Hebrews 2:14,15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Without the devil there is no death. The devil introduced death into the world. The devil beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden lying to her, telling her she wouldn’t die.
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die
God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden where the Tree of Life was so that they couldn’t eat and live forever.
Genesis 3:21-23 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. ~
Had the devil not deceived Eve they would have forever had access to the Tree of Life and never known death, death would not have existed. But, they did sin. And Christ, through his sacrifice in becoming human and dying sinless for us, he obtained the power to destroy the devil thus ending death.
Hebrews 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
We all grow up knowing we will die. No, we might not know it as little children, but most nowadays do learn of it very, very young. Some of us learn of death as it happens to others. It happens to people on the television, it happens in an abstract way that isn’t real to us not until someone, or more likely, an animal dies- a pet of ours, or a friend’s pet. However it is we first come to learn of death. one thing we learn right off regardless of any beliefs about the hereafter is that pet, that person, is not going to be around any longer no matter how much we want them to be. Death is final. The pet/person isn’t coming back in a week, a month, a year, a hundred years. Death takes from us and gives nothing in return. Death is a result of sinning, of not following a command from the Creator, a simple command. Don’t eat of one tree. Who knows how many trees were in that garden. You can be sure there were many trees and all of them that were bearing fruit were there for the eating, all of them. Pears, apples, oranges, grapefruit, and the list goes on and yet they were commanded not to eat of only ONE tree. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.~
One tree. One sin. Death as result. God’s newly created couldn’t listen to a single command. On a child’s level it’s like saying they could play with EVERY toy in a huge storeroom of them, but one. On an adult level today, you could eat any food off an extensive buffet, but one. Take every chocolate out of a huge box, but one. Drive any car on the lot, but one. Live in this mansion, but don’t go in one room. There are many different scenarios to choose from, but none quite the same as that first one because Adam and Eve were perfect. They had no sin in them and yet as humans they had the temptation to resist, perfect or not. They were subject to temptation, to desire, to curiosity. Eve wouldn’t have been tempted by the serpent if she hadn’t been formed with a natural curiosity. Curiosity then is a normal, desirable trait. Using that curiosity to doubt the Lord is not desirable. Doubting anything the Lord tells us is not acceptable. Disobeying a direct command of the Lord’s completely unacceptable. They were told of the consequences. They weren’t blindly led into the garden, presented with this magnificent tree of knowledge of good and evil and then left to do as they pleased. They were warned. They were cautioned. They were commanded not to eat of the fruit. As the children of God they should have listened without questioning, without doubting. Parents will often tell children not to do something for their own good. Sometimes they’ll even tell them why they shouldn’t do it. And yet time and again children disobey. Then there are times children are told not to do something and not given a reason why, simply ‘Because I Said So’, has to suffice and if a child disobeys they’re punished. God was gracious. God told Adam and Eve that should they eat of that tree they’d die. Obviously that wasn’t enough for Eve and death for all of mankind was a result. Our Father is Lord of All and as such worthy of being listened to without explanation, without reason. That God is the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sustainer, He is King, He is our Ruler, and no matter if we understand what he asks of us or not, he is to be obeyed. He loves us with a love we can scarcely comprehend. He didn’t put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden out of some warped sense of humor, to toy with humans, to see if they’d fail. After Satan’s dissension in heaven, which took 1/3 of God’s angels, the Lord had every right to put before man a test of loyalty. Sin existed where it never had before. Sin, vile and loathsome calling into question God’s perfection, calling into question God’s love. Out of love he created mankind, out of love he wanted to protect mankind from the knowledge that evil brings with it. What peace and innocence do those hold, that know no evil? The innocent, the child too young to comprehend right from wrong, those unable to fathom such a concept as evil, those innocent that aren’t fully aware of things, those mentally challenged. Not to know evil, but to only know good what a blessing that is and yet is was blessing given up by Eve in a moment of weakness. Was it because Jesus understood that in the heart of man there was no true evil as yet, just a curiosity goaded on by the author of evil, and because of that He deemed mankind worthy of His great sacrifice?
Mankind’s failure by all rights could have doomed humans. God could have said all right, they aren’t loyal to me, their Creator, I’ll destroy them and they’ll be as they never were. He could have done that, he had every right to take away that which he’d made. Don’t we humans lay great store in possessing something ~we’ve~ created? Patents are held for a reason. We like to lay claim to something we invent. Do we have the right to destroy that which we invented? Yes, we do. Of course once it’s gone out to others it’s very difficult to keep others from emulating whatever it is we invented. On a much grander scale God created humans and he had every right to consider us a failed creation. Instead he gave us a punishment- death. Eve didn’t die immediately upon eating the fruit. Did she die though? Yes. God didn’t say she would immediately die. What Eve did was introduce death making it possible for people to die.
The bottom line is that we are all slaves of death. There is no way to avoid dying ultimately. Today the oldest living person could be anywhere from 115 and on down, rarely ever more than that. And living to 100 is very, very rare. We live under the heavy knowledge that no matter what we do, no matter how we live, we will not be able to forestall the inevitable. The older a person gets the more real the inevitable becomes as peers begin to die. Death isn’t a respecter of age though. However, once you are very old you are assured it is on its way soon. Any one of us can die at any time, night or day. There isn’t any knowledge of when death will claim us, the knowledge is simply knowing it will beyond a doubt. And yes we are in bondage to that knowledge. There is no way to escape knowing that death is the ultimate outcome of our lives. Christ alone frees us from that bondage. Death-- the forever sleep is no longer forever. There is an awakening for those who have the love of Christ guiding their hearts, their lives. We can live under death’s yoke, with or without hope for a life after death. Christ made it so that we all have a chance to defeat death ultimately. Perhaps not the first death, but once the world reaches the point where it is entirely as it was in the days of Noah and Lot-
Matthew 24:37-39 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
-Once God sees the wickedness of mankind is great, and every imagination of the thought of the heart is only evil continually; that all on the earth is filled with violence, Christ will come again. When Christ comes again there will be a small group of people that will never have tested death, these will be those he calls to him as he returns to earth, to meet him in the air.
1 Thess. 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Death has been defeated. The devil has been defeated. Christ took on humanity to assure of us that fact. He took on humanity- flesh and blood and the moment he did, death was his, as it is with all humans. Death was the fate of his humanity. As God with us, Christ could have skipped death, that ultimate of human fates, but it was only through his accepting human fate that he could claim victory over death.
Matthew 26 : 52,53 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Victory over death meant victory over the devil, the one who had brought death to humanity. The devil sinned from the beginning.
1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Isaiah 14:12-14 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
The devil thought to be like the most High, he still believes this is a possibility. The devil would be God. The devil was a murderer from the beginning.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Yes, the devil had been defeated through Jesus’s sacrifice.
Hebrews 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
And Jesus will deliver humanity through His great sacrifice. No longer will the bondage of death be over us. We will be free of death, of the devil. Christ’s sacrifice for us, those he deemed- redeemable, is beyond comprehension in its full magnitude. He paid the price for us that he never had to pay. We are his, shouldn’t we take time to thank God, to praise the Lord for giving us a way to defeat death through him and his wondrous sacrifice?
1 Corinthians 14:54,55 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?