During the past century a multitude of books has been published which attempt to tell us who Jesus was (is!) and what His role has been in human history. Each book has presented someone's own understanding, according to how he has interpreted available information. Preconceived ideas and philosophical bias usually factor into the process. Often the view of Jesus is little more than speculation, which in many cases becomes rather bizarre. In this article I would like to let Jesus Himself identify His nature, His position, and His role with respect to people. He does this with economy of words in Rev. 1:17-18, when He revealed Himself to John.
"I am the first and the last, and the living One. And I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. And I have the keys of death and of Hades."
In this statement Jesus identifies Himself to us in terms of four aspects of His divine nature and transcendental powers. First, He says, I am the first and the last. This declares that He is an eternal Being. He was first because there was no one before Him. This is the same assertion with which the Fourth Gospel opens: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God," (Jno. 1:1-2). As the past of Jesus is eternal, His future is also eternal. When this earth and universe have been annihilated, never more to be, Jesus will still be fully existent in heaven, a glorious dimension beyond time, space, and matter.
Second, Jesus identifies Himself as the living One. As the eternal One Jesus is also the essence of life. He possesses to the fullest all the functions of life: consciousness, energy, personality, power. We are told in Jno. 5:26 that "just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself." Before there were angels and people on earth, Jesus lived in heaven with the Father. In fact, we humans are alive and have being only because Jesus, the Source of life, gave that gift to us. In Jno. 1:3 we are assured that "all things came into being by Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
Third, Jesus identifies Himself as the One who was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. This refers to Jesus' time on earth in human form, in which He was crucified, buried in a tomb, and then raised to live again. This historical FACT! is the centerpoint of the Gospel, emphasized over and over throughout the New Testament. It is the foundation of Christian faith that Jesus of Nazareth was in reality the Son of God from heaven, to which He returned after His resurrection. This was Peter's proclamation in his sermon before Jews assembled for Pentecost in Acts 2:23-24, "[This Jesus], delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."
Fourth, Jesus identifies Himself as the One who has the keys of death and Hades. Hades refers to the state of confinement of the souls of the dead between death and the resurrection. When Jesus died, His soul also went to Hades and spent three days until He was resurrected. In that great triumph He was granted absolute power over death and Hades. At the time of God's choosing, Jesus will use the keys given Him to unlock the gate of Hades and release all souls held there. This is the subject of a major scene in Rev. 20:11-15. There in v.13 it says, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every one of them according to their deeds."
My friends, this is the presentation of who Jesus is and what He does in which I put my faith. Any which does not accord with it I dismiss as the product of fallible human construction unworthy of serious consideration.
