Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Revelation 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
18. I am he ] Literally, I am the First and the Last, and He that liveth; and I was dead and am alive.
l am alive ] The words “was” and “am” are emphatic contrasting His temporal and temporary death with His eternal life: see on Rev 1:4.
Amen ] Should be omitted.
of hell and of death ] Read, of death and of hell. “Hell” is Hades, the receptacle of the dead: usually personified in this book, as indeed is death, Rev 6:8, Rev 20:13-14. But here they are rather conceived as places, prisons wherein the dead are confined, and from which Christ can deliver them. We read of “the gates of death” in Psa 9:13; Job 38:17, and “the gates of hell” in Isa 38:10; Mat 16:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I am he that liveth, and was dead – I was indeed once dead, but now I live, and shall continue to live forever. This would at once identify him who thus appeared as the Lord Jesus Christ, for to no one else could this apply. He had been put to death; but he had risen from the grave. This also is given as a reason why John should not fear; and nothing would allay his fears more than this. He now saw that he was in the presence of that Saviour whom more than half a century before he had so tenderly loved when in the flesh, and whom, though now long absent, he had faithfully served, and for whose cause he was now in this lonely island. His faith in his resurrection had not been a delusion; he saw the very Redeemer before him who had once been laid in the tomb.
Behold, I am alive forevermore – I am to live forever. Death is no more to cut me down, and I am never again to slumber in the grave. As he was always to live, he could accomplish all his promises, and fulfil all his purposes. The Saviour is never to die again. He can, therefore, always sustain us in our troubles; he can be with us in our death. Whoever of our friends die, he will not die; when we die, he will still be on the throne.
Amen – A word here of strong affirmation – as if he had said, it is truly, or certainly so. See the notes on Rev 1:7. This expression is one that the Saviour often used when he wished to give emphasis, or to express anything strongly. Compare Joh 3:3; Joh 5:25.
And have the keys of hell and of death – The word rendered hell – Hades, Hades – refers properly to the underworld; the abode of departed spirits; the region of the dead. This was represented as dull and gloomy; as enclosed with walls; as entered through gates which were fastened with bolts and bars. For a description of the views which prevailed among the ancients on the subject, see the Luk 16:23 note, and Job 10:21-22 notes. To hold the key of this, was to hold the power over the invisible world. It was the more appropriate that the Saviour should represent himself as having this authority, as he had himself been raised from the dead by his own power (compare Joh 10:18), thus showing that the dominion over this dark world was entrusted to him.
And of death – A personification. Death reigns in that world. But to his wide-extended realms the Saviour holds the key, and can have access to his empire when he pleases, releasing all whom he chooses, and confining there still such as he shall please. It is probably in part from such hints as these that Milton drew his sublime description of the gates of hell in the Paradise Lost. As Christ always lives; as he always retains this power over the regions of the dead, and the whole world of spirits, it may be further remarked that we have nothing to dread if we put our trust in him. We need not fear to enter a world which he has entered, and from which he has emerged, achieving a glorious triumph; we need not fear what the dread king that reigns there can do to us, for his power extends not beyond the permission of the Saviour, and in his own time that Saviour will call us forth to life, to die no more.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. I am he that liveth, and was dead] I am Jesus the Saviour, who, though the fountain of life, have died for mankind; and being raised from the dead I shall die no more, the great sacrifice being consummated. And have the keys of death and the grave, so that I can destroy the living and raise the dead. The key here signifies the power and authority over life, death, and the grave. This is also a rabbinical form of speech. In the Jerusalem Targum, on Ge 30:22, are these words: “There are four KEYS in the hand of God which he never trusts to angel or seraph. 1. The key of the rain; 2. The key of provision; 3. The key of the grave; and 4. The key of the barren womb.”
In Sanhedrin, fol. 113, 1, it is said: “When the son of the woman of Sarepta died, Elijah requested that to him might be given the key of the resurrection of the dead. They said to him, there are three KEYS which are not given into the hand of the apostle, the key of life, the key of the rain, and the key of the resurrection of the dead.” From these examples it is evident that we should understand , hades, here, not as hell, nor the place of separate spirits, but merely as the grave; and the key we find to be merely the emblem of power and authority. Christ can both save and destroy, can kill and make alive. Death is still under his dominion, and he can recall the dead whensoever he pleases. He is the resurrection and the life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore; the living God, who had life in myself, and gave life to the world, but assumed the human nature, and was made man, and in that nature died; but I rose again from the dead, and shall die no more, but ever live to make intercession for my people.
Amen; this is a great truth.
And have the keys of hell and of death; and have a power to kill, and cast into hell; or, I have the power over death, and the state of the dead, so as I can raise those that are dead to life again: I have the command of death, whether temporal or eternal; as he who hath the keys of a house can let in and shut out of it whom he pleaseth, so I bring to heaven and throw to hell whom I please.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. Translate as Greek,“And THE LIVINGONE”: connected withlast sentence, Re 1:17.
and wasGreek,“and (yet) I became.”
alive for evermoreGreek,“living unto the ages of ages”: not merely “Ilive,” but I have life, and am the source of it to Mypeople. “To Him belongs absolute being, as contrastedwith the relative being of the creature; others may share,He only hath immortality: being in essence, not by mereparticipation, immortal” [THEODORETin TRENCH]. One oldestmanuscript, with English Version, reads Amen.” Twoothers, and most of the oldest versions and Fathers, omit it. Hishaving passed through death as one of us, and now living in theinfinite plenitude of life, reassures His people, since through Himdeath is the gate of resurrection to eternal life.
