Revelation 1:18

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Greek, 'And THE LIVING ONE:' connected with Revelation 1:17. AND WAS, [ egenomeen (G1096)] - 'and (yet) I became dead.' ALIVE FOR EVERMORE - `living unto the ages of ages:' not merely 'I live,' but I have, and am the Source of, life to my people. 'To Him belongs absolute being, contrasted with the creature's relative being: others may share, He only hath immortality; being in essence, not by participation, immortal' (Theodoret). B reads "Amen;" 'Aleph (') A C, Vulgate, Coptic, omit it. His having passed through death as one of us, and now living in the infinite plenitude of life, reass...

12-20 The churches receive their light from Christ and the gospel, and hold it forth to others. They are golden candlesticks; they should be precious and pure; not only the ministers, but the members of the churches; their light should so shine before men, as to engage others to give glory to God. And the apostle saw as though of the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He is with his churches always, to the end of the world, filling them with light, and life, and love. He was clothed with a robe down to the feet, perhaps representing his righteousness and priesthood, as Mediator. This vest was girt with a golden girdle, which may denote how precious are his love and affection for his people. His head and hairs white like wool and as snow, may signify his majesty, purity, and eternity. His eyes as a flame of fire, may represent his knowledge of the secrets...

Verse Revelation 1:18. I am _HE THAT LIVETH, AND WAS DEAD_] I am Jesus the Saviour, who, though the fountain of life, have died for mankind; and being raised from the dead I shall die no more, the great sacrifice being consummated. _And have the keys of death and the_ _grave_, so that I can destroy the living and raise the dead. The _key_ here signifies the _power_ and authority over life, death, and the grave. This is also a rabbinical form of speech. In the Jerusalem _Targum_, on Genesis 30:22, are these words: "There are four KEYS in the hand of God which he never trusts to angel or seraph. 1. The _key_ of the _rain_; 2. The _key_ of _provision_; 3. The _key_ of the _grave_; and 4. The _key_ of the _barren womb_....

I AM HE THAT LIVETH, AND WAS DEAD - I was indeed once dead, but now I live, and shall continue to live forever. This would at once identify him who thus appeared as the Lord Jesus Christ, for to no one else could this apply. He had been put to death; but he had risen from the grave. This also is given as a reason why John should not fear; and nothing would allay his fears more than this. He now saw that he was in the presence of that Saviour whom more than half a century before he had so tenderly loved when in the flesh, and whom, though now long absent, he had faithfully served, and for whose cause he was now in this lonely island. His faith in his resurrection had not been a delusion; he saw the very Redeemer before him who had once been laid in the tomb. BEHOLD, I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE - I am to live forever. Death is no more to cut me down, and I am never again to slumber in the grave...

EXPOSITION THE TITLE. The simplest form of this, as of other books of the New Testament, is the oldest: 'The Revelation of John' (Αποκάλυψις Ιωάννου). Other forms worth noting are: 'The Revelation of John the Apostle and Evangelist;' 'The Revelation of the holy and most glorious Apostle and Evangelist, the virgin, the beloved, that leaned on the breast, John the Divine.' 'The divine' as a title for St. John, which is retained here in both the Authorized Version and the Revised Version, is certainly as old as Eusebius ('Praep. Evan.,' 11.18). Recent discoveries at Ephesus have shown that "divines" (θεολόγοι) was a title of the chief priests in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. It is possible, but hardly probable, that this suggested the title for St. John. It probably points to his witness to the Divinity of the Logos or Word. Eusebius ('Hist. Eccl.,' III. 24.13) remarks that John omit...

I [AM] HE THAT LIVETH,.... As the eternal God, who has life in himself, originally, essentially, and inderivatively, and is the fountain and author of life to others; and who ever lived as the Mediator and Redeemer, and still does, and ever will, yea, even when he was dead as man: AND WAS DEAD; he died the death of the cross, for the sins of his people, in due time, and but once; and it was but a short time he was held under the power of death, and will never die any more: AND BEHOLD I AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE, AMEN; he was always alive as God, or he was always the living God, and ever will be; and he is now alive as man, and will for ever continue so; and he is alive to God, he lives by him, with him, and to his glory; and he is alive to the benefit and advantage of his redeemed ones, for whom he died; he ever lives to make intercession for them; he rose again from the dead for their jus...

Revelation 1:1. _The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw._ John was one who was of the same spirit as his Master. He lived in very intimate communion with his Lord, and, therefore, to him the choicest revelations were made. The Lord does not reveal his secret to uncongenial minds. He that will do his will shall know of the doctrine, and he shall know all secret things. Oh! if we lived nearer to God, if we walked more in the love of Christ, how much more we might know and see; or, if we saw not visions, yet there are inward perceptions to the heart which God would grant us if we lived more in the light of his countenance....

HELL Hades. (_ See Scofield) - (Luke 16:23). _...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE PATMOS VISION OF THE GLORIFIED SON OF MAN CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction (Revelation 1:1)_ 2. Greeting and benediction (Revelation 1:4) 3. The praise (Revelation 1:6) 4. The testimony of the Almighty (Revelation 1:8) 5. John in Patmos (Revelation 1:9) 6. The vision of Christ in glory (Revelation 1:12) 7. The commission ...

THE PROLOGUE gives an account of the vision of the Son of Man, and the manner in which the messages to the seven churches came to the seer. Revelation 1:9. John your brother: the term brother in the NT is used to signify fellow-Christian, the members of the same Christian community (_cf._ the phrase our brother Paul, 2 Peter 3:15; see Harnack, _Mission and Expansion of Christianity_ 2_,_ i. 405 f.). TRIBULATION refers to the persecutions. The order of the words is significant, kingdom coming after tribulation and before patience, and reminds us of the words, Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22). PATIENCE: _i.e._ patient endurance. We must not only enter