He Holds the Keys to Death and Hades
Revelation 1:12-18
How do you see Jesus? When you think of Jesus, what mental portrait comes to your mind? The Scriptures are filled with different scenes of the life of Christ that may color your apprehension of him. Perhaps you think of the sweet baby, rocking in the arms of the mother Mary over a manger in Bethlehem. Or, maybe your mind goes to Jesus around the dinner table, eating and conversing with “tax collectors and sinners” (Mark 2:15–17). Or maybe your mind goes to the tenderness of Jesus welcoming the little children to him, taking them in his arms and blessing them with sweet words (Mark 10:13–16). Or maybe you think of the anguish of Christ with his soul in sorrow, praying with drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:26-29). Maybe your mind drifts towards his cross—his nail-pierced body drenched in the blood of his sufferings. The gospel presents a multifaceted view of Jesus—tough and tender, courageous and kind, all-wise and humble, gentle with his encouragements and sharp with his rebukes. We frequently fail to take in the whole scope of Christ’s excellencies revealed to us in the pages of Scripture.
But even if we recognize the comprehensive portrait of Jesus’ character revealed to us in the Scripture (and not our distorted imagining of him), we still so easily make our vision of him all too small. Much of our problems today stem from our failure to recognize the majesty and glory of Christ in all its breadth and wonder. Of course, to even see the glory of Christ, we must have the scales on our eyes stripped away by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, illuminating our minds to comprehend the glory of Christ. But even as Christians, born again of the Spirit of God, our vision of the glory of Christ fails to see Christ in all his breadth. We Christians tend to suffer from spiritual Glaucoma, the disease by which we, in unawareness of our tunnel vision, lose our peripheral sight. Though we see, our eyes need the strengthening of God’s grace to renew our field of vision so that we can see the scale of the glory of Christ that dwarfs any supposed comprehension of him we think we’ve attained. The sight of the Christian must always be increasing, expanding with clearer comprehension of the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Far too many of us suffer from a minuscule vision of Jesus. We need our vision broadened to behold all the overwhelming beauty in the face of Jesus Christ.
On this Resurrection Sunday, I want to help us behold all the glory we can in the resurrected Christ. As I do so, I pray that those of you who are blind might come to see the glory of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and put your faith in him today. But for those of us who see the glory of the resurrected Christ, I pray the Spirit enlarges your vision of him today, even from one degree of glory to another, that we might enjoy the glory of Christ and rightly worship him. Indeed, beholding the beauty of God in the resurrected Christ enlarges our capacity for delighting in God.
May the Lord be gracious to us today in this work, either of creating or expanding sight, as we look to Revelation 1:12-18, one of the most vivid and glorious descriptions of Christ in all of the Scriptures. Through John’s vision of Christ, he leans into the apocalyptic genre, filled with evocative and dramatic symbolism, to describe the gloriously resurrected Christ. First, we will hear a description of the resurrected Christ in verses 12-16. Second, we will learn our response to the resurrected Christ in verse 17. Thirdly, we will be comforted by the victory of the resurrected Christ in verses 17-18.
1. A Description of the Resurrected Christ (vv. 12-16)
The book of Revelation records the apocalyptic vision of the apostle John, imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos. As the age of the apostles closes out, John writes in his old age with the awareness that increasing persecution inflicts the churches. Many believers, including many of the apostles, have now been martyred for the gospel. Even John is imprisoned on this island for the sake of the gospel. But while on that island, he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, when he heard a trumpet summoning him to write down all that he would see in a book to the seven churches in Asia Minor. The vision formally begins in verse 12, as John turns to see the voice speaking to him. John uses the full extent of human language and a litany of Old Testament images to attempt to capture the glory of the Lord Jesus before him. Whatever portrait you have in your mind concerning Jesus, consider if yours looks anything like the vision John saw of Jesus in verses 12-16:
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” (Revelation 1:12–16, ESV)
Before John describes the “son of man,” he establishes the scene. Before him, he sees seven “golden lampstands.” Though we do not know their meaning yet, John tells us in verse 20 that the seven golden lampstands are the seven churches. The golden lampstand was placed in the holy place of the temple, just outside of the Most Holy Place. The lampstand symbolized the people of God, the nation of Israel, dwelling before the presence of God. However, in John’s vision, we see seven golden lampstands, representing the seven churches addressed in Revelation. As Jesus’ people, the church is to be the light of the world, a city set on a hill (Matt 5:14). We illuminate the world with the glory of Christ even as we bask in the presence of Christ. Because as John describes the seven golden lampstands, he sees “one like a son of man” in their midst. The presence of Christ is a reminder that Christ dwells with his churches. He is not aloof and distant, but active and alert. Even through fierce persecution, Jesus watches over his churches.