have . . . keys ofhellGreek, “Hades”; Hebrew, “Sheol.””Hell” in the sense, the place of torment, answersto a different Greek word, namely, Gehenna. I canrelease from the unseen world of spirits and from DEATHwhom I will. The oldest manuscripts read by transposition,”Death and Hades,” or Hell.” It is death (which camein by sin, robbing man of his immortal birthright, Ro5:12) that peoples Hades, and therefore should stand first inorder. Keys are emblems of authority, opening and shutting atwill “the gates of Hades” (Psa 9:13;Psa 9:14; Isa 38:10;Mat 16:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I [am] he that liveth,…. As the eternal God, who has life in himself, originally, essentially, and inderivatively, and is the fountain and author of life to others; and who ever lived as the Mediator and Redeemer, and still does, and ever will, yea, even when he was dead as man:
and was dead; he died the death of the cross, for the sins of his people, in due time, and but once; and it was but a short time he was held under the power of death, and will never die any more:
and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; he was always alive as God, or he was always the living God, and ever will be; and he is now alive as man, and will for ever continue so; and he is alive to God, he lives by him, with him, and to his glory; and he is alive to the benefit and advantage of his redeemed ones, for whom he died; he ever lives to make intercession for them; he rose again from the dead for their justification; their being quickened together with him, and their being begotten again to a lively hope, are owing to his being alive; and as their reconciliation is by his death, so their salvation, or the application of it to them, is by his interceding life; and his resurrection is the cause of theirs: this is very fitly said to John, who was fallen as dead at the feet of Christ, and might be to animate him against the fears of death, or whatever he was to meet with on account of Christ; as well as to make himself known unto him, who had before known him, living, dying, and risen again. The word “Amen” is left out in the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; but is in others, and is rightly retained, either as an asseveration of Christ to the truth of what is before said, or as an assent of John’s unto it, who was a proper witness both of the death and resurrection of Christ:
and have the keys of hell and death; or “of death and hell”; as the words are transposed in the Alexandrian copy and Complutensian edition, in the Vulgate Latin and in all the Oriental versions, agreeably to Re 6:8, by which phrase is expressed the power of Christ over both: his power over death is seen in taking away persons by death when he pleases, the instances of Ananias and Sapphira are proofs of this; and in delivering persons from death when near it, as the centurion’s servant, Peter’s wife’s mother, and the nobleman’s son of Capernaum; and in raising persons from the dead, as Jairus’s daughter, the widow of Naam’s son, and Lazarus, when he was here on earth; and in his raising up his own body when dead, and which will also appear in raising all the dead at the last day: and his power over “hell”, by which may be meant the grave, or the place of the departed, and separate souls, or the place of the damned and of the devils which are there, will be seen in opening the graves at the time of the resurrection, when death and hell, or the grave, will deliver up the dead in them, at his command; and in retaining or sending out the separate souls “in hades”; and in opening the doors of hell, and casting in the wicked, and destroying them, soul and body, there; and in shutting them up, that they cannot come out from thence who are once in; and in binding Satan, and casting him into the bottomless pit, and shutting him up there, the key of which he has in his hand; and in preserving his church and people from his power and malice, so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against them. This is an expression of the sovereignty, power, and authority of Christ; and is designed to encourage and support John under his present concern and anxiety of mind about the person he saw in this vision: , “the key of the grave”, and of the resurrection of the dead, is frequently said by the Jews to be one of the keys which are in the hands of the holy blessed God, and his only; not in the hands of an angel or a seraph, or any other u.
u Bereshit Rabba, sect. 73. fol. 64. 3. Targum Jerus. in Gen. xxx. 21. & Jon in Deut. xxviii. 12. Zohar in Gen. fol. 67. 3. Pirke Eliezer, c. 34. T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 2. 1. & Sandedrin, fol. 113. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And I was dead ( ). “And I be came dead” (aorist middle participle of as in Rev 1:9; Rev 1:10, definite reference to the Cross).
I am alive ( ). Periphrastic present active indicative, “I am living,” as the words just used mean.
Forevermore ( ). “Unto the ages of the ages,” a stronger expression of eternity even than in 1:6.
The keys ( ). One of the forms for the accusative plural along with , the usual one (Mt 16:19).
Of death and of Hades ( ). Conceived as in Mt 16:18 as a prison house or walled city. The keys are the symbol of authority, as we speak of honouring one by giving him the keys of the city. Hades here means the unseen world to which death is the portal. Jesus has the keys because of his victory over death. See this same graphic picture in Rev 6:8; Rev 20:13. For the key of David see 3:7, for the key of the abyss see Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Comment:
1) “I am he that liveth,” (kai ho zon) “I exist as the living one,” or “I am the one living,” to whom the beasts (living creatures) later gave glory, honor, and thanks, Rev 4:9; as well as the twenty and four elders in worship Rev 5:14.
2) “And was dead,” (kai egenomen nekros) “And I (once) became dead (was dead),” Rom 6:9. Christ both died and rose again. This is the central issue of gospel redemption, Rom 8:34; Rom 14:9; 1Co 15:3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(18) I am he that liveth, and was dead.Better, and the living One (omit the words I am); and I became dead; and, behold, I am alive (or, I am living) unto the ages of ages (or, for evermore), Amen is omitted in the best MSS. This verse must be carefully kept in connection with the preceding, as the description should go on without pause. He is the living Onenot merely one who once was alive, or is now alivebut the One who has life in Himself, and the fountain and source of life to others, Joh. 1:4; Joh. 14:6; the One who hath immortality, 1Ti. 6:16 (Trench). Yet He became dead. There are two wonders here: the living One becomes dead, and the dead One is alive for evermore. It is another form of the glorious truth and paradox of which the Apostles were so fond (Php. 2:8-9; Heb. 2:9). Comp. Christs words, Luk. 9:24, and Luke 13:43, which contain promises which He only could make who could say, I have the keys of death and of Hades. The order of these words has been transposed in our English version. The true order is the more appropriate order, For Hades is the vast unseen realm into which men are ushered by death; dark and mysterious as that realm was, and dreaded as was its monarch, our risen Lord has both under His power. The keys are the emblems of His right and authority. (Comp. Rev. 3:7-8.) It is not of the second death that He speaks; our Lord is here seen as the conqueror of that clouded region, and that resistless foe which man dreaded. (Comp. Joh. 11:25; Heb. 2:15.) Comp. Henry Vaughans quaint poem An Easter Hymn
Death and darkness get you packing,
Nothing now to man is lacking;
All your triumphs now are ended,
And what Adam marred is mended;
Graves are beds now for the weary,
Death a nap to wake more merry.
Christ had spoken before of the gates of hell (Mat. 16:18), and of the keys. (Comp. also 1Pe. 3:19.) The key of the grave was one of the four keys which the Eternal King committed to no ministering angel, but reserved for himself (so Targum and Talmud). The whole verse affirms the undying power and inalienable authority of our Master, and is a fitting prelude to a book which is to show the inherent divine tenacity of Christianity. The Church lives on because Christ its Head lives on (Joh. 14:19). The resurrection power which the Lord showed is to be reflected in the history of His Church. The greatest honour is due to Christianity, says Goethe, for continually proving its pure and noble origin by coming forth again, after the great aberrations into which human perversity has led it, more speedily than was expected, with its primitive special charm as a mission. . . . for the relief of human necessity
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. He that liveth With an underived essential life, the fountain of life, from which all finite life is a stream.
