These understandings go a fair way in providing context for many New Testament texts, illuminating why Jesus came to “undo the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) and to “break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14). These texts explain why death is the “last enemy” of Christ, as well as why the book of Revelation is keen to show the resurrected Jesus as holding the keys of death.
