Christ with the Keys of Death and Hell
A sermon
(No. 894)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, OCTOBER, 3, 1869, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"I have the keys of Hell and of Death."- Revelation 1:18.
THEN Hell and death, terrible powers as they are, are not left to riot
without government. Death is a land of darkness, as darkness itself,
without any order, yet a Sovereign eye surveys it and a master hand
holds its key. Hell, also, is a horrible region where powers of evil
and of terror hold their high court and dread assembly–but Hell
trembles at the Presence of the Lord and there is a Throne higher than
the throne of evil. Let us rejoice that nothing in Heaven, or earth, or
in places under the earth is left to itself to engender anarchy.
Everywhere, serene above the floods, the Lord sits King forever and
ever!
No province of the universe is free from the Divine rule. Things do not
come by chance. Nowhere does chance and chaos reign. Nowhere is evil
really and permanently enthroned. Rest assured that the Lord has
prepared His Throne in the heavens and His kingdom rules over all–for
if the lowest Hell and Death bow to His government, much more all
things that are on this lower world. It is delightful for us to
observe, as we read this chapter, that government of Hell and of Death
is vested in the Person of the Man Christ Jesus. He who holds the keys
of these dreadful regions is described by John as, "One like unto the
Son of Man," and we know that He was our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
John saw a strange and glorious change in Him, but still recognized the
old likeness, perhaps impressed by the nail-prints and other marks of
manhood which he had seen in Him while yet He was in the days of His
flesh. What an honor is thus conferred upon mankind! Unto which of the
angels said He at any time, "You shall bear the keys of Hell and of
Death"? Yet these keys are committed to the Son of Man! Jesus Christ,
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, made in all points like unto
His Brethren, rules over all!
Yet Manhood is not so exalted as of itself and apart from Godhead, for
while the description given of our Lord by John, as he saw Him at
Patmos, is evidently human, yet is it also convincingly Divine. There
is a glow of Glory about that mysterious Manhood which stood between
the golden candlesticks, that comes not of the Virgin Mary nor of
Nazareth, but is a light apart–belonging only to the everlasting God,
whose Son the Redeemer is and whose equal He counts it not robbery to
be! Jesus, in essence, is, "God over all, blessed forever." Let us
rejoice, then, in the condescension of God in taking man into such
union with Godhead, that now in the Person of Christ man has dominion
over all the works of God's hands!
He rules not only over all sheep and oxen and all fowl of the air and
fish of the sea and whatever passes through the paths of the sea, but
Death and Hades, also, are committed to the dominion of the glorified
Man. "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father." The metaphor of keys is intended, no doubt, to set forth the
double thought of our Lord's possessing both the rightful and the
actual dominion over Death and Hell. The rightful dominion, I say, for
often it has been the custom when kings have come to the gates of loyal
cities, for the mayor, or high bailiff, or governor of the city, to
present the keys in formal state, in recognition that His Majesty was
the lawful owner and rightful sovereign of the borough.
So Christ has the keys of Hell and Death–that is to say He is
rightfully the Lord over those dark regions and rules them by
indefeasible title of sovereignty. But in most common life the key is
associated with actual possession and power. When the tenant gives up
the key to the landlord, then the owner has the house, again, under his
power and in his possession, by that act and deed. So Christ is not
only de jure (according to right), but de facto (according to fact),
Lord over Hell and Death. He actually rules and manages in all the
issues of the grave and overrules all the councils of Hell,
restraining the mischievous devices of Satan, or turning them to
subserve His own designs of good. Our Lord Jesus Christ still is
supreme! His kingdom, willingly or unwillingly, extends over all
existences in whatever regions they may be.
