It was just a few days before Christmas and two men, who were next-door neighbors, decided to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping.
While the men were out in their sailboat, a storm arose.
The sea became very rough and the men had great difficulty keeping the boat under control.
As they maneuvered their way toward land, they hit a sandbar and the boat grounded.
Both men jumped overboard and began to push and shove with all their might, trying to get the boat into deeper water.
With his feet almost knee-deep in mud, and the waves bouncing him against the side of the boat, and his hair blowing in the wind, one of the men said with a grin, “It sure beats Christmas shopping, doesn’t it?”
Many of us could say, ‘Amen’ to that!
The Christmas season can be a very hectic time, with all the Christmas shopping, getting out the Christmas cards, putting up the Christmas trees, going to Christmas parties.
This is why it’s easy to lose perspective on why Jesus came on that first Christmas.
In this blog, I what to look at one reason He came as see in Hebrews 2: 14-15:
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, 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.”
Jesus came to be to be our devil-defeater. It was necessary for Jesus to become a man, on the first Christmas, so He could deliver us from our enemies, death and Satan.
He had to have a body of flesh and blood and be fully human in order to set men free by delivering them from the curse of sin, which was death and from Satan clutches.
Because Jesus is God, it would be impossible for Him to die for us and deliver us from sin, death, and Satan unless He shared our humanity.
He shared our human nature without sin and lived sinless so He could die for our sins.
Sin was committed by man and God imposed the penalty of death on man, which was physical, spiritual, and eternal.
Man must pay the penalty; so in order to pay the penalty of death; Christ had to become a true man.
Notice what Christ’s death did:
“Through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death; that is the devil.”
Satan may be alive and busy today, but he is disarmed by Christ’s almighty power, because of His work on the Cross.
How did Satan have the power of death?
The final authority of death is only in the hands of God. Satan cannot go around killing people.
The word “power” here means “dominion.”
Satan’s dominion over the human race was in the form of death.
Satan is the author of sin and sin brings with it death, in this sense, Satan exercises his power in the realm of death.
This power was broken by Christ.
Spiritual death cannot hold the one who puts his faith in Christ.
Physical death cannot keep the believers body in the grave.
Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we have His life and some day we will share His resurrection body.
Jesus, through His death and resurrection, conquered and rendered the devil powerless.
When a person trusts Christ as His Savior, he is delivered or released once for all from the grip that death had on him.
We are released from Satan’s authority and from the terrible fear of death.
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ has given us the victory and since He lives, all fear is gone!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries