Communion and Revelation

Communion hosted by Heidi Wangsgaard.

Revelation 1:17-18

We left off at verse 17 last week where we read:

Revelation 1.17-18
November 27th 2016
Meat
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

We talked about all biblical characters that have an encounter with God falling to the ground and mentioned that upon doing this John the Beloved adds that Jesus “… laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last,” concepts we have discussed before. But Jesus continues to speak and says:

18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God..

This is our text for today and perhaps next week too. Can’t help it.

Keys of Hell and Death

Again,

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

This passage is pregnant with meaning and therefore various implications, some of which tend to rock the status quo of orthodoxy – so we need to be sure we don’t allow its contents to push us off the mark but we also want to make sure we understand their implication on the faith.

Jesus' Eternal Nature

First of all let’s admit who was speaking and what He says – it is Jesus speaking – Jesus of Nazareth, the Man born of a woman.

How can I say this? Because He says “I am he who liveth and was dead.” God does NOT die – and neither did the fullness of God that was in Him die when He walked the earth. It’s not possible to slay the spirit of God by the sword.

It does appear that Jesus died a spiritual death for our sins while on the cross therefore suffering all manner of deaths on our behalf. But it also appears this was restored to Him in relative short order. But humans die, so we know that here Jesus is clearly identifying Himself as the human Man (who now liveth), and was dead BUT NOW LIVETH FOREVERMORE.

The Lord and Savior will never die again. He, like the Father, is eternal. He, unlike the Father, when walking in His flesh, was NOT eternal. How can we say that? Because He … died. But now He is saying that “He liveth forevermore.”

Before His passion, He – Jesus of Nazareth – was not going to live forever. He was going to die. But here, Jesus of Nazareth, will never die again. Jesus of Nazareth is eternal and through faith in Him we are also eternal. This is key.

Through faith in Him we mortals will also never die.

Now stay with me – do we die in anyway while believing on Him? We do. We all die, as Paul said – “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

However, in the Gospel of John Jesus says something that seems contrary to this. He said:

(11:26) “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

Paul says “in Adam all die” but Jesus says that those who believe in Him shall never die. Obviously, they are talking about different kinds or types of death here. And right off the bat we have to admit that for both to be right, then we have to admit that belief in Jesus does nothing to keep us from dying physically.

We ALL die physically – thanks to Adam. But as all universally die physically due to Adam all will universally live again in resurrected bodies due to Christ.

So here Jesus has had the victory over the grave and will universally make all alive, though all will certainly experience physical death – whether they believed in Jesus or not.

Got that?

So now we have to take the term “death” and “dying” and “die” and try and understand them as a means to understand what Jesus means here when He says to John:

“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

And also when he says:

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

Analysis of Jesus' Proclamations

In my estimation, there are two ways we need to look at Jesus' proclamations here—one is in the context of what the Bible says relative to the Church and Israel (COI) and their age. But the other view must be according to the period of time after Jesus has returned because how this looks is very different from the time prior to His return.

The first period deals with Him as Savior to the nation of Israel and His Church—whether that will be in the future or occurred in the past we will not debate today. But the second application is to a period of time after His dealing with this initial period. We could break it down like this: Traditional Views suggest that everything we are reading is taking place now—with death and the lake of fire a thing to happen in our future.

But if the full preterist view is correct then we need to see how things played out prior and up to His coming in the clouds and then how they would have been playing out ever since. This is what I am going to try and describe here—how to take the contents of the last line of verse 18 and explain them relative to Jesus' work with the Church and Nation of Israel then, and then how they apply now.

Keys of Hades and Death

To begin, the literal Greek translation of the passage translates this passage this way:

The last part of verse 17 . . . fear not, I am the first and the last . . . then (verse 18)

(YLT) “and he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages. Amen! and I have the keys of the hades and of the death.”

And I was dead (kai egenomên nekros). "And I became dead" (aorist middle participle of ginomai which is a definite reference to the cross). And “lo I am living to the ages” (zôn eimi—which is a periphrastic present active indicative that is saying, "I am living.") For how long is this living indicated? “Unto the ages of the ages," which is the strongest expression of eternity there is in scripture.

Jesus as the I Am

I can’t help but note that the use of I-mee (translated here to I Am) is used two distinct times in these two verses: . . . fear not, I am the first and the last . . . then (He says in verse 17 and then in verse 18)

(YLT) “and he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages.”

Again, to me and in my opinion of scripture, Jesus of Nazareth, who when he was alive and walked the earth as “God with us” unapologetically said, “before Abraham was, I am,” has here fully received all that this title includes as a man now exalted over sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace., flesh, the law and death. In other words, while alive He claimed to be the I Am, now He proves He is.