It may be well, here, to remark that the word translated, "Hell,"
though it may be rightfully referred to the region of lost and damned
spirits, yet need not be restricted to it. The word is, "Hades," which
signifies the dwelling place of spirits and so it may include both
Heaven and Hell–no doubt it does include them both in many places and
I think in this. Our Lord, then has the keys of Heaven and Hell and
Death. Wherever separate spirits are now existing, Christ is King and
over the iron gate through which men pass into the disembodied state,
the authority of Christ is paramount. All hail, You brightness of the
Father's Glory–be You evermore adored!
We now come to consider this text in the following lights–first, as we
may be enabled and strengthened, we shall consider the power of the
keys. Secondly, we shall consider the key of this power. And then,
thirdly, the choice reflections locked up in this doctrine of the keys.
I. What is intended by THE POWER OF THESE KEYS here mentioned? A key is
first of all used for opening and therefore our Lord can open the gates
of Death and Hell. It is His to open the gate of the separated spirits,
to admit His saints, one by one, to their eternal happiness. When the
time shall come for us to depart out of this world unto the Father, no
hand but that of the Well-Beloved shall put that golden key into the
lock and open the pearly gate which admits the righteous to the spirit
land.
When we have tarried awhile as disembodied spirits in Paradise, it will
be Christ's work to open the gates of the grave where our bodies shall
have been confined, in order that at the trumpet of the archangel we
may rise to immortality. He is the Resurrection and the Life–because
He lives, we shall live, also. At His bidding every bolt of Death's
prison shall be drawn and the huge iron gates of the sepulcher shall be
rolled back. Then shall the body sown in weakness be raised in power,
sown in dishonor be raised in glory! We need not ask the question, "Can
these dry bones live?" when we see in the hands of our Omnipotent
Savior the golden key! Death in vain shall have gathered up the
carcasses of millions as his treasure–he shall lose all these
treasures in a moment–when the Lord shall let go his captives, not for
price nor for reward!
In the Egypt of the grave no Israelite shall remain a prisoner. There
shall not a one be left behind–of all that the Father gave to Christ
He will lose nothing–but will surely raise it up at the last day.
Christ has purchased the bodies as well as the souls of His people! He
has redeemed them by blood and their mortal flames are the temples of
the Holy Spirit. Rest assured He will not lose a part of His purchase.
It is not the will of our Father in Heaven that the Redeemer should be
defrauded of any part of His purchased possession. "Your dead men shall
live, together with my dead body shall they arise."
But a key is also used to shut a door and even so Jesus will both shut
in and shut out. His golden key will shut His people in in Heaven, as
Noah was shut in the ark–
"Far from a world of grief and sin With God eternally shut in."
There is no fear that glorified saints shall fall from their high
estate, or that they shall perish after all the salvations which they
have experienced. Heaven is the place of eternal safety. There the
gates shall be fast shut by which their foes could enter, or by which
their joys could leave them. But, alas, there is the dark side to this
shutting of the gate. It is Christ, who, with His key shall shut the
gates of Heaven against unbelievers. When once the Master of the house
has risen up and has shut the door, it will be useless for mere
professors to come with anxious knocks and bitter cries, "Lord, Lord,
open unto us!"
I know that the Son of David, when He shuts, shuts so that no man opens
and He Himself does not change His mind! Once let Him close Mercy's
gate upon the soul of a man, and the iron bar shall never be uplifted.
O may none of you know what it is to see Christ shut the door of Heaven
in your face! It will be terrible when you are expecting to enter into
the marriage supper to find yourselves thrust forth into "outer
darkness, where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth."
Jesus, with His sovereign key, has locked out of Heaven all sinners who
die impenitent and shut out of Heaven all sin–shut out of Heaven all
temptation, all trouble and all pain and death–shut out of Heaven all
the temptations of the devil and not even the howling of that dog of
Hell shall be heard across the jasper walls of that New Jerusalem.
