TiL- Hebrews 2:14-15

Welcome back to the truth and love podcast. We thank you again for joining us. If you happen to have watched the previous episode, we are recording this one as well, back to back with that one. So notice the same shirts.

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Oh, but we are glad that you're with us. Remember this, these episodes are being prerecorded, but it doesn't mean that you can't communicate with us. Let us know what you would like to hear. Let us know if you have any questions.

Let us know if we can pray for you and, and all that good stuff. We would just love to hear from you. It would tickle us pink or blue. Presbyterian blue, Presbyterian blue. All right. So we are continuing in Hebrews, which is just a fascinating journey.

And, um, I'm thankful for the time that we're taking to go through it. Uh, last time we were, we looked at verses 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 sort of, and chapter two, Hank got to 15 yet. We were getting close.

We were getting close.

Yeah.

We were looking at close to 15.

We looked at, uh, where the author here is quoting, he quoted Psalm 22, quoted Isaiah, and we looked at those chapters. If you, if you missed it, go back and check out the previous episode where we went back to Psalm and went back to Isaiah, uh, some real, really good stuff.

So without further ado, let's jump on in Hebrews chapter two. Um, you want to start in 14?

Yeah. It's the beginning of a chapter, not chapter. 14 is never the beginning of a chapter, beginning of a paragraph.

There you go. It says, therefore, since the children's share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same. And we spoke of that earlier. Uh, well in the, in the previous episode, the hypostatic union of Christ that through death, he might render powerless him who had the power of death.

That is the devil and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. Um, so let's answer a question that we stopped with last time. You took it as you took us to first Peter, because you're going to be preaching next.

Well, second Peter, second Peter, I will have been, I'll be preaching this next week, which is two weeks ago.

And this episode will be after you've preached it right. So go back and listen to the dance sermon because it will have been preached by now.

In fact, if, if everything goes according to plan, I would ask for y 'all to preach for me because I'm preaching at a PC USA church this week. As of when this is being broadcast three weeks from now, but it'll be the coming Sunday when you all watch us.

Nice.

So pray for Dan and pray for them. They're, uh, they seem to be, um, they seem to be hurting a little bit. So pray for them.

So you were, you were taking us to the second Peter and the passage basically says, Jesus, Jesus came. He died for us so that we could be partakers of the divine nature. We want to know what that means and what that doesn't mean.

All right.

Number one, what it doesn't mean is we are not going to become God. It's not going to become a quad Trinity or a, a Quintinity or a billion ID or whatever number you want to throw on it. Still God, father, son, and Holy spirit.

Trinity.

We're not going to be able to populate our own planet.

We are not going to populate our own planet. We are not going, no, this is, that's not going to happen. Now with that said, uh, there's a church father, I believe is Irenaeus said God became man, which is what we're talking about.

The incarnation so that man may become God. He didn't mean it, that we will become God in the same way that the Mormons believe that we will actually gain deity will, but here's what he did mean by it.

He meant by it that we would become, as it says here in second, Peter, uh, partakers of the divine nature that we're partakers is an interesting one in, in Greek, and I'm not going to bore you with all the Greek stuff, but you've, you've probably heard of, of the word, even if you don't remember what it means, a koinonia has to do with fellowship or togetherness.

So this, this word here partaker is, is weird because we don't have a word for an adjective of fellowship. Uh, best I could do is to say something like, uh, that we may become, that you may become divine nature fellowshipers, or you have a fellowship with the divine nature, there's a link or a unity between yourself and the divine nature.

And here's what it says in the next, the next line says, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. So part of what it means to be a partaker of the divine nature is to have the corruption that comes through sin through lust of our flesh of lust of doing things that are sinful, that is taken away from us.

So what it means to be a partaker or a fellowshipper with the divine nature is not that we gain the qualities of God that are, um, his essence or his substance, his, uh, fancy word of ontology, you know, how he is, how he exists, uh, in his.

Being.

Um, but in the things that, the things that we can describe him as so in his, uh, holiness, no, granted, not the same, but we can be made righteous. Uh, we can be made knowledgeable. We can have a love for the brothers.

And in fact, it says this in the very next, very next words in, in, uh, second, Peter says for this reason. So because you can be a, make a partaker of the divine that you can fellowship with God, um, it says, make every effort because of that, make every effort to supplement your faith.

