In Revelation 1:18 , Jesus claimed, audaciously,
‘I have the ‘keys’ of hell and death,’ and He spoke veraciously!
Opinions may vary about the context of this claim,
So let’s take some time to broaden the …contextual frame.
In the broadest possible context, this is what I deduced:
What Adam, in Eden, induced, Christ, on Calvary, reduced. 1
Many folks think that, since forever, Jesus had these keys,
They don’t comprehend delegation of authorities.
In Eden, Jesus commissioned Adam as Earth’s god or lord,
To guard and protect righteousness on her that The Lord adored.
At the ‘commissioning ceremony’, satan was present,
Plotting a planetary coup he and his crew could foment. 2
They succeeded when, to disobey The Lord, Adam AGREED,
Knowing full well that, in disobeying, he was not deceived.
He sub-delegated his delegated authorities,
And thus he handed to satan The Lord’s above-noted ‘keys’! 3
Any experienced official knows this fact very well:
Abused authorities …sounds the accountability knell!
But… in His Love for Adam, Eve and us, their progeny,
The Lord devised a plan to regain His authority.
His plan to regain His authority would be legalized,
When He'd covertly paid sin’s price for us whom He’d penalized,
Then published His plan for mankind, giving us a voice,
To accept or reject His plan via our life’s choice. 4
Voila! His plan worked, and with it, Father God was ‘Well pleased!!!’
Moreover, by the covert part, all devils …self-deceived!!!
The first part of The Lord’s plan was brilliantly executed.
The last part, not so well, by folks who’re lightly persecuted. 5
You see…
The Lord still has a penchant to delegate authority,
To us who show un-faithfulness with responsibility!!!
Yep! But He has another plan to ‘up our game’:
He will turn up the heat of persecution flames!
Light persecutions now, will soon ‘go through the roof,’
When real believers face the anti-Christ’s reproofs,
Just as when churches began in the 1st century AD,
When both Jews and Romans attacked believers atrociously!
In review...
Colossians 2:15 reveals Jesus retrieved,
Some of His delegated authoritative keys,
That Adam gave to satan, who inverted their use,
From righteousness-to-wickedness, by ruse-upon-ruse.
Reviewing those keys, this is what I see.
Please let me know if you agree with me.
Then, with these, let’s try to perceive what folks’ life choices yield,
As ‘residual authorities’, satan today wields.
How devils used The Lord’s keys, residually in life…
1. The power to be effective and efficient in every kind of deceptive, sinful temptation; (That’s the opposite of effective, efficient righteous living!)
2. The power to captivate and capture the imaginations of people’s spirit and souls, like powerful narcotics, to envision, and then act out the worst possible imaginations of their spirit and soul; (That’s the opposite of imagining and acting out righteous imaginations of our heart!)
3. The power to trick people to bring upon themselves, their loved ones, their communities and nations, some or all of The Lord’s promised judgments for unrepented sinfulness, including their untimely deaths; (That’s the opposite of a righteous walk with fruitful blessings!)
4. The power to blind people spiritually to perceive these deceptive temptations, the links between them, and the results of their sinfulness; (That’s the opposite of Godly wisdom and insight about the consequences of sin!)
5. The power to transform into human men, marry women, and literally corrupt the DNA of the entire human race; (That’s the opposite of wisdom to choose righteous mates, and to rear God-fearing children! See: Humans' DNA Hacked (Poem))
…and in death…
6. The legal power to imprison every deceased sinner’s immortal spirit and soul, inescapably, in hell, the ‘agonizing waiting room’ for them, along with all devils, to be cast into the far more agonizing eternal lake of fire on the predicted new Earth! (That’s the opposite of enjoying being in the presence of The Lord when we die, pending our resurrection and rapture experience!!)
Friends,
These 6 ‘opposite’ keys, The Lord delegated to Adam,
For us to use in 6 ages of history, in shalom.
After the 4th age that’s bearing down upon the world, now,
The Lord will arrive in the 5th age to show us all …how. 6
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1 Jesus only reduced satan’s influence and impact. He did not eliminated them. They will only be eliminated when satan’s entire kingdom, along with his faithful human subjects, are finally cast into the eternal lake of fire on the new, eternal Earth. Search this blog for the extensive references to these topics.
2 satan and possibly other demons very likely witnessed the creation of man, and were obviously present in Eden. Devils likely controlled the Earth well before Adam, and might have even triggered its Genesis 1:2 state after they were kicked out of Heaven for fomenting an attempted coup. See: Isaiah 14:12 and Luke 10:18.
3 See: 1 Timothy 2:14.
4 See: 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 and Mark 16:15. This speaks of The Plan of Salvation by Faith.
5 The first part was His virgin birth, death and resurrection. The second part is spreading His Gospel. The worldwide Church, writ large, has never experienced the level of deep, sustained, demonic-inspired persecutions those the 1st century Church experienced. The Bible predicts 4th age saints will experience much deeper, and more geographically-dispersed persecutions than those 1st century Christians experienced. Why? There will be many more believers spread across the world, plus satan well knows his time will be very short! See: Audacious Christians (Series) and Letter to 4th Age Christians (Poem). While the Church has made admirable progress, there is so much more to do in spreading The Gospel and winning souls to Christ. See: Fresh Troops, Incoming (Poem), Why the Millennial Reign Age? (Part 3), and What’s The Gospel (Poem).
6 See: The Millennial Reign (Series) and Human History Ages (Series). Keep in mind, even after The Millennial Reign, when satan’s kingdom is released on Earth, demons will be exercising their residual authorities (keys #1 thru #4 above) that they ‘legally’ received from Adam. See: That’s JUST-T’IS to learn The Lord’s response to devils use of key #6. In His resurrection from the grave, Jesus ‘legally’ regained the keys to hell and also of death (#6). He will use these keys to unlock hell in time for the Great White Throne judgment. See: Revelation 20:11 to 15, Letter to 4th Age Christians (Poem), and Hiatus from Hades?! (Poem).