After saying this He says: Amen! Meaning, “this assuredly is.” Okay. All good. But then He adds the intriguing point of the day—“and . . . I have the keys of the hades and of the death.” Of course, the King James puts it this way: “and . . . (or also) I have the keys of hell and of death.” But the literal Greek has Him say that He” has the keys of the hades and of the death.”

Significance of Keys

So, again, we want to know what this means to them and to us—is it the same or is it different?

First, let’s talk about “keys” as Jesus says He has . . . “the keys to the hades and to the death.” Keys are emblematic of both having total run of things and having the power over something or someplace where people can neither enter nor exit without these keys or without having somebody who possesses them letting them in or out.

In chapter three of Revelation, Jesus will have the following written to the angel of the Church at Philadelphia:

Revelation 3:7 “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, (meaning Jesus, who) hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.” Then the Revelation goes on to direct the church at Philadelphia from there.

The Key of David

Among other things, it says that He has "the key of David," and as such, He is the one "who opens" and no man can shut it, and "He shuts" and no man openeth.

In order to better understand keys, let's first ask, "What is this key of David" that Jesus is described to have? Going back to Isaiah 22, we read about Isaiah telling a man named Shebna, the palace secretary, that God is going to replace him with a man named Eliakim. In verse 22 (of chapter 22), we read (in reference to Eliakim):

Isaiah 22:22 “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”

Here in Revelation chapter three, this passage is fulfilled in Christ. Again, the key of the House of David is emblematically described as being laid on his shoulder, meaning that both Eliakim before Him (and then Him here) would have total control over all that David was over—Jerusalem (or the City of David), Israel, the twelve tribes, even the very Kingdom of Israel.

So Revelation 3 tells us that Jesus has that key—the Key of David—and we must remember this in relation to another set of keys Jesus says he has: the keys (plural) to "the hades" and "the death."

Keys to the Hades and Death

As I said, in my estimation, there are two ways we need to look at Jesus’ proclamation here. The first way is: what does Jesus having the keys to the hades and the death mean to the primary audience of the Old and New Testament at this time of John receiving the Revelation? And then, does it have a different meaning or application to us, especially if He came quickly to them, as He has abundantly promised thus far in the Revelation, and then His coming bringing with it an end to all things.

So, look to the board and we can see a format to help us flesh this out.

“Jesus having the keys to the hades and the death”

How this fact applies to the pre-second coming of Christ (To those of that age), which is how the . . .

• Futurists
• Historists
• Idealists
• Partial preterists

still interpret this.

How this fact applies to the post Second ComingChrist’s return, fulfilled in 70 A.D., ending the old covenant—not the world. of Christ (To those after that age), which is how the

• Full Preterists

interpret this.

Understanding Hades and Death

In order to get our minds around this, we need to talk about these two words—hades and death—or in the Greek, “the hades and the death” to see if they have the same meaning to us today as they did back in the day to the Children of Israel and Jesus' work among them.

This is not a difficult concept, but like all good things, it is going to take some work to figure it out. We note that the King James translates the Greek hades into hell, but the literal translations leave it as “hades,” which means “the unseen place or the covered place”—a far different connotation than what the word hell produces.

However, the word "Hell," which is derived from the Saxon word “helan,” meaning "to cover" or to be "covered in an invisible place," has undergone a definitional transformation (thanks to Augustine) which incorporates all manner of elements that have nothing to do with a simple covered place.

So right off the bat, there shouldn’t be an automatic badness to the term when we read about it in the Old Testament sense—it’s just a fact—a covered place. And while not perfect (because it is separated from God), it was a place all people went after physical death before Christ’s salvific work.

Now we know that in Scripture there are three words that describe “this covered place”:

• sheol, hades, and Gehenna

The Hebrew word Sheol occurs 65 times in the OT—31 times it is simply rendered “the grave.” Nothing about burning. Generally speaking, sheol was the covered place the dead went after this life, and it was composed of two distinct compartments: the prison portion (what is traditionally called hell even today) but also a paradise part (known as Abraham’s Bosom).

The hell part of sheol was apparently associated with a phrase among the Jews that speaks of a type of “insatiability,” where “enough is never enough.” When Jesus told the story of

Understanding Sheol and Hades

The Rich Man and Lazarus, both men went to “sheol” – the rich man to the hellish part and Lazarus to Abraham’s Bosom – or a cool place of rest similar to a paradise. Listen to the tone of Proverbs 30 which describes the prison side of “sheol”:

15 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, “It is enough”: The grave (sheol); and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire saith not, “It is enough.”

In many ways, this passage affirms the concept that the prison or hellish part of sheol is never satisfied, especially as it directly unifies the circumstances of the grave, an earth without water, and fire that is constantly seeking for fuel, together. None of them are ever satisfied. In thirty-one places in scripture, the word “sheol” is translated as “the place of disembodied spirits.”