Was dead Became dead. A contradiction in terms, harmonized in the real history.
Alive for evermore Death shall never come into his future history. Through death he has attained a dominion over human destiny.
Keys The symbols of possession or authority over treasures, or cities, or kingdoms.
Of hell death This reading, which is spurious, reverses the true order, which is, death and hell, or hades, the invisible region of departed spirits. See our note on 1Th 4:17. The words death and hades are not personifications, but designations of two realms. The realm of death includes “the pale nations of the dead,” the kingdom of material graves and corpses. To hold the keys of this realm is to be lord of life and death.
Hades is the realm of departed spirits, who wait the resurrection and judgment day. Of both these realms the dying and ever-living Christ has attained the right of lordship. Hengstenberg wishes to understand by hades, hell or gehenna; since Christ is lord of the destiny of the finally damned.
But that is included in his lordship over hades, inasmuch as he is lord of the destiny of the dwellers in hades.
Rev 1:18. Amen; This seems to have been the exclamation of St. John, testifying his joyful assent to the nobletruths which precede; after which the discourse is continued in the person of Christ. We have often observed that the word , here rendered hell, signifies, “The unseen world.” Our English, or rather Saxon word, hell, in its original signification, though it is now understood in a more limited sense, exactly answers to the Greek word, as it denotes a concealed, or unseen place; and this sense of the word is still retained in the eastern, and especially in the western counties of England: to hellover a thing, is to cover it.
Inferences.With what sublimity does this wonderful book open! which, though pregnant with inexplicable mysteries, is, at the same time, pregnant with instruction; which the weakest of Christ’s humble disciples may peruse with sacred complacency and delight. For surely we are not to imagine that divine book to be unfit for our perusal, and undeserving our regard, concerning which its divine Author expressly declares, Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy! Thanks be to our Heavenly Father, that he gave it to his Son Jesus Christ: Thanks to the Son of God, that he gave it to his servant John, to be transmitted down to future generations.
Let us attentively view the divine glory of the Father, and of his only-begotten Son, who is the brightness of that glory, and the express image of his person, and of the Holy Ghost, who is here represented by the seven spirits before the throne. From us, and from all created nature, let there be glory to him that is, and that was, and that is to come, and to the First-born from the dead, who is superior to all the kings of the earth, and to all the angels of heaven, who is so intimately united with the Father in divine perfections and glories, that he also is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End: that he also is Almighty; able, by his mighty power, to subdue all things to himself; and is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Never let us be unmindful of the condescension of the Son of God, in becoming for our redemption and salvation, the Son of man. Let the great things that he has done for us, and the great things he has taught us to expect from him, be ever familiar to our minds. How astonishing was that love, which engaged him to wash from their sins in his own Blood all persevering believers! How glorious is that exaltation to which he is raising them! rendering them, even in the present world, kings and priests to God, and inspiring them with the ardent hope of an immutable kingdom, and an everlasting priesthood in the temple of their God above. This is the sublime and transcendent happiness of all who perseveringly with lively faith look for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. This illustrious Personage is coming in the clouds, and our eyes shall see him: too often already have we pierced him; let us mourn over our sins at present, that we may not pour forth floods of unprofitable tears in that awful day, as all the tribes of the earth shall do, who have dared to set themselves against the kingdom of Christ; a kingdom which shall then be triumphant over all opposition, the last of its enemies being vanquished and destroyed.
In the mean time, what unspeakable happiness can our blessed Redeemer confer on his faithful servants, while suffering in his cause! How wretched was Caesar on his imperial throne, compared with this despised and persecuted disciple of Christ, in his old age banished to the desolate island of Patmos! There his Lord condescended to visit him, opened his eyes to prophetic visions, and diffused around him celestial glories. May we in no case be ashamed of the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, a zeal for which was so graciously acknowledged, so gloriously rewarded.
It was on the Lord’s day that the apostle was in the Spirit: how often has the Spirit of God visited his people at that sacred season, visited them as well in their secret retirements as in the public assembly; when the hand of Providence, as in the instance before us, and not their own negligence, and indifference to divine ordinances, occasioned their absence from them!
Let our souls again bend, in humble veneration, to Him who is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega. And if we have heard in effect his awful voice proclaiming himself by these illustrious and divine titles, let us turn, as it were, to behold him; and by these marvellous visions in which he manifested himself to St. John, let us endeavour to form some imperfect ideas of our blessed Lord, and the magnificence and glory with which he appears to the inhabitants of the heavenly regions. Every circumstance, not excepting the minutest and most inconsiderable, attending this appearance of Christ to his beloved apostle, seems designed to convey some divine truth, some important lesson, for the contemplation and instruction of future ages. It was, in general, beyond all question, intended to impress us with the highest reverence of our glorified Redeemer, that we may pay him our humble and devout adoration, and thus, in some degree, anticipate the pleasure with which we hope to appear in his immediate presence above.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The book opens,
1. With a preface, declaring its sacred contents. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which comes from him, as the great Prophet of his church, and which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; some of them to be quickly accomplished, and the rest in order till the end of time: and he sent and signified it by his angel, whom he employed on this errand, unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and had before, in his gospel and epistles, spoken of the glory and offices of the incarnate Word, and was one of the faithful witnesses of the testimony of Jesus Christ, of his gospel, and of all things that he saw; the miracles, life, death, and resurrection of the great Redeemer, and those amazing visions which are here recorded.
2. A blessing is pronounced on the hearers, readers, and observers of this book. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, attentively marking the prophecies here revealed, and inquiring into the mind of the Spirit; and keep those things which are written therein; retaining them in their memory, and directed by them in their practice: for the time is at hand, when their fulfilment will begin. Note; (1.) They who diligently study the scriptures, will find the happy fruit of their labours. (2.) The shorter the period of time allotted to us is, the greater diligence should we give to improve it.
2nd, The apostle, 2. He ascribes glory to the incarnate Jesus. Unto him that loved us with the most unparalleled affection, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, which he shed to redeem us from all iniquity; and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, invested us with dominion over all the power of evil, and consecrated us for his blessed service, to offer those spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; to him, even to this most amiable and adorable Jesus, be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Note; (1.) Jesus by his blood hath atoned for our sins; and this blood alone can cleanse our guilty souls from all sin. (2.) Every child of God is now consecrated to the highest office and dignity; is heir to a throne of glory, and has access with boldness into the holiest of all through the atoning blood. (3.) They who know the divine Redeemer, and are interested in his love, will be ceaseless in their habitual adorations of him.