A key is used to shut and to open and so it is used to shut in, in
reference to Hell and those spirits who are confined there. "Between us
and you," said Abraham to Dives, "there is a great gulf fixed, so that
they that which would pass therefore to you cannot. Neither can they
pass to us, that would come from there." It is Christ's key that has
shut in the lost spirits so that they cannot roam by way of respite,
nor escape by way of pardon. May you never be so shut in! Christ has
the key by which He shuts in Satan. He is to be bound for a thousand
years, but Jesus shall hold the chain, for only our Immanuel could bind
this old dragon.
When temptation is kept away from a Christian it is the Savior's
restraining power which holds back the arch enemy. And if the enemy
comes in like a flood it is by permission of Jesus that the trial
comes. Every roaming of the lion of the Pit is permitted by our Master,
or he could never go forth on his devouring errands. The key that shall
bind the old dragon in those blessed days of the millennial rest is in
our Lord's power–and the final triumph, when no sin shall any further
be known on earth and evil shall be pent up in the grim caverns of
Hell–will be achieved by Christ Jesus, the Man, the Mediator, our Lord
and God! To open, then, and to shut out. To shut in and to shut
out–these are the works of the keys.
By the keys we must further understand here that our Lord rules, for
the key is the Oriental metaphor for government. He shall have the key
of David–"the government shall be upon His shoulders." We understand
by Christ's having the keys of Hell that He rules over all that are in
Hell. Therefore He rules over the damned spirits. They would not, in
this life, have this Man to rule over them. But in the life to come
they must submit whether they will or not. In that seething caldron
every wave of fire is guided by the will of the Man Christ and the mark
of His Sovereignty is on every iron chain. This the ungodly will be
compelled to feel with terror, for although the ferocity of their
natures will remain, yet the boastfulness of their pride shall be taken
from them.
Though they would still revolt, they shall find themselves hopelessly
fettered and powerless to accomplish their designs. Though they would
gladly continue stouthearted as Pharaoh and cry, "Who is the Lord, that
we should obey His voice?" they shall find their loins loosed like
Belshazzar's on that dreadful night when his city was destroyed. They
shall wring their hands in anguish and bite their tongues in despair!
One of the great terrors of the lost in Hell will be this–that He who
came to save was rejected by them and now only reveals Himself to them
as mighty to destroy! He who held out the silver scepter when they
would not touch it, shall forever break them with a rod of iron for
their willful impenitence.
You despisers, behold and wonder! If you will not honor the Lord
willingly, you shall submit by force of arms. What must be the
consternation of those that were loudest against Christ on earth–the
men who denied His Deity, the infidels who vented curses upon His
blessed name–your Voltaires and Tom Paines who were never satisfied
except when they uttered bitter words against the Man of Nazareth! What
will be their amazement! What confusion to the wretch who said he would
crush the wretch, to find himself crushed by Him whom he despised! What
consternation and confusion shall overwhelm that man who said he lived
in the twilight of Christianity, to find himself where the blaze of
Christ's Glory shall forever be as a furnace to his guilty soul! O that
none of us may know what it is to be ruled in justice by Christ because
we would not be ruled by mercy!
"Kiss the Son, lest He is angry and you perish from the way, when His
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their
trust in Him." But beware, you that forget Him, lest He tear you in
pieces and there be none to deliver. As in Hell Christ has power over
all the damned spirits, so our text implies that He has power over all
the devils. It was willfulness, doubtless, that made Satan revolt
against God. Perhaps Milton's poetic surmise is not far from the truth
and Satan did think it, "better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven."
But, fool that he was, he has to serve in Hell with a service 10,000
times more irksome than that which would have been his lot in Heaven!
There, firstborn Son of the Morning, brightest of the angels of God,
how happy might have been his perpetual service of the Most High! But
now blighted by the scathing thunderbolts of Jehovah, he crawls forth
from his den degraded, going like the serpent on his belly, with dust
to be his meat, debased beneath the very beasts of the field and cursed
above all cattle–going forth for meanest ends–seeking to tempt others
that they may come into the same loathsome condition with himself! Yet,
mark how even in those temptations of his, Satan is ruled by Christ! He
permits the foul fiend to tempt, but there is always a, "To here shall
you go and no further." Just as Satan was permitted to try
Job up to a certain point, but beyond that point he must not heap up
the Patriarch's agony, thus in all cases Christ rules Satan by
restraining him.