The title “Son of Man” was one of Jesus’ favorite designations for himself, lifted straight out of the Book of Daniel. Much of John’s attempts to describe this glorious vision of Christ pull imagery from the Book of Daniel, Ezekiel, and the other prophets. As John’s vision begins, he sees Jesus among his churches, but the appearance of Christ is so glorious that he can only attempt to put into words his sight of Christ.
The first attribute John describes is his clothing. John tells us he was “clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.” The robe described here points to the attire of the high priest. The Greek word translated as “a long robe” only occurs here in the New Testament, but it is found seven times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, always referring to the garment of the high priest.1 Similarly, the “golden sash” also points to Jesus as the high priest. The sash most likely draped diagonally from one shoulder to the waist, and Josephus mentions that the priest’s girdle was “Interwoven with gold.”2 The attire of Jesus in this glorious vision points to his high priestly ministry. Indeed, as the author of Hebrews tells us, Jesus “had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb 2:17). Christ Jesus, a priest in the order of Melchizedek, has passed through the heavens, enabling us to draw near the throne of grace with confidence, knowing that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need (Heb 4:14-16). Indeed, our great high priest laid down his own life as a sacrifice for sinners. At the cross, Jesus offers his life as a substitute for sinners, providing his atoning blood. He “appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26).
The second attribute John describes is his hair. John writes in verse 14: “The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.” As the Proverbs state, gray hair is “a crown of glory” and a demonstration of wisdom (Prov 16:31). But interestingly, John repurposes a description from Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days and applies it to his description of the son of man (Dan 7:9). It is a subtle statement but a significant one: the son of man shares the same wisdom as the Ancient of Days. This Son of Man is divine, also possessing the wisdom of God. As Paul tells us, Jesus is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:30).
The third attribute John describes is his eyes. John writes, “His eyes were like a flame of fire.” John’s use of the word “like” shows that he’s grasping for symbols to communicate the intensity of Jesus’ gaze. So his eyes were “like a flame of fire.” The image communicates the unrelenting and penetrating gaze of the Son of Man. He can plumb the depths of a man’s soul with a look. He uncovers the intention of a man’s heart, knowing what is in man (John 2:24-25). His gaze can pierce any mask we fabricate to conceal what lurks within our soul. He knows those who are faithful to him, those who stray from him, and those who reject him.3Nothing is hidden from his sight—he is all-seeing.
The fourth attribute John describes is his feet. In verse 15, John writes, “His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace.” The image here is borrowed from Daniel 10:6: “His arms and legs like a gleam of burnished bronze.” The image communicates Jesus’s overpowering strength. He is stable, immovable, and able to crush any foe with the purity of his might. Any attempts to push back the Son of Man would end with a quick squashing of his refined bronze heel, crushing all who oppose him with the force of a hydraulic press.
The fifth attribute John describes is his voice. John writes, “His voice was like the roar of many waters.” Imagine the loudness of the rushing waterfall, drowning out every other sound in its proximity. The phrase is used later in Revelation to describe the voice of God (Rev 14:2). It’s an image taken from Ezekiel 43:2: “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.” And so the voice of Jesus is the voice of God. He speaks, and the earth shudders in submission. The voice of Jesus is “Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!” (Psalm 93:4).
