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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Revelation 1:18 - 1:18
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
And I was dead (kai egenomēn nekros). “And I be came dead” (aorist middle participle of ginomai as in Rev 1:9, Rev 1:10, definite reference to the Cross).
I am alive (zōn eimi). Periphrastic present active indicative, “I am living,” as the words ho zōn just used mean.
Forevermore (eis tous aiōnas tōn aiōnōn). “Unto the ages of the ages,” a stronger expression of eternity even than in Rev 1:6.
The keys (tas kleis). One of the forms for the accusative plural along with kleidas, the usual one (Mat 16:19).
Of death and of Hades (tou thanatou kai tou hāidou). Conceived as in Mat 16:18 as a prison house or walled city. The keys are the symbol of authority, as we speak of honouring one by giving him the keys of the city. Hades here means the unseen world to which death is the portal. Jesus has the keys because of his victory over death. See this same graphic picture in Rev 6:8; Rev 20:13. For the key of David see Rev 3:7, for the key of the abyss see Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1.