Revelation 1:18, commentary and pictures

Christ truly lived, truly died on the cross, and rose again to live forever as the eternal One whose life is original, unborrowed and underived. To be alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and of death means He holds all authority and control over death, hell and the grave. By passing through death Himself He destroyed him who had the power of death, bore the penalty of sin, freed humanity from its power, brightened the tomb for those dying in faith, and secured eternal life to believers. He spoke this in person in glorified form to aged John in exile on Patmos, laying His right hand on him when he fell as dead and saying Fear not, to assure the church through all ages to the close of earth's history of His interest and care unto final victory. Because He who died now lives, He is the living Saviour and sure source of help, strength and comfort to all who come to Him, and His everlasting life gives hope in suffering, grief and death that believers too may live.

Vision Setting on Patmos

The words were spoken to John when he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, the Sabbath blessed and set apart from Eden, while banished to the desolate Isle of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. He was cut off from companions and gospel labors but not from God's presence, so that his desolate exile became the gate of heaven. Light from heaven made the barren island as heaven to the lonely exile.

John was then an aged exile, more than half a century after leaning on Jesus' bosom and nearly one hundred years old. He received the revelation in a time of fierce persecution and great darkness when Satan seemed to triumph over the faithful witnesses, with enemies outwardly triumphing. The opposing power that apostatized in heaven was tracking every soul who would favor Christ to block the way to salvation.

The speaker is Jesus Christ in person in glorified form, the Son of man seen among the seven golden candlesticks with seven stars in His right hand. He declared with a great trumpet-like loud voice behind John that He is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and Lion of the tribe of Judah soon to ride conquering and to conquer.

He no longer appeared in the poor suffering dress of an old purple robe and crown of thorns with pale quivering lips, but in heavenly brightness and glory as great as a human could behold and live. His voice was as many waters and His face as the sun, clothed with a garment down to the feet and a golden girdle. He bore the nail marks in hands and feet as everlasting glory, having taken glorified humanity into the heavenly courts and appearing in the glory of the heavenly sanctuary. The voice John heard was the same voice that had spoken to him from the cross, now glorified.

At the sight John fell at His feet as dead because humanity could not endure the glory. Christ laid His right hand upon him, revived and strengthened him to remain and speak with Him, and said Fear not. With that touch He declared Himself the living One who died and is alive forevermore with the keys of hell and of death. His assurance that the living Christ holds those keys removes fear.

With those words He commanded John to write what he had seen and the things which are and shall be hereafter, with the meaning of the seven stars and seven candlesticks. What was seen was to be written in a book and sent to the seven churches in Asia.

Revelation Given to Church

The words are Christ's own direct instruction, proving that Revelation is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, given when Christ Himself came from heaven and, working through the Holy Spirit, told John what to write. It is not a sealed book but an unfolded mystery about the last days of earth's history, the future of the church and of the world, and the glories of the heavenly home, to be read, heard, kept, understood, and searched. The first chapter presents matters of deep and solemn importance to be given to the world as light and truth, commanding John to write what he had seen and the things which are and shall be hereafter with the meaning of the seven stars and seven candlesticks.

The message was not for John alone or for those seven churches alone, but an inspired message to come through those churches to God's people in every age to the close of earth's history. The seven names symbolize the church in different periods of the Christian era, and the number seven signifies a perfect whole and completeness, showing the messages extend to the end of time and reveal the churches' conditions in different periods. What was written in a book and sent to the seven churches in Asia represents all the churches in the world and is to make a powerful impression in every age.

The first chapter is wonderful, dignified, exalted, and solemn instruction and description of Christ that should be studied more, carefully and prayerfully. It is to be clearly understood without mistakes in interpreting Scripture, taught to those unacquainted with truth, believed and preached, and not hidden under a bushel. Every heart open to its true meaning is to take it in and be solemnly affected and humbled by what it claims.

The vision was given when God was about to open the history of the church for future ages to assure John of the Saviour's interest and care through the last great struggles with earthly powers into final victory and deliverance. It gives a more distinct view of what is to be at the close of earth's history, where mercy, tenderness and love blend with holiness, justice and power. In Christ sinners find a Father instead of fleeing because of sins, fleeing to His arms for protection and pardon, so the throne terrible in unbelief becomes in repentance a place of refuge.