That's just sound real familiar from James faith without works is dead. And here's a list of works must accompany your faith virtue with virtue knowledge. And when he tells you that you don't need to study theology, they're wrong.

It says so right here with knowledge, self-control, self-control, steadfastness, steadfastness, godliness, godliness, brotherly affection with brotherly affection, love, and why? Because those are the things that God is.

What is the fruit of the spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, meekness, long suffering, faith, those things were made partakers of the divine nature. We fellowship with God on a level where the, the, the image of God in us is restored and made solid.

We see that in our process of sanctification now, and we see it in more fully as we enter into our eternal state and the sin that we have is completely done away with. And it goes so far. I'm sorry. You're going to get a little snippet of my sermon that I will have already preached.

It says this in verses eight and nine, it says for if these qualities are yours and are increasing. So if you have those things that are supposed to be locked on side by side with your faith, they will keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.

So in other words, if you have these qualities, you're going to be effective and fruitful in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus, what does that mean if you'd say that backwards? If you do not have these qualities and they are not increasing, then you are ineffective and unfruitful in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ineffective and unfruitful, I think points to someone who should be very afraid of the state of their soul. But it also means this, that no matter how much theology you do know about how much scripture you've read or memorized, if there is no actual change in your life, you do not actually know God.

In order to know God and who he is, you have to know him experientially through a changed life, not only comes by being a partaker in the divine nature. I think of it this way, if you eat a piece of fruit, I don't know why you would, but if you eat a piece of fruit, there's vitamins and nutrients and stuff in, in, in a pair.

You do not become a pair by eating it. But if you partake in a pair, you gain vitamins, minerals, nutrients, hydration, positive qualities actually come to you because you have partaken in those things.

In the same way, we're not actually going to become God, but if we actually know God and know him through Jesus Christ, we are actually partakers of the divine nature, the minerals and nutrients of peace, love, joy, long suffering, all of those qualities of the spirits and the positive qualities of God that can actually be become ours.

Will be given to us through our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Yeah.

So that's what it means to be a partaker of the divine nature that we will be changed by the divine nature of God. So the Holy spirit is alive and well and working, um, to miraculously change what was dead into what is alive.

He's taking, he's putting flesh and bone and, or, or flesh and, and tendons and everything else on the dry bones that were rattling around.

That's right.

That's right. If we can believe that, um, this, the scripture talks about how Jesus here in Hebrews, Jesus lowered himself. No, Jesus became lower than the angels. Um, is it in Colossians or Ephesians?

Uh, we were talking about, he, he humbled himself even to the death on the cross. He, there was, there's this idea that for him to become the God man, the hypostatic union, 100 God, 100 man, he emptied himself of some, yeah.

Philippians, some of those qualities. And so if, if we can believe that Jesus as God did that, so that he could become man, that he could walk on this earth and, and fulfill the law to take on those sacrifices.

Then we can believe that he can do what you're talking about for, for us to transform us in that way, as we have fellowship with him, um, for, for eternity.

Right. And, and that, that, that leads right into what we're talking about here in, in Hebrews, um, because of the, because of the incarnate with which the incarnate, I don't know, the incarnation, it gets way too many lights and ornaments.

It should get way much more theological attention than, than it does. Um, but it says, therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, you know, uh, since we, who are his brothers are sharing flesh and blood, he partook of them of the same, that through death, he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil.

So he's, he took on flesh in order to die and then raise again, putting death in its rightful place out of the picture. And he did that for this reason and might free those who through the fear of death, which if I know my sin and I think of dying, I don't know how I remember being deceived as an, as an unbeliever into not caring too much about what was coming later, I would think of some, just whatever I could to escape the reality that one day I was going to die.

Um, and I, I didn't, when I did seriously sit and think about those things, it, it terrified me. Um, Jesus came to, to take that fear of death away that you can look death in the face and just not care.

Not that you don't care. Like you're indifferent to, to people suffering, but you, you know, that, that death is not going to be your final resting place is death has been defeated. Like if you go to death, you know, that Christ will raise you up again.

You know, that, that if, if you're, you just, you're not a slave to that fear anymore, you can go out there. I mean, I can, I can, I can go out and do anything. And what's the worst that they can do to me?

Hey, Dan, be quiet.

Okay.

No, I'm not going to listen to you. Hey, Dan, we're going to punch you in the mouth. Really wish you wouldn't, but do what you got to do. Dan, we're going to kill you. Don't threaten me with a good time.

