Hebrews 2:14
Destroying the Destroyer
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; (Hebrews 2:14)
The Spirit of God opens another window into the wonders of the eternal God, the one we love, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this verse of 2:14 we have the children, and the children are partakers of flesh and blood. Although they are the sons of Adam, the Holy Spirit leaves the name of Adam out of this verse, and approaches us as children. This seems to bring in a closer relationship still dealing with the incarnation of Christ; this time, however, it is the preparation or manifestation of His body. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:. (Hebrews 10:5) This is the body that was prepared before the foundations of the earth, and yet, so marvelous is this miracle that He came forth in the likeness of men. This is a great enlightenment to the soul, for God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. God brings us into the unique preparation of the Son of God as Jesus Christ. That He, in His Omnipotence, would make of twain one new man. ( Ephesians 2:15) I put before you this thought; we have the need of man, do we also have the need of God? At first, I was perplexed, with these statements. How could God have a need? He, who has created all things, how could He be lacking in any way? Then, I considered Adam in the Garden as a picture or type; Adam was all alone, he had no help mate, then God took from Adam’s side a rib and made for Adam, a bride. Could not this be the need of God the Son to have a bride that He could cherish, that He could display His divine love in every facet?
We also have the need of man, but what is that need? We are sinful creatures, we have a sin dna, can we go back to Adam and the innocence of Adam? No. We need one who loved us so much that He would go into death to redeem us to God. There had to be a new man, one without spot, one without blemish, a man without sin, or the dna of sin. He would have to come outside of Adam’s race, and Adam’s world; for the whole world lies in wickedness. This one would have to be Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient; Omnipotent because all power in heaven and earth was in His complete control so that He could destroy the one who had the power of death, that is the Devil. He had to be Omnipresent for He could not relinquish His place in heaven. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:13) As Jesus, therefore, walked the streets of Jerusalem, He also had a presence in heaven with God the Father. He was also Omniscient, for He is the all-knowing God; whether in heaven above, or earth beneath, His power of Omniscience was evident in John 2:24, 25. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, (John 2:24) And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. (John 2:24)
In the manifestation of God the Son, Jesus Christ never stepped aside from His Deity. We have both God and man in flesh and blood; for God’s plan was to present a new man. Scripture declares a new man, a second Adam without sin; the first Adam was of the earth, earthly; the second Adam was the Lord from heaven. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15: 47) This is the new man in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the quickening spirit. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45) The Holy Spirit of God is making a comparison between these two men; He is bringing forth the differences between them. In these two men, we have one that was of the earth, and in this one sin reigned unto death. Adam was responsible for bringing sin into the world. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12) This was the first Adam, a sinner who in his transgression against God became sin, and this sin was passed down to all men. As blood flows through your body, so sin also permeates your whole body. Without divine intervention, you are eternally damned to the lake of fire; however, we have the second man, the Lord from heaven who is a quickening spirit. This one would be made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemn sin in the flesh; so that those who love Him would be made the righteousness of God in the second man, who is the quickening spirit. He would be the perfect sacrifice for God to take away the sin of the whole world, and deliver us who through fear of death were all our lifetime subject to death. For the sin of Adam brought forth death, but Christ the quickening spirit has freed us from the bondage of death by destroying the power of death; making peace, therefore, with God for us.
