晨興聖言-經歷、享受並彰顯基督（四）(W38-綱要)

第三十八週　基督拿著死亡和陰間的鑰匙

W38-outline-ch

讀經：啟一17～18，十7，十二11，十五1，8，徒二24，腓三10～11

【週　一】

壹　『我是首先的，我是末後的，又是那活著的』—啟一17下～18上：

一　基督是首先的，也是末後的，含指祂所開始的事，祂必定完成。

二　主耶穌不僅是首先的，也是初；不僅是末後的，也是終—二一6，二二13：

1　『首先的』，指明沒有人在祂以先；『末後的』，指明沒有人在祂之後。

2　『初』，意即祂是萬有的起源；『終』，意即祂是萬有的終結。

3　這不僅指明，沒有人在主耶穌之先，也沒有人在主耶穌之後，也指明沒有祂，就沒有起源，也沒有終結。

三　基督不僅是首先的和末後的，也是初和終；這向我們保證，祂開始了召會生活以後，就必要完成—參提後四5：

1　主耶穌永不會叫祂的工作半途而廢—啟十7，十五1，8。

2　所有地方召會都必須相信，主耶穌是初又是終。

3　祂必完成祂在恢復裏所開始的工。

【週　二】

四　這位行走在眾召會中間，為眾召會的頭，並為眾召會所屬的基督，乃是那活著的；因此，祂的身體所顯出來的各地方召會，也該是活而新鮮並剛強的—二1。

貳　『我曾死過，看哪，現在又活了，直活到永永遠遠』—一18上：

一　主受過死的苦，但祂又活了—二8。

二　基督曾進入死亡，但死亡不能拘禁祂，（徒二24，）因為祂是復活。（約十一25。）

三　復活是主的日子的延長；祂在祂的復活裏要存到永永遠遠：

1　耶穌基督今天是那活著的，就是那在復活裏的一位。

2　基督要分賜生命，就必須是那活著的。

四　基督是那位活著的，重點乃是祂是永遠活著的，並且活在我們裏面：

1　祂要我們脫離各樣的死，起來成為活的召會。

2　我們越活，就越是活的耶穌的見證—啟十二11。

【週　三】

參　『在這靈裏，祂〔基督〕…曾去向那些在監獄裏的靈…宣揚』—彼前三19～20上：

一　這裏的『靈』不是指留在陰間裏死人的脫體之靈，乃是指挪亞時代因悖逆而墮落，並且被拘留在幽暗坑中，等候大日審判的天使（天使是靈—來一14）—彼後二4～5，猶6。

二　基督在肉體裏受死以後，在那作祂神性活的靈裏到無底坑這些背叛的天使那裏，宣揚神的得勝，就是神藉著祂在基督裏的成為肉體，以及基督在肉體裏的死，勝過了撒但阻撓神聖計畫的詭計。

