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Did Jesus take the keys of death and hell from Satan? Satan did not steal the keys from Adam because Adam did not ever have them. When they (Adam and Eve) sinned it brought death into the world (Rom. 5) and people go to the grave and wee not automatically with God when they die. People often say "Jesus took the keys of hell and death from
Satan." It doesn't say this at all. Where does it say he took them? This is word faith teaching, its purpose is to show something other than what it actually says so that we think we have this authority. These keys are not the same keys that he promised in Matt 16:19 "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” A person having the keys (to people they were given) signified an entrusting with him to do an important task, in the scriptures they are often used a symbol of authority and power, In Rev 1:18 The word is Hades, not hell; the key is the emblem of power and authority. Christ can both save and destroy, can kill and make alive. Death is still under his dominion, and he can recall the dead whenever he pleases because He is the resurrection and the life. Rev 1:18 Greek Scholar A. T. Robertson writes - Of death and of Hades tou (NT:3588) thanatou (NT:2288) kai (NT:2532) tou (NT:3588) hadou (NT:86). Conceived as in Matt 16:18 as a prison house or walled city. The keys are the symbol of authority, as we speak of honoring one by giving him the keys of the city. Hades here means the unseen world to which death is the portal. Jesus has the keys because of his victory over death. See this same graphic picture in Rev 6:8; 20:13f. For the key of David see Rev 3:7, for the key of the abyss see Rev 9:1; 20:1 (from Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament) Heb. 2:14-15 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, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” It is Jesus who puts believers to death 1 Thess. 4:1, it is blessing for believers, they go DIRECTLY into God’s presence 2 Cor.5:8; Phil.1:23; Ps. 116:15. We do not have hopelessness but confidence when facing eternity. |
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