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Revelation 1:17-18
All right, well, it's good to be back with you, Heritage. Turn with me, if you would, to Revelation chapter one, and I know that it was on the docket for us to start the new sermon series, Preach the Word, but we are actually going to be pushing that back a week so that we can get more surveys and questionnaires in before we start.
So we will start that next week, but today we will be looking at Revelation chapter one. Revelation chapter one, and we will be looking specifically at verses 17 and 18. 17 and 18. And the message today is entitled Christ's Authority Over Death and Hades.
And so if you would, please stand with me for the reading and honoring of God's holy, infallible, and all sufficient word. For the sake of context, I'm going to begin reading in verse nine of chapter one.
This is the word of God. I, John, your brother, and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the witness of Jesus.
I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write in a scroll what you see, and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the middle of the lampstands, I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe, reaching to the feet, and girded across his chest with a golden sash.
And his head and his hair were white like the white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace. And his voice was like the sound of many waters.
And having in his right hand seven stars and a sharp two-edged sword, which comes out of his mouth and his face, it was like the sun shining in its power. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man.
And he placed his right hand on me saying, do not fear, I am the first and the last and the living one. And I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. And I have the keys of death and Hades.
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever, amen? Amen, go ahead and have a seat and get your eyes with me on the text. I don't know if you've thought about this before.
It's kind of a morbid thought, but it's a thought that the Bible asks us, begs us, demands of us that we consider. Death is more certain than your next breath of air. And what I mean by that is, not all of us are promised tomorrow.
Not all of us are promised next week, and not all of us are promised next year or the next 50 years, but every single person sitting in these seats will eventually be buried underneath the earth and will most assuredly die.
Death is no respecter of persons. It comes for every single one of us. And death will not escape any sort of pursuit. It doesn't matter how rich or poor we are. It doesn't matter what family we came from, and it doesn't matter how popular we might be or what our skin color is.
The reality is that death will not pass over a single one of us in this. And this is why, quite honestly, among many other reasons, that it is humanity's greatest fear. And you might be saying to yourself, well, why would you assert that it is humanity's greatest fear?
That seems like something you couldn't quite possibly know. I am far more fearful of the spiders in my backyard than I am of death, some of you might say, or I'm far more scared of the ocean. But the reality is, if we are at least apart from Christ, we are always haunted by the lurking presence of impending death.
And we see this in many places in the Bible, but particularly in Hebrews chapter two, verse 15. In Hebrews chapter two, verse 15, the author tells his readers that apart from Christ, we are not only scared of dying, but we are actually enslaved by death, by the fear of death.
This is what drove Martin Luther once upon a time to say every man must do two things alone. He must do his own believing and his own dying. Now, to be sure, I would love to fix some of this language to be more theologically correct, but then who am I?
This is Martin Luther we're talking about. But the truth remains, dying is something that is on the forefront of our subconscious and we are governed by that fear. Of course, apart from Christ, apart from Christ, we hide from the certainty of death, we suppress the reality of it because we know, as Hebrews will continue to make the case, that certain judgment awaits us and we know that we cannot stand before a righteous and holy God.
Hebrews 9, 27 says that it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. So we are fearful of death and slaved by the fear of death because one, we were never supposed to die, but two, we know that sure judgment awaits us.
Even Christians who love the Lord Jesus and long to see their heavenly abode express fears around the idea of death. For instance, R .C. Sproul, one of the greatest theologians of the last century, said something to the effect of, I am not scared to die.
I know where I'm going, but I am very worried about dying. So death is always present. Death is always present and we try to hide from the certainty of it. It's almost as if there's a type of cultural amnesia regarding death.
I mean, if you talk about it, at the dinner table, for example, you're considered, you know, uncouth, maybe weird and morbid. Your friends might be thinking you should be maybe the lead in the next Tim Burton movie or something to that effect, but the reality is that actually does harm to our understanding of Jesus and the gospel.
We push death out of the way. Used to, when we would grow old with our family members, they would die at our homes and we would take care of them and we would be ever confronted with death. Now in our culture, when our grandparents and such get older, we tend to make the foolish mistake of putting them in homes or in the ICU where only two people on a very special list can go see them.
