When Heb.2:14 says “through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil”, we see how God delivers mankind from him that held the power of death. That it was God’s plan to have a deliverer save us from that power.
This is why in the lead up to this Jesus we see many examples of how this would be accomplished. And that in virtually every case the deliverers came to be through what was at times great hardship.
When Joseph ruled in Egypt under Pharaoh he was able to bless his family during the time of great famine. But, this role of deliverer came after much tribulation for Joseph. It started with a dream he had in which he saw his family bowing to him. Which in the end came to pass just as God had showed him it would.
But, when Joseph told his family about his dream they interpreted it to mean that they would be made to serve Joseph. Which made his siblings angry. So they sold him into slavery.
This act of cruelty however was actually something that would be used by God to bless both Joseph and his family. Because this is how God meant to preserve them from the very difficult time of famine that was to come. So it was through this tribulation that God would make Joseph a deliverer for his people.
After hearing Joseph tell them about his dream his brothers got angry and conspired together to get rid of him. First by putting him in a pit to leave him there to die. But, when they saw a caravan passing by they thought it would be better to sell him to them as a slave. So that he would be taken away and they would forever be done with him.
But, God had great plans for Joseph. And in those plans God would show over and over again that what Satan meant for evil God would work out for good. Just as God does in the lives of everyone who comes to a saving faith in Jesus. Which is exactly what Rom.8:28 means.
So we see Joseph go through several levels of slavery. In prison, a slave in another man’s house, and ultimately a servant in Pharaoh’s house. Working out in Joseph’s life what we recognize as a picture of God’s plan for Israel as they lived under the law.
A necessary dispensation in God’s plan for mankind. Because under the law Israel would be preserved as a people through whose seed the messiah would come. It would be the glue that would hold them together so they would not destroy each other. Because through it’s keeping Israel learned about doing unto others as they would have others do to them.
But, many times Israel would be drawn away from their trust in God to serve other gods. And because of this they would be given over to their idolatry, which is the wrath of God expressed as the no side of God’s love, to experience what it really is that those idols meant to do to them. Causing them much pain and suffering. So that when they would cry out to God for deliverance He raised up a deliverer to do just that.
So we see in Israel’s history the many deliverances that wound up in yet another slavery. Just as we see in the story of the life of Joseph. Each one taking them closer to the coming of their final once for all time deliverer Jesus. This actually worked to show them many examples of what their messiah would look like.
A deliverer that would be a man just like those who came before Him. Seeing this in men like Samson. Who was mighty through God to the pulling down of literal strongholds. And in Moses who through God’s power caused the mightiest kingdom on earth to bow to his demands to let God’s people go. And in Joshua whose leadership led Israel to pass over Jordan into the promised land to defeat her enemies as God instructed them.
But, with the added something that made this deliverer special. Because Jesus was God with them. Emanuel. A Spirit that is God, clothed with the same flesh all men have.
Joshua led them to a land flowing with milk and honey. But, also fraught with enemies on every side that would keep Israel focused upon their God and His deliverer.
Or, when they got their eyes off of the deliverer, in some cases lead astray in their worship of idols of the nations around them. Which always led to their needing deliverance again. Causing Israel to look for and be led out of their bondage by a deliverer.
Another aspect to this that we see in the example of the life of Joseph, is that what some may perceive as being a punishment from God when death passed to all men after Adam was sent from the garden, has actually worked for our blessing.
A blessing that caused the Psalmist to write, “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”. Because with death came the opportunity for deliverance from the natural bodies we have been given that can only relate to what has been made. Through the birth of a spirit in us that Adam could never have while he remained in the garden that relates to the God who made it. And the future possession of an immortal body at the resurrection that was only made possible by Jesus’ resurrection.
None of which would have been possible had Adam never eaten the fruit. A requirement for receiving the knowledge of good and evil. Something without which man would never have been prepared to deal with the mortality he had when God made him. But, was now prepared with through Adam’s becoming more like God. As Gen.3:22 says he did.
A mortality that was kept hidden from him as long as he could eat from the tree of life. And the future fulfillment of the Genesis prophecy that a deliverer would crush the head of the one who held the power of death. Satan. That old serpent. The devil.
When Heb.2:14 tells us that Satan holds the power of death, it is a reference to the fear he causes in men to make men do what they otherwise would not do. This fear is the power of death. So fear is the power of death Satan possesses. And not death itself.
Because God alone determines death’s hold on men. When it will come. And if it will ultimately prevail in eternity over him. And in His sovereign will God has determined that death has its hold in eternity only over those who choose it instead of Jesus’ deliverance from it.
This is why God showed Israel what a deliverer looks like over and over again. Because He wanted us in this dispensation to see in men like Joseph, Samson, and Moses God’s power and desire to deliver.
A deliverance that was for Israel her being set free from an earthly enemy that had enslaved her. But, is for us in this dispensation a deliverance from mortality to immortality. By having the first fruits of the spirit created in us by God. Which is a spirit that joins us to Him by birth that makes us His children and heirs to His kingdom.
Not an earthly kingdom like the one Israel has always looked for. But, a heavenly kingdom. One in which there is no death. And no fear of it. Because as we saw in Heb.2, fear is the power of death Satan holds over those who are not yet delivered from it. A fear that holds in bondage those who “all their lives live in the fear of death.”
But, through faith in Jesus, just as Joseph delivered his family from the years of famine, so God has “delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” by God’s final deliverer Jesus Christ.
This means everyone who will trust in Jesus for eternal life is delivered from the fear of death. Which is the power the devil holds and uses to keep men in bondage.
Paul tells us in Rom.10:9,10 that if you will confess the Lord Jesus. And believe in your heart that He has raised from the dead. You shall be saved. Deliverance from the fear of death will be yours.
First from being only natural flesh and blood, to spiritual by the creation of a spirit in you. Also having the seal of the Holy Spirit, so that at the resurrection you will be clothed with immortality.
This is the promise of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is His New Covenant bought with the “ransom” of His mortal body in exchange for an immortal one. Purchased for us who will choose to trust in Him.
Do this and you will have eternal life. Do this and you will be made immortal at the resurrection. Do this and you will never again fear death as those who have no hope do. Do this and you will be a child of God and heir to His kingdom. Do this… and I will see you there or in the air!
This message can also be heard at: https://rumble.com/v533w2q-deliverance-deliverers-and-the-power-of-death-heb.214.html
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Author: Edward O’Hara
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