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and we must seek from the Word the meaning of the expression. Kratos is used in Ephesians 1:19 of resurrection,
`according to the energy of the strength of His might', and in 6:10 of its practical application to the believer,
`Finally, my brethren, be empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might', this empowering being in view
of the conflict with spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.
It will be remembered that (evidently) at the time when Moses was to appear with Elijah on the mount of
Transfiguration, `Michael the archangel, when contending with the Devil he disputed about the body of Moses'
(Jude 9). It will be remembered that the Transfiguration came into prominence in our investigation into the meaning
of the expression `taste of death' of Hebrews 2:9, and Peter in his epistle of suffering in view of glory introduces it
in the first chapter. It is the vision of the overcomer. Death is spoken of ten times in Hebrews. In 5:7 we are taken
to the garden of Gethsemane and there the Lord:
`in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up both prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him
Who was able to save Him out of death, and was heard for His piety' (not AV JP).
This passage, the reference following the cluster in Hebrews 2 (9,14 and 15), carries with it the same sense that
is more dimly seen there, namely, death, as viewed in connection with suffering and glory, obedience and
perfection, aionian salvation, and the so great salvation. Here also, as in Hebrews 2:17, the High Priesthood of
Christ is introduced (5:6). The next reference to death (7:23) speaks of the priesthood of the sons of Aaron in
contrast. The last reference is of great help to us in our endeavour to understand the peculiar meaning of death in
Hebrews 2:14,15. In Hebrews 11:5, the chapter of overcomers, sons who are led on to glory and perfected through
sufferings, but not yet perfected in resurrection, we read of Enoch, who by faith `was translated that he should not
see death'. When we turn to 3:17,18, we read of the tragedy of the wilderness:
`But with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned (those who sinned), whose carcases
fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed
not?'.
Those in Hebrews 2 were all their lifetime held by the `fear' of death. In chapter 4:1 we read immediately after
hearing of those whose carcases fell in the wilderness:
`Let us therefore FEAR, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of
it'.
In writing of the wilderness to the Corinthians, the apostle says:
`Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were DESTROYED OF THE DESTROYER' (1 Cor. 10:10).
When a believer was handed over to Satan by Paul it was for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be
saved. Parallel with this is 1 Corinthians 3:15, `He shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire'.
This too is the one great theme of Hebrews.
`But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition (destruction, the destruction of the flesh, the two Greek words
used come together in 1 Cor. 10:10), but of them who believe to the saving of the soul' (Heb. 10:39).
The death of Christ was effective in rendering ineffective him who had the strength of death. By His one
Offering the `sanctified' (Heb. 2:11; 10:14) are `perfected' for ever.
The deliverance is like that from a legal opponent (Luke 12:58), or from the grip of a disease (Acts 19:12). It is
not the word that indicates deliverance from sin in the gospel sense of the word. It is from the power of some one
into whose hands, or under whose authority we have come. The connection between the believer's `perfecting',
expressed in Colossians and Philippians as circumcision, with antagonistic principalities and powers, is indicated in
Colossians 2:10-15, and their association with `reward' is seen in 2:18. The death and the deliverance of Hebrews 2
must be related to the overcoming, the crown, the prize, and it is against this `strength of death' the believer is
ranged as he presses along the path, and to which he is delivered should he so sadly fail as did those who tempted
God in the wilderness.
The Captain of our salvation is the TRUE JOSHUA under Whom we shall enter into the rest that remaineth.