Revelation 1:17-18
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
John is overcome by the glory of the Lord. This may remind us that no one can see the Lord and live. John falls to the ground, but rises by the right hand of the Lord. It is when we die to self that Jesus will lay His right hand on our shoulders. This happens while we are still in these bodies of flesh. When we lay these bodies aside at last, He will receive us with open arms.
There is no need for fear. Our core fear and dread is the specter of the unspoken, yet inevitable meeting with death. Now there is a way beyond death. He was the first to rise from the dead and embody the last and final image of a man that is created in the image of God. Because He is the first and leads the way, we at last are able to follow Him through death's door and walk in the light of life. He took our image and wrapped it around the Spirit of God, wrapped as it were, in the swaddling clothes of our flesh.
He has the keys of Death and Hades which means He can free us all who are trapped behind that door of death. What He has opened, no one can close. He invites all of us to come out of the tomb and shed our grave clothes for a new garment of the righteousness of God.
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