三　『監獄』（彼前三19）指他他拉，幽暗的深坑，拘留墮落天使的地方。

【週　四】

肆　『我…看見一個星從天落到地上，有無底坑的鑰匙賜給他』—啟九1～2，十一7，十七8，二十1，3：

一　啟示錄九章一節的星是指撒但，他要從天上摔到地上：

1　天使被比喻作星—伯三八7，啟十二4。

2　撒但是天使長，原是明亮之星—賽十四12。

二　『「誰要下到無底坑？」就是要領基督從死人中上來』—羅十7：

1　『無底坑』這辭的原文是abyssos，阿比索斯。

2　這辭在路加八章三十一節指鬼的住處—27，33，35，38節。

3　這辭也在啟示錄九章一節、二節、十一節，指那些『蝗蟲』出來的地方，牠們的王名叫亞玻倫。

4　在十一章七節，十七章八節，這辭指『獸』，就是敵基督，要上來的地方。

5　在二十章一節、三節，這辭指千年國時，撒但要被扔進去受監禁的地方。

6　羅馬十章七節的無底坑是指基督在死後，復活前所去的地方；根據行傳二章二十四節、二十七節，這地方就是陰間，因為這二節啟示，基督死後下到陰間，復活時從那裏起來。

7　照聖經的用法，無底坑一辭乃是指死亡，以及撒但黑暗權勢的地方，就是基督死後所降到地的低下之處；（弗四9；）祂勝過了這地方，就在復活裏從這地方上來。

【週五、週六】

伍　在啟示錄一章十八節下半主耶穌說，『我…拿著死亡和陰間的鑰匙』：

一　因著人墮落而有了罪，死就進來，如今在地上工作，將一切有罪的人聚攏到陰間，就是拘留死人的地方。

二　然而，在召會生活裏，我們不再受死亡和陰間的支配—腓三10～11。

三　基督在十字架上廢掉了死，並且在祂的復活裏勝過了陰間：

1　雖然死盡其所能要扣住基督，卻沒有能力這樣作—徒二24。

2　基督是神，也是復活，（約一1，十一25，）有不能毀壞的生命。（來七16。）

3　祂既是這樣一位永活者，死就不能拘禁祂。

4　基督將自己交於死，死卻無法扣住祂，反而被祂擊敗，祂就從死裏復活了。

5　因此，對基督而言，死沒有毒刺，陰間也沒有能力。

四　因為基督在召會裏是那拿著死亡和陰間的鑰匙者，死亡和陰間在我們身上就不該有任何能力。

五　在召會生活裏，死亡和陰間的鑰匙是在主手中。

六　我們不可能對付死：

1　我們根本沒有能力操縱死。

2　每當死進來的時候，許多人就被死征服。

七　我們若給主耶穌地位、機會、和自由的路，在我們中間運行並行動，死亡和陰間就在祂控制之下—太十六18，啟二十14：

1　當主耶穌在召會裏沒有地位時，死亡立刻猖狂，陰間也成為有能力的，來扣住死了的人。

2　我們看見基督拿著死亡和陰間的鑰匙—權柄，這是很重要的—約五27，十七2，啟十二10。

3　死亡受祂的支配，陰間也在祂的控制之下。

八　我們應當讚美主，基督拿著死亡和陰間的鑰匙—一18，來十三15，彼前一7，啟十九5～6。

Week Two

Christ Having the Keys of Death and Hades

W38-outline-en

Hymns: E146

§ Day 1

I. "I am the First and the Last and the living One"—Rev. 1:17b-18a:

A. Christs being the First and the Last implies that He will accomplish what He has begun.

B. The Lord Jesus is not only the First but also the Beginning, and not only the Last but also the End—21:6; 22:13:

1. The First indicates that none is before Him, and the Last that none is after Him.

2. The Beginning indicates that He is the origination of all things, and the End that He is the consummation of all things.

3. The indication here is not only that there is nothing before or after the Lord Jesus but also that there is no origination or consummation without Him.

C. Christ is not only the First and the Last but also the Beginning and the End; this assures us that having started the church life, He will surely accomplish it—cf. 2 Tim. 4:5:

1. The Lord Jesus will never leave His work unfinished—Rev. 10:7; 15:1, 8.

2. All the local churches must believe that the Lord Jesus is the Beginning and the End.

3. He will accomplish what He has begun in His recovery.

§ Day 2

D. The Christ who walks in the midst of the churches, who is the Head of the churches and to whom the churches belong, is the living One; hence, the churches also, as the expression of the Body, should be living, fresh, and strong—2:1.

II. "I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever"— 1:18a:

A. The Lord suffered death and lived again—2:8.

B. Christ entered into death, but death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24), because He is the resurrection (John 11:25).

C. Resurrection is the lengthening of the Lords days; He will exist forever and ever in His resurrection:

1. Jesus Christ today is the living One, the One who is in resurrection.

2. For Christ to dispense life, He must be the living One.

D. The importance of Christs being the living One is that He is living forever and is living in us:

1. He wants us to leave every kind of death and rise up to be the living church.

2. The more living we are, the more we are the testimony of the living Jesus— Rev. 12:11.

§ Day 3

III. "In which also He [Christ] went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison"—1 Pet. 3:19:

A. The spirits here refers not to the disembodied spirits of dead human beings held in Hades but to the angels (angels are spirits—Heb. 1:14) who fell through disobedience at Noahs time and are imprisoned in pits of gloom, awaiting the judgment of the great day—2 Pet. 2:4-5; Jude 6.