3. With rapture the apostle looks forward to the glorious coming of Jesus as the eternal Judge; and, as seeing him present for the comfort and joy of his people, cries out, Behold, with wonder and delight, he cometh with clouds in awful majesty, surrounded with angels and archangels, ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; and every eye shall see him, seated on the throne of judgment; and they also which pierced him, with impious and bloody cruelty nailed him to the tree; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, whose guilt unpardoned now shall stare them in the face, and horrors unutterable seize upon their consciences; while with transport the faithful shall welcome his arrival, approving and applauding all his righteous decisions; and are now wishing for the day of his appearing; even so, Amen! come quickly. Note; (1.) A day of judgment will spread terror through the wicked world. Woe then to those who have pierced the Redeemer, whether in his own person, or in the insults shewn to his people: they shall receive a fearful recompense. (2.) Blessed and happy are they who, in the prospect of this day, can comfortably say, Even so, Amen!
4. The great Judge describes his own transcendent honour. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, the sum and substance of the scriptures, possessing all perfections, and accomplishing all my pleasure; which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty, the self-existent and incomprehensible Jehovah, able to save or destroy to the uttermost.
3rdly, We have the glorious vision which appeared to the divine penman of this book. 2. He declares what he heard and saw. A great voice, as of a trumpet behind him, awakened his attention, and he heard distinctly the voice of Jesus, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last; and commanding him to write what in vision he was about to see and hear, and send it to the seven churches of Asia, whose names are specified. Turning to see whence the voice proceeded, a glorious Personage meets his astonished sight, whose majesty he describes. I saw seven golden candlesticks, seven branches springing from the same item, like that which stood in the tabernacle of old, the emblems of that light of truth and fire of love which Jesus sends into the midst of his churches and people, and which they in their conversation hold forth to the world. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one stood, as the priest when he came to trim the lamps, like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, not unlike the priestly vestment; and girt about the paps with a golden girdle, far surpassing the costly girdle of the ephod, and intimating how ready and able he is to discharge his sacerdotal office on the behalf of his believing people: his head and his hairs were white like wool, as the Ancient of days, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire, piercing and penetrating into the inmost secrets of men’s souls, and darting lightning against his foes; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, mighty to support the concerns of his church and people, and to tread down their enemies; and his voice as the sound of many waters, spreading to the distant corners of the earth his blessed gospel word, and terrible in his providences and judgments as the roaring waves. And he had in his right hand seven stars, the faithful bishops and pastors of his Church, whom he upholds and preserves, and who shine bright in the lustre of his grace; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, even the word of his law and gospel, pricking sinners to the heart, and hewing down all opposition; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, reviving as the light and warmth of its invigorating beams. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, overcome with the brightness of his glory. And he laid his right hand upon me, to revive my intimidated mind by his mighty grace, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the First and the Last, the great Origin, and ultimate End of all things. I am he that liveth, essentially possessed of life in and of myself; and was dead, in that human nature which I assumed; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen! so it is, infallibly certain and true: and have the keys of hell and of death, to save or to destroy, according to his sacred pleasure and divine perfections,to unlock the gates of the grave to my faithful people, and shut up the wicked in the prison of eternal darkness. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter, until the end of time; and the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels, or messengers, of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven churches. May we by faith behold the same Jesus, and feel the enlivening influence of his presence with our souls!
18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Ver. 18. That liveth and was dead ] So can every regenerate man say, Luk 16:31 ; Eph 2:1 . See Trapp on “ Eph 2:1 “ All saints are “heirs of the grace of life,” 1Pe 3:7 .
And have the keys ] The pope, therefore, is not key keeper, as he falsely boasteth, telling us, that God hath put under his feet the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea; that is (as he interprets it), all the souls in earth, heaven, and purgatory. Christ, as a conqueror, hath the keys of hell and death delivered unto him.
Rev 1:18 . Not “it is I, the first and the last” (which would require before ), but “I am, etc.” The eternal life of the exalted Christ is a comfort both in method and result; (not ; really dead), his experience assuring men of sympathy and understanding; , . . ., his victory and authority over death = an assurance of his power to rescue his own people from the grim prison of the underworld (Hades, cf. 3Ma 5:50 , the intermediate abode of the dead, being as usual personified in connexion with death). A background for this conception lies in the primitive idea of Janus, originally an Italian sun-god, as the key-holder ( cf. Ovid’s Fasti , i. 129, 130, Hor. Carm. Sec. 9, 10) who opens and closes the day (sun = deus clauiger), rather than in Mithraism which only knew keys of heaven, or in Mandan religion (Cheyne’s Bible Problems , 102 106). The key was a natural Oriental symbol for authority and power ( cf. in this book, Rev 3:7 , Rev 9:1 , Rev 20:1 ). Jewish belief (see Gfrrer, i. 377 378) assigned three keys or four exclusively to God (“quos neque angelo neque seraphino committit”); these included, according to different views, “clauis sepulchorum,” “clavis uitae,” “clauis resurrectionis mortuorum”. To ascribe this divine prerogative to Jesus as the divine Hero who had mastered death is, therefore, another notable feature in the high Christology of this book. For the whole conception see E. B. D. ch. 64. (fifth century B.C.?): “I am Yesterday and To-day and To-morrow I am the Lord of the men who are raised again; the Lord who cometh forth from out of the darkness.” It is based on the theophany of the Ancient of Days in Dan 7:9 f. (yet cf. Rev 10:5-6 ), who bestows on the ideal Israel ( .) dominion. John changes this into a Christophany, like the later Jewish tradition which saw in . a personal, divine messiah. When one remembers the actual position of affairs, the confident faith of such passages is seen to have been little short of magnificent. To this Christian prophet, spokesman of a mere ripple upon a single wave of dissent in the broad ocean of paganism, history and experience find unity and meaning nowhere but in the person of a blameless Galilean peasant who had perished as a criminal in Jerusalem. So would such early Christian expectations appear to an outsider. He would be staggered by the extraordinary claims advanced on behalf of its God by this diminutive sect, perhaps more than staggered by the prophecy that imperial authority over the visible and invisible worlds lay ultimately in the hands of this deity, whose power was not limited to his own adherents. Christophanies were commissions either to practical service (Act 10:19 , etc.), or, as here, so composition.
