“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades’” (Rev 1:17-18).
Maybe, just maybe, if we listen with ears of faith, we just might hear the clinking of keys.
That, my friends, is the jingling of freedom. Freedom secured by our Savior.
Our enemy might be the one who cast those keys to death and Hades in the first place, with a cunning scheme to hold people captive.
But when Jesus rose from the dead, He snatched those keys from satan’s grasp, thereby freeing people bound in fear.
Jesus swiped those keys away and flung wide the door to life for those He redeemed. He now holds the keys of death and Hades. And what He holds cannot be taken from Him. He has disarmed their power against us. They no longer master us. For the Living One has defeated both foes of sin and death. And He has delivered us from the fear they once wielded.
A life lived in guilt and fear is not zoe-life.
Zoe-life is not lived in fear. Zoe-life is lived in Christ.
So, when you hear lies condemning you, listen instead for the chime of keys.
When death makes you fear, listen for the chime of keys.
Have confidence in the One who is First and Last, the One once dead but now alive. He has control of those keys that once kept you locked in fear. Then, His peace will be yours. So you can tune your ears to heaven’s truth.
Can you hear them?
That is the sound of freedom. Freedom from fear of death and condemnation. Freedom from sin and death’s greedy grasp. Freedom to walk in the peace of Christ.
Step through the Door into life. Zoe-life.
