Daily Devotional For January 26, 2025
“Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the one who lives. I became dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Rev 1:18.
Scholars have noticed a surprising thing in this text. There are similarities between the description of Jesus here and the greatest, most popular goddess of Asia Minor, Hekate. Hekate was renowned as the one who possessed the keys to Hades, the mythological realm of the dead. She was called “trimorphos,” having three different forms or shapes related to the three great parts of the universe: heaven, earth and the underworld (Hades). In her heavenly form she was called Selene or Luna (the moon), on earth she was called Artemis or Diana (see Acts 19), in the underworld, she was called Persephone. She was also known as “the beginning and the end” (Rev 22:13).1
As the one who freely moves between heaven, earth and the underworld, Hekate would be the goddess of revelation. She would be able to reveal on earth the things that went on in heaven and in Hades. As the holder of the keys she would also be the one who could provide salvation.
Why would Jesus refer to Himself in ways that so strikingly resemble a pagan goddess? Because God always meets people where they are (see 1 Cor 9:19-23). Do you remember the day you met Jesus? Do you remember the words or actions on His part that reached your heart? Each conversion story is unique because God is creative in His approach.
A young man in Arizona was searching for Jesus, though he didn’t really know it at the time. He lay on his couch one day, high on drugs, listening to The Rolling Stones rock music group (in his words, he was “stoned on the Stones”). As he stared up at the ceiling in his altered state of mind, not particularly looking for God, he suddenly saw a face that he recognized as that of Jesus. Jesus said to him, “When this song is over, you need to get your life in order and follow me!” The music died and the young man moved into a sitting position, stunned. He looked around and saw no one.
Responding to God’s call, he quit the drugs and the wild life and went back to school. A few years later he finished seminary and entered the ministry! It’s an incredible testimony to Jesus’ ability to reach anyone, even in a drug and rock infested room. I am in no way suggesting that drugs and the Rolling Stones are a useful path to faith, I simply want to underline the infinite grace of Jesus Christ, who pulls branches out of the fire and puts them to good use! That means there’s hope for you and me too.
Lord, thank You for doing whatever it took to draw me into relationship with You.
1 For more information about Hekate see David E. Aune, Revelation 1-5, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 52a (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1997), 104-105.