TOPIC:“The Keys of the Door-Keeper”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:John 10:1-9, Revelation 1:9-18
“I am the door” (John 10:9)
“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
Amen, and have the keys of hell and death” (Revelation 1:18)
Keys in the Bible represent mastery, power and authority. It is a badge of power given to a select group of individuals. In Matthew 16:19 Peter was given the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Later Peter opened the door of Christian opportunity to Israel on the day of Pentecost and to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. Elsewhere in Revelation we read the inspecting Lord has the keys of David in chapter 3 verse 7 and the fifth angel has the key to the bottomless pit in chapter 9 verse 1.
But it is here in chapter 1 of Revelation we read about the keys that the risen Christ holds in His hands. Let us never forget that these keys of Christ opened the door to the conquest of sin, fear and death only because of the glorious reality of His resurrection. Christ rising from the dead was the impetus that enabled those early disciples to herald a message of victory throughout the Roman Empire, and eventually by others, throughout the world. Hear again the matchless message of our text: “Fear not; I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and death” (1:17, 18).
Christ is the Door-Keeper. Let us now examine three keys found in this chapter of Revelation that Christ holds in His hand to open the door of victory over sin, fear and death..
I.
Consider, to begin with, that Christ the Door-Keeper holds the key to the MOCKERY of SIN. Nothing ridicules and mocks us more than sin. In the introduction from which our text is taken the Apostle John in a hymn of praise sets forth the matchless and magnificent work of Christ for each one of us: “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (1:5).
The word “washed” is better rendered “loosed” or “released” believers from their sins by the sacrificial blood of Christ on the cross. By His vicarious death Christ not only destroyed the power that sin once had upon us, but as Christians He is able to deliver us from the practice of sin. We have been set free from sin's bondage. The NIV translates the words of John this way: “To Him who loves us and has . . .