And what this has done is it has caused us to move it out of our vision, move it out of the way so that we no longer think about it. And that hurts because the Bible tells us that death is the consequence of sin.
And so we don't quite understand fully how horrible sin is when we put death, as it were, on the back burner. We don't understand because we don't have a constant reminder. Younger people on the TV are the ones who are praised.
It's the older people on the sitcoms who are considered idiots and anybody who is older and wiser is certainly not put in front of the camera as someone to emulate. We prize youth, we love youth, and it's because we love life.
Not only do we hide from the certainty of death, but we distract ourselves from the reality of death. So for some reason, it shows itself to us. We distract ourselves with modern amenities. We distract ourselves with the reality that there are many technological advances that are making us healthier.
If we do the right diets, we do the right thing, then we will live to be 147. As I have been seeking to address my own health, I've seen YouTube sensations who know a lot about the particular diet that I'm working on saying that they are confident that they will live to be 150 years old.
Now, that is just crazy. No matter how much sugar you disregard, death is still going to knock on your door. The problem with this, and I know this is a long introduction, but the problem with this is that we neuter gospel hope when we refuse to face death, when we refuse to look it in the face.
So actually, as morbid as the introduction sounded, I'm making the argument that it's not a good thing that we think and feel that way. It's not a good thing that we think and feel that way because the gospel is wrapped up in death and it is wrapped up in resurrection and it is wrapped up in that specific type of hope.
The cross is all about death because the gospel's power is most clearly seen when we confront death. And Jesus' victory over death offers believers the ultimate hope. Jesus' death, of course, and resurrection is the centrality of the gospel itself, isn't it?
Is what provides for us our eternal life and our own conquering of death in him. It neuters our hope and future resurrection. And that, friends, is the problem with not remembering death. And the only way that we can fix this problem is we must look death in the face and we must find an antidote that will enable us not to ever deny or hide the certainty of death, never to distract ourselves from the reality of death.
And today, as we look at Revelation chapter one, specifically verses 17 and 18, we are going to do just that. We are going to see, look at, and bask in the antidote to the fear of death. And what this text is going to show us is that for those of us who are in Christ or for those of us who would bow before this Christ, death has been decisively conquered.
It has been sovereignly obliterated. And that is such good news. And so if you would, look with me at verse 17. In verse 17, the apostle John, now, obviously, since we are at it in the text before us, is on the island of Patmos.
He's been exiled there because he refused to quit proclaiming the Christ, to quit preaching his gospel. And the church history records that they tried to boil him alive, and when that didn't work, they just stuck him on an island.
And it's there where John has this vision, this revelation of Jesus Christ, which, verse one says, God gave him to show his slaves the things which must soon happen. Now, when we come to the book of Revelation, we are oftentimes confused.
We are oftentimes blown away by the imagery in it, and we think there's no way that we could understand such a book. But might I point to your attention that the book is called Revelation, not The Confusion.
And so there is much hope to be found as we look at this book, as we do our best to ascertain what is being said here. It's not quite as hard as it seems from afar. As we look at verse 17, we see that when he saw Jesus, that is John, he fell at his feet like a dead man.
The first thing that I want you to note is the proper fear of Christ. If we're going to have a proper view of death, it starts with a proper view of Christ, a proper view of Christ. You see here, he sees this Jesus who has all of these things going on.
He's got the golden sash. He's got the white hair that is looking like wool, like snow. His eyes are a flame of fire. He has these seven stars and two edged swords coming out of his mouth. Now, of course, this is a biblical imagery, but that's not what I want us to focus on here.
Although it is important to note that Jesus is giving him the revelation and he is speaking forth the word. That is the two edged sword coming from his mouth. And John here responds, not foolishly. John here responds in the most logical way anyone should respond if they come face to face with the majestic holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It says here in verse 17, that when he saw them, he fell at his feet like a dead man. That is, he laid prostrate.
He gave up.
