Revelation chapter 1 and verse
18. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death. Sometimes our readings are longer
and sometimes they are shorter, but I trust they will always
be a blessing to our hearts. The more we learn about the Lord
Jesus Christ, the better will be our lives here on earth. The more we understand about
who the Saviour is and what he has done, the more will be our
peace and our comfort and our confidence through the challenges
and the trials and the disappointments we all have to encounter in this
life. Christians don't have charmed
lives. We don't have lives that are
free from the experience of loss or pain and anxiety but we do have a saviour, we
do have a friend who has so joined himself to us, so united us with
himself as to have walked in our steps
before us, fought our battles for us and won them all. And if we can see and grasp and
understand something about who the Lord Jesus Christ is and
what the Lord Jesus Christ has done and by faith enter into
a relationship with him, then we will be blessed in this life,
even in the midst of our trials. And we will be able to say with
Paul, thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. I have a purpose when I bring
a message to you. I have an objective if you like. My purpose each service is to
show you a little more about the Lord Jesus Christ. so that
as you go on in life, as you face your challenges, you're
all the time being built up in your faith, gaining a little
more knowledge, gaining a greater understanding, a deeper awareness
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is and what he has done. more thoughtful insight into
what he has accomplished for you. And when John in his vision on
Revelation on the Isle of Patmos heard the voice, the voice that
spoke behind him, he turned to see the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm fairly sure that he recognised
Jesus' voice as soon as he heard it. A little bit like Mary Magdalene
on that first Easter morning. Despite mistaking the Lord for
the gardener in the first instance, in that early morning light,
and asking him where the body of her saviour was. She knew
immediately when he turned to her and said, Mary. She knew
his voice and I am sure that John also knew the voice of his
Lord. John, we're told, heard a great
voice behind him and it was great because it was the voice of a
great person. Yes it might have been loud but
it was the voice of a great person and in addition to that because
it was the voice of a great friend. I think when John heard that
voice it truly was a great voice. This was the disciple whom Jesus
loved. This was the disciple who lay
on Christ's bosom. This was a disciple that had
such affection, such love for his Lord, that when he heard
that voice, he heard the voice of one that he loved, and one
who loved him, and he heard a great voice. John 10, 27, the Lord
Jesus Christ says, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. When John turned around, he heard
the Lord say, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead
and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. and have the keys of hell
and of death. I mentioned in my little introduction
yesterday a few ways that we might helpfully think about the
Lord's name, Alpha and Omega. At the very least, it speaks
of his divinity and his eternality. There's another one of these
words that we use. The fact that he is eternal. So our eternal God is another
attribute of his character. How do we explain that? How do
we describe that? Well, one of the ways in which
the Word of God describes it is that He is Alpha and Omega,
and it uses those letters from the alphabet to show that it
encapsulates and incorporates everything else, everything in
between, is bound by our God, Alpha and Omega. He encompasses and He contains
everything that ever has or ever shall exist within Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God.
He expressly calls Himself the Son of God in Revelation 2, verse
18. And yet instantly, John recognises
Him as his friend. the man that he knew, Jesus of
Nazareth, the son of man. That's how he describes him in
chapter 1 verse 13, all of which tells us that the Lord Jesus
Christ who came into this world as a little baby as a child who
grew and who began at the age of 30 his ministry whose life
we have been following through the studies in Mark and who is
now in our studies heading towards Jerusalem where he will be crucified,
where he will die, where he will be buried and will rise again
and ascend into glory is in fact God. This man, Jesus, who lived and
died and rose again is God himself, infinite, eternal, immutable,
holy and glorious. All these wonderful divine attributes
that are attached to the living God are found in this one, the
Alpha and Omega. And in addition, when we think
about what the Lord Jesus Christ here said. I want us to just
draw another couple of points out of these words of the Saviour
and look at one or two more aspects with respect to the Lord's words
here in verse 18. The Lord Jesus Christ's words
teach us a number of things and all I want to do is to take this
verse 18 and basically break it up into its component phrases. that we might learn something
new about the Lord, something more, or at least have something
reinforced to us that might help us in our life and give us a
greater perspective of who this one is whom we worship and what
he has done for us. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. and have the keys of hell
and of death. Here's the first one of our points.