Yes, and even in that which he is permitted to do, God strengthens His
servants so that Satan gets no honor in the contest, but retires
continually more and more disgraced by being defeated by the poor sons
of Adam. Cunning spirit as he is, he is worsted in the conflict with
poor creatures who dwell in flesh! Yes, and better still, out of all
the temptations of Satan, God's people are made to derive profit and
strength. In our exercises and conflicts we are taught our weakness and
led to fly to Christ for strength. And so, as Samson's slain lion
yielded him honey, out of the eater comes forth meat and out of the
strong comes forth sweetness. An abject slave of Christ are you, O
Satan–a very scullion in the kitchen of Providence. When you think
most to effect your own purposes and to overthrow the Kingdom of Christ
on earth, even then what are you but a mere hack, accomplishing, still,
the purposes of your Master, whom in vain you do blaspheme! Lo, at
Christ's belt are the keys of Hell! Let the whole legion of accursed
spirits tremble!
Brothers and Sisters, I have said that the word, "Hades," here may
include both Hell and Heaven, or the whole state of separated spirits.
Therefore we are bound to remark that our Savior rules over all the
glorified spirits in Heaven and all the angels that are their
associates and ministering spirits. Is not this a delightful
reflection, that the Redeemer is the King of angels, for in times of
danger He can send an angel to strengthen us, or, if needs be, 20
legions of angels would soon find their way to stand side by side with
the weak but faithful warrior of the Cross! O Believer, you can never
be cast where Divine succors cannot reach you!
Angels see their way by night, and journey over mount and sea with
unwearied flight, unimpeded by wind or tempest. They can meet your
enemy, the prince of the power of the air, and overcome him for you–as
doubtless oftentimes they do unknown to us–in mysterious battles of
the spirits. You shall never be left to perish while the chariots of
God which are 20,000, even thousands of angels, are all at the beck and
command of Him who has redeemed you with His precious blood! Joyous is
the thought that Jesus rules over all redeemed spirits in Heaven, for
we hope to be there soon and this shall be among our dearest joys that,
without temptation, without infirmity, without weariness, we shall
serve our Lord day and night in His Temple!
My Brethren, of all the joys of Heaven, next to that of being with
Christ, one delights to think of serving Christ. Ah, how rapturous will
be our song! How zealously we will praise Him! How earnest shall be our
service! If He should give us commissions to distant worlds, as perhaps
He will–if He shall prepare us to become preachers of His Truth to
creatures in unknown orbs–if He shall call us through revolving ages
to publish to new created myriads the wondrous Grace of God in Christ,
with what ardent pleasure will we accept the service! How constantly,
how heartily will we tell all of the story of our salvation by the
precious blood of Jesus! O that we could serve Him here as we wish–but
we shall serve Him there without fault or flaw. Oh, happy Heaven,
because Jesus has the key of it and reigns supreme when we shall stand
upon yon sea of glass before His Throne!
One more remark is needed to complete the explanation of the power of
the keys. Our Lord is said to have the keys of Death, from which we
gather that all the issues of death are at His disposal, alone. No man
can die unless as Jesus opens the mystic door of Death. Even the
ungodly man owes his spared life to Christ. It is the intercession and
the interposition of Jesus that keeps breath even in the swearer's
nostrils. Long since had you been consumed in the fire of God's wrath,
O Sinner, had not Jesus used His authority to keep you out of the jaws
of Death. As for His saints, it is their consolation that their death
is entirely in His hands. In the midst of fever and pestilence, we
shall never die until He wills it! In the times of the greatest health,
when all the air is calm, we shall not live a second longer than Jesus
has purposed! The place, the circumstance, the exact second of our
departure, have all been appointed by Him and settled long ago in love
and wisdom.
