and paddle lock...
Jesus was not referring to a skeleton key...The key Jesus was talking about is knowledge...Christ curcified is the 'key' to the Kingdom of Heaven...
I think not. Jesus is talking about the keys given to the Prime Minister as seen, for example in Isaiah 22:22 ff. He has made Peter (whose name He changed) the custodian with the power to bind and loose as seen in the Old Testament.
"Heaven is not locked..."
However, it cannot simply be entered. We ourselves provide the locks to Heaven's gate in the form of sin and lack of repentance. Just ask the Rich Man observing his servant Lazarus in Heaven. Besides, what I said was an analogy. "Analogy" is not "identity." Otherwise, most of Jesus' own parables would fall apart in micro-dissection. Is the word of God a physical "seed," for example, ready to be sown? No. So too this. The house signifies not so much heaven (though that is part of it) as much as it signifies God's forgiveness. The keys are access to that forgiveness, attained in *similar* fashion as the interior of a house is entered via unlocking the door. He who has the housekeys can allow anyone whom he wishes to enter, or refuse them entrance. The same thing happens with the power given by God to the Apostles (mere men, mind you!) to forgive sins. They literally controlled access to God's forgiveness. So do their successors to the present day and to the very end of time. You may not find this comfortable to consider, and, in a human sense, I can understand that. But Jesus said what he said with a purpose, and you would do well to consider availing yourself of the means of forgiveness He Himself has inaugurated and still maintains.
The keys, then and even now, represent authority. It's a reference to Isaiah 22. To deny the relevance of the keys is to call Christ a liar or a giver of vain gifts and scripture a fairy tale. Christ has the authority to give authority to whom He chooses, He chose Peter, who are we to argue?