Revelation 1:17 “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:”

“I am the first and the last:”

Jesus made this proclamation that He has no beginning nor ending, which proves that Jesus is Jehovah God. Jesus is not some created god or a lesser god like Jehovah’s Witnesses teach. He is without time, He is the first and the last.

Revelation 1:18 “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen;”

When did Jehovah ever live, die and come back to life again? That’s Jesus Christ.

This is an infamous passage used against Jehovah’s Witnesses that they don’t like.

“and have the keys of hell and of death.”

Jesus has the keys of hell and death, how did He have those keys?

We’re going to look at Jonah chapter 2. When Jonah was in the whale’s belly, he actually died and went to hell. Many people don’t believe that but they believe that Jonah can survive 3 days and 3 nights in a whale’s belly.

Jonah 2:1-6 “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.”

In verse 1, Jonah is in the whale’s belly. In verse 2, he cried out from the belly of hell. In verse 3, he’s under the sea. In verse 5, something affected his soul, he died. Notice all these words: ‘hell’, ‘soul’. There are references where it talks about him in the whale’s belly and concerning his body but it’s also talking about the soul and hell. In verse 6, he’s underneath the earth, he’s in the underworld, and there are bars there like a jail cell.

So Jesus went down there and took the keys.

Matthew 16:18 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Hell has gates.

There’s a heretical doctrine going around where they teach that Jesus went down to hell and He was frying and being damned in hell like a lost sinner. No, Jesus Christ went down to hell to conquer hell and to take its keys.

1 Peter 3:18-19 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;”

In verse 18, Jesus died on the cross, but after He died, where did He go? In verse 19, He went down there to preach to them and it was a prison. How can He be frying in hell if he’s preaching?

Acts 2:31 “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.”

Simon Peter talks about when Jesus Christ was buried, He went down to hell.

Ephesians 4:9 “(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?”

When Jesus died, He first descended to the lower parts of the earth. Jonah said ‘the earth with her bars was above me’, they’re all the same thing. Then the verse says that He ascended.

That’s why Jesus got the keys of hell and death, He went down there, preached at them, took the keys from hell and death, conquered hell, death, grave, and sin, then He stands up in victory interceding on our behalf as a high priest.