by C. H. Spurgeon
Hell and death, terrible powers as they are, are not left to riot without government. Jesus holds the keys of these dreadful regions! Death is a land of darkness, yet a sovereign eye surveys it, and a master hand holds its key.
Hell also is a horrible region, where powers of evil and of terror hold their high court and dread assembly; but hell trembles at the presence of the Lord, and there is a throne higher than the throne of evil.
Let us rejoice that nothing in heaven, or earth, or in places under the earth, is left to itself to engender anarchy. Everywhere, serene above the floods, the Lord sits as King forever and ever!
No province of the universe is free from the divine rule!
Things do not come by chance. Nowhere do chance and chaos reign, nowhere is evil really and permanently enthroned. Rest assured that the Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
Christ has the keys of hell and death!
He is the Lord over those dark regions, and rules them by his sovereignty. Christ is Lord over hell and death.
He actually rules and manages in all the issues of the grave, and overrules all the councils of hell, restraining the mischievous devices of Satan, or turning them to subserve his own designs of good.
Our Lord Jesus Christ still is supreme! His kingdom, willingly or unwillingly, extends over all existences in whatever regions they may be!
Jesus rules over the damned spirits!
In this life they would not have him to rule over them, but in the life to come they must submit whether they will or not. In that seething caldron of hell, every wave of fire is guided by the will of Christ, and the mark of his sovereignty is on every iron chain.
Thus the ungodly will be compelled to feel his rule with terror, for although the ferocity of their natures will remain, yet the boastfulness of their pride shall be taken from them. Though they would still revolt, they shall find themselves hopelessly fettered, and powerless to accomplish their designs.
Though they would sincerely continue stouthearted as Pharaoh, and cry, "Who is the Lord, that we should obey his voice?" They shall wring their hands in anguish and bite their tongues in despair.
One of the great terrors of the lost in hell will be this, that he who came to save was rejected by them, and now only reveals himself to them as mighty to destroy. He who held out the silver scepter when they would not touch it, shall forever break them with a rod of iron for their willful impenitence.
"Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment."
"Beware you that forget him, lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver."
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from Spurgeon's sermon, "Christ With the Keys of Death and Hell" #894. Rev. 1:18. "I have the keys of hell and of death."