A thousand angels could not hurl us to the grave, nor could a host of
cherubim confine us there one moment after Jesus said, "Arise." This is
our comfort! We are "immortal till our work is done"–mortal still–but
immortal, also. Let us never fear death, then, but rather rejoice at
the approach of it, since it comes at our dear Bridegroom's bidding!
There are some who count it a most notable expectation, that perhaps
they may be among the number of those who shall not sleep, but be alive
and remain at the Lord's coming. I am sure I would not disturb any joy
which they can derive from such a contemplation. For my own part, if I
had the choice, I would prefer to die, for it seems to me that such as
do not
die, while they cannot have any preference over them that fall asleep,
(for we are told they shall not prevent them that are asleep), will
lose much of desirable experience.
They will never be able to say in Heaven, "I was made like unto my
dying Savior." They can never say that they have slept in the grave as
He did. They can never say, "My body came forth in the resurrection as
His did." I would gladly be in all points made like unto my Lord–to
have fellowship with Him in all respects. "To die," says the Apostle,
"is gain." I will add, a gain I would not lose, and, "Death is yours,"
says the Apostle, nor would we have it taken away from us. Though the
prospect of our Lord's coming is sweet, immeasurably sweet, yet the
prospect of going to Him if so He wills it, is not without its
sweetness, too. Christ has the key of Death, and therefore Death to us
is no longer a gate of terror. Thus have I, as best I could, while
suffering much bodily pain, labored to open up to you what is the power
of the keys in the Redeemer's hands.
II. What is THE KEY OF THIS POWER? Where did Christ obtain this right
to have the keys of Hell and Death? Does He not derive it, first of
all, from His Godhead? In the 18th verse He says, "I am He that
lives"–language which only God can use, for while we live, yet it is
only with a borrowed life, like the moon that shines with a borrowed
light and as the moon cannot say, "I am the orb that shines," neither
can man say, "I am he that lives." God says, "I am and there is none
beside Me," and Jesus being God, claims the same self-existence. "I am
He that lives."
Now, since Christ is God, He certainly has power over Heaven and earth
and Hell. There can be no dispute concerning the Divine prerogative. He
is the Creator of all things. He is the Preserver of all things. All
power belongs to Him. As for all things that are apart from Him, they
would vanish as a puff of air is gone, if so He willed it. He alone
exists. He alone IS. Therefore let Him wear the crown, let Him have
undivided rule. That doctrine of the Deity of Christ, how I tremble for
those who will not receive it! Brothers and Sisters, if there is
anything in the Word of God that is clear and plain, it is surely this!
If there is any doctrine that is necessary for our salvation, it is
this.
How could we trust a mere man? If there is anything that can give us
comfort when we come to rest upon Christ, it is just this, that we are
not looking to an angel nor depending upon a creature, but are resting
upon Him who is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the
Almighty God. O you who dare trust in a man, I pity you for your
credulity! But you who cannot trust in Jesus, the living God, I may
well blame you for your unbelief! Having such a Rock of our salvation
as the ever-living and ever-blessed God, let the thought kindle in our
souls purest joy! But the key to this power lies also in our Savior's
conquests. He has the keys of Death and Hell because He has actually
conquered both of these powers!
You know how He met Hell in the dreadful onset in the Garden–how all
the powers of darkness there combined against Him. Such was the agony
of that struggle that He sweat great drops of blood falling to the
ground. Yet He sustained the brunt of that onset without wavering and
kept the field unbeaten. He continued, still, to wrestle with those
evil powers upon the Cross and in that thick midday midnight into which
no curious eyes could pry–in the midst of that darkness He continued,
still, to fight. His heel was bruised–but He broke, meanwhile, the
dragon's head. Grim was the contest, but glorious was the victory,
worthy to be sung by angels in eternal chorus. Take down your sweetest
harps, you seraphs! Lift up your loudest notes, you cherubim, unto Him
that fought the dragon and overcame him, to Michael the great Archangel
of the Covenant, unto Him be glory forever and ever!
