Revelation 1

“I am … the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” (1:18).  John was writing during a time when Christians were persecuted, sometimes to the point of death.  In a vision, John saw Jesus as “the living One” who had experienced humanity’s greatest fear: death.  But Jesus is alive, and He holds the keys to death – which means that He can free us too.

The Roman Empire was afraid of Christians because they could not be controlled by the threat of death.  Trusting in the resurrected Jesus, they were free to truly live.