Destroy, Part Two
Intro:
NASB:
14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil… 15 and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
NKJV:
and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
ESV:
and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
Greek Study:
apallassō (ap-al-las’-so)
definitions: to remove, release, to be removed, to depart, to set free, deliver
This word is only seen two other time in the Bible:
Luke 12:58
When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.
Acts 19:12
So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
(Not that I desire to give Mark ANY credit whatsoever, but this does lend some weight to his argument that Luke wrote Hebrews.)
Question of the Day:
In what ways is mankind in bondage to the fear of death?
How does a fear of death rule society?
(take answers)
PB’s take:
- Everything we do, we do knowing there is a clock ticking
- Our failing bodies remind us of the inevitable end
- This shapes our motivations, for better and worse YOLO
- Embedded in the human condition, we believe there is more to life than this, and so we believe in some sort of “next life”…but most of these hopes are built lies, self-delusion, and ignorance. We usually have these hopes selfishly, because we seek some amount of comfort in this life.
PB’s take through the lens of truth:
- Everything we do, we do knowing there is a clock ticking
This is true, and yet, we have work to do. And the work is beautiful.
Ecc. 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
2. Our failing bodies remind us of the inevitable end
This end is a result of sin and death, which reminds us of the hope in Christ.
Genesis 3:17-19
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labor you shall eat from it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
3. This shapes our motivations, for better and worse YOLO
Make this life, this limited time, MEAN something.
Revelation 3:2
“Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.”
4. Embedded in the human condition, we believe there is more to life than this, and so we believe in some sort of “next life”…but most of these hopes are built lies, self-delusion, and ignorance. We usually have these hopes selfishly, because we seek some amount of comfort in this life.
Make the main thing the main thing. The rest is just details.
Matt. 6:33
But seek first His kingdom (ETERNITY) and His righteousness (PURPOSE), and all these things (TODAY’S NEEDS) will be provided to you.
Matthew Henry:
That he might deliver his own people from the slavish fear of death to which they are often subject. This may refer to the Old-Testament saints, who were more under a spirit of bondage, because life and immortality were not so fully brought to light as now they are by the gospel. Or it may refer to all the people of God, whether under the Old Testament or the New, whose minds are often in perplexing fears about death and eternity.
Christ became man, and died, to deliver them from those perplexities of soul, by letting them know that death is not only a conquered enemy, but a reconciled friend, not sent to hurt the soul, or separate it from the love of God, but to put an end to all their grievances and complaints, and to give them a passage to eternal life and blessedness; so that to them death is not now in the hand of Satan, but in the hand of Christ-not Satan’s servant, but Christ’s servant-has not hell following it, but heaven to all who are in Christ.
Pray/Q&A