62. "And I have the keys of hell and death." This symbolically means that He alone is able to save.

Keys symbolize the power to open and close - here the power to open hell so that a person can be brought out, and to close it to keep him from going back in once he has been brought out. For people are born into evils of every kind, thus in a state of hell, for evils constitute hell. They are brought out of it by the Lord, who has the power to open it.

To have the keys of hell and death does not mean the power to cast into hell, but the power to save, and this because it immediately follows the declaration, "Behold, I am alive forevermore," which symbolically means that the Lord alone is eternal life (no. 60). Moreover, the Lord never casts anyone into hell, but it is the person himself who casts himself.

Keys symbolize the power to open also in Revelation 3:7; 9:1; 20:1; in Isaiah 22:21-22; in Matthew 16:19; and in Luke 11:52.

The Lord's power extends not only over heaven but also over hell, for hell is kept in its order and connection by forces directed against and opposed to heaven. Consequently He who rules the one must necessarily rule the other. Otherwise no one could be saved. To be saved is to be brought out of hell.