I'm going to heaven. Like what, what really is someone going to do to you? And if you have Christ, if you are a partaker in the divine nature, if you, if you see the evidence of Christ working in you, if you know who he is, who has come to die in your place and risen up to put death to death, then you really should have absolutely nothing to fear in this world.

You should be as bold as bold can be. That's one of those things that kind of, I don't know, grinds my gears a bit. When you, when you, when you look at, at Christianity, it seems like we're, we're a timid people.

I mean, we should be like, we should be a little, should.

Be compassionate and loving. We should be a little bit righteously ticked off that Satan had duped us into sin, thinking that it was something good. And we should go out and do something about it. Jesus did something great about it.

He died. So that way death can be put to death. Death is no longer there. It's not an issue. And those who are afraid of death, no longer have to worry about it.

Let me ask you a question before we move on about this particular subject.

Okay.

So earlier in chapter two, how does, how does what you just said, because I'm hearing different, different takes on this issue and you may, you may want to address it later after you've thought about it, or you may be able to now, but based on what you just said, go back to verse eight and how does it relate to verse eight and all that, that we've talked about before you have put all things in subjection under his feet for in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him, but now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

And so I kind of relate that to, but someone 10, right.

But verse nine, well, I was just reading verse nine. I wasn't trying to stop me verse nine, but we do see him who was made a little lower than the angels, 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.

And that's all linked together because he tasted death for everyone, because he has put death to death because he has suffered and crowned with glory and honor, those things that are not yet in subjection to him should be shaking in their boots because they will be.

And, and shaking in their boots is probably a bad way to put it because everything will be subjected to Christ. And there'll be subjected to him in one of two ways, either first he's going to destroy it or secondly, which he does a lot.

He turns his enemies into friends that they're no longer enemies. So they're in subjection to him, not because they have been destroyed for the rebellion, but he's caused them to be alive again by the very things that we're talking about, he's called us brothers and sisters.

You who, you know, pitchforks and torches out there. Now you've laid down your pitchforks and torches and you've joined the kingdom of God, you know, become a brother and sister. So I don't, I don't.

Well, if you, if you think about first Corinthians 15, quoting Psalm 110, and I think it's first Corinthians 15 that says, and the, he's putting all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy is death, right?

What we just talked about was death has been defeated.

Sure.

So is it fulfilled? Is the Psalm 110, first Corinthians 15, is it fulfilled or is it, are we still in this Hebrews two, eight and nine? We, things are being subjected. They've been subjected, but we've not seen it fully come to fruition.

Yes. I knew that as well. I was wanting to get that reaction, but this is actually perfect because if you go to second Peter, which I've been talking about, uh, second Peter, uh, one, we just talked about being partakers of the divine nature, right?

Right, right.

Um, second Peter three. Am I right?

Maybe it is.

All right. Um, verse seven, but by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire by his word is preserving them, um, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men, but not, do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day.

So he's not being slow. And in fact, very next verse says like in those words, the Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness. So the reason why we see the promise and say, is it, is it, is death defeated or is death going to be defeated?

No.

Is it under subjection? Is it not under subjection? Here's why the Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness, but as patient toward you. I remember he's talking to the beloved, to the church, to those who are being saved, he's patient towards you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

The reason why, um, we can say that death has been defeated and the last enemy to be defeated will be death is because the, the way that we are living in the world today, the way that things are set up today are set up so that those who have not yet received the salvation that was purchased for them will one day receive the salvation that was purchased for them.

Uh, he's not willing that any should perish, but that all will come to repentance, all to come to repentance. He is wanting those to whom salvation, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, every single one of them will see that salvation.

And then even physical death will be put to death because the death's already been defeated and yet it's allowed to, I don't know, whimper around the kingdom a little bit while God's doing something else, bringing in his sheep.

So it's, it's, yes, it's, it's both. Um, it has been defeated past tense. It's done. Um, Christ has been victorious and the last enemy to be defeated, to be put down to the last thing that we're going to see finally removed from the earth.

That is a holdover from the sinful start that Adam and Eve gave us and that we contributed to is physical death itself will be abolished forever.

Yeah.

Woo.

That mean that's, that's tough. That's really tough. Um, and you're going to have different perspectives on that.

Yeah, it is tough, but I think, I think it goes well with, you know, but I don't see that right in verse eight of Hebrews two says that it says, but now we don't see all things subjected to him. And he's like, right.