The last Adam is a quickening spirit; therefore, we are part of His body, and we have been quickened in Him to eternal life. We have been born into God’s Spirit.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)
The Scriptures are quite clear to the fact that the Spirit of God dwells in all believers. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:48) And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:49)
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17)
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
It is quite evident that those who are born of God not only have new life, but the Spirit of God dwells within them; for they have been born into Christ who is the quickening spirit. Ephesians 2:22 Eph 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
The new birth has freed us from death because we are in Christ Jesus. We have become a heavenly creation in Him. We are no more linked to the earth for we have been quickened by His Spirit, and we are part of His body in heaven. What a wonder that God has appeared to all men to bring grace and salvation.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (Titus 2:11)
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14)
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; (2 Timothy 1:8)
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2 Timothy 1:9)
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: (2 Timothy 1:10)
All these truths are beneath the leaves in Hebrews 2:14, we have the wonder of the incarnation, for He took upon Himself flesh and blood. The Holy Ghost takes us back to the Gospel of Luke to the uniqueness of His birth when the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the child that was conceived was God the Son. So unique was His birth that God opened heaven to watch this wonder; and the angels of God declared this wonder to man as the shepherds were watching their sheep. The ‘holy thing’ of Luke 1:35 was always the Son of God in all His deity. This holy act was a divine act so that Christ would be born into the world as flesh and blood; yet, apart from sin. Nothing of Adam would be in Him for He was the promised seed that would come to redeem man. He would come without blemish, without sin, as a sweet savor unto God the Father. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. (Ephesians 5:2) The world would like to taint this wonderful truth. The world only sees a man through the darkened eyes of Adam. They cannot lift their eyes to the light, for they live in darkness, and in the fear of death. Man has rejected, not only the Savior, but the wonder of His birth. I could go to what man thinks of the birth of Christ, but I am not going to lower myself to their tinsel-town and blaspheme of His birth. They have rejected Christ and they are of their father, the Devil, and he is the father of lies. We have traveled through the ages of approximately 2015 years from His birth, and the world is still full of lies and deception. It is only through the wonder of the word of God, and the Holy Spirit of God that we can abide in the truth.
Do you remember the 3-D comic books? You had to wear glasses with one red lens, and one blue lens in order to be able to see the 3-D image. Without the Spirit of God, you cannot discern the truth in the word of God, and by not being able to discern the word of God you will not be able to discern the very world that you dwell in. The world in it’s present condition is a breeding place for sin, and man is the breeder of all ‘who have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ So when the Lord Jesus took part of flesh and blood it was to create a new thing, and that is, by His grace a people unto Himself, the children of God. This new thing was created to show forth God’s righteousness and glory in Jesus Christ. Moving the veil aside, we see that through His death on the cross that He was making a new creature with His Creatorial power. It was on the cross that He removed death from His children that the new creation may be glorified in Him. I take a window out of creation to explain this wonder. I am Adam, I am born of Christ, Adam must die for I am no longer Adam. Adam must stay behind for he was, and is, sin; however, through the wonder of God I have been made a new man in Christ Jesus, never more to return to Adam, I use for example the worm or caterpillar. It lives it’s life on the ground or earth, then climbing up in a bush or a tree it spins a cocoon. This will be the place of it’s death. It will enter into this cocoon as a live worm. It will give up it’s life for death; it’s body now decays, and there is no visible hope for life, for it is truly dead. Not one cell of life is in that cocoon, then God through His mighty power starts to form a beautiful butterfly. This butterfly will come forth at it’s appointed time. It will slowly come forth from the cocoon, then still holding on to the place of death, this beautiful butterfly begins to spread it’s wings. The butterfly now let’s go of the place of death, and soars in the heavenlies. God gave us this wonder to show us what we were, and what we have become. We wait to enter into our cocoon so that we can leave behind Adam, the worm must die so that we in Christ Jesus can soar through the heavenlies. This is the miracle of God’s grace. While we wait for the grand time, God the Father sees us in Christ already (in type) as that beautiful butterfly. We are in Christ and in God.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2)
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
God the Holy Spirit, in Colossians 3, deals with this whole process of metamorphose, when the Spirit of God tells us that we are dead and that our life is hid in Christ in God. We are in the cocoon of Adam, yet God sees us in His dear Son as a butterfly of grace. Verse 5 begins with ‘mortify,’ put to death oneself before God, and live for Christ. Our death is a process of our mortality. When we became a new creature in Christ it was by the divine creative power in God. God the Father no longer records or reckons the old man, Adam; he was removed at the cross. In Christ’s death God the Father sees His children on the resurrection side of the tomb seated in His beloved Son at His right hand in heavenly places. Now I covered a lot here, it is for us to digest all this, and that will take more than just a moment of time, but through the Spirit of God this will expand your thoughts and life in Jesus Christ.
I must close for now, my mind is breaking, my hard drive is full, and my memory needs a rest, so I will click my mouse, and put my mind to sleep for awhile. May God bless you, and see you soon — if not here — then in glory. I will be the beautiful butterfly with those crazy blue and red glasses — blue for heaven, and red for the blood of Christ. Amen.
© Copyright 2015, Michael Haigh
This article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)