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"And release those who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
(Hebrews 2:15)
This week, we are looking at how our God is able to aid us with anything. He acts in accordance with His perfect will. When we trust in Him, and if it is according to His divine plan, well, things start happening!
My wife, Ashley, and I enjoy going on cruises, and our favorite cruise line is Disney. The food is great, and the wholesome entertainment is very family friendly. Our favorite ship in the cruise line is the Disney Dream. I have been on that boat and ran 17 miles on Deck 4 as I was training for a marathon. You should have seen the look on the face of this elderly man as he watched me go around the boat! I read with much interest about the 5-year-old little girl who fell from the Disney Dream between the Bahamas and Fort Lauderdale, FL. While her mom and dad played shuffleboard on the 4th deck, she climbed up onto the railing, slipped, and fell through a porthole into the water. She could not swim. Her 37-year-old dad immediately jumped into the water to save her. He treaded water holding onto her for 20 minutes until the rescue boat from the ship could get to them. She could not swim, so to toss her a life preserver would have been no assistance, because she could not reach it. Her only hope was for someone to be willing to risk their life to save hers, and the person who did was her dad.
Jesus did that for us. He jumped into the sinful pool of humanity to rescue us from ourselves. He came from heaven to earth, took upon Himself human flesh like us, to show the way for us, to make a way when there was no other way. It cost Him His life. As John 3:16 states, God loved the world, and He gave us His Son.
Jesus destroys the devil, but He delivers His children. He condemns the former and blesses the latter. Satan has not been completely destroyed yet. But his time is coming. As Revelation 20:10 says, "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
The fear of death leads to bondage. Those who do not know the Lord Jesus are frightened out of their minds over the prospect of death. Some laugh about it but never pause long enough to consider their eternity. The devil likes us busy, and he deceptively tells lost humanity that they have a long time before they need to concern themselves with such distasteful topics as personal death. One of the realities that led me to faith in Jesus was this overarching fear of death and not going to heaven. Praise God: because of Jesus, I no longer fear death!
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