In John 8:36 we read, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” We all desire abundant life, but if we are held in bondage then we are not experiencing true life; and one major thing that holds us captive is “fear.” Frank Herbert, in his Dune Chronicles, says that the “fear of death is the beginning of slavery.” He says that “every person is completely free at any time to take any action that is physically possible for them . . . The reason this is not true in practice is because of fear.”
Herbert says, for example, that “office workers fear they will lose their jobs and ultimately, their means to support themselves. Soldiers fear punishment, [and] slaves fear death. [He postulates that] ultimately, it is fear itself that is the captor . . . A person who can overcome his or her fear of death cannot be coerced and is completely free, because death is always an option”(1) – such as with the slave who fears that his master will put him to death if he does not obey his master’s commands. If the slave does not fear death, then he is truly free, as death is another form of freedom.
Fear – especially the fear of death – can turn us into slaves living in bondage. This morning we will take a look at how the devil uses fear to rob us of our freedom and abundant life. He