Well does Jesus deserve to rule the provinces which He has subdued in
fight. He has conquered the king of Hell and destroyed the works of the
devil and good right has he to be King over the domain of the
vanquished. As to Death, you know how our Lord vanquished him! By death
he conquered Death! When His hands were nailed, they became potent to
fight with the grave. When His feet were fastened to the wood, then
they began to trample on the sepulcher. When the death pangs began to
thrill through every nerve of the Redeemer's body, then His arrows shot
through the loins of Death! And when His anguished Soul was ready to
take its speedy flight, and leave His blessed Corpse, then did the
tyrant sustain a mortal wound!
Our Lord's entrance into the tomb was the taking possession of His
enemies' stronghold! His sleep within the sepulcher's stony walls was
the transformation of the prison into a couch of rest! But especially
in the Resurrection– when, because He could not be held by the bonds
of Death, neither could His Soul be kept in Hades, He rose again in
Glory! Then did He become the, "death of Death and Hell's destruction,"
and rightfully was He acknowledged the plague of Death and the
destruction of the grave. As if to prove that He had the keys of the
grave, Jesus passed in and
passed out again and He has made free passage, now, for His
people–free entrance and free exit. Whether, when our Lord died, His
Soul actually descended into Hell, itself, we will not assert or
deny–elder theologians all assert that He did and therefore they
inserted in the Creed, the sentence, "He descended into Hell," meaning,
to many of them, at any rate, Hell itself.
It was not till Puritan times that that doctrine began to be generally
questioned, when it was, as I think rightly asserted, that Jesus Christ
went into the world of separated spirits, but not into the region of
the damned. Well, it is not for us to speak where Scripture is silent,
but why may it not be true that the Great Conqueror cast the shadow of
His Presence over the dens of His enemies as He passed in triumph by
the gates of Hell? May not the keepers of that infernal gate have seen
His star and trembled as they also beheld their Master like lightning
fall from Heaven? Would it not add to His Glory if those who were His
implacable foes were made to know of His complete triumph? At any rate,
it was but a passing presence, for we know that swiftly He sped to the
gates of Heaven, taking with Him the repentant thief to be with Him
that day in Paradise!
Jesus had opened, thus, the grave by going into it. Hell by passing by
it. Heaven by passing into it. Heaven, again, by passing out of it.
Death, again, by rising from it into this world and Heaven by His
Ascension. Thus passing and repassing, He has proved that the keys are
at His belt. At any rate, by His achievements, by His doings, He has
won for Himself the power of the keys. We have one more Truth of God to
remember–that Jesus Christ is installed in this high place of power
and dignity by the Father Himself, as a reward for what He has done. He
was, Himself, to "divide the spoil with the strong," but the Father had
promised to give Him a "portion with the great."
See the reward for the shame which He endured among the sons of men! He
stooped lower than the lowest–He has risen higher than the highest! He
wore the crown of thorns, but now He wears the triple crown of Heaven
and earth and Hell. He was the servant of servants, but now He is King
of kings and Lord of lords! Earth would not find Him shelter– a stable
must be the place of His birth and a borrowed tomb the sepulcher of His
dead body–but now all space is His! Time and eternity tremble at His
bidding and there is no creature, however minute or vast, that is not
subject to Him. How greatly has the Father glorified Him whom men
rejected and despised! Let us adore Him! Let our hearts, while we think
over these plain but precious Truths of God, come and spread their
riches at His feet and crown Him Lord of all!
III. THE PRACTICAL BEARING of the whole subject appears to be
this–according to the 17th verse–"Fear not." This manifestation of
Christ, as having the keys of Death and Hell, was given to the
trembling John who had fallen down with astonishment and dread as one
dead. To comfort him and as if to make this clear the words were
spoken, "Fear
not."
