TUESDAY, October 5

Scripture: Revelation 6:7,8

Why did Jesus take the keys of death and hell if He was not going to use them? Revelation 6:7,8 shows the keys of death and hell are reserved for mocking people who refuse to repent. Jesus uses them first in the church at Thyatira. Verses 7 and 8 state, “When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ And I looked and behold a pale horse and the name of Him who sat on it was death and hades followed with Him. And power was given unto Him over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with hunger, with death and by the beasts of the earth.” Three days and nights in the belly of the earth yielded keys. Jesus paid a dear price for those keys and uses them judicially. Keys open doors. Jesus opens the door of death and hell in the last days for one quarter of the population of the earth. I wonder if that quarter of the population will include any acquaintances… How can we avoid inclusion? One group escapes both those things–the church at Philadelphia. Revelation 3:10 says, “Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of that trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Will we qualify with Philadelphia? Jesus bought and paid for the keys of death and hell because He was going to need them based on the magnitude of man’s rebellion at the end of the age. We are there! Can we access those keys?