Revelation
THE LIVING ONE WHO BECAME DEAD
Rev 1:18 .
If we had been in ‘the isle which is called Patmos’ when John saw the glorified Lord, and heard these majestic words from His mouth, we should probably have seen nothing but the sunlight glinting on the water, and heard only the wave breaking on the shore. The Apostle tells us that he ‘was in the Spirit’; that is, in a state in which sense is lulled to sleep and the inner man made aware of supersensual realities. The communication was none the less real because it was not perceived by the outward eye or ear. It was not born in, though it was perceived by, the Apostle’s spirit. We must hold fast by the objective reality of the communication, which is not in the slightest degree affected by the assumption that sense had no part in it.
Further what John once saw always is; the vision was a transient revelation of a permanent reality. The snowy summits are there, behind the cloud-wrack that hides them, as truly as they were when the sunshine gleamed on their peaks. The veil has fallen again, but all behind it is as it was. So this revelation, both in regard of the magnificent symbolic image imprinted on the Apostle’s consciousness, and in regard of the words which he reports to us as impressed upon him by Christ Himself, is meant for us just as it was for him, or for those to whom it was originally transmitted. ‘He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.’ And as we meditate upon this proclamation by the kingly Christ Himself of His own style and titles, I think we shall best gain its full sublimity and force if we simply take the words, clause by clause, as they stand in the text.
I. First, then, the royal Christ proclaims His absolute life.
Observe that, as the Revised Version will show those who use it, there is a much closer connection between the words of our text and those of the preceding verse than our Authorized Version gives. We must strike out that intrusive and wholly needless supplement,’ I am,’ and read the sentence unbrokenly: ‘I am the first, and the last and the living One.’
Now that close connection of clauses in itself suggests that this expression, ‘the Living One,’ means something more than the mere declaration that He was alive. That follows appropriately, as we shall see, in the last clause of the verse, which cannot be cleared from the charge of tautology, unless we attach a far deeper meaning than the mere declaration of life to this first solemn clause. What can stand worthily by the side of these majestic words, ‘I am the first and the last’? These claim a Divine attribute and are a direct quotation from ancient prophecy, where they are spoken as by the great Jehovah of the old covenant, and appear in a connection which makes any tampering with them the more impossible. For there follow upon them the great words, ‘and beside Me there is no God.’ But this royal Christ from the heavens puts out an unpresumptuous hand, and draws to Himself, as properly belonging to Him, the very style and signature of the Divine nature, ‘I am the first’-before all creatural being, ‘and the last,’ as He to whom it all tends-its goal and aim. And therefore I say that this connection of clauses, apart altogether from other consideration, absolutely forbids our taking this great word, ‘the Living One,’ as meaning less than the similar lofty and profound signification. It means, as I believe, exactly what Jesus Christ meant when, in the hearing of this same Apostle, He said upon earth, ‘As the Father hath life in Himself so hath He given’- strange paradox-’ so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.’ A life which, considered in contrast with all the life of creatures, is underived, independent, self-feeding, and, considered in contrast with the life of the Father with whom that Son stands in ineffable and unbroken union, is bestowed. It is a paradox, I know, but until we assume that we have sounded all the depths and climbed all the heights, and gone round the boundless boundaries of the circumference of that Divine nature, we have no business to say that it is impossible. And this, as I take it, is what the great words that echoed from Heaven in the Apostle’s hearing upon Patmos meant-the claim by the glorified Christ to possess absolute fontal life, and to be the Source of all creation, ‘in whom was life.’ He was not only ‘the Living One,’ but, as Himself has said, He was ‘the Life.’ And so He was the agent of all creation, as Scripture teaches us.
Now I am not going to dwell upon this great thought, but I simply wish, in one sentence, to leave with you my own earnest conviction that it is the teaching of all Scripture, that it is distinctly the teaching of Christ Himself when on earth; that it is repeated in a real revelation from Himself to the recipient seer in this vision before us, that it is fundamental to all true understanding of Christ’s person and work, since none of His acts on earth shine in their full lustre of beauty unless the thought of His pre-incarnate and essential life is held fast to heighten all the marvels of His condescension, and to invest with power all the sweetness of His pity. ‘I am the first, and the last, and the Living One.’
II. Secondly, the royal Christ proclaims His submission to death.
The language of the original is, perhaps, scarcely capable of smooth transference into English, but it is to be held fast notwithstanding, for what is said is not ‘I was dead,’ as describing a past condition, but ‘I became dead,’ as describing a past act. There is all the difference between these two, and avoidance of awkwardness is dearly purchased by obliteration of the solemn teaching of that profound word ‘ became.’
I need not dwell upon this at any length, but I suggest to you one or two plain considerations. Such a statement implies our Lord’s assumption of flesh. The only possibility of death, for ‘ the Living One,’ lies in His enwrapping Himself with that which can die. As you might put a piece of asbestos into a twist of cotton wool, over which the flame could have power, or as a sun might plunge into thick envelopes of darkness, so this eternal, absolute Life gathered to itself by voluntary accretion the surrounding which was capable of mortality. It is very significant that the same word which the seer in Patmos employs to describe the Lord’s submission to death is the word which, in his character of evangelist, he employs to describe the same Lord’s incarnation: ‘The Word became flesh,’ and so the Life ‘became dead.’ And this expression implies, too, another thing, on which I need not dwell, because I was touching on it in a previous sermon, and that is the entirely voluntary character of our Lord’s submission to the great law of mortality. He ‘became ‘ dead, and it was His act that He became so.
Thus we are brought into the presence of the most stupendous fact in the world’s history. Brethren, as I said that the firm grasp of the other truth of Christ’s absolute life was fundamental to all understanding of His earthly career, so I say that this fundamental truth of His voluntarily becoming dead is fundamental to all understanding of His Cross. Without that thought His death becomes mere surplusage, in so far as His power over men is concerned. With it, what adoration can be too lowly, what gratitude can be disproportionate? He arrays Himself in that which can die, as if the sun plunged into the shadow of eclipse. Let us bow before that mystery of Divine love, the death of the Lord of Life. The motive which impelled Him, the consequences which followed, are | not in view here. These are full of blessedness and of wonder, but we are now to concentrate our thoughts on the bare fact, and to find in it food for endless adoration and for perpetual praise.