The sixth attribute John describes is his right hand. John writes, “In his right hand he held seven stars.” The image of the seven stars isn’t explained here in verse 16, but John defines it for us in verse 20: “the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.” The number of stars is determined by the number of churches to which the book of Revelation is written. However, it demonstrates Jesus’ power over his angelic forces to exercise sovereign control over his churches. Holding these stars “in his hand” implies his protection over his churches, similar to John 10:28, “No one can snatch them out of my hand.” Nothing will befall his churches that Jesus does not permit.
The seventh attribute John describes is Jesus’ mouth. We are told that “from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.” The sword refers to Jesus’ words. This image is gleaned from Isaiah 49:2, where the servant of the Lord’s mouth is like “a sharp sword.” As the author of Hebrews puts it, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). The Word of Jesus brings his authoritative judgment. His Word slices and pierces the heart, cutting into the soul of man. His Word is authoritative, and his judgment is final. He makes no empty threats nor toothless verdicts. Every Word he utters comes with the power of his divine authority.
The eighth attribute John describes is Jesus’ face. He writes, “His face was like the sun shining in full strength.” The countenance of Christ radiates with the beauty of his perfections. He shimmers in brilliant majesty, shining the light of the glory of God upon this darkened world. Though during his earthly ministry, his glory was concealed by his humanity, at the transfiguration, Jesus’ face shone with glory. Before Peter, James, and John, Jesus’ face “shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matt 17:2). But in this vision, after his resurrection from the dead and his ascension on high, the Son of Man emits the divine light of the glory of God in all his overwhelming goodness, his untouchable holiness, and his blinding majesty.
What a portrait John has recorded for us of the glorious Christ among his churches! How does your portrait of Christ compare with John’s stunning description of the Son of Man? Do you have eyes to see the glory of this Jesus? Can you comprehend in part this incomprehensible Jesus? We far too easily domesticate Jesus, treating him as an impotent sufferer who died, an unrequited lover, a humble but pathetic servant scorned by men. Just as Isaiah predicted, Jesus during his earthly ministry “had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa 53:2). As we sing at Christmas, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see.” The Lord Jesus took “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Php 2:7). But we must not let Jesus’ true humanity diminish our apprehension of the glory of his deity. Only for the briefest of moments in the private gathering on the Mount of Transfiguration did Jesus lift the veil to reveal his shining appearance to three disciples. But in John’s vision of the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus reveals himself in his priestly robes, crowned with wisdom, with discerning gaze, with omnipotent strength, an authoritative voice, wielding the power of all celestial creatures, and shining with divine beauty.
Our thoughts of Jesus are too small. The Lord Jesus, who died on the cross and rose on the third day and has now ascended into heaven, is coming soon to judge the living and the dead, and he is the Jesus described in John’s overwhelming description of the Son of Man. This is the Jesus who has summoned our gathering this morning. This is the Jesus who has saved us from our sins. This is the Jesus who rules and reigns on high. This is the Jesus to whom we owe all worship, honor, and praise. Do you see him today?
If you have eyes to see the glory of Christ as described to us in John’s vision, then what should our response be to this Jesus? What reaction should we have before this glorious Son of Man?
2. Our Response to the Resurrected Christ (v. 17a)
John paints a vivid portrait of Jesus’ eminence for us, and before this glorious Son of Man, John is paralyzed in creaturely fear before so magnificent an appearance. John’s response is recorded simply at the start of verse 17:
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.” (Revelation 1:17, ESV)
A vision of the glorious Christ changes your posture. Notice the construction of the sentence, “When I saw him” then “I fell at his feet as though dead.” To see the glory of Christ changes everything. The Lord may not give you a vision as he did John, but he has given you his inerrant Word in the pages of Scripture. Through the Bible, the Lord presents this glorious and verbal portrait of Jesus before us. Through the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit delights to open the eyes of sinners to see the glory of Christ. Have you seen him?