I am he that liveth. You know, sometimes when we read
the scriptures, we just take our Bibles and we begin and we
read it. Sometimes we should try reading
it aloud to ourselves. It's a good thing to read the
scriptures aloud. like the Ethiopian eunuch as
he travelled in his chariot and he read the prophet Isaiah aloud. Because sometimes you hear yourself
saying something in a slightly different way that you hadn't
thought about before. And I think there's a good example
in this verse. I think this verse can be read
as a title of the Lord rather than a description. Let me show
you what I mean. We can read it like this, I am
he that liveth. Then we have the Lord Jesus identifying
himself using one of the I am sayings that John frequently
recorded in his gospel and which was reminiscent of God speaking
to Moses at the burning bush. I'm sure you remember that, how
God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush and said, I am that
I am. And here is the Lord Jesus Christ
employing that same language, that same vocabulary, as a statement
of his divinity. I am he that liveth. He that liveth eternally. He that liveth without beginning
and without end. He that is self-existent. I am dwelling in the utter solitude
of his own person, possessing all the glorious attributes of
love and holiness and power and truth and knowledge and wisdom. Jeremiah could say, the Lord
is the true God, the living God. And here the Lord Jesus Christ
says, I am he that liveth, the true God. And it follows, I am he who is
life. I am the source of life, I am
the giver of life, the sustainer of life, the taker of life, the
one in whom all life has its cause and purpose and meaning,
the one to whom all life is answerable and accountable. I am the creator,
I am the giver of spiritual life, the source by which all personal
knowledge of the divine nature will be and must be discovered. I am the one who gives union
with God, the one by whom union may be experienced and by whom
everlasting happiness with God is to be discovered and enjoyed.
so that the Lord Jesus Christ here is speaking thus to John,
but he leaves the beloved disciple and he leaves us in no doubt
that this man, Christ Jesus, is the eternal God. Now remember what we've just
thought about with Psalm 139 as well. that this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
possesses all of these divine attributes. But then the voice,
the Lord Jesus Christ, says more. He says, I am he that liveth,
and he says, was dead. Now here is a paradox. Here is
a paradox, a puzzle, to tax the minds of angels and men. I am he that liveth and was dead. Charles Wesley, we read one of
his hymns earlier, he wrote in another place, "'Tis mystery
all the immortal dies. Who can explain his strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph
tries to sound the depths of love divine. How can it be? He who is life died. He who is the eternal God came
to earth and died. This is the heart of the glorious
gospel, the plan of redemption, the mystery of the incarnation,
the miracle of God with us, the revelation of Emmanuel. Christ come in the flesh, bound
up in this covenant union with his people, bearing our sins,
carrying our guilt, dying our death. in our place as our substitute. Here is the means by which every
divine attribute is magnified, is satisfied, is honoured. Justice is served. Love is exemplified. Grace and mercy is applied. The guilty are exonerated and
pardoned and set free because a man has been found who is worthy
to pay with his own blood the ransom for many and dead. But that's not the end. For while
it is true that the Lord Jesus Christ died, it is also true
that he rose again. Our Saviour did not die as other
men die. We lose our lives. But the Lord Jesus Christ gave
his life. He gave his life a ransom for
many. He gave up the ghost. He dismissed
his spirit. He entered deservedly into a
rest. He rested having paid our debts,
having satisfied God's justice, having defeated our enemies in
battle. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was a cry of victory because he gave up his ghost he who laid
down his life for his friends, he who was condemned by the law,
who was mocked by men, who was crucified, who was forsaken by
his father, but through it all prevailed, endured, delivered
his people. No condemnation now I dread,
Jesus and all in him is mine, alive in him my living head,
and clothed with righteousness divine. Here's the third thing that the
Lord Jesus Christ said. He said, I am he that liveth
and was dead. And behold, he says, I am alive
forevermore. John was present that morning
at the tomb. when Jesus rose from the dead. In fact, he was first to get
there and to look inside the tomb. He saw the Saviour alive
then and many times in the subsequent 50 days before the Lord went
up to heaven at his ascension. He was present when the Lord
ascended into the clouds. He saw the angels present. He
heard them promise Christ's return. And now here he is having a view
of the Lord Jesus Christ reigning in power, adorned with glory,
testifying personally to John about his success and the achievements
as the ever-living Son of God. And in the vision he says, behold,
behold, Look, John, see that it is true. Look with the eye
of faith and see for yourself. Here is the God-man standing
before you, the great I Am. And I am alive forevermore, never
to die again, never to repeat this sacrifice, never to be slain
anew, no need having by his own blood entered in once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And then the Lord says, Amen. Amen. He inserts in this vision,
in this great voice that speaks, in this revelation that he gives
to John, his friend, his disciple, he inserts a little amen, an
affirmation if you like, a confirmation that it's all true. But more than that, more than
that, it's an identification as well, for again this is a
blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you were to turn over
a couple of chapters into chapter 3, verse 14, you would read these
words. The Lord is speaking to John.