He was completely and utterly undone. He could not deal with what was in front of him. He couldn't stand in its light. He could not stand in his holiness. He could not stand on his two feet. His holiness was too great that he pushed himself to the dirt.
John here is overcome with the awe-inspiring presence of Christ. This is what you do when you meet God. This is what the prophets did when they met God. For example, this particular act that John is doing mirrors the response of others who encountered God's holiness in the Old Testament.
Isaiah fell to his knees in terror. If you remember in Isaiah 65, he is caught up into a vision where he sees Christ on his throne. His robes are filling the temple. Seraphim are flying around him, crying, holy, holy, holy.
And he cries out, woe is me, for I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King. Yahweh of hosts. You see, there's something about God in his majestic holiness that ought to cause a reverential fear, a fear that ought to make us tremble.
This fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Fear Christ.
When we feel fear properly,.
Who he is,.
It changes how we view ourself. It changes us how we view the world around us. And it pushes us to a level of humility that we otherwise would not have. This is such a good lesson because it teaches us that if we're walking around pompous, if we're walking around arrogant, if we think that the world owes us anything or that we ought to be applauded for anything that we do,.
We have not.
We have not met Jesus. Because when you meet Jesus, it changes you. It changes you. This is why Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3 .16 said, I heard and my inward parts trembled at the sound, my lips tingled, decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress for the people to arise.
It will invade us. What God was going to do in judgment, he sensed his holiness, and he trembled in light of that reality. In the presence of a holy Christ, mortal men are brought low. What is more, this picture here is showing us essentially what our life is like prior to meeting Christ.
As you remember, Ephesians chapter two says that all of us before coming to Christ by the power of Christ are dead in our transgressions and sin, unable to respond to spiritual stimuli. John's posture here reflects such a condition.
And this is what we are confronted with when we are confronted with Christ's holiness. We're confronted with the reality, for instance, of Romans 3 .23, which says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death.
That's Romans chapter six, verse 23. And so as we think about Christ and this proper fear that we must have of Christ, let us look to John for how he has responded to Christ. John teaches us here how to approach a holy Christ and what it means to be apart from Christ in many ways, right?
Because we are not merely spiritually weak, we are dead. And only Christ's life-giving power can raise us to a newness of life. Let me ask you a question. Everyone sitting here today who is cognizant of the fact that both death is coming and Christ is holy and judgment is sure, are you aware of your need for this powerful Christ?
Do you stand in fear of this Christ? John responded the way that we should respond when we are confronted with Jesus. The second thing that I want you to see as we look at our theme verse is the power of Christ's person.
The power of Christ's person. John here is standing before Jesus and that he falls before him like a dead man, prostrate, and he, continuing on, speaking of Jesus, placed his right hand on me. Saying, do not fear, I am the first and the last.
Before moving on too much, I wanna stop and I want you to picture what's happening here in your mind. You have this holy, majestic Christ who is completely undoing this man. He has recognized his holiness, he has recognized his weakness, he has recognized his deadness, and he knows, apart from Christ, he has no hope.
He's terrified.
He's terrified of this Christ in the best way possible and he leans over and he puts his hand on him and he says to John, do not fear, but before that, it says what? He placed his right hand on him. He comforted him.
You see, this is much like what we talked about this morning the transcendent and the immanent, the high and lofty and the near. This holy Christ is not so terrible, not so holy that he cannot be there for his people, that he can't comfort when they are scared.
And so he puts his hand on him and he tells him, do not fear, do not fear. And do not fear is the number one command found in the entire Bible. And that should teach us something, that we are fearful creatures and we need the comfort of the Lord Jesus to remind us that there is no reason to fear.
And he's gonna tell us all the reasons why we need not fear, right? Because not only was he fearful of the majestic glory of Christ in terms of this reverential fear, but he was most certainly afraid for his life.
You can't meet holiness like that and think you're going to live. Oh no, and he says, do not fear. Do not fear. Did you know you have a God, you have a Christ who has removed every reason for fear? Why is he not to fear?