As sinners, we are naturally blind to the glory of Christ. Our sinful nature is like a thick scale encrusted over our eyes. Though the glorious Christ is before us, we do not have the capacity to see him. We are darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of our ignorance due to our hardness of heart (Eph 4:18). The full portrait of the glorious Jesus can be placed before us. Yet, the natural man cannot understand because such things are “spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). So, to see the glory of Christ, the Holy Spirit must open our blind eyes to see the glory of Christ before us. He must scrape away the calloused scales on our eyes. Only then, through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, does he turn on the light to our darkened soul. And when the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual sight to see the glory of Christ, we are overwhelmed by the new sense given to us. Imagine being deaf all your life, only to have your ears opened, and the first sound you hear is the harmony of a symphony. Imagine having no capacity to taste, but then being given the sense, you first plop sweet honey into your mouth. Or imagine being blind your whole life, only for your vision to be restored while gazing on a sunset across the ocean waves. So it is with the new sense of spiritual sight given to sinners. Not only are we given a new sense to apprehend spiritual things, but immediately, the one before us is the glorious and radiant Christ. As the Spirit gives this new sense, we immediately intake the highest, sweetest, and most pleasurable apprehension of Christ in his glory.
Have you seen him? You may know the facts about the Bible, and you may even know a good bit about Christian theology. But the factoids you know about Jesus are not the same as your soul being enamored with the beauty of Christ. To see Christ is to have your soul moved by his excellencies, to be overcome with his power, to delight in his perfections, and to tremble in fearful joy at his overwhelming majesty. To see Christ is to behold him as the all-satisfying, all-beautiful, all-glorious, all-lovely desire of our hearts. To behold Christ is to have your affections pant for him as a deer pants for flowing streams (Ps 42:1), to have your soul thirst for the Lord “as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Ps 63:1). To be a Christian is to have this spiritual sight, the new sense given by the Holy Spirit, that stirs in us both satisfaction and yearning. Friend, do you have this sight? If these affections for Jesus do not churn within you, then perhaps you’ve yet to be given this new spiritual sense to apprehend the glory of Christ. A Christian is a person who is overwhelmed by the Lord’s goodness and glory, seeing him, cherishing him, and desiring him above all. If we search our hearts and see no desire for Christ in us, then perhaps we’ve yet to see the glory of Christ because a vision of this Jesus produces in us a response.
When John saw him, he fell at the feet of Jesus as though he were dead. Before such awesome glory, John flings himself down to the ground, still and prostrate at the feet of Jesus. Thus, John follows the pattern we see in Scripture whenever God discloses the intensity of his holiness upon his human creatures. Joshua falls to his face before the commander of the army of the Lord and worshiped (Josh 5:14). Ezekiel was so overwhelmed with the glory of the Lord, that he fell on his face (Ezek 1:28). At the Mount of Transfiguration, the three disciples “fell on their faces and were terrified” by seeing the unveiled glory of Christ (Matt 17:6). When the glory of the resurrected Christ blinded Saul on the road to Damascus, he fell to the ground (Acts 26:14). The overwhelming terror and groveling evoked by the glorious revelation of God indicates that we are unfit to behold the unrestrained intensity of divine glory.
When Moses requested to see the glory of the Lord, God told him, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33:20), all Moses could handle was a glimpse of the periphery of the Lord’s back as he hid in the cleft of the rock. Similarly, when Isaiah is given his throne room vision in Isaiah 6, he is so overwhelmed by the heavenly scene, with Seraphim swirling in a crescendoed exaltation praising the holiness of God, he recognizes his unworthiness to come into the presence of God, lamenting, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isa 6:5). To behold the glory of God is to have the light of his holiness expose all your guilt. To glimpse the transcendent God is to become immediately aware of your creatureliness. Nothing humbles us like beholding the glory of God.
So, John follows the consistent biblical pattern. When he sees the glory of the Son of Man, he falls prostrate before him, freezing in the fearful paralysis of his unworthiness. And this is the fitting response we must have as we respond to the glory of the resurrected Christ. As we see him in all his glory, we recognize our unworthiness. Pride evaporates like a mist when we see Christ in the radiance of his glory. You may think highly of yourself, but Christ’s greatness infinitely surpasses even the highest opinion of yourself. A glimpse of his glory immediately dwarfs your self estimation. His holiness is a spotlight that exposes your sinfulness. Upon seeing this glorious Christ, we fall prostrate before him, groveling in our wretchedness, getting as close to the dirt as possible—the dirt from whence we came. His matchless glory humiliates us and rightly causes us to tremble before him in fear. “Who can stand when he appears?” (Mal 3:2).
