DAILY WORD 6/8/20

14. Because God’s children are human beings — made of flesh and blood — the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

15. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

16. We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham.

17. Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.

18. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

Hebrews 2:14–18 NLT

You know, though it is always a privilege, some days this DAILY WORD project is a chore and some days it’s a Joy. Today’s passage is one of those ones that make this a True Pleasure to share, explore, and ruminate on both for you and for myself!

This passage both encompasses pretty much the entirety of what the Book of Hebrews is all about and what Jesus’s Ministry was all about too for that matter! It shows us why He did what He did and in a nutshell, how it was accomplished.

There’s a lot in here to unpack, so I’ll do my best to be brief. First of all, we see through God’s Plan, just how Forward-Thinking He was. God made himself one of us so that He could become relatable but it went so much farther than that.

He Put on corruptible flesh as an Incorruptible God so that He could die. Here’s the thing with that, God IS Power. As such, it was Impossible for Him to ever die. In order for Him to pull off His Task of Becoming the Perfect Sacrifice for all the sins of the entire world, He had to take on the ability to die.

He did this so that He could prove to both us and the devil that He was the One that Possessed ALL the Power, even the Power over Death itself. By doing so, He snatched the Key of Death away from Satan who had controlled it prior to that.

This was so that He could give us, the weak and fearful human beings, controlled by Satan’s lies, the ability to no longer fear Death but to face Life with Courage and Confidence derived from His Victory. Because we knew that through His Blood we now have a chance to Join Him in Eternal Life!

That all sounds pretty simple when it’s put on paper but I cannot stress the Importance of this enough! Jesus through His Death did more than just Change the Game! He replaced the entire field of play as well as changing the rules. When He was done He had made it an entirely new contest!

Satan no longer made the rules, he was no longer the ref, and he didn’t even have access to the ball anymore! Through the Addition of God’s Spirit into the mix, we now have a real chance of Winning! Now that’s a Gamechanger!

To do this He didn’t become like the angels, that wouldn’t have been enough. In order to become our High Priest and Represent us before the Throne, He had to become as vulnerable as we are yet still never sin.

Only then could He erase our sins but it didn’t end there. He Suffered like us so that when we suffered He could Help us through it from a Position of True Empathetic Experience!

We see through the systematic racism and discrimination that is currently being highlighted in this country through the protests over the deaths of George Floyd and many others just what it looks like when that level of Empathy does not exist between individuals.

But Jesus Knew that such a gulf between Himself and us was untenable and Ensured through his Suffering and subsequent violent Death that no such gap would separate us. That is the kind of God we serve. One who will give us an Example of how to treat each other by showing us the Level of Love He has for us all!

This is why I LOVE to do this DAILY WORD thing because it often highlights more than just what is clear on the surface of a Scripture but what is there and always has been down deeper in the Word if we will only take the time to look! This the kind of Love God expects us to show to each other on every level, the Kind of Love He showed to us!

Have a Monumental Monday and Stay Safe out there!