Big Healing Book - Hebrews 2:14-15

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.

Notes on Hebrews 2:14-15:

The actual Greek word used in this verse and translated him that had in the King James Version is actually a present active participle – a better translation would be “him who has the power of death” or “him having the power of death.” Many current translations correctly use a present-tense rendering in this verse.

If Satan still HAS the power of death, how can the writer say that Satan was destroyed through Jesus’ death? The answer is that when you are saved, you are brought out of Satan’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13). By providing salvation, Jesus provided a way that Satan’s grip on you could be permanently destroyed. However, those who do not receive Jesus are still subject to Satan’s power.

If Jesus defeated principalities on the cross (Colossians 2:15), how can it be that Satan was destroyed through Jesus’ DEATH? The Greek word for destroyed (katargeo) is a fairly general-purpose word that is also translated made/make of none effect (Romans 4:14, Galatians 3:17), make void (Romans 3:31), loosed (Romans 7:2), brought to nought (1 Corinthians 1:28), come to nought (1 Corinthians 2:6), fail (1 Corinthians 13:8), vanish away (1 Corinthians 13:8), be done away (1 Corinthians 13:10, 2 Corinthians 3:7), put away (1 Corinthians 13:11), put down (1 Corinthians 15:24), abolished (Ephesians 2:15, 2 Timothy 2:10) as well as some other things. It does not mean that Satan was destroyed in the sense of ceasing to exist – he was just made of no effect. He was brought to nothing. But there is really no contradiction between this and Colossians 2:15 because dying is something that Jesus did on the cross! But now we need to clarify what this “death” was. Jesus tasted death for all of us to redeem us from ever tasting it (Hebrews 2:9). That CANNOT refer to physical death because we all still have to experience that. So the “death” that Jesus tasted on the cross was spiritual death, which Jesus had to experience before His physical death on the cross – otherwise He could not have died physically! He had to enter into our common lot of spiritual death and then be raised by the Holy Spirit – the same way that we are raised from spiritual death by the Holy Spirit when we first call on Jesus as Lord. He identified with our spiritual death so that we could identify with His spiritual resurrection. His death opened the way for our resurrection that puts us beyond the legal control of Satan.

Stop looking at Satan as an evil counterpart of God and start seeing him for what he really is – someone who has been stripped and destroyed, a fallen angel over whom you have authority, not vice versa. He may still lord it over his unredeemed human subjects, but once you are in Christ, you are taken out of Satan’s kingdom, power and control. He has been rendered harmless as far as you should be concerned. (You still have to be sober and vigilant lest you believe his lies and end up living below your privileges in Christ, but he can never force you to do anything.)

So how does this fit with the fact that Revelation 1:18 tells us that Jesus currently has the keys of hell and of death? I will at least offer this explanation, which you are free to accept or reject: In the context (“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death”), Jesus refers to having been dead. I believe this is a reference to His time in hell. (I know that many Christians do not believe that Jesus went to hell, and while I think it is quite clear from Scripture that He went into the “lower parts of the earth,” which I would interpret as hell (Ephesians 4:9: “Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?”), believing that Jesus went to hell is not a prerequisite to receiving divine healing, nor is not believing that Jesus went to hell a hindrance to receiving divine healing.) Thus, in this context, I would see this as proclaiming that He has the keys of hell and the second death (the lake of fire).

Satan cannot have the keys to hell or the lake of fire that is the second death, because if he did, he could let himself out after God sends him there!

However, death, which the Bible calls an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”), has not been abolished yet. If Jesus were currently exercising lordship over death, there would be none. Death will not be destroyed until a future point. Death, which is a direct result of Adam’s fall, which allowed Satan to be the “god of this world,” is still a part of reality on the earth. Certainly, Satan cannot go around killing believers who know who they are in Christ, though the time will come when we, like Paul, should be able to say that we have finished our course and are ready to depart with Christ, which is far better, and then choose to go home to heaven rather than having the devil’s diseases evict us from our bodies. Even choosing to go home would not be necessary if death had already been conquered in this life. However, no Christian needs to fear death and thus be in bondage, because death for the believer is simply a relocation to a much better address. Even if you were to die prematurely, Satan would not win ultimately because you would be with Jesus in a place where Satan could never touch you again.

One thing is certain – the statement that Satan has “the power of death” does not mean that he can just go around killing Christians! You are redeemed from his diseases that steal, kill and destroy. You won’t live forever in your current body, but the life you live in it can be free from Satan’s influence now that you have power over him.