Beloved, those words I would address to you this morning, "Fear not."
Why need you fear? There is no possible cause for Believers to fear
since Jesus lives! "But I may be very poor," says one–
"Since Christ is rich, can you be poor? What can you want beside?"
"But I may be very sick," says another. "I will make all their bed in
their sickness," says the Lord. And since Christ is with you, sickness
shall work your soul's health. "Ah," says another, "I may be grievously
tempted." But while He lives, He will pray for you that your faith
fails not, though Satan has desired to have you. Yes, but you
yourselves are very frail, you say, and you fear that in some dark hour
that frailty may overcome your faith. Yes, but He ever lives and you
are one with Him and who shall destroy you while the vital energy pours
from your Covenant Head into you as a member of His body?
I say again, there is no possible cause for fear to any soul that
believes in Christ! You can ransack the corruptions of your heart
within. You can count your trials without. You can imagine all the
tribulations that shall come tomorrow and reflect on all the sins that
were with you yesterday and in the past. You can peer into the shades
of Death and horrors of Hell, but I declare solemnly to you that there
is nothing in any of these which you, believing in Christ, have any
cause to fear! No, if they all should unite, if the whole together–the
world, the flesh, the devil–in trinity of malice should all come
against you, while you have a living faith in a living Savior, "Fear
not," is but the logical inference from that precious fact.
Carry this fearlessness in your life and be happy as a king! Oh, with
nothing else but a living Savior, how rich ought a saint to be! And
with everything else, but missing that living Savior, how miserable the
richest and the greatest of men
always would be if they did but know their true state as before the
Lord! Now, observe, that this, "Fear not," may be specially applied to
the matter of the grave. We need not fear to die because Jesus has the
key of the grave–we shall never pass through that iron gate with an
angel to be our conductor, or some grim executioner to lead us, as it
were, through the Traitor's Gate, or into a dreary place of hideous
imprisonment. No, Jesus shall come to our dying bed in all the Glory of
His supernal splendor and shall say, "Come with Me, from Lebanon, My
Spouse, with Me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana for the day
breaks and the shadows flee away."
The sight of Jesus, as He thrusts in the key and opens that gate of
Death, shall make you forget the supposed terrors of the grave, for
they are but suppositions and you shall find it sweet to die! Since
Jesus has the sepulcher's key, never fear it again, never fear it
again! Depend upon it, your dying hour will be the best hour you have
ever known! Your last will be your richest moment–better than the day
of your birth will be the day of your death. It shall be the beginning
of Heaven, the rising of a sun that shall go down no more forever! Let
the fear of death be banished from you by faith in a living Savior!
Some saints have a fear of the world of spirits. "Oh," they say, "it
mast be a dreadful thing to enter that unknown land. We have stood and
peered as best we could through the mist that gathers over the black
river and have wondered what it must be like to have left the body and
to be flitting, a naked soul, through that land from which no traveler
has ever returned." Ah, but perhaps you imagined that you were sailing
into an enemy's country, but Jesus is King in Hades, as well as Lord of
earth. It is not as though you crossed the channel from England into
France and were among a people speaking another language and owning
another sovereignty. It is but as passing the Tweed from England to
Scotland– you do but pass from one province of your Lord's empire into
another and, indeed, from a darker into a brighter territory of the
same one Sovereign!
In that spirit-land they speak the same tongue, the tongue of the New
Jerusalem, which you have already begun to lisp. They acknowledge the
King whom you here obey, and when you shall enter into the assemblies
of those disembodied spirits you shall find them all singing to the
praise of the same glorious One whom you have adored today, rejoicing
in the light which was your light on earth and triumphing in His love
which was your Savior here below. Be of good courage, Jesus is King of
Hades! Fear not! Neither, Brothers and Sisters, ought we to fear the
devil. We ought to be watchful against him, but we must not fear him so
that he may get an advantage from our fear. "Resist the devil and he
will flee from you." Stand trembling and he will attack you worse than
ever.
