Our Great Enemy

 

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. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. (Revelation 1:17-20 ESV).

 

Death is a terrible enemy to us and to the entire creation. There is little that matches the misery and grief we receive when death comes our way. None of us escapes this enemy—and for our sake, even the Lord Jesus laid down his life (cf. John 10:14-18). However, as the Garden Tomb’s emptiness declares, this great enemy has been finally and forever defeated. The photo attached is the location that many believe to be the tomb of Jesus. Whether here or in the Church of the Ascension (both in Jerusalem) there is no doubt of the message: Jesus has forever conquered death for all who believe in Him!

 

In the way he identified himself to John in our reading today, Jesus recalled the events he experienced in Jerusalem at his crucifixion for our sake (cf. John 19-20). “I was dead,” Jesus said, referring to the painful details of his suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial. Jesus knows death firsthand. (See the closing chapters of the Gospel books Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.) But Jesus wants us to see death as an enemy he has defeated. “I was dead,” Jesus says in the past tense. He was dead, but now look at him! He says, “I am the Living One . . . look, I am alive for ever and ever!”

 

Triumphant over death and grief, Jesus gives us this picture of his forever victory. Death does not have the last word with us. Jesus does! He alone holds the keys to unlock death’s door. The ascended Jesus is the same one who said at the grave of his friend: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25). That is our eternal hope!