B. After His death in the flesh, Christ in His living Spirit as His divinity went to the abyss to these rebellious angels to proclaim Gods victory, accomplished through His incarnation in Christ and Christs death in the flesh, over Satans scheme to derange the divine plan.

C. Prison (1 Pet. 3:19) refers to Tartarus, the deep and gloomy pits, where the fallen angels are kept.

§ Day 4

IV. "I saw a star out of heaven fallen to the earth, and to him was given the key of the pit of the abyss"—Rev. 9:1-2; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3:

A. The star in Revelation 9:1 refers to Satan, who will be cast down from heaven to earth:

1. The angels are likened to stars—Job 38:7; Rev. 12:4.

2. Satan, as the archangel, was the Daystar—Isa. 14:12.

B. " Who will descend into the abyss? that is, to bring Christ up from the dead"—Rom. 10:7:

1. In Greek the word rendered as "abyss" is abyssos.

2. This word is used in Luke 8:31 in reference to the dwelling place of the demons—vv. 27, 33, 35, 38.

3. It also occurs in Revelation 9:1-2 and 11 to denote the place out of which the "locusts," whose king is Apollyon, will come.

4. In Revelation 11:7 and 17:8 it signifies the place out of which the beast, which is the Antichrist, will ascend.

5. In Revelation 20:1 and 3 it specifies the place into which Satan will be cast and imprisoned during the millennium.

6. In Romans 10:7 abyss points to the place Christ visited after His death and before His resurrection, which place, according to Acts 2:24 and 27, is Hades, for Acts 2:24 and 27 reveal that Christ went into Hades after He died and rose from that place in His resurrection.

7. According to biblical usage, the word abyss always refers to the region of death and of Satans power of darkness into which Christ after His death descended as into the lower parts of the earth (Eph. 4:9), which He conquered, and from which He ascended in His resurrection.

§ Day 5 & Day 6

V. In Revelation 1:18b the Lord Jesus says, "I have the keys of death and of Hades":

A. Due to the fall and the sin of man, death has come in and is now operating on earth to collect all sinful people and to bring them to Hades, the place where the dead are kept.

B. In the church life, however, we are no longer subject to death and Hades—Phil. 3:10-11.

C. Christ abolished death on the cross, and He overcame Hades in His resurrection:

1. Although death tried its best to hold Christ, it was powerless to do so—Acts 2:24.

2. Christ is both God and resurrection (John 1:1; 11:25), possessing the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16).

3. Because He is such an ever-living One, death is not able to hold Him.

4. Christ delivered Himself to death, but death had no way to detain Him; instead, death was defeated by Him, and He rose up from it.

5. With Christ, therefore, death has no sting, and Hades has no power.

D. Because Christ is the One in the church who is the Holder of the keys of death and Hades, death and Hades should not have any power over us.

E. In the church life the keys of death and Hades are in the Lords hand.

F. It is impossible for us to deal with death:

1. We simply do not have the ability to handle it.

2. Whenever death enters, many will be overcome by it.

G. If we give the Lord Jesus the ground, the opportunity, and the free way to move and act among us, both death and Hades will be under His control— Matt. 16:18; Rev. 20:14:

1. When the Lord Jesus does not have the ground in the church, death immediately becomes prevailing, and Hades becomes powerful to hold the dead ones.

2. It is crucial for us to see that Christ has the keys, the authority, of death and Hades—John 5:27; 17:2; Rev. 12:10.

3. Death is subject to Him, and Hades is under His control.

H. We should praise the Lord that Christ has the keys of death and of Hades—1:18; Heb. 13:15; 1 Pet. 1:7; Rev. 19:5-6.