The Key to Life Eternal

Would you pay more than $500,000 to have a key made for your car? A company in Finland creates custom-made key fobs encrusted with diamonds and other precious gemstones.

But there’s one door no key in the world can open, no matter how much money you have—the door of the grave. There is only one Owner of this key, and that is Jesus Christ. Owning a key means that the individual possesses the right to use that key. (See Matthew 16:19.) We can thank God that Jesus—not Satan—holds that authority and is more than willing to exercise it.

Jesus obtained that right because of the sinless life He led on earth, His crucifixion, and His resurrection, all of which He referenced in today’s verse: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). The apostle Paul agreed, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him” (Romans 6:8, 9). The gospel is the reason Christ can ultimately resurrect the dead with “the keys of Hades and of Death.” That certainly deserves an “amen.” Incidentally, don’t mistake the word “Hades” for a kind of eternally burning hell or purgatory; the original Greek word term simply means “the grave.”

This verse continues Jesus’ explanation of why we shouldn’t be afraid—and specifically why we shouldn’t fear Christ. Yesterday’s verse alluded to Christ as our Redeemer; today’s verse tells us how He redeemed us. This list of credentials is, in essence, His character. Christ will give us eternal life because He became our Substitute; and He became our Substitute because He loves us. God’s character is love (1 John 4:8). There is no logic in fearing Someone like that. This is what the entire war between Christ and Satan is about—the character of God.

Jesus, help me to see You not as the fearsome picture the devil portrays but for who the Bible truly says You are, a God of love and life.

For Further Study: John 11:25; Ephesians 5:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17

Key Bible Texts

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. (Revelation 1:18 KJV)