The boldness of courageous faith is that which makes the devil tremble.
Well may you be brave, for when he comes howling at you like a lion,
you may taunt him and say, "Ah, show your teeth and howl and yell, but
you are chained! You can do no more than threaten me. You think to
worry me, but you can not devour me and therefore I defy you. Be gone!
In the name of Jesus Christ who bruised you, dragon of Hell, be gone!"
The courage that shall enable you to deal with the enemy, while it
gives glory to your Lord and Master, shall give rapid victory to you.
Satan is a chained enemy! This leviathan has a bit between his jaws and
a hook in his nose. He may vex you for awhile, but you shall be "more
than conqueror through Him that loved you"–therefore fear not!
That is the lesson from the text to the child of God. One other word to
the Believer of God. Should not this contemplation make us say, "Let us
worship Him who has the keys of Hell and Death?" Should it not cause us
to come into His Presence with thanksgiving and show ourselves glad in
Him with songs? Preaching is not the great end of the
Lord's-Day–listening to sermons is not the great aim of Sundays. They
are means! What is the end? Why, the end, so far as we can attain it on
earth, is for us to glorify God in service and especially in the
singing of His praises. Worship rendered to God in prayer and praise is
the true fruit of the Sabbath and I am afraid we are behind in this. I
wish that when Believers come together they would render unto Christ
the coronals of their hymns, to crown him Lord of All.
His enemies miss no opportunity to spite Him. Those that hate His
Gospel are zealous to bring shame upon it. Oh, miss no opportunities to
extol Him with your praises and to honor Him with the holiness of your
lives and the zeal of your service. Is He King over Heaven, and Death
and Hell? Then shall He be King over the triple territory of my spirit,
soul and body! And I will make all my powers and passions yield Him
praise.
To conclude. If to the righteous the lesson from all this is, "Fear
not," I think the lesson to the ungodly is, "Fear and tremble." Christ
has the keys of Death. Then you may die this moment–you may die before
you reach your homes. You have not the key of Death–you cannot,
therefore, prolong your life. But Christ has them and He can end the
times of
His longsuffering just when He so wills it. And what would it be to
some of you if the gate of Death were opened for you and you were
driven through it like dumb driven cattle this very day? O Man, what
would become of you? O Woman, what would become of you, if now those
eyes should glaze and that pulse should stop? I beseech you, consider
your ways and turn unto God lest you die and perish suddenly.
Remember, Soul, that even if you could fight it out with Christ and be
His enemy, yet you cannot, for He is Lord and will be Lord. Even should
you fly to Hell to escape Him, He rules there. "If I make my bed in
Hell, You are there." "Oh," said one who had gone into the backwoods of
America far away and there met a preacher, "I thought I had escaped
these Methodists and here comes a parson worrying me even here." "Yes,"
said the other, "if you went to Heaven you would find religion there
and if you go to Hell you will, I am afraid, find preachers even
there." If religion thus follows a man, how much more does the power of
God surround him! You cannot escape from the Lord of all true
preachers, even if you can escape from them. Wherever you may go, there
shall the remembrances of His rejected love pierce you like barbed
arrows.
Even in Hell shall the glory of His power, which you could not thrust
down though you tried to do it, strike you with a deeper despair. I
implore you to listen to His Gospel. He that believes and is baptized,
shall be saved. This is the message He gave us when He was taken
up–almost the last words He spoke before He rose into His Glory–"Go
you, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." O then, yield to His
Gospel! Believe, that is, trust implicitly in Him who died on the Cross
of Calvary to make Atonement and now lives to make intercession!
Trust in Him and then come forth and confess your trust! Be baptized in
His name, confessing your sins and acknowledging yourself to be His
disciple. This is the Gospel–reject it at your peril! Submit to it, I
beseech you, for Christ's sake.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Revelation 1