Together with the rest of Revelation 1 to 3, the verse belongs to an earnest warning to prepare to meet the Lord in the clouds with power and great glory. It confronts indifference to foretold signs with evidence that the end is right upon us, calling every soul to advance and receive saving grace day by day through watchfulness, prayer and faith by the gift of the Holy Spirit. It lays the work on believers to escape last-day perils, to worship God wholly with heart and mind and soul and strength and love neighbor as self, to make no gods of men, to give meat in due season to old and young, saints and sinners, to awaken from slumber, to heed and obey faithfully, and to stop dwelling on nonessentials.

Meaning of Living Words

The verse means Christ truly lived, truly died on the cross, rose again, and now lives forever; He is not lying in the tomb but is the eternal One, the first and the last. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and Lion of the tribe of Judah soon to ride forth conquering and to conquer, the Man of Calvary and crucified and risen Saviour. His everlasting life was proclaimed over His open, rent sepulcher after coming forth from Joseph's new tomb. This followed His humiliation in Gethsemane, before the High Priest, in Pilate's judgment hall, and on Calvary's cross, when the hopes of the disciples died with His death. By declaring as the risen One that He lives forevermore, He revealed the measure of His love, and His disciples then understood more fully His new commandment to love one another as He had loved them, a compassionate love and oneness believers are to manifest to glorify God.

To be alive forevermore means His life is original, unborrowed and underived. He is eternal and unchangeable, the Living One, the resurrection and the life. He is the source of life and of mercy, pardon, peace and grace, and the center of all true education, so seeking existence or wisdom apart from Him is folly. To have the keys of hell and of death means He holds authority and control over death, hell and the grave. By His death on the cross He became their possessor, having all power in heaven and on earth with principalities and powers subject to Him even in humiliation.

By passing through death Himself to destroy him who had the power of death, He freed humanity from death's power, which exists only because Adam and Eve sinned. He endured a most agonizing death under the most humiliating circumstances and gave up His precious life, bore in His own body the penalty of transgression on which Satan's power over the human race is founded and lifted that penalty from the race. He rose from the tomb as the Source of all vitality and all life, the only possessor and giver of eternal life, the only one who could conquer death. By bearing the penalty of sin and going down into the grave He brightened the tomb for all who die in faith, secured eternal life for all who believe in Him, brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, and condemned the originator of sin and disloyalty to suffer the penalty of sin, eternal death. His possession of the keys signed the emancipation papers of the race by the blood of the Son of God, overcame hell and the power of hell, scattered midnight superstition before the Sun of Righteousness, and opened a way for the message of hope and mercy to be carried to the ends of the earth so that whoever will may reach forth and take hold of God's hand and make peace with Him. Satan's triumph at the cross was short, and he could no longer reign without a rival as a god with temples built to him and human sacrifices offered on his altars. He did not die to make sin become righteousness and transgression of the law a virtue, but that sin might be made to appear exceeding sinful, the hateful thing it is.

The keys belong to Christ who liveth and was dead and is alive forevermore, not to the pope. This contrasts the claim that the pope as God's representative holds the keys of heaven and hell with power to invoke temporal as well as spiritual judgments and by interdict to close heaven's gates against a smitten region and shut the dead out from the abodes of bliss until the ban is removed. His resurrection proclaimed in the verse assures His power to save and calls people to behold Him at the cross, where His self-sacrifice reveals death as sin's sure result and draws sinners to Him.

Power Over Death Demonstrated

Christ conquered death and the grave, came forth from the tomb in triumph and took up His life again, triumphing over the prince of darkness with joy and praise in heaven. His resurrection was marked by an earthquake, just as His death had been marked by an earthquake. As first-fruits of those who sleep He also raised a multitude of captives, giving evidence that those who sleep in Jesus will be raised in the final resurrection and assurance about the future life of the faithful dead.

His raising of Lazarus gave decisive evidence of this authority over death and the grave and of His divinity as the Son of God. Though soon to die on the cross He already stood as conqueror of the grave, the Author of the resurrection with right and power to give eternal life. His words to Martha applied both to the coming raising of Lazarus at that moment and to the general resurrection of the righteous, so that Lazarus's raising both demonstrated His present power and represented the future resurrection of all the righteous. His own life is original, unborrowed and underived, and His divinity assures believers of eternal life.

At His second coming He will unlock the grave and call forth the just now sleeping to life everlasting, clothed with immortality never to die again. He will open the tombs and raise the faithful dead, who rest until the resurrection at the archangel's trumpet and receive glorious immortality. The righteous dead will be raised incorruptible and the living righteous will be translated to heaven without seeing death.

Then death will lose its power and the grave will surrender its dead, for at His coming He will raise the dead in Christ and restore to His faithful servants the children taken from them by death. Through His atoning work He redeemed Adam's failure and fall, and Adam, who repented, trusted in the promised Saviour and died hoping for the resurrection, when restored worships the risen Redeemer who welcomes him and restores him to Eden and his first dominion.

