ENtD OF TIME PROPHECIES 030

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.   And he laid His right hand upon me saying unto me, fear not;  I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead; and behold I am alive forever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."    Revelation 1v17-18

John was astonished at the breathtaking sight which was before him.   This was the One who had accompanied him for more than three years.    John had even the privilege of catching a glimpse of His glory on the mount of transfiguration, but he had never seen anything like this!   The sight was so awesome he immediately fell at His feet.   Such a sight brought consternation to the heart of John as the awesome glory of heaven stood before him.   Jesus reached out His right hand and said  " fear not."   He proceeds to give four reasons why John should not be afraid and each of these should be a comfort to all believers in every situation.

• "I am the first and the last"           This speaks of His Deity.   Only God can say this.   The title belongs alone to Jehovah God in the Old Testament  (Isaiah 41v4; 44v6; 48v12).   it is now claimed by Christ as a man. He is distinct from God, but He is truly God.   He is the first and last in creation; He is the first and last in the generations of men; He is the first and last in connection with Israel; He is at the rise and fall of nations and kingdoms; He is the author and finisher of faith.   For those who are afraid of the unknown and the unseen He is at the beginning of our lives and He will be at the end.   According to the Jewish rabbis understanding of this title, it means "the whole of anything from beginning to end."   (Although the rabbis refused to apply this to Christ).   For the first time a man has seen God in all His glory. 
• "I am He that liveth"                      Literally, I am the ever living One and this speaks of His immortality.   He lives in a continuous present.   He is timeless; only God can claim this; He is eternal.   He is the essence of all existing life;  John 1v4   "In Him was life."   He gives us an insight into this in John 5v26   "For as the Father hath life in Himself so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself."   People today are searching for the meaning of life, for the secrets of the universe, we have it here before us; He is the originator and sustainer of all physical life (all plants, all animals, and all human beings.   He is the source of all spiritual life (spirit beings, and also the spiritual life imparted to all believers).   He defines life as knowing God (John 17v2-3).   Eternal life is not just living forever, it is not merely the duration of life, it is the quality of life and that He defines as knowing God.   He said to His disciples in John 14v6  "I am .......the Life."  
• "I was dead and behold I am alive forever more, Amen"          This is now His victory, He entered into death, He passed through death, He rose from the dead and is alive forever more.   Unlike every other human being He did not die; He became dead.   He laid down His life.   He said in John 10v17-18  "I lay down My life that I might take it again.   No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself, I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.   This commandment have I received of My Father."   When He was on the cross He did not die because of the physical extremities, nor because of the despair of life in this world.   Four times over it says "He gave up His spirit" in a deliberate act of subjection to death in order to pass through what we would pass through.   A reading of Matthew 27v50; Mark 15v37; Luke 23v46; and John 19v30 makes it clear that Jesus commanded not only the fact of His own death but the timing of it.   Thus Jesus reminds John that the very One who stood before Him in glorious apparel was the same one who loved him enough to die for him.   The contrast between the majesty of the One who stood before him and the memory of that awful death could not be more vivid.  
• "I have the keys of hell and of death"          This now speaks of His sovereignty .   It is as if Jesus is saying to John I am in control not only of what you can see but of what you cannot see.   I am in control of not only this world but of the unseen world.   The keys simply represent that which can open and shut doors and the key holder has the power of control in the sphere.  A reading of Isaiah 22v20-25 will illustrate this perfectly.   By hell He means the place of departed spirits.   By death He means the instrument by which we pass to the other world.   This strange unknown and unknowable world is under the control of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.   Later in the book of Revelation we read of the angels opening what is called the  "bottomless pit" or the "abyss," firstly,  to release demonic spirits who have been imprisoned there for centuries, and secondly, to bind Satan and the rest of the demons in that same prison.   This is not the same as "hades" or "hell" as spoken here, this is the dwelling place of demon spirits, whereas "hell" is the dwelling place of human spirits.   We cannot go too deeply into this for now; suffice to say that whether it be demon spirits in the abyss or human spirits in hell, Jesus has the keys and will open and shut at will.   He also has the keys of death, the means by which we enter the other world.  

The message to John is loud and clear "fear not John" there is no unbridled evil at work in this universe.   There is evil, there will be evil but it is all under My control and John and all believers alongside him should rest on this, that when evil raises its ugly head it will be subject to the sovereign control of Christ.