Jesus Came to Destroy the Power of the Devil

Jesus came to destroy the power of the devil.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. –Hebrews 2:14-15

What power do your fears have over you? The author of Hebrews knows that the power of fear, and particularly the fear of death, leads to slavery. You do whatever it takes to avoid that which you fear, and by spending your life focusing on that one thing you become its unwitting subject. Your fear now rules over you as a cruel master.

The devil knows this full well. He is a tyrant who uses the power of death to subject humanity to fear and lifelong slavery. Some of his subjects respond by living good moral lives in an attempt to be rid of slavery to death and the devil. Others respond in the opposite direction, doing whatever they would like with no thought of death and what is to come.

But there is a way out. In an act of sheer grace, Jesus Christ came in flesh and blood. More than that, He died. But rather than perpetuating the cycle of fear and death, Jesus’ death was a final destructive blow against the devil and his works. In living, dying, and rising from the dead, Jesus destroyed the devil’s power over death. Now those who belong to Him are not in bondage to their old slave-master, Satan, but to their new glorious King, Jesus. Now instead of cowering in subjection to the devil, we are able to sing of the deliverance we have in Christ: “No guilt in life, no fear in death! This is the power of Christ in me!”