But there is another consideration that I may suggest. The eternal Life became dead. Then the awful solitude-awful when we think of it for ourselves, awful when we stand by the bed, and feel so near, and yet so infinitely remote from the dear one that may be lying there-the awful solitude is solitary no longer. ‘All alone, so Heaven has willed, we die’; but as travelers are cheered on a solitary road when they see the footprints that they know belonged to loved and trusted ones who have trodden it before, that desolate loneliness is less lonely when we think that He became dead. He will come to the shrinking, single j soul as He joined Himself to the sad travelers on the I road to Emmaus, and ‘our hearts’ may burn within us, even in that last hour of their beating, if we can remember who has become dead and trodden the road before us.
III. The royal Christ proclaims His eternal life in glory.
‘Behold!’-as if calling attention to a wonder-’ I am alive for evermore.’ Again, I say, we have here a distinctly Divine prerogative claimed by the exalted Christ, as properly belonging to Himself. For that eternal life of which He speaks is by no means the communicated immortality which He imparts to them that in His love go down to death, but it is the inherent eternal life of the Divine nature.
But, mark, who is the ‘I’ that speaks? The seer has told us: ‘One like unto the Son of Man’-which title, whether it repeats the name which our Lord habitually used, or whether, as some persons suppose, it should be read ‘ a Son of Man,’ and merely declares that the vision of the glorified One was manlike, is equally relevant for my present purpose. For that is to ask you to mark that the ‘I’ of my text is the Divine human Jesus. The manhood is so intertwined with the Deity that the absolute life of the latter has, as it were, flowed over and glorified the former; and it is a Man who lays His hand upon the Divine prerogative, and says, ‘I live for evermore.’
Now why do I dwell upon thoughts like this? Not for the purpose merely of putting accurately what I believe to be the truth, but for the sake of opening out to you and to myself the infinite treasures of consolation and strength which lie in that thought that He who ‘is alive for evermore’ is not merely Divine in His absolute life, but, as Son of Man, lives for ever. And so,’ because I live, ye shall live also.’ We cannot die as long as Christ is alive. And if we knit our hearts to Him, the Divine glory which flows over His Manhood will trickle down to ours, and we, too, though by derivation, shall possess as immortal – and, in its measure, as glorious-a life as that of the Brother who reigns in Heaven, the Man Christ Jesus.
His resurrection is not only the demonstration of what manhood is capable and so, as I believe, the one irrefragable and all-satisfying proof of immortality, but it is also the actual source of that immortal life to all of us, if we will trust ourselves to Him. For it is only because ‘He both died and rose and revived’ that He, in the truest and properest sense, becomes the gift of life to us men. The alabaster box was broken, and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Christ’s death is the world’s life. Christ’s resurrection is the pledge and the source of eternal life for us.
IV. And so, lastly, the royal Christ proclaims His authority over the dim regions of the dead.
Much to be regretted are two things in our Authorized Version’s rendering of the final words of our text. One is the order in which, following an inferior reading, it has placed the two things specified. And the other is that deplorable mistranslation, as it has come to be, of the word hades by the word ‘hell.’ The true original does not read ‘hell and death,’ but ‘death and hades,’ the dim unseen regions in which all the dead, whatsoever their condition may be, are gathered. The hades of the New Testament includes the paradise into which the penitent thief was promised entrance, as well as the Gehenna which threatened to open for the impenitent.
Here it is figured as being a great gloomy fortress, with bars and gates and locks, of which that’ shadow feared of man’ is the warder, and keeps the portals. But he does not keep the keys. The kingly Christ has these in His own hand. So, brethren, He has authority to open and to shut; and death is not merely a terror nor is it altogether accounted for, when we say either that it is the fruit of sin, or that it is the result of physical laws. For behind the laws is the will-the will of the loving Christ. It is His hand that opens the dark door, and they who listen aright may hear Him say, when He does it,’ Come! My people; enter thou into thy chamber until these calamities be over past.’ ‘He openeth, and no man shutteth; He shutteth, and no man openeth.’ So is not the terror gone; and ‘the raven plumes of that darkness smoothed until it smiles’?
If we believe that He has the keys, how shall we dread when ourselves or our dear ones have to enter into the portal? There are two gates to the prison house, and when the one that looks earthwards opens, the other, that gives on the heavens, opens too, and the prison becomes a thoroughfare, and the light shines through the short tunnel even to the hither side.
Because He has the keys, He will not leave His holy ones in the fetters. And for ourselves, and for our dearest, we have the right to think that the darkness is so short as to be but like an imperceptible wink of the eye; and ere we know that we have passed into it, we shall have passed out.
‘This is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.’ And it may be with us as it was with the Apostle who was awakened out of his sleep by the angel-only we shall be awakened out of ours by the angel’s Master-and who did not come to himself, and know that he had been delivered, until he had passed through the iron gate ‘that opened to him of its own accord’; and then, bewildered, he recovered himself when he found that, with the morning breaking over his head, he stood, delivered, in the city.
I . . . liveth = And the Living One.
liveth, alive. App-170.
and. Read “and yet”.
was = became.
dead. See App-139.
I am alive = Living (emph.) am I.
Amen. Omit.
hell. . . death. The texts read “death and of hell”.
hell = grave. App-131. See Rev 20:13 (margin) 1Co 15:55. Revised Version transliterates the Greek word hades.
Rev 1:18. , I became dead) It might have been said, , I died: but in this passage with singular elegance it is said, I became dead, to denote a difference of times, and of the events in them.-) Both the formula , and the word , are of very frequent use in Doxologies. Therefore the copyists with ready pen completed that formula by writing this word ([22]), though there is no Doxology, as I have observed in my Apparatus. [See Ed. II. on this passage, where a memorable caution is given respecting a too great estimation of the Editions.]
[22] Rec. Text has , with B and Syr. But AC Vulg. h, Memph. Orig. Iren. omit it.-E.
Chapter 6
Jesus Christ Is Alive!
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death
Rev 1:18
Ever entertain great thoughts of Christ and you will have great delight in him. A great Savior gives a great sense of security to those who trust him. That sense of security promotes, not licentiousness, but dedication. It produces joy and peace which keeps the heart ever leaning upon Christ. If you would rise above the cares of the earth and the toys of time, you must set your affection on Christ and let your thoughts of him be elevated. Earth diminishes as Christ rises. The way to grow in grace is to let your thoughts of Christ grow.
As we look at Rev 1:18, my singular object is to set before you the greatness of Christ, our ever living God and Savior. I want you to see him, high and lifted up. I want, by the Spirit of God, to inspire your heart to
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown Him Lord of all!
