The world’s greatest emancipation…
Describing Jesus, the writer of Hebrews continues – “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. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2: 14-18)
God, being spirit, had to ‘veil’ Himself in flesh and enter into His fallen creation in order to rescue us.
Through His death, Jesus destroyed Satan’s power of death over mankind.
Writing about the resurrection, Paul reminded the Corinthians “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After this He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.” (1 Corinthians 15: 3-7)
We are all born under a spiritual and physical death penalty. We are separated from God both spiritually and physically, until we accept Christ’s payment for us. If we are born of His Spirit through faith in what He has done for us, we become spiritually reunited with Him, and at the moment of our death we will become physically reunited with Him. Paul taught the Romans – “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.” (Romans 6: 6-10)
Jesus is a merciful and faithful High Priest. He paid the price for our complete redemption, and what He experienced on earth has given Him the ability to understand exactly what we go through in our lives, including all the trials and temptations we face.
God’s word reveals who God is and who we are. Hebrews 4: 12-16 teaches us – “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
If we accept what Jesus has done for us, we can approach a throne of grace, a place of mercy, rather than a throne of judgement.
