Our most recent study in the book of Hebrews covers 2:10-18. In this passage the author presents Jesus as the “captain” or “pioneer” of our salvation and shows His dual purpose as “bringing many sons to glory” and to “destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Through Jesus’ suffering He completed His mission, He bought our redemption and He destroyed the power of death that the devil owned. While salvation is a free gift to all who will believe, it is a gift of great cost. Jesus suffered for us, He valued us enough to pay the cost of our sin; I believe we must value Him and our salvation to a much greater measure than we currently have. Awe and worship are worthy responses to what Jesus has done for us, and love via obedience is our greatest thanksgiving we can offer Him.
Death has been defeated, the grave has lost it’s sting and Satan has lost his power. When James wrote “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”, he was telling us that Jesus has won the battle. Satan still comes, temptation is still a nearly constant presence, sin is still active, but never again are we found powerless, never again are we truly overwhelmed to the point of having no defense. When we fall into temptation it is not because we were outmatched, it is because we lost sight of the grace, power and purpose within us, the Holy Spirit. Don’t allow this to be guilt-inducing, this again is a work of temptation, but let it empower you to know that you will never be “tempted with more than you can bear” and you, by virtue of the saving power of Jesus and the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead living in you, will never be powerless against our enemy.
Jesus didn’t just begin our salvation, He has finished it as well and all of the in between is seen by a picture of Him running to us in our temptation, in our trials, in our weakness and in our finite understanding. He was tempted on all counts not just to defeat the enemy but also to bring us His help at every single one of our turns.