Sunday, 2 November 2014

To release us

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.  - Hebrews 2.14-15

Physical death is the ultimate problem with flesh and blood. Our bodies get old and at the end, no matter what, our flesh is going to die and fade away into dust.

Death is a powerful captor. It is a great bondage. The fear of death is the ultimate fear. I watched a special one time about euthanasia. I remember one elderly lady who had chosen the option to go to a country that allowed people to take their own lives with assistance. At the last moment she couldn't do it. She said that life is just too precious to let it go. In a case with world exposure a young woman with brain cancer had scheduled her death in the US for Saturday, but on Friday she cancelled it. She just said there was still too much to live for. Death doesn’t appear to be the friend she hoped for.

The fear of death is indeed a powerful force. It is a scary thing to think about. But because of what Jesus did we are no longer in bondage to the reality of death.


Death may come today, or tomorrow, or five years or twenty years from now. But I don’t need to spend the time I have left in fear of what death will bring. Jesus has sorted that out. And though I am too limited by my earthly vision to look forward to death – I certainly need not be afraid. 

Death has been crushed to death and now life is mine to live without fearing the day it rears its head. I know what is beyond. 

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