May God make Christ glorious in your heart. I have no other desire. I know of no better way to show you Christ’s greatness and glory than to give you his own description of his own glorious Being. this is how the glorified Christ described himself to John: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen.
Our dear Savior is alive
That great God who came into this world as a man, that God-man who lived as our Representative to establish righteousness for us and died as our Substitute to put away our sins, that very same God-man is alive today! And Christ is exactly the same now in heaven as he was when he was here upon the earth. It is true, he has undergone the great change of glorification and exaltation, but he is essentially the same. His nature, his heart, his love, his will, his grace, and his purpose are all unchanged (Heb 13:8). He who is now the Light of heaven is the same Christ who was born at Bethlehem. He who now sits upon the throne of glory is the very same Christ who stilled the troubled waters, healed the sick, fed the hungry, and raised the dead. He who is now clothed with majesty is the very same Christ who bore our sins in his body on the cursed tree. Meditate upon the character of our Lord during those forty days between his resurrection and his ascension. Those forty days of his glory on earth will serve as a picture of our Savior’s character today. It seems that Christ made it a point to show us five specific things about himself after his resurrection. By his gracious appearances to his disciples, he seems to have said, What I am now, I will forever be.
1. The risen Christ was loving, tender, and forgiving toward his sinful people
Remember, all had forsaken him. All were, for a time, overcome with sinful unbelief. The only one of our Lord’s disciples who seems to have understood and believed what he taught about his death and resurrection at the time was Mary Magdalene who anointed him for his burial. Yet, his love toward his own was unquenched. His forgiveness was free. His tenderness was evident. The Lord first appeared to Mary (Joh 20:11-17). Then, he sent special word to Peter to confirm his love to his fallen disciple (Mar 16:6-7). He stooped to remove Thomas’ unbelief (Joh 20:26-29). Then, he lovingly restored Peter to his fellowship and confirmed his place among the apostles (Joh 21:15-19). Believer, that is just the way Christ is today. Our Savior’s heart is full of love, tenderness, and forgiveness toward his erring disciples.
2. The risen Christ was constantly with his beloved church
The gospel writers only tell us of specific appearances; but Christ appeared to his disciples whenever they met. When one searched for him, she found him. When two or three gathered to talk of him, he was present. When the twelve met, he was there. When five hundred brethren gathered in his name, immediately he was present with them. This is exactly the character of our Savior today (Php 4:4).
3. The risen Christ opened the scriptures and taught his disciples things concerning himself (Luk 24:27; Luk 24:44-47)
Is it not true today? When the Son of God is our teacher, our hearts burn within us as he talks to us about himself. Blessed is that assembly where Christ is taught and where Christ is himself the Teacher!
4. The risen Christ was full of grace toward helpless, perishing sinners
For the sake of lost, justly condemned sinners, the Son of God sent his disciples into the world to proclaim the glorious gospel of his grace, telling them that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations. And he told them to begin by preaching the gospel to the people of Jerusalem who had crucified him! Our Savior is full of grace to sinners!
5. The risen Christ, just before he ascended back into heaven, told his disciples that the success of their labor was entirely dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit, whom he would send upon them (Luk 24:49)
This is a blessed word of comfort and assurance. We need never fear failure. We need never look to ourselves for success. The Spirit of God works by us, and he cannot fail! Do you understand these things? Christ in glory is exactly the same as he was when he was upon the earth. He is loving, tender, and forgiving. He is constantly with us. He opens the Scriptures to us. He is gracious to sinners. And he promises the power of his Spirit to those who wait for him!
Christ’s work of redemption as our substitute is finished
Our Savior says, I am he that liveth, and was dead. Though he is alive, he was dead; and his death was the death of death for all his people. By his death on the cross, Christ made a complete and final atonement for sin (Heb 10:10-14). He did not merely make atonement possible, or merely provide a way by which men could have atonement for their sins. He actually satisfied divine justice and atoned for our sins. He is the propitiation for our sins (1Jn 2:2). He obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb 9:12). So gloriously effectual is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ that there is no possibility of condemnation for those people for whom he died (Rom 8:1; Rom 8:34).
The love which compelled our Lord to die for us is the love which rules the heart of that Man who rules the world
What could be more comforting and assuring? If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life (Rom 5:10). That God-man who rules the world is himself ruled by the love of his heart for us! What then shall we fear? His love is free and everlasting, without cause, without beginning, without limit, and without end. If the God who rules the world loves me, all is well with me. Nothing shall harm me in time or eternity.
The purpose for which Christ died will certainly be accomplished
He shall not fail (Isa 42:4). There shall not be one lost soul in hell for whom Christ died. He has paid the debt for his elect. Therefore, his elect cannot be charged with sin. The law and justice of a righteous God will not allow it!
Payment God cannot twice demand,
First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine.
It is nothing short of blasphemy to suggest that the Son of God was born into this world, lived, and died for the purpose of saving any who are not saved by his grace. To say that Christ died for and endeavors to save those who perish in hell, is to say that he died in vain for them, that he could not perform what he desired to perform. In other words, it is to deny that he is God! Our God and Savior is no failure! He is mighty to save! The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied (Isa 53:10-11).
Because he was raised from the dead and ever lives in heaven, we are assured that the merit of Christ’s sacrifice is eternally and perpetually effectual
Our Savior died once, but he will never die again, because there is no need. That death of his, which took place two thousand years ago, is just as fresh and meritorious with God as if it had happened this morning.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved to sin no more!
Any sinner who comes to God upon the grounds of Christ’s death as the sinner’s Substitute, God will not turn away. God himself cannot reject the merits of his dear Son!