He is not to fear because Jesus is the first and the last. And he is the living one. And he was dead and behold now, he's alive. We see here as we move along through the text, first and foremostly, a picture of Jesus, a picture of who he is as the God man, on the one hand, this text makes irrefutably clear that he is in fact, eternal deity, that he is God.
I mean, the fact that he's in heaven, you know, should kind of do that for us. The fact that he said while he was on the earth, that he was in fact, the great I am. But he says this very plainly when he says, I am the first and the last.
I am the first and the last. These are echoes from the Old Testament. You can find them in places like Isaiah 44 verse six, which says, thus says Yahweh, the king of Israel and his redeemer, Yahweh of hosts.
I am the first and I am the last and there is no God besides me. Jesus here is claiming that he is in fact, God. Not that he is just one of many gods, but he is the one and only true God. By calling himself first and last, he asserts his divine nature and he leaves no room, no room for misconceptions.
It always blows my mind when I'm reading liberal scholars and they try to convince me that Jesus never claimed to be God. You just have to close your eyes and start pointing at places in order for you to say something like that.
Almost everything that Jesus did and everything he said was designed to reveal to everyone who had ears to hear, God is here. And this is no exception. Now, of course, this is the revelation and most liberal scholars would say, that's not Jesus talking and so they chuck that out.
It's funny how that works, but that's another sermon for another day. The reality is Jesus is wanting everybody to know who is going to receive this letter that he is co-eternal with the father without beginning and without end.
Just prior to this, he is said to be the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the almighty. Key to verse eight of chapter one, he doesn't want you to miss it. He doesn't want John to miss it, that he is in fact, eternal deity, that he is in fact, God.
And this is true and it's shown to be true throughout all of the Bible, both in actual assertion and also to prefigurements. And prophecies. Remember that I said this morning, it's funny how in God's providence, these things work out.
But this morning I said that the Bible is not a story about all of these other things, but it's a story mostly and primarily about God and God's dealing with all of those things. The Bible is insanely God-centered, which means it's insanely Jesus-centered.
For instance, the seed of the woman that will crush the head of the serpent in Genesis four, Jesus. The seed of Abraham in Genesis 12, Jesus, right? Because Paul makes that argument in the book of Galatians, right?
When he says, I'm not talking about seeds, I'm talking about seed, singular. Jesus in Genesis 49 is the scepter that will come through Judah. In Exodus three, Jesus is the great I am. In Exodus chapter 12, Jesus is the Passover lamb.
In Numbers 21, he is the bronze snake that healed everyone whom was dying. He was the prophet foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 18. He was the son of David in 2 Samuel chapter seven. He was the preacher of the good news of righteousness promised in Psalm chapter 40.
He is the child who would be conceived of a virgin in Isaiah chapter seven. He is the stone to strike and the rock to stumble over in Isaiah chapter eight. He is the one who would be betrayed in Zechariah 11.
And of course, in light of our text, the one who would conquer death fully and finally forever in Isaiah chapter 25. Jesus is God. Jesus is what the Bible is about. Jesus is in fact deity. And this is why we worship him.
Whether he saved us or not is largely irrelevant. He is the great I am. He is the alpha and the omega. He is the first and the very last, the living one. If we are going to be good Christians that can look death in the face without being scared and being distracted, we must see Christ as fully God.
Sovereign over all creation.
Yes, sovereign over death,.
As we will get to more here in a moment. His deity is the bedrock of our very faith. Do you trust this Christ? Because what's also amazing about this Christ and this person is that he is not only eternal deity, but he is also of humble humanity.
He's also of humble humanity. He goes on and he says, I am the first and the last in verse 18 and the living one to life. And I was dead.
I died.
Friends, that is something only humans can do. Deities can overcome death. Only deities can be divine, but only humans, only flesh. And so Jesus here is asserting the truth that we have called throughout the ages, the hypostatic union.
Jesus is telling us in short form here that he is fully God and fully man. That he is truly God and truly man, as R .C. Sproul would love for me to say. That is, he possessed both a divine nature and a human nature.