If you are not a Christian, perhaps you came in this morning with high thoughts of yourself. But now that your eyes are opening to the glory of Christ, his blazing light is exposing all the ugliness of your heart and life. You are starting to recognize that you are a sinner, and that you rightly deserve to be condemned before a holy God. The illuminating glory of Christ shines light on your self-delusions. You are far more sinful than you ever dared imagine. The fabricated narrative that you whisper to your conflicted conscience is exposed as fiction. You are not a good person. You are a sinful creature who has rebelled against a fearsome, glorious God, before whom you cannot stand. If the Spirit is opening up your eyes today to the glory of Christ, humiliation is the first response. To look upon Christ’s beauty is also to recognize your ugliness, to see his holiness is to sense your wretchedness. The first glimpse of Spirit-given sight is, at first, distressing, as if you’ve lived your entire life in a deluded dream and you are now awakened to a fearful new reality. You are immediately bombarded with conviction, guilt, shame, and condemnation—all you have now come to believe you rightly deserve. And so we lay prostrate before this glorious Christ!
But how does this glorious Christ respond to those who tremble before him? How does he deal with those who come to see their spiritual poverty before him? How does he deal with those who lie dead before him in holy dread before his feet? As John falls before this glorious Jesus, we see the Lord comfort John and pronounce his victory.
3. Our Victory by the Resurrected Christ (v. 17b-18)
There is John, lying on the ground before Jesus, and see what Jesus does. Look at verses 17-18:
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:17–18, ESV)
In John’s distress, the Lord Jesus comforts him. Jesus placed his right hand on John and pronounced those precious words—“Fear not!” Though John was a finite creature before the infinite God, John did not need to be afraid. Jesus appeared before John not to terrorize him, but to comfort him. His vision on the Isle of Patmos was not to distress him but to reassure him. You see, John believed that Jesus died on the cross for his sin, and that Jesus victoriously rose from the grave. Though the disparity between Jesus’ greatness and John’s lowliness remained, John had been reconciled to God and cloaked with the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ.
And this is the precious promise of the gospel for sinners, and indeed this is the very reason Christ came into the world, to bring glory to his name through the redemption of sinners like us. If you are overcome with your sin this morning, repent and put your faith in Jesus. Christ has come to save sinners, and by his substitutionary death, he makes full atonement for your sin. You can be cleansed of your iniquity and be justified before God on account of Christ’s righteousness credited to you by faith. Therefore, by faith in Jesus, Jesus calms all our fears. He brings peace to our troubled souls. He invites convicted sinners, saying, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). If you tremble in fear before Christ today, cling to his feet with faith, knowing that the glorious Christ will not stomp on you with his bronze feet to crush you but extend his mighty hand to reassure and comfort you. The Lord Jesus appears before you to comfort you with his salvation, remind you of his grace, and reassure you of his victory. So Jesus says to his people, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa 41:10).
And what words does the glorious Christ say to John to remove his fear? What words does he speak with the volume of a thousand waterfalls? What two-edged sword comes out of his mouth? Jesus squashes fear with the proclamation of his victory: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
Jesus is the first and the last. He takes the words uttered by God through the prophet Isaiah for himself. “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. Who is like me?” (Isa 44:6-7). “I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.” (Isa 48:12-13). Jesus is God, and there is none other besides him. He has no rivals, no opponents, no competition. Jesus possesses God’s absolute sovereignty over the cosmos, wielding omnipotent power over planets and stars, creatures and comets, time and history. Therefore, when he tells us not to be afraid, he speaks as the sovereign God over all.
