Hades
Revelation 1:18
Excerpt
In the [NT] ... Hades appears both as a place (Acts 2:31) and as a being (Rev. 6:8). As a place it is the abode of the dead (Acts 2:27, 31). The notion that the realm of the dead had one or more gates controlling movement into and out of it is a very ancient one. It appears in the [OT] (Isa. 38:10) and in the [NT] (Matt. 16:18). In Rev. 1:18 the risen Christ says that he has ‘the keys of Death and Hades.’ The saying implies that Christ is able to unlock and lock the gates of Hades, that he has power over life and death. The saying in Matt. 16:18 means that the powers of death and other God-opposing forces will not triumph over the church (the community of believers in Jesus as the Christ).
Achtemeier, Paul J., Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature. Harper’s Bible dictionary 1985 : 365. Print.
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