I Have The Keys
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When we read the four gospels we read an eyewitness account of the life of Jesus. Though the writers, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, may record some differences in the details, they all record the accuracy of the historical life of Jesus. His birth, his walk, his preaching, teaching, his miracles, his sacrifice on Calvary and His Resurrection.
I’ve read and re-read the gospels this week on the account of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Though there are some differences in the details, (the number and names of the women who came to the tomb, the number of angelic messengers who appeared, and the women’s reactions to the empty tomb) they all focus on the most important fact, He Is Risen!!
All the gospel writers have this one theme in common and in some form report these same words;
6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.
7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”
This Resurrection Sunday I want to focus solely upon the magnitude of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
John is imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos and its a Sunday. He heard a voice speak to him as of a loud trumpet, and it was the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember John had seen Jesus at the transfiguration, and after His resurrection on earth, but this time he sees him in heaven in all His Glory and it startled John. Jesus comforted John by a gentle touch and told him not to be afraid but to write the things he has seen, which are and that which is coming.
The focus of the Resurrection is the Keys that Jesus holds!
Keys either open doors revealing what’s behind them or lock doors preventing entrance. I have a master key to the church. That key will give me access through any door in these buildings or to lock them and prevent access.
Jesus holds the most important keys, the keys of Hades and Death! The keys speak of authority and power. Jesus has power over death and the grave because of His own death and resurrection. And this means that Jesus has power and authority over where we will spend eternity.
1. Jesus holds the Key to History; 17
1. Jesus holds the Key to History; 17
I Am the First and the Last- Jesus is the bookends to history/eternity.
Three scriptures in the OT refer to Jehovah as First/Last
4 Who has performed and done it, Calling the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first; And with the last I am He.’ ”
6 “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.
12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last.
Three scriptures in the NT refer to Jesus as First/Last [Rev. 1:17]
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, ‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life:
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
God/Christ are the eternal bookends of history. Just like bookends hold together and in order all the volumes in a library, Jesus holds from beginning to the end all the stories of life that are written. You and I are a story written in time placed in the library of God!
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
Jesus knows the story of our lives, how it began and how it will end!
2. Jesus is the Key to Redemption; 18a
2. Jesus is the Key to Redemption; 18a
Redeem- to do something to compensate for poor past behavior; to pay the necessary expense to clear a debt.
Jesus went to Calvary to pay a debt he didn’t owe for a people who owed a debt they could not pay, because of poor behavior! Our SIN!!
For Jesus to redeem man from sin, He had to have the authority and capability to do so. In this verse we see that.
I Am He who lives- this is the title used in scripture to describe the covenant name of God. The self-existent eternal God that lives!!
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
It is the name Jesus took for Himself as a direct claim to deity
John 8:58 (NKJV)
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
And was [became] dead- The living One, the eternal, self-existent God who could never die, became man and died.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—
26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Alive forevermore- this refers to Jesus’ present state
John 10:17 (NKJV)
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
John 11:25 (NKJV)
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
When I get home everyday I hang my keys on a hanger in the laundry room. Those keys give me access to the house, the church, my vehicle, the barn, all the places I want to go. God hung THE Key to redemption on a cross! That is the key everyone needs!!
3. Jesus has the Keys to Hades and Death; 18c
3. Jesus has the Keys to Hades and Death; 18c
Hades- is the Greek word for the unseen world. It can refer to the realm of the dead, the grave or where the spirit goes. It is a place. [ref. Luke 16:23, 23:43]
Death- the condition of an expired life. The separation of the spirit from the body.
Jesus has the keys to both the place Hades and the condition of Death. Jesus has the authority to both open and close these doors.
Because Jesus entered death [Calvary], and conquered it [Resurrection], He possesses the keys to death’s door.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Because Jesus entered the place of the dead [Hades, Paradise] and walked out again, He holds the keys to Hell.
8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
Jesus Christ possesses the key to every tomb, graveyard and burial place in the universe. He knows where every body, every bone, all the ashes and every bit of dust that lies on the earth. One day, Jesus will open all the graves. His followers will rise and join Him in His glory, and those who don’t know Him as Savior will rise and move from Hades to the Lake of Fire, the torments of Hell!!
John 5:28–29 (NKJV)
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Because I know Him, I cannot go to hell because He has locked the door!
Because I know Him, I will go to heaven because He has opened the gates of that city to me and all His children through Jesus Christ!
Close;
This morning, I have a key that unlocks the door of salvation to eternal life. That key is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This morning “if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”