And it was in his human nature that he died. And it was that human nature that made it possible for him to have pity on us and to come to our aid that when we are being tempted as Hebrews chapter two makes plain.
And so here, when the eternal son of God declares that he experienced death, you should be awestruck and maybe a little confused, right? But you should also see it for the beauty.
That it is.
Philippians chapter two, verse six through eight says this about Jesus and his humanity that although existing in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
And so this Jesus came on a rescue mission to save a people for himself. And he did so, so that he could stand in your stead. You see, Adam got us into this problem. He thrust us into a world of sin. And then we compounded the error by continuing to live in that sin that he passed down.
God burned with wrath against those who had rebelled against him. And we all owed him the debt of our very lives. And we deserved his punishment. And the Bible makes clear that the reason that he died, the reason that he became a humble human is so that he could put on flesh and that he could stand as your representative to God.
So that he could go, look, humanity's problem has been dealt with because humanity has been dealt the blow. Our God put on skin, came on a rescue mission. And he was made in the likeness of men. That means he put on flesh.
That's what the incarnation means. And he humbled himself and he was obedient even to the point of being filleted on the cross, absorbing the wrath of God on all of our behalves. This is why 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 says, he, that is God, the father, made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become of the righteousness of God in him.
The one who did not sin, but the one who put on our flesh, lived the perfect life, but was punished as if he was the most vilest criminal on the planet so that he might glorify himself and that he might give you eternal life.
He experienced the fullness of death to atone for our sins. And in so doing, he bore the wrath of God.
That we deserved.
Friends, Christ died. Your biggest enemy, Christ, has been there. Christ has been there. And he went there because he wanted to fully identify with you in every respect, except for without sin, and so that he could bring you to God.
He has tasted death, as the Bible says, for every single believer. Hebrews chapter two, verse nine. But we do see him who was made for a little while, right, a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.
And it's this death that is our assurance that we are no longer condemned. Under sin's curse, Jesus tasted death. So fear not, he's been there, and he's conquered it. He's beat it, he's destroyed it, he's sovereignly.
The third thing that I want you to see is the promise of Christ's resurrection. The promise of Christ's resurrection. The death was great. The death is the centerpiece, the heart of the gospel. Without that wrath-absorbing death that Jesus died as the God-man, we would not be saved.
But more than that, if Jesus had not conquered death, and he had not resurrected from the grave, then we would still be in our sins. Christ's resurrection is the crowning proof, as many Puritans would say, the crowning proof of Jesus' victory over sin and death.
In his death, he identified with you, but in his resurrection, God, God himself approved and promised that those who were in him would have a resurrection like this. He is the living one, and he was dead.
And behold, he says, I am alive forever and ever. Romans chapter six, verse nine says, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over him.
You see, death is always controlling us, but Jesus threw off the chains for all of us. First Corinthians chapter 15, 54 and 57 says, but when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written.
Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? Sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
And so Jesus died as the God-man, the only one who could absorb the wrath of God as God, and the only one who could represent humanity as a human, and he rose from the dead. God rose him from the dead.
He rose himself from the dead, and the Holy Spirit rose him from the dead, depending on which gospel account you read. And the reason for that is because, you should know by now in separable operations, when one member of the Trinity acts, God acts.
All right, I want you to bury that in your brain. All right, so when you see those things, there's not contradictions happening. It's telling us what happened.
God did what God does,.
And God raised Jesus from the dead, and in so doing, gave us the spoils of his death.
Victory.
Just as a king who triumphs over a foreign land brings home the spoils of war, Christ's resurrection is the ultimate victory over death, and he has given the spoils of eternal life to everyone who would bow their knee in willful submission to him, having been regenerated, of course.
You know, sometimes the Reformed gets in the way of preaching. I feel like I gotta qualify things, you know what I mean? Having been regenerated. But what I'm saying is, yes, you have been made willing, but willed nonetheless.
And so rest in this unshakable truth. We do not have to fear death. We do not have to be distracted by things in this world to keep us from thinking about death, and we need to look death in the face so we can see how beautiful all of this really is.
