Revelation Chapter One, Alive Forevermore

Revelation 1:18a I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. 

Christ our Lord goes on from telling John not to be afraid, to giving His divine credentials. There are many counterfeit Christs, both ancient and modern. Paul and John wrestled with such ideologies, stemming from Judaizers to Gnostics. Today we have Rome, the Watchtower, Mormonism, Islam’s Jesus, and so many more. They are legion, but they are false, united in their efforts to dethrone the true Christ and replace Him with a man-made counterfeit that will damn those who follow and materially enrich those who endorse the lie.

In verse 17 Jesus tells John that He is the First and the Last. Now in verse 18 He states that Christ is He who lives, and was dead, and lives forevermore. Christ lives because He is the source of life. He lives in a way you and I (apart from Him) do not. He is spiritually alive. When he incarnated as a Man He became physically alive. This is rather the opposite of us. We are physically alive first, being born into this world through conception. But we are born dead in trespasses and sin, Psalm 51:5, Job 14:1, John 3:5, Ephesians 2:1, Romans 7:14. Christ, who is God, exists from eternity past and has always been spiritually alive, John 1:1, Hebrews 1:10-12.

We know historically that Christ suffered death at the hands of the Roman government. Death, by Biblical definition, means separation. Christ’s spirit was separated from His body, Luke 23:46. We know that during this time, while His body lay in the tomb, He visited the spirits in prison, liberating the righteous, Zechariah 9:11, 1 Peter 3:18, 19, Romans 10:7. Death is not annihilation as some cults teach. There is no Soul Sleep; the body, soul, and spirit are not one indivisible unit as, again, certain cults teach. The writer of Hebrews intimates that soul and spirit are different, individual things, and that God’s word is capable of separating them, Hebrews 4:12. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, desires for God to sanctify them body, soul, and spirit, again intimating that these are individual parts of what comprises a human, 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Solomon informs his readership that when death occurs the body dissolves in the earth, while man’s spirit returns to God, Ecclesiastes 12:7. Moreover, we find the rich man burning in Hades while his body rots in the ground, Luke 16:22, 23. He was conscious and could articulate his woes to Abraham, who likewise was alive long after physical death. In Revelation 6:9-11 we find the souls beneath the altar likewise articulating their woes to God. Jesus, in Matthew 10:28 informs us that the body may be killed by our fellow man, but the soul survives the body’s demise, Matthew 10:28. The word soul is the Greek, “psuche.” In regard to the nature of man’s soul, it is the seat of human desire, affection and aversions. The soul is our moral being, designed by God for everlasting life.

Jesus informs John that now He is alive forevermore. The author of Hebrews informs his audience that Christ died only once, accomplishing through His vicarious death what no human effort could even begin to touch, Hebrews 9:23-28. In Hebrews 10:12 and 14 he reaffirms that Christ offered Himself but once, and through that single offering perfected forever those who are set apart through faith. Paul agrees with this revelation, telling us, “knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God,” Romans 6:9, 10. All men owe death a debt, since all men are sinners. Christ, who is the sinless Lamb of God, paid that debt we owed, thus annulling death’s claim over those who believe. In truth, He annuls death’s claim over all mankind, but if we choose to disbelieve, God’s wrath remains on us and the Lake of Fire will be our ultimate destination. Having dealt with sin forever for all time and all people, He cannot die again; neither is there a need for Him to, since the issue was dealt with in one magnificent stroke.