Sheol in the Old Testament

Proverbs 21:16 calls the inhabitants of sheol "the congregation of the dead" (Proverbs 21:16). (And remember, this was the congregation of both the good dead and the bad dead)

Numbers calls the prison part of it, “the abode of the wicked” (Numbers 16:33; Job 24:19; Psalms 9:17; 31:17,) But Psalms 16:10; 30:3; 49:15; 86:13, refers to it as “a place for good.”

Job describes the prison part of sheol as “deep, dark, and with bars,” and in Numbers 16, we read that “the dead go down" to it. From all of this we can say from the Old Testament sense that sheol was a place for all dead to go, and that it held both the wicked and the good, that it was down, that it contained a restful place and a place where satisfaction is never achieved. So there’s the Old Testament explanation of sheol, translated hell by some translations.

Hades in the New Testament

Now, the Greek word hades (found in the New Testament and the Word that Jesus says He has the Keys to) has the exact same scope of signification as “sheol” of the Old Testament. It is a “prison” (1st Peter 3:19) with “gates and bars and locks” (Matthew 16:18 and this passage in Revelation 1:18), and it is located “downward” (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15).

Again, same signification as the Old Testament. Prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus, the righteous and the wicked continued to be separated in “the hades” – some to prison, some to paradise – all hades. Jesus Himself calls the prison part of hades a place of “torments.”

Light and Darkness

This being said, I have a very hard time (due to the Bible) when people insist on calling hades a place of actual burning and fire – even though we almost always associate hades with burning and flames. Let me make some observations – to me it seems that the world – even perhaps the universe – can be broken up into two realms – one that illuminates and is illuminated by light and another that obfuscates and is dark.

It has long been admitted that darkness is really no entity in and of itself – it’s merely the absence of light. There is no such THING as dark. Light, however, actually exists and can be studied and measured and refracted. It is said to make matters clear, brighten the path, lessen the dangers that lurk in the distance through revelation, and even kill disease. Where light is, darkness is not. In the absence of light, there is confusion, disease, corruption, despair, depression, and death – at least in the human world and perhaps in the prison part of hades.

In the 1st Epistle of John we read, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” God is light. Fully God is fully light. Lesser God is lesser light. No God is no light.

A point that shadow, obscurity, obfuscation, and ultimately shades of grey, darkness, and black exist – but not of their own accord – it’s a result of the absence of Him just like cold is the absence of heat and is not a thing unto itself. God so loved the world that He gave or sent us His only begotten Son, who describes Himself as “light that is come into the world.” (John 3:19) This illumination invites all to come to Him.

The Essence of Darkness and Light

the same Gospel John the Beloved writes of Jesus:

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:4-5

While there is no thing in darkness there is a power in it, as Colossians 1:13 says, speaking of God says He “has delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” but lacking a power of its own the dark thrives in the absence of light.

In other words its power comes by way of vacuity, emptiness, dearth and depredation. So it is said to be “life taking.” As I just mentioned, cold does not exist; that things are cold are cold because they are not warm or they are lacking heat. Heat can be measured and studied but cold is merely the absence of heat and so what we measure is how much heat is missing.

The Analogy of Cold and Darkness

And again, similarly, misery, woe and depression do not exist. They are simply the absence . . . of joy, hope, love and light (in other words, God). Those who are said to “love the darkness more than the light” are really just people who “love the absence of God more than His presence.” Again, dark and darkness has no essence – any more than cold has essence – in the face dark and cold we are only observing the absence of Light (or God).

Remove God from an area or person and the result is a hollow, dark, empty cold void. On earth that void needs to be filled and so attempts are made to fill it with things other than God – substitutes, idols, false gods – but all they are all substitutes for the real living God of light – what we might call false light. All of this is to say that in the end we cannot assume that hades is a burning place. It is dark, dismal covered place because God is absent not present.

The Lake of Fire (which we will read about) is in the presence of Jesus and his angels – remember God is a consuming fire) It is a fiery place. Fire is light and the source of this light is God. The burning is in the presence of God. The burning is from the presence of God.

Gehenna and Its Symbolism

So, sheol/hades, the covered place, was the home of all people prior to Christ. And though Jesus said the Rich Man requested a drop of water it is illogical that this was ever a place of fire. Still with me? Okay . . .

The third word translated to hell in the King James is from the word Gehenna (or “Geena”). The word Gehenna [which is a Greek contraction of the Hebrew place/word Hinnom].

It was always used in the time of Christ as a means to describe “a place of future sorrows and woe” (as in “how WILL YOU ESCAPE the fires of Geena?” Future tense.) It got its name from a place the Jews called the “Valley of Hinnom,” first mentioned in Joshua 18.