Christ's resurrection guarantees our own resurrection because he lives. You and I who have placed our faith in him will also live. Jesus says in John 14, 19, some of the most beautiful words in the Bible.
I know I say that about everything, but that's just the way it is. That's kind of like reading a Martin Lloyd-Jones commentary. Everything is the most important thing to consider, according to Martin Lloyd-Jones.
There's no tier system. It's just whatever he's talking about, that's the most important. That's how I feel. That's how I feel. But Jesus says this. After a little while, the world will no longer see me.
He knew he was about to die. But he says, you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. What a promise. And it's not an empty promise. It's a promise that he made because he is, in fact, the first and the last.
He is the God-man, the living one who was dead. And behold, he is the one who is alive forever and ever. He's conquered death and he's been resurrected. And those who are in him not only experience resurrection life now, but they will be resurrected on the last day.
Christ's life is eternal. According to this, and according to many other places in the Bible, it is indestructible. And unlike earthly kings who reign for a time and perish, Jesus will remain. And I love the way the Legacy Standard Bible does this, forever and ever.
They want you to know that he's being very emphatic about this. Hebrews chapter seven, verses 24 and 25 make this argument for me, but Jesus, on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently.
Therefore, he is able also to save forever. So why in the world do we believe that we are kept by Jesus Christ for Jesus Christ forever? Because he's able to save forever. Because he continues forever.
And he's able to save, that continues on forever, those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives, because he is the living one, according to verse 18, right? Always lives to make intercession for them.
This Jesus is one who has conquered death, he has resurrected, and he is continuing his priestly work forever. For those whom he has been given. Start to worry about death, or you think about the possibility of ailments taking you sooner than maybe you want to go.
Remember that your savior is alive forevermore. He's interceding for you, and no matter what tomorrow brings, you are safe in his hands, and nothing can separate you from his love, Romans 8, 38 through 39.
And you will see him. You will see him, because he will raise you on the last day. And what did he get besides you for doing such a thing? My fourth and final point.
He got the keys.
He got the keys of death and Hades. He had the keys of death and Hades. Now, of course, the Bible is full of imagery, and in order for us to understand it, we have to understand bits of imagery, which means we have to get into the mind of the biblical authors.
We can't just make things mean what we want them to mean, because it sounded cool. And so what does it even mean that he has the keys of death and Hades? Well, you don't have to go too far back in time to be able to understand something like this, although with all of this AI stuff coming back out, I'm not sure that we're gonna have an easy time figuring anything out in the next 20 years.
But alas, we're in the transition period before the great darkness. And what does having keys give you? So if you had keys to this church, for example,.
What would that give you?
It would give you access to any room in the house, or in the church, rather. Now, usually, especially in the Bible, the idea of someone carrying the keys to something meant that he had authority over everything that he had keys to.
It was his. He had a key to it.
He could come and go as he pleases. It's his space. You don't give keys to visitors. You only give keys to the one in charge of the place. And it says here that he is in charge of death. So he didn't, right?
He didn't just overcome it and now, cool, he won some sort of God-ordained prize.
No, he owns death. He owns death. And he owns hell.
Now, this is something that I never hear talked about, and it blows my absolute mind. As a matter of fact, I'm reading, studying for this very sermon,.
And I don't know how many commentators.
Try to make the argument that death is, and suffering in hell, and of course, there's some teasing out to be done between Hades and hell and different things like that, and we don't have time for that, but here's the deal.
They were all saying, well, that's separation from Christ. Hell is separation from Christ. Hades is separation from Christ, whatever view they were having. No, it's not. The Bible never says that anywhere, but somehow, it makes people feel better about Jesus.
But remember, Jesus, if you are looking at him rightly, ought to produce in you fear and comfort. The reason that hell is so insanely horrible is not because you're separated from Christ. I can guarantee you, every single person who is in hell right now would do anything, would do anything, except, of course, repent of their sin, to have Jesus away from them, to be separated, because he is the one who holds the keys, and he's the one who owns the place, and he is the one who is for eternity pouring out his wrath on those who would rebel against him.
