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“… Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold; I am alive forever more, Amen, and I have the keys of hell and death.” – Revelation 1:17b-18

At the start of Jesus’ earthly life the angel brings the same message to the shepherds that the resurrected glorified Christ gives to John on the Isle of Patmos, “Fear not.” He, who is the first and last, has the first and last word in this mater.

We are not called to fear, but to faith.

We are not designed for timidity, but for courage.

We are not relegated to lives of restless anxiety, but to confidence in a Lord who surrounds times and envelops space, One whose purposes are eternal and whose promises endure forever.

He is indeed the first and the last. Nothing preempts His preeminence in all things. In the beginning, He is God. In the end, He is God. He created history and He will sum it up in the final analysis.

It would be enough to know that He is eternal, but He became temporal flesh and blood for us. We can expel fear because He faced our deepest fears in His own body. Death, our old nemesis, has stalked us through all of our years. He turned to death as if to say, “Just try to take me. Give it your best shot.” 

And He died – horribly, as hideously as possible, but even in death, He had the last word, “It is finished!”

Sometimes you feel locked in and the walls seem to be caving in on you. Sometimes you feel locked out, unable to enter the place of security and joy. Whether you feel locked in or out, fearful of the unknown, apprehensive of the future, regretful of the past, I have good news for you. The keeper of the keys is extending one hand to you and dangling the keys to all the great mysteries and eternity itself in the other. Death and hell are in His hand. He has been there to release the captives and all we must do is follow Him.

But that is not all. He is alive forevermore demonstrating that death is not final for one who believes with heart and life in the Lord of life. But even that is not all – for even if we were to conquer the fear of death, there would be eternity to contend with.

And to that anxiety, Jesus exclaims, “Fear not … I have the keys.”