Revelation 1 Devotional

The Living One Holds the Keys

“the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.”Revelation 1:18 (BSB)

Revelation opens with John on Patmos, there on account of God's word and his testimony about Jesus, a partner with his readers in suffering (1:9). He greets the churches from the one who loves us and has released us from our sins at the cost of his blood (1:5). On the Lord's day he hears a voice, turns, and sees one like the Son of Man standing among seven golden lampstands, which are the seven churches (1:12-13, 20). His eyes blaze like fire, his voice roars like rushing water, and his face shines like the sun (1:14-16). John falls at his feet as though dead.

Jesus lays his right hand on him and tells him not to be afraid (1:17). He is the First and the Last. He was dead, and now he lives forever, and he holds the keys of death and Hades (1:18). Before any beast or plague appears in this book, Revelation shows who stands at the center: the risen Christ, walking among his churches. Whatever you face, you face it under that hand.

To think about: What fear would lose its grip on you if you remembered that Jesus holds the keys of death?