But what's bad news, what's bad news for those in hell is good news for you and I who are in Christ. Christ, by his death and resurrection, has authority, like I said, over both death, the physical grave, and Hades, to make some people in the room a little bit more happy, the realm of the dead, the realm of the dead.
That puts a whole new spin on Matthew 28, right? Does it not? Every time you think about Matthew 28, you just think about it in terms of discipleship, and you think about it in terms of going to get the nations, and while it's about that, I want you to hear what Jesus says, because remember, he's just resurrected, and he's giving the disciples their charge.
Everything that we've just talked about, he did. He's out of the grave now, in his glorified body, and he says these words. Think about it in light of everything we've just said, because it'll deepen it for you.
He says, of course you know it. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Every single thing is underneath his jurisdiction, including death and Hades. For the believer, death is not dark.
It is not unknown terror. It is, I want you to hear me on this, a conquered enemy that has had its throat slit by the king of the universe. Christ holds the keys, and no one dies outside of his will. Because he owns death, he determines the day and the times.
Nothing you do will cause you to live a day longer or a day shorter if the Lord has a date fixed for you, and he most certainly does. Now, does that mean don't steward your body? Don't, no, but you're not gonna get it your way.
If we get creamed on the way home from church tonight, that was the Lord Jesus' call, and he was good for doing so. You can trust his timing. You can trust his purposes for both your life and your death.
Who else would we trust? This idea of holding keys also means that he is judge. Christ's possession of the keys also indicates his role as the final arbiter of you. Acts 17 .31 says, but because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he determined having furnished proof to all by raising him from the dead.
What this is saying is God had determined a man that he was going to use to judge the world. Of course, that is the Lord Jesus, and he furnished proof that this would be the man by what? Raising him from the dead.
The God man, Jesus Christ, the righteous. 2 Timothy 4 .1, he says, which we're going to get into next week, hard. Timothy is being charged by Paul to preach the word, and he says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.
Knowing that Christ will judge both the living and the dead should drive us to look more like Christ by the power of Christ, not fearing death, and drive us to be radical in our pursuit of his other children in evangelism.
Now, I know that seems like a hard left turn, and in some ways it is, but if we are going to stand in front of Jesus and be judged for the things that we have done in our body, ought we not take our life here more seriously?
The spirit is working in us to do that, but here, here's what I'll say in closing. Jesus Christ is the living one, it says here. He is the one who conquered death. He alone holds the keys of death and Hades, and he, as the God man, saves us.
For those of you who are in Christ live competently in this victory. Death is not to be feared, as I have said, for Christ triumphed over it. Death is an enemy that has been destroyed. First Corinthians chapter 15, 58 says, "'Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, "'always abounding in the work of the Lord, "'knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.'".
We're going to live forever. The things that we do today will matter for eternity. So how do we use this text? Firstly, fear Christ as Lord, not as a distant idea, but as the risen King who commands your life.
Reflect on Jesus Christ's holiness and his majesty and pray for a heart that trembles at his word, recognizing him as the exalted King of kings, the God who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
Secondly, see Christ as the center of your life and your hope in death. Study his word and behold him, as I quite often say, in his glory. Allow the knowledge of his eternal reign that he has because of his resurrection, strengthen your confidence in the face of life's uncertainties, especially as it pertains to the fear of death.
Follow him in daily submission with the assurance that you serve a risen and reigning King. Submit every aspect of your life to his lordship, knowing that his reign is eternal and his victory is secure.
And for those of you who don't know Christ, for those of you who have yet to bow your knee to this King Jesus, who have come face to face with him in his holiness, who've believed upon the truth of his death and what it accomplished and the resurrection and what it sealed, flee to Christ for refuge because you ought to fear death and judgment.
You ought to fear death and judgment. And so I beg you, I plead with you to confess your sins and trust in his finished work. There is no other savior. And he alone offers security beyond the grave. And it's a security you want because most certainly there's a security in what you would experience if you did not turn to the Lord Jesus.
But I guarantee you, you do not want that type of security. Repent, believe on the Lord Jesus and close with him this very day.
Pray with me.