Enthroned in heaven as Life-giver holding the keys of death, He has authority to dispense heaven's blessings, and from the heavenly courts He sends the Holy Spirit to those who love and receive Him to equip them for mission. The Spirit's power at Pentecost fitted the disciples to proclaim Him from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth and gave evidence that He was enthroned in His mediatorial kingdom. Through this work God testified to the atonement by reconciling the world to Himself and giving His followers understanding of the kingdom being established on earth.

The living Christ holds the program of coming events in His hands, the world is not without a ruler, and He has the destiny of nations as well as the concerns of His church in His own charge with great care for those loyal to Him. In the great emergency of the last crisis His servants are therefore not to trust to themselves, because heaven is closely connected with events taking place on earth.

Care for His Church

The verse belongs to the revelation of One like the Son of man walking among the candlesticks which symbolize the seven churches, present among them and holding the stars in His right hand. As the True Witness standing among the candlesticks He gives a decided testimony to those living in the last days about the work of overcoming, using their light to reach the world and prepare His people for service in heaven. The vision was given when God was about to open the history of the church for future ages, to assure of the Saviour's interest and care for His people through the last great struggles with earthly powers and into their final victory and deliverance.

The stars are the angels of the churches, and every church has a guardian angel to minister to that special church. He commissioned the writing of what had been seen and the things which are and shall be hereafter, with the meaning of the seven stars and seven golden lampstands, the seven church names symbolizing the church in different periods of the Christian era. The number seven signifies completeness and God's completeness, showing that the messages extend to the end of time and reveal the churches' conditions in different periods of world history. Churches faithful to their trust need not fear coming to nothing, because no star protected by His power can be taken from His hand, and if a star separates from God and falls another takes its place so their number is never less than seven.

Though the church is enfeebled and defective, it is the object of His supreme regard. He constantly watches over it with tender solicitude and strengthens it by His Holy Spirit. Members of His church are to let Him impress their minds and work through them to His glory, to heed and obey the messages He gives to His church, and so make certain their redemption. Then they may meet Him with joy at His coming and not be among those who shall wail because of Him.

He came to this world as One who could heal all maladies, the divine Healer joining healing of diseases of the body with restoring the moral image of God in men. Every faithful Christian physician as a laborer together with God under Christ continues that same apostolic work in imitation of the life of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He is officiating in the sanctuary above at the right hand of God, making intercession for those who are suffering physically and those who are suffering spiritually, and He invites them to come to Him. He co-operates with human helpers in relieving the sufferings of humanity and in restoring the sick to health and restoring His image in the soul, with power to heal every sickness and disease of soul and body and with the same compassion toward human suffering as in His earthly life. He is the great Physician to be called upon for physical and spiritual disease, having shown absolute control over winds and waves and over men possessed with demons, with principalities and powers made subject to Him even while in His humiliation, so the afflicted are invited to come as they are and pray in faith, keeping trust secure through every circumstance.

Comfort and Help Today

He is not lying in the tomb, for He died and is now alive forever, the living Saviour and the resurrection and the life. Because He lives He can receive, guide, strengthen and comfort all who come to Him, take away sin, and have His blood applied to hearts that trust His death, resurrection and continuing intercession. He is therefore the sure source of help, and those in need should trust His promises and bring their needs to Him rather than depend on other human beings or make gods of men.

His word Fear not is everlasting assurance to all who behold Him and depend on Him. Those who receive the message see Him as the Sun of Righteousness, and life and hope spring up because He who truly died now lives forevermore, so they live through Him and because He lives they too may live. As the risen Advocate He intercedes for those He redeemed, saves completely all who come in faith, pledges His help in danger, and stands as their mighty and sufficient help with authority over death and the grave.

He is the all-sufficient and all-powerful One, present when His people are cut off from the world and alone. As He visited John banished to Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, so He visits believers in lonely homes, will be found by all who call, manifests His love and His Father's love, and made the barren isle a heaven to the lonely exile. If they keep close to Him as Elder Brother their home is honored by the divine presence, and they can keep eyes uplifted to Him, come with griefs and troubles large and small, and trust as implicitly as a child trusts its parents. He is the shield of His people and alone must be their strength and sufficiency, assuring His commandment-keeping church, precious as the apple of His eye, as a distinct waiting watching people to know their privileges, have faith, and keep living connection with Him.