But we do see him who was made for a little while lower than angels, Jesus. We do see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. So by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. He is crowned with glory and honor seated at the right hand of the father, but you don't see it.

Get over it. If anybody's really struggling, that's a terrible way to put it. If you don't see it, look to Christ and, and know that, that he's seated on the throne now doing every single thing that he has promised and said that he's going.

To do.

And because he's made those promises and given them to us, we can trust that comes time for us to pass. That that death will not be final. That the death of our loved ones that know Christ will not be final.

Yeah.

It says so. And, uh, especially in, in, uh, the Thessalonian epistles, uh, first Thessalonians says that, um, he doesn't want us to be, um, confused or unaware. He wants us to know exactly what's going to take place, that Jesus is coming back and he's going to come back with all those who have gone on before us.

So that even those who tasted physical death, it's, it's not going to last.

Yeah.

Do you, do you see this less as a dual fulfillment? Um, or that, or that it it's fulfilled in this way and then later it's going to be fulfilled in, in this kind of way, less than a dual fulfillment fulfillment and more of a, this is redemption accomplished.

And now it's redemption applied. It's being worked out.

Uh, kind of, I would say more in this, maybe what you're saying. Um, I would say initiated and completed.

Okay.

Cause it was even, even, I mean, you see language of the new heavens and the new earth in the old Testament in Isaiah, again, in, in revelation and that it's really interesting that the, the language of the new heavens and the new earth is corresponded to the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven and is said to be the bride of Christ, which is us.

Right.

So if we are the new heavens and the new earth brought down to the earth, then there's a sense in which we are, because the Bible says so, then there's a sense in which the new heavens and the new earth have begun now and will be, it's been initiated or inaugurated and will be completed or consummated later on.

So I don't know if that's what you're, you're saying or.

Something we use confusing language when it comes to prophecy, when it comes to these things being fulfilled, um, uh, and, and now not yet language already, not yet, already, not yet dual fulfillment.

You'll, you'll hear all those terms being thrown out. And so which one is accurate? Which one should we hold to? Which should be our hermeneutic when we're looking at these things that are happening, that that's kind of where I was going with it.

How do we look at these things?

Sure.

Already not yet is, is a good one. Um, depending on who defines it, of course, it doesn't really help. But yeah, there's, there's a part, like the kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God is not yet as visible as it will one day be.

Um, death has been defeated. Death is not as defeated as it will one day be, I guess. Um, even though it can't get any more defeated than dead, we won't see its effects anymore, um, at all in the future.

Right.

Um, so yeah, already not yet. It's a fairly, fairly accurate way of, of looking at things. Now I would, I would caution anyone from, uh, just a one size fits all approach. Uh, the scriptures were given to us by God in order to look at them in their context, understand them as a whole unit.

Um, so I, I can't blanket statement that as in like, oh, every single, every, every single thing that you read should be read as already not yet. You really want to look at everything in context. Um, no, all the hermeneutical rules, um, Bible interpretation rules where you know, the clear passages, uh, define the, the less clear the new Testament, um, defines the old Testament, things like that.

So let's, let's look at verse 15 and we've got about two minutes left. See if we can, uh, wrap it up.

Yeah.

Moving right along. Wrap it up with verse 15. Uh, Jesus has defeated, uh, taken over, taken back the power from the devil. He had power of death and might free those. This is exciting. Free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

That's interesting. Through fear of death.

It's sad. Um, because I know, I know what some, some people may say when they hear that, but I've never been a slave. And the thing is the, the folks in the folks in Israel, when they were talking to Jesus said, we have never been slaves to anyone.

It's like, we've looked at your government. Like it's even now, like the Romans have taken you over.

Yeah.

Like we're the, so we're children of Abraham.

It's like, no, you're not. Yeah.

Um, the fear of death will cause us to do all sorts of things to deaden our conscience against what we know is make us feel better about the road we're traveling, make us think, oh, well, this looks like a good way to, to go.

But even then, all it does is, is bind our hand, whatever I mean that about whatever deceitful thing that we believe that leads us away from the one true God and Christ who can forgive us of our sins.

It, when we lock ourselves into one of those other things, we bind ourselves to a lie that leads us to death, which is the thing that we're trying to escape in the first place by seeking reincarnation through good works or seeking a life of, of salvation through Allah and Muhammad is prophet or, uh, trying to find energy and power so that we can reconnect to the universe through new age stuff and, and animism and, and all sorts of different things.

