Question
When did Christ get the keys to hell and death?
Response
I think the best way to understand and appreciate this issue is to first off make sure we understand when Satan himself came into possession of them and what they constitute. This way we will realize what the Lord needed to do in order to take them into His own possession.
Briefly put, the gist of my understanding is that Satan became the legal possessor of “the keys of hell and of death” when he usurped dominion of the earth in connection with Adam’s sin and fall. He became the legal possessor of a number of things at that time in connection with the successful implementation of his plan of evil on the earth, including the possessor of the realm “of hell and of death” within the earth. That realm came into existence and became a reality at that time with the issues of sin and death having entered the world. Though he was the possessor of the earth by usurpation, this still meant that Satan was indeed the legal possessor of it by means of that usurpation. Regarding the realm within the earth, this therefore meant that Satan was the one with the legal right to oversee that realm of death and to exercise power in connection with it. And the issue of exercising power in connection with it involves the issue of controlling access into it, as well as controlling the fact that it is a place of incarceration, detainment, and/or imprisonment for its inhabitants. And hence having such authority and control over it involves the issue of possessing the “keys” to the various bars, gates, and doors that exist in it.
The literal and physical realm of death that is within the earth is indeed a ‘gated realm,’ or ‘gated community,’ so to speak. As God states, for example, when dealing with Job in Job 38, the realm of death has gates and doors to it; and therefore, naturally it has “keys” for the locking and unlocking of those “gates” and “doors.” In essence the opening of the pit, (which is the opening into the realm of death within the earth), leads to a multi-compartmented or sectioned prison, with bars and gates controlling the way to each compartment/section, and with doors doing the same to each of the chambers within the sections. There are, therefore, “keys” for the opening and closing of all of the gates and doors. Hence the word “keys” is in the plural, and it is evident from various places in the Bible that make reference to the pit, or to hell, or to the heart of the earth, that there is more than one compartment or section within the overall realm of the pit. Hence the issue of there being “the keys of hell and of death.”
In connection with Satan being the usurped possessor of the earth, and particularly having the authority over the realm of death within the earth, he is spoken about as the one having had power in connection with death, as for example in Hebrews 2:14-15. There (in connection with describing aspects of Christ’s work in fulfilling the First Mandate of the Davidic Covenant) the devil is referred to as the one “that had the power of death”. This is what he had in accordance with the fact that before Christ dealt with him as such, it was his “power” that a person was subject to when he died. (Hence the “fear of death” spoken of in verse 15.) With the devil “being the one who “had the power of death”, the realm of death was under Satan’s control from the time that death entered the world until Christ dealt with him as such by fulfilling the objectives of the First Mandate of the Davidic Covenant when He died upon the cross and through death entered into the realm of death Himself. So then when people died before Christ ‘destroyed him that had the power of death’ they, (both justified and unjustified), descended into the pit, and passed through the gates and doors of death and hell, which were unlocked and then locked again under Satan’s authority. For until Christ destroyed him as the one who “had the power of death,” the devil was in possession of “the keys of hell and of death.”
However, as the information in Hebrews 2:14-15 and Revelation 1:17-18 makes plain, the Lord Jesus Christ took “the keys of hell and of death” away from Satan and into His own possession when He successfully entered into contention with Satan on the cross and when He also successfully functioned as Israel’s Redeemer and Ransomer at the exact same time, fulfilling the First Mandate of the Davidic Covenant. When the Lord dealt with the devil as the one who “had the power of death,” He did so in order to “destroy” him as such; making it so that he could no longer exercise that power. Hence the passage in Hebrews 2 speaks of what the Lord did “through death,” and in the passage in Revelation 1 He declares to John, “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”. Hence the Lord took possession of “the keys of hell and of death”, taking them away from the Adversary, in connection with His own death. “Through death”, as Hebrews 2 says, the Lord successfully dealt with the devil and his possession of “the power of death”. And since the Lord did it “through death”, He therefore would need to complete His legal contention with the Adversary by personally, and with all legal authority, entering into the realm of death and of hell, and once there legally demonstrate that death and hell had no claims upon Him. Upon doing this He could then take “the keys of hell and of death” into His own possession and emerge from that realm both untouched by them and in possession of the “keys” to them.
And, of course, this is what the Lord successfully did. For as He emerged victorious from that contention, (which involved Him descending into the pit Himself after He gave up the ghost, and specifically entering into hell where one would be subject to the legal claims of “the pains of death”). He not only emerged “alive for evermore”, but as He said to John He is now the one who has “the keys of hell and of death”. The Lord’s contention with Satan at and on the cross, and the first part of His victory over him there, gave Him the legal right and authority to enter into the realm of death and of hell on His own, and once there demonstrate that they had no legal claims on Him, and thereby to complete His victor over Satan by stripping him of his authority and power over the realm of death, and in so doing to take “the keys of hell and of death” into His own possession. Once again this is exactly what the Lord did, and He emerged from the realm of death and hell with “the keys of hell and of death” in His possession.
So then my understanding is that the Lord took possession of “the keys of hell and of death” from the Adversary after having first successfully acquired the legal right and authority to personally enter the realm of death and hell on His own by means of His contention with the devil on the cross, and then once there demonstrating that the legal claims of “the pains of death” had no hold on Him and “that he should not be holden of it”. With this done. He then took the “keys” into His own possession and He emerged victorious over death, hell, and he devil, and is now the legal possessor of the “keys”.
This is the gist of my understanding.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
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