He speaks personally and individually to each person with assurance and authority, coming very near to those who consecrate themselves to God. He reveals Himself to everyone willing to be clothed with the robe of His righteousness and to live by faith where He can hold the right hand, so prayers prevail and living faith is strengthened. So lifted up in a life of self-denial, self-sacrifice and holiness, He inspires those newly come to the faith to desire eternal things, and His nearness can be trusted by each willing receiver. He who lived on earth as man among men, died to bring salvation, ascended from Olives and entered heaven in divine form, now lives always to intercede and give comfort and courage with the charge not to fear.

As the living One full of grace and strength and power, He is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to askers than parents to give good gifts to children. He keeps His children connected with heaven as by a ladder of shining brightness with angels ascending and descending to reflect God's light and glory and to give light, grace and strength, keeping believers by God's power through faith unto salvation in answer to living prayer. The risen Christ continues to intercede for the redeemed, saves completely those who come in faith, and as Advocate strengthens them through trials so that believers live because He lives. Seeing Him as the great Antitype, believers apply the blood of the spotless Lamb to their hearts and trust His death, resurrection and intercession with fearlessness, life and hope.

His glory, preciousness and love are now dimly seen and little experienced, to be seen by faith on earth through prayer for God to show His glory in order to see it in fullness in heaven above. He is the living and majestic Redeemer who died but now lives forever with authority over death and the grave, clothed in glory with voice as many waters and face as the sun, declaring Himself the first and the last. His glory is to be seen by faith on earth and fully in heaven.

His victory over death assures sufferers that He is a never-failing helper with them, having experienced sorrow and temptation and knowing grief and tears, so they are not forsaken even when none on earth responds. He remains their tender sympathetic Friend, present through hardship and sorrow and knowing their trials, because He lived as man among men, endured them all, met them all, and wept Himself. Having ascended from Olives He stands at God's right hand as Stephen saw Him, keeping a human heart that loves, pities and sympathizes with unutterable tenderness, carrying all human woes, with citizenship above for believers as a present help in trouble.

His appearance to John is evidence to believers and unbelievers that He is risen, and the risen Saviour gives living power to the church. Especially when dark clouds of oppression and persecution surround God's people and seem ready to extinguish them, the most instructive lessons are given, for as stars shine brightest in darkest night so His beams as Sun of Righteousness shine most clear and impressive in deepest gloom and reveal God's glory. He enters prisons to reveal Himself to His chosen, is with them in the fire at the stake, and His glory is revealed most clearly in their deepest gloom.

He is beside His faithful people as they face execution and death, giving peace and joyful courage and fearlessness because death does not end hope of life to come and their hope is fixed on the life to come. His words comfort those who suffer persecution or die for Him that their lives are preserved for eternal glory, with no imprisonment, exile or death separating them from His presence. Having strengthened John after he fell before divine glory to endure His presence and speak with Him, He will likewise reveal His presence and glory to persecuted scattered ones hidden in mountains and caves, and His faithful martyrs will shine with God's glory.

John's receiving and repeating this in old age, when nearly one hundred years old, shows how God uses aged workers to bear firm decided glad testimony to steady young believers under persecution. The words were Christ's own to the aged apostle on Patmos concerning the last days, spoken after John fell as dead at the sight of the Son of man among the seven golden candlesticks and Christ laid His right hand upon him, commanding him to write things seen and things which are and shall be hereafter. As mighty General of heaven's armies He proclaimed this not in whispers but with loud trumpet voice, knowing His people's last-day conflict and giving supernatural strength, mental clearness, spiritual power, courage, faith, hope and grace to press onward. His everlasting life comforts death so those sleeping in Jesus are not mourned with flagging interest but their work is taken up, because He lives and therefore His people shall live also. His strength is to be relied on every moment, with safety in doing each day's work in working, watching, waiting dependence on Him, so every guarded step treads firm onward and upward.

His undiminished power to call the dead to life gives hope in grief to all believers, assuring mourners that death lacks final power over the dead. His victory comforts those mourning friends who died in the faith and those whose loved ones are buried, declaring He was dead but is alive forevermore and is the resurrection and the life. Because He lives the grieving can trust and lack no good thing, even when friends are estranged and give no encouragement and words cannot heal sin's bruises and bereavement.

His living presence and authoritative word give sanitarium workers confidence as they serve and fight evil. He invites those suffering physically or spiritually to come as they are, and His living ministry includes intercession for them in the heavenly sanctuary. The living Christ has power to heal every sickness and disease of soul and body, remaining as compassionate as in earthly life, and the afflicted are to pray in faith and keep trust secure through every circumstance.