John must not be afraid, because Jesus is “the living one.” Jesus declares that he has “life in himself” (John 5:26). He claims the shared deity he possesses with his Father as he declares himself to be “the living God” (Josh 3:10; Ps 42:2). Jesus is the eternal life—the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. And because he is the living one, death itself has no power over him. Jesus says to John, “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
Jesus came into the world to pay the penalty for sin on the cross. He endured a criminal’s death. He was pierced for our transgressions. He took on the judgment and wrath of the Father for sinners. He canceled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, nailing it to the cross” (Col 2:14). The eternal Son of God, who took on humanity to dwell among us, died on that cross. His body was placed in a rich man’s tomb. His body lay on the slab. The stone was sealed.
But on the third day, at the break of dawn, the stone rolled away, and the victorious and living one emerged from the tomb triumphant and victorious. The glorious Christ stepped out from the tomb with a resurrected body. Jesus historically and bodily rose from the grave. He is the living one; how could death defeat him? Christ, our warrior king, descended into the abyss to defeat the foe that terrorizes us, and ascended to victory with the spoils of the battle.
What more terrible foe do we have than death? Death has a claim on us, sinners as we are. Death is the just wages of our rebellion and sin. Therefore, every one of us must face the grave. No matter how hard we resist, how much we protest, how much we fight back, death beats us. Death is a dragon far too powerful for us to slay.
But the Son of Man came into the world to rescue us from death. The Lord Jesus descended to the grave to wrest the keys from Death and Hades. Jesus entered the grave, defeated our unrelenting foe, and rose again on the third day! The Son of Man died, but behold, he is alive forevermore! He wins his victory over death as our champion. He emerges from the grave not just with his own life, but with life for his friends. He now has the authority to set captives free from the chains of death. The risen Christ wields absolute authority to save sinners from death.
You who sit under the death sentence wrought by your sin, call in faith to Jesus today. The Lord Jesus, the glorious Christ, the first and the last, the living one, beckons you to call out to him. By his grace and victory, he unlocks our souls from the waterless pit (Zech 9:11-12). By faith in Jesus, you can share in his victory. He is the mighty king who shares the spoils of his victory. You can be forgiven of sin and freed from fear of death if you call out in faith to Jesus today. The risen Christ comforts us in our fears with the victory of his resurrection. We need not fear, because Christ lives, and he is alive forevermore.
And we await that glorious day, when the whole earth will quake like thunder at the trumpet blast of his second coming. The glorious Son of Man will roll on the clouds, descending in brilliant glory to usher in the victory of his kingdom. And on that day, Jesus will utter the cry of his command, and the tombs will burst open to life. The bodies of all those fallen saints will rise to meet the Lord in the air. The Lord Jesus will wield the keys of his victory to unlock the grave, and the dead in Christ will rise. And at that glorious day of the resurrection of the dead, then will come to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:54-56).
Oh, what blessed news that Christ is risen and Christ is coming again! How we await the day when the Lord Jesus will dislodge the sting of death once and for all! How we look forward to the day of resurrection! Surely we will say with all creation that day, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12). Oh, church, may we never forget the hope we have because of Christ’s resurrection. When the sorrows of this fallen world burden our hearts, fear not because Christ lives! When we are pressed and persecuted by the world, fear not because Christ lives! When our bodies decay to dust, may we fear not because Christ lives! When we stand in the cemetery over the graves of our mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters in Christ, fear not because Christ lives! Day by day, grow in your knowledge of Christ and the power of his resurrection, knowing that as “we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom 6:5).
Behold the glory of this Christ! What wondrous radiance and majesty, power and authority, beauty and victory! Oh, may the Spirit cause the blind to see this morning the glorious Christ! May the Spirit awaken your darkened souls to the light of the glory of Christ. If you see him, respond with repentance and faith for your salvation so that you might share in the victory of his resurrection!
And for those of us with eyes to see, who have been united to Jesus by faith, may the Spirit ever expand our vision to behold the magnificent glory of Jesus, who is the comforter of our fears, the victor over the grave, the conqueror of death, and the champion of our salvation. This glorious, resurrected Christ holds the keys to death and Hades.