The devil’s only weapon neutralized

Hebrews 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, Having made his point that Jesus was sent from God, became a man, for the purpose of bringing many sons to glory through His suffering in the flesh, the author moved to his conclusions regarding this great salvation. We will see a series of “therefores” in the next few verses. This verse, vs. 17, and chapter 3, verses 1 and 7. Let’s worship God as we look at these conclusions. His first conclusion is that Jesus took on flesh and blood so He could be our deliverer. God begot Him in flesh. Remember God said in 1:5, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” Why was this necessary? Because at the moment of Adam’s sin, the devil held the power of death over all mankind. God said that every transgression and disobedience deserves the penalty of death. Gen. 2:17. “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Ez. 18:4, “The soul who sins will die.” So God became a man, from the seed of Adam and seed of Abraham, according to God’s promise. He shared in flesh and blood for the purpose of becoming our substitute, our intercessor, our high priest, and the perfect sacrificial lamb. He is the only man in all of history who could suffer death and then conquer it. Death was rendered powerless the day Jesus died on the cross. God ripped the devil’s deadly weapon right out of his evil hands and gave it to Jesus as His crown and glory. The devil’s only weapon was permanently neutralized. Let me remind you of vs. 9. “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” God put death under Jesus’ feet as His footstool, just as He promised when He said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Because Jesus partook of the same flesh and blood as we, the author concludes that through His death, He made the devil powerless. The devil has nothing with which to accuse God’s children who have been given to Him. Their sin has been made powerless. Our sins do not have the power to kill us eternally. Paul testified of this when he wrote to the Romans in 6:6. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with (made powerless), so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. So when Jesus died in our stead, we who were given to Him, were freed, not only from sin, but from death, sin’s penalty. He died and was resurrected in the flesh, therefore death is defeated and the devil has lost His one and only weapon against us. Jesus did that for you and me! He did that because He is love. He did that so we might be free to express His love in this world to His children as a sign and a wonder of God’s amazing, great salvation in Jesus Christ. So live to love with Jesus.