This Valley is a deep narrow ravine which separates Mount Zion from a place called the “Hill of Evil Council.” There the idolatrous Jews burned their children (alive) as a sacrifice to Molech and Baal in a part of the valley which was known as Tophet, which means "fire-stove."

When the Jews returned from being exiled they showed their abhorrence of this locale (and what they once did there as a apostate idolatrous people) and so they made the Valley of Hinnom a place where all the unpleasant activities of society were to take place. This included the disposal of human waste, of dead animals, and of the dead bodies of criminals. It was a filthy place to a Jew. It was also a place where fires apparently burned constantly as it fed on rubbish to fuel its flames.

In most of its occurrences in the Greek New Testament, Gehenna is used to designate a “place of the lost” and the state and fearful conditions of Gehenna are described in various figurative expressions throughout the Word of God.

The Jews saw the valley in two ways: As a place of great filth and as a place of

The Symbolism and Implications of Gehenna

Because of all of this, Gehenna became a symbol for the destination of the wicked and was used by Jesus many times to illustrate the fate of those who rejected Him as Messiah. Eleven times, in fact, Jesus used the word “Gehenna” in His discourses to describe a future place of punishment (Matthew 23:33; Luke 12:5; Matthew 5:22,) for the people of His day and age who would NOT receive Him. This was prophetically appropriate as tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of Jews wound up being tossed into the Valley of Hinnom when Rome ravaged Jerusalem in her destruction.

Because of the fires that burned in Geehena, and its application by Jesus of an actual destination for the rebellious, and the fact that its flames were said to go up forever and ever, many people have merged Gehenna in with their descriptions of the prison part of hades, and we are left with phrases like “it’s hot as hades in here,” imagery that seems consistent but is actually oxymoronic to congruent biblical facts.

The Key to Hades and Death

So there is a look at the term hades which Jesus says here in the first chapter of Revelation that He has a key to. Being that hades has two parts – a prison and a paradise – it seems that the key Jesus has would have the ability to put people into hades and to allow them out. Got all of that?

Now, we will read in Revelation (in the last chapters of Revelation 20:11-15) the following as a description of what was going to happen “at the end.” Listen carefully as John writes:

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

Then it says:

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hades (remember, these are the two things Jesus has the keys to here in the first chapter) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”

And then we read:

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

So we know somethings here. We know that the keys which Jesus has for the Hades and the Death are only for a period of time. Why? Because death and hades will be cast into the lake of fire – and this is after hades has been emptied of the dead!

Let’s read it, again.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hades delivered up the dead (spiritually dead) which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Note that either dead or death is mentioned five times in this verse!

The Nature of the Second Death

Now, if they are already spiritually dead (because the have NOT been spiritual reborn or made alive), and they are already physically dead (which we know), what kind or type of death are these dead going to experience in what is called the second death?

Some say that this is annihilation of the soul all together – the second death. That is a common view among the Seventh Day Adventists. Most evangelical Christians suggest that this second death is where these spiritually dead souls suffer forever in the flames.

Let’s stop for a minute and look and how scripture describes the second death – it’s a line only used in Revelation. Try and hear the tenor of the messages of all of these verses here as I read them.

To the Church at Smyrna Jesus says:

Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

We will discuss this passage when we get to it but to me this sounds like a place where loss occurs – which is painful. Here the Second Death is spoken of as an agent, as a

The Concept of the Second Death

The thing that does a job. And the job will be painful. It will cause injury, and loss. There will be an end to something there. People there will be hurt.

Then in Revelation 20:6 we read:

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Again, we’ll talk about this passage in depth but the point I want to show is the Second Death has no power over those not part of the first resurrection. No effect. No loss suffered, no hurt?

Revelation's Lake of Fire

Then, as we’ve already read in Revelation 20:14:

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”

So from this we can say that the Second death’s location, so to speak, is in the Lake of Fire, and then finally we are given a very interesting passage about the Second Death . . . ready?

Revelation 21:8:

“But the fearful, (ever been fearful) and unbelieving, (ever not believed?) and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars (do you still lie), shall have their part (that’s a limited amount) in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

We have already read that those who take part in the first resurrection the second death will have no power or effect over them. But here we read a description of those who will be hurt in its hands, by the light, by the presence of the fire (so to speak):

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Jesus' Authority Over Death

Now, we have more to discuss – and we’ll continue next week, but the question I have is when Jesus tells John, in all of His amazing glory and power, that He has the keys to the hades and the death – what death do you think Jesus is talking about?

Physical?
Spiritual?
Second Death?
Any of them?
All of them?

We’ll continue on with this subject of Jesus having the keys to hades and death next week.

Thank you Heidi for the desire for communion but leading us in it.

Q and A?