He is telling him about what he has to declare, what he has
to write down in this book of the revelation of Jesus Christ,
what he has to declare to the churches, to you and to me and
the churches of every age. And he says this, these things
saith the Amen. the faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God. This is the Lord Jesus
Christ's name. Brothers and sisters, I know
our flesh is weak. I know that Satan sows doubts
in our lives, in our hearts, in our minds. I know that temptations
come and try our faith and we wonder whether or not we can
go on and we have doubts and we have questions and we think
things that we're ashamed of. We wonder whether we're being
deluded. We wonder whether or not we're
following a teaching that's just an invention. But if Jesus confirms his words
by swearing upon his own precious name, who dares contradict him? And it falls down to this point. We either believe him or we don't. You have the words of eternal
life. you either believe him or you
don't. Finally, the Lord says to John,
I have the keys of hell and death. And I want to leave you with
just a few thoughts, a few statements that I think ought to comfort
and encourage you on this Easter day, drawn specifically from
this phrase, Christ has the keys of hell and death. Why would Jesus say that on his
first approach to John as he first speaks to him about this
revelation that John is receiving here from his friend, the son
of man who declares himself to be the son of God, the God-man. Why would he make a point in
his first introduction, I am, he that liveth, to go on to say,
and I have the keys of hell and death. Why was it so important? Well remember John is in Patmos. He's suffering for the gospel
and for the cause of Christ. So that the Lord Jesus Christ
in saying this is simply telling his friend, John, I'm in charge
of this situation. I'm in charge of what you're
going through right now. Heaven and hell, life and death
are all mine to give and to take away. I have the keys. I have the authority
because that's what that phrase means. And if our God and friend
has authority over the greatest of our fears and the greatest
of the dangers that can be brought against us, he has authority
over everything else too. So that whatever your prison
is, Christ is in control. Not all prisons have bars. John's prison didn't have bars. He was exiled on an island. There are sickness prisons. There are financial prisons.
There are anxiety prisons. There are loneliness prisons.
but Christ has the keys to them all. Death is a sinner's enemy. Hell is the sinner's just desserts. Natural men and women should
fear them, but not us, not us, not the redeemed of the Lord.
What did the psalmist say to us just a few weeks ago? He said,
Christ hath redeemed us from our enemies, for his mercy endureth
forever. The Lord Jesus Christ has been
to hell and back. He has been to death and back. He defeated hell on the cross. He rose from the dead at his
own behest, being rested after his labours. He has taken the
sting from death and the grave. There is no condemnation. No
condemnation means nothing to fear. As a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and as a believer in His success, you are washed
clean. You are righteous, you are holy,
you are pure, you are perfect in your soul. Your death will
be like going to sleep and waking up well-rested. In truth, believers don't die. All we do is lay down our old
weary worn out bodies and get new youthful glorious bodies
in exchange. We just move on. Here's a final
thought and with this we're done. The same friend that John here
encountered in the person of Jesus Christ, the man Christ
Jesus, who has the key of hell and death, has the key to eternal
life in heaven. It is written, I hath not seen
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. That's in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 verse 9. Here's an interesting thought
for you. Chew on this, chew on this for a while. The prize,
the prize is not heaven. The prize is you and the prize
is me. The prize that Christ laboured
for, the prize that Christ suffered for, the prize that he died and
rose again for wasn't heaven. He left heaven for the prize. He left heaven and he hastened
to the cross. in order to win us, to win his
people, to win his church, to win his bride. And because we
are the prize, heaven will be suited to us. This is really quite, this is
quite wonderful. We are the delight of the mighty
God. Oh, we will delight in heaven.
We will delight in Christ. We will delight in the things
that we see when we enter into our rest. But Jesus Christ delights in
us. And heaven is being prepared
for us. Christ went to prepare a place
for us. I don't think that it's any coincidence
that John tells us he saw one like unto the Son of Man. It was indeed the Son of Man
that he saw, but it was the God-Man glorified, honoured and exalted. A man like us, just the same. Heaven is going to be so good
because it has been prepared especially for men and women. God is a spirit. God dwells in
the immensity of his own eternal dimensions. But the Lord Jesus
Christ is a man and heaven is being prepared for men and women,
with men and women's bodies. Tailor-made for men and women. Previously, previously heaven
was suited to God. Previously, heaven was the residence
of the angels. Now it is the eternal home of
glorified flesh, men and women. Lord Jesus Christ is preparing
a place for us. What was it we read in Corinthians
again? I hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him. This is the home to which we
are going, brothers and sisters, and it serves us exactly. It will serve precisely the everlasting
needs of the redeemed of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ rose
from the dead. He rose with his body and he
ascended into heaven in his body and he will gather us together
and he will change us into those incorruptible bodies and bless
us with those incorruptible bodies and we will enter into our rest
with him. I hope you are looking forward
to it. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.