Our Lord’s mediatorial rule shall not fail
This, too, is the text. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen. That is to say, I shall never die again. I will reign for ever and ever, to accomplish my purpose as the covenant Head and Mediator of my people. This great Christ, our ever living Savior, is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him (Heb 7:25). Because he died and lives for ever as the immutable Priest over the house of God, he has power to save forever all who trust him. Our sovereign Lord will fulfill all his covenant engagements (Isa 42:1-4; Isa 53:10-12). In eternity, he assumed the responsibility of our salvation; and, in the end, all for whom he is a Surety shall be with him in glory (Joh 10:16). This ever living Christ will subdue all his enemies beneath his feet (Isa 45:20-25). Either by the scepter of his mercy or by the rod of his wrath, all men and women will be brought in subjection to the Son of God (Php 2:9-11). Our dear Savior is alive! His work of atonement is finished and complete. His mediatorial rule shall not fail.
hell
Hades, (See Scofield “Luk 16:23”).
that liveth: Job 19:25, Psa 18:46, Joh 14:19, Rom 6:9, 2Co 13:4, Gal 2:20, Col 3:3, Heb 7:25
was: Rom 14:8, Rom 14:9, 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15, Heb 1:3, Heb 12:2
I am alive: Rev 4:9, Rev 5:14, Heb 7:16, Heb 7:25
the keys: Rev 3:7, Rev 9:1, Rev 20:1, Rev 20:2, Rev 20:14, Psa 68:20, Isa 22:22, Mat 16:19
Reciprocal: Lev 14:6 – the living bird Lev 16:20 – live goat Deu 32:39 – I kill Jos 1:1 – the death 1Sa 2:6 – killeth Job 14:5 – thou hast Psa 16:10 – my Psa 21:4 – length Psa 72:15 – And he Psa 72:19 – Amen Psa 93:2 – thou Psa 102:12 – thou Psa 102:27 – thou art Psa 116:15 – Precious Psa 119:120 – My flesh Psa 133:3 – even life Pro 15:11 – Hell Pro 24:12 – that keepeth Isa 43:11 – General Isa 44:6 – I am the first Isa 48:12 – I am he Isa 53:10 – he shall prolong Jer 28:6 – Amen Lam 5:19 – remainest Eze 1:28 – I fell Dan 7:13 – one like Hab 2:2 – Write Mat 6:13 – Amen Mat 14:27 – it Mat 28:5 – Fear Mat 28:20 – Amen Mar 16:6 – Be not Luk 2:10 – Fear not Luk 24:5 – the living Joh 1:15 – he was Joh 6:20 – It is Joh 8:18 – one Joh 8:58 – Before Joh 11:44 – he that Joh 13:19 – that I Joh 14:28 – Father Act 2:24 – because Act 2:27 – leave Act 3:13 – hath Act 10:36 – he is Act 25:19 – which Rom 1:4 – the Son Rom 5:10 – we shall Rom 8:11 – he that raised Rom 8:34 – It is Christ Rom 9:5 – Amen Rom 10:7 – to bring up 1Co 8:6 – and one 1Co 15:13 – General 1Co 15:27 – General Gal 1:1 – raised Phi 2:6 – thought Phi 3:10 – and the power Phi 3:21 – the working Col 1:18 – the firstborn 1Th 1:10 – whom 1Th 4:14 – if we 1Ti 3:16 – God 1Ti 6:16 – only Heb 1:11 – thou Heb 2:8 – hast Heb 2:14 – he also Heb 7:8 – he liveth Heb 7:24 – he continueth Heb 7:26 – made Heb 13:8 – General 1Jo 1:1 – That which Rev 2:8 – the first Rev 7:12 – Amen Rev 10:5 – lifted Rev 22:20 – Amen
Rev 1:18. This verse gives further items of the dignity and power of the person speaking to John. Liveth, and was dead identifies him as Christ since the Father was never dead. Alive for evermore is further proof that it is Christ because that is declared of him (Rom 6:9). The person who holds a group of keys has the power or authority to open and shut. The places where Christ can use these keys will next he named. Hell is from HADES, which is the abode of departed spirits. Death is from THANATOS, which is the state of the body after the spirit leaves it. The passage as a whole means the Lord has the power or control over the bodies and souls of men. That is why Jesus said what he did in Mat 10:28.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 17-18
10. “I am alive for evermore . . . and have the keys of hell (hades) and death”– Rev 1:17-18 .
This is the awe-inspiring declaration that by his own death of the cross, he became Lord of Death, and of the hadean world, because its gates could not prevail against him. He is therefore the Lord of “both the dead and the living” (Rom 14:9)–by his death and resurrection, of which his appearance to John was the visible proof.
18. I have the keys of death and Hades. Here we see that no person can die until God permits. People vainly talk about a Christian dying unsanctified. Such a thing never occurs. From the moment of your conversion, the holy Sanctifier is with you, holding the keys of death and Hades. He will not permit death to touch you till He finishes His work in your entire sanctification, which He can do in the twinkling of an eye if you are true. If you will not permit Him to sanctify you, but grieve Him away, you become a backslider, and drop into hell. Hades is a compound Greek word, meaning the unseen world, and including both heaven and hell. Gehenna is the Greek word which always means hell, and nothing else.
Jesus also presented Himself as the resurrected One and the One with authority over the state of death and the place of the dead (cf. Psa 9:13; Psa 107:13; Isa 38:10; Mat 16:18; Joh 5:28). He may have personified Death and Hades here (cf. Rev 6:8). John saw his beloved teacher of Galilee, on whose chest he had laid his head, in an entirely different light than he had seen Him before, except in His transfiguration (Mat 17:2; Mar 9:2; cf. Rev 4:10; Rev 10:6).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. Addresses the seven churches which are in Asia; and adds his benediction, Grace be unto you in all its fulness of blessings, and peace in your consciences from a sense of redeeming love, flowing from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, from the eternal Father, in his nature and perfections unchangeably the same for ever and ever: and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, even that Holy Ghost whose gifts and graces are various and perfect; and from Jesus Christ, through whom, as Mediator, all the blessings of the triune God descend upon his faithful people; who is the faithful Witness, the anointed Prophet to declare the Father’s will; and the First-be gotten of the dead, who rose, as our glorious High-priest, with his own blood to appear in the presence of God for us; and the Prince of the kings of the earth, exalted to the mediatorial throne, and become the Head of all principalities and powers, as the universal King, to protect his faithful people, and subdue their enemies.
1. He calls himself John, your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ; for all his servants follow him with their cross to glory, and must expect, and be content patiently to suffer for his great name’s sake. He was now in banishment in the isle of Patmos, for his fidelity to his blessed Master; and, though removed far from earthly comforters, still he found that presence of God, which made his lonely abode a paradise of delights. He was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day; whilst on that holy day, observed by the Christian church, in memory of the Saviour’s resurrection, he was employed in sacred meditation and prayer, he felt the descending power of the Holy One, and was filled with prophetic inspiration. Note; They who on the Lord’s day employ in spiritual exercises their time and thoughts, retiring from the world and all its cares and avocations, will find a blessed intercourse with heaven, and experience that communion with God, which is a foretaste of eternal blessedness.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)