The
Arrival Of Jesus Christ
In
The Hell Fire
Angels and King David Speak
When Jesus arrived at the gate of
hell, there were overwhelming fear, trembling and confusion inside hell fire.
And while Satan and the prince of hell
were debating disappointedly with each other, suddenly there was a voice as of
thunder and the rushing of winds, saying,
“Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
The Lord, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of Hosts,
He is the King of glory.”
When the prince of hell heard this, he said to
Satan, “Depart from me, and be gone out of my habitations; if you are a
powerful warrior, fight with the King of Glory. But what have you to do with
him – you are powerless before Him?
And the prince of hell cast Satan away from
his habitations, from the presence of the prince of hell.
And the prince said to his impious officers, “Shut
the brass gates of cruelty, and make them fast with iron bars, and fight
courageously, lest we be taken captives.”
But when all the company of the saints heard
this they spoke with a loud voice of anger to the prince of hell, “Open thy
gates that the King of Glory may come in.”
And the divine prophet David, cried out
saying, “Did not I,
when on earth, truly prophesy and say, ‘O that men would praise the Lord for
his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut
the bars of iron in sunder. He hath taken the captives, who are bound because
of their iniquity, and are afflicted because of their unrighteousness.”
Prophet Isaiah Speaks
Again
After this another prophet, namely,
holy Isaiah, spoke in like manner to all the saints, said, “Did not I rightly
prophesy to you when I was alive on earth?
‘
The dead men shall live, and they shall
rise again who are in their graves, and they shall rejoice who are in earth;
for the dew which is from the Lord shall bring deliverance to them.’
“And in another place, I said,
‘O
death, where is thy victory?
O
death, where is thy sting?’
When all the saints heard these things spoken
by Isaiah, they said to the prince of hell. “Open now your
gates, and take away your iron bars; for you will now be bound, and have no
power.”
Then there was a great voice, as of the
sound of thunder saying, “Lift up your gates, O princes; and be you lifted up, you
gates of hell, and the King of Glory will enter in.”
The prince of hell perceiving the same voice
repeated, cried out as though he had been ignorant, “Who is that King of Glory?”
David replied to the prince of hell, and said,
“I understand the words of that voice, because I spoke them by His spirit. And
now, as I have said above, I say unto you, “The Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle: he is the King of Glory, and he is the Lord in heaven
and in earth; He hath looked down to hear the groans of the prisoners, and to
set loose those that are appointed to death.
And now, you filthy and stinking prince of
hell, open your gates, that the King of Glory will enter in; for He is the Lord
of heaven and earth.”
While David was saying this, the strong and mighty
Lord Jesus Christ appeared in the form of a man, and enlightened those places
which had ever before been in darkness, and broke asunder the fetters which
before could not be broken; and with His invincible power visited those who sat
in the deep darkness by iniquity, and the shadow of death by sin.
Death
And Devils In Great Horror At Christ's Coming
Impious Death and her cruel officers
hearing these things, were seized with fear in their several kingdoms, when
they saw the clearness of the light,
And Christ Himself on a sudden appearing in
their habitations; they cried out therefore, and said:
“We are bound by you; you seems to
intend our confusion before the Lord.
Who are you, who has no sign of corruption,
but that bright appearance which is a full proof of your greatness, which you seems
not to notice?
Who are you, so powerful and so gentle, so
great and so little, a simple man and yet a soldier of the first rank, who can
command in the form of a servant as a soldier?
“The
King of Glory, dead and alive, though once slain upon the cross?
Who laid dead in the grave, and are come down
alive to us, and at your death all the creatures trembled, and all the stars
were moved, and now you have your liberty among the dead, and gives disturbance
to our legions?
Who are you, who does release the captives that
were held in chains by original sin, and brings them into their former liberty?
“Who are you, who does spread a light so
glorious and divine over those who were made blind by the darkness of sin?”
In like manner all the legions of devils were
seized with horror, and with the most submissive fear cried out, and said:
“How come, O you Jesus Christ, that you are
a man so powerful and glorious in majesty, so bright
as to have no spot, and so pure as to have no crime?
For that lower world of earth, which was
ever subject to us till now, and from where we received tribute, never sent us
such a dead man before, never sent such presents as these to the princes of hell.
“Who therefore are you, who with such
courage enters among our abodes, and not only that you are not afraid to
threaten us with the greatest punishments, but also endeavours to rescue all
others from the chains in which we hold them?
Perhaps you are that Jesus, of whom Satan just
now spoke to our prince, that by the death of the cross you were about to
receive the power of death.”