But all that really does, or even atheism where you, well, if I believe that absolutely nothing's going to happen, then nothing will happen through, through fear of death, you have bound yourself to a lie that leads you nowhere, but right back to the grave.

Yeah.

So Jesus came in order to take on flesh, to go to the grave, to die in our place. So that way we don't actually have to be afraid of death. We don't have to try to manufacture or concoct a way to make ourselves feel better on the, on the, on the highway to hell because he has done something for us.

He has helped us. He has gone where we couldn't go. So that way we don't have to be afraid of, of death in the first place. If we're not afraid of death, we can walk according to the truth that yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe death and hell is what I deserve.

In fact, death and hell is what I deserve. And there are those who are going to accuse me and say, Hey, death and hell is what you deserve. And you say, yeah, I know, but I, I have Christ because he has gone to the grave for me, he has defeated that for me.

And even though this body of flesh and bones may fall into the grave as well, he'll raise it back up and make it more glorious than it ever was.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, and, and where there's slavery, there's death. If, if you're under bondage under, if you're under slavery, you are, you are strapped to death, um, tied to it. There's, there's no motion. There's no movement there.

There's complete silence, death in slavery. Slavery leads to death. Death leads to slavery. So to me, to me, it's all wrapped up into one there. So here in this passage, there's either slavery or freedom.

And we're talking about Christ and Christ brings the freedom, freedom to what? And it makes me think about the passage of one of the passages we've already looked at, which I brought up last night. I had the, um, privilege of sharing the gospel to a group of people last night.

And I remembered, I recalled this passage that we we've looked at several times, um, in chapter two, um, verse 11 for both he who sanctifies and those, no, no, no, no, excuse me. Verse 10, where it was fitting for him for whom are all things.

And to me, for them, this was a, this was a way to examine themselves, examine myself in my relationship with Jesus, because this passage says for whom are all things, all things means all things and all things are for him.

And so am I living has God changed me in such a way that I'm living in such a way that I'm recognizing that all things are for him. I'm living in light of this is his, this, this job, this marriage, this wherever, whatever it may be, it's his.

And I, am I living in light of that? So back to this verse, uh, verse 15, um, might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery, he's brought us into freedom, freedom to what? To live in the light that all things are for him.

And so if, if we're under the slavery of death, we're strapped down and we're motionless, we're scared, we're not living out our faith, living out our freedom. But if we've been freed from that, then we can boldly, and you talk about this already, we can boldly live in light of this is for him, this, our government's for him, this is how they should be legislating.

So I, I can boldly stand and proclaim that you need to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is how you should be legislating. This is for him. This is whatever it may be, whatever example you want to give, I am now free to live in the light of it's it's his, and I don't have to be afraid anymore of, of death because it's been defeated.

Does that make sense?

Yep.

A hundred percent.

Nice. Well, we are once again, past our time, which is okay. Um, we always like to end with, with the gospel and we were, we were pointing to Jesus and the freedom that he gives. Um, and that only comes through him.

We're apart from him. We will forever in eternity be strapped to death and the consequences of sin and punishment, which Bible describes as an eternity or an, a forever in hell, a lake of fire, a punishment that will never end.

And it's because we sinned against a eternally Holy God. And so that's why that type of punishment is just because of whom it was against. And so with that reality, we are so grateful to be, to have been freed or the, have the opportunity to be freed.

If we will repent of our sins and put our faith and trust in Jesus, his work, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his ruling and reigning where he is now and where he will be forevermore reigning and interceding for us, loving us, showing us mercy and leading us to this, this fruition, this consummation, when all the families of the earth will come to him and every tongue will confess every knee shall bow that Jesus Christ is Lord.

So we, we desire that you come to know him and, and escape the judgment, but live in freedom and have that freedom of Christ. So you will be free indeed. Dan, would you mind to close us in prayer?

Sure.

Dear heavenly father, God, we thank you for today, for the opportunity to do these things, to talk about your word and especially for your son and all that he has done for us, it is a truly a blessing and an honor to be one of yours.

And we pray that more and more would know that, that true joy. Christ's name we pray.

Amen. Amen.

Thank you again for watching. We really appreciate it. Again, reach out to us. How can we help you? What questions can we answer? What things can we talk about? Just let us know. We would love to hear from you.

Remember that Jesus is King. Go live in the victory of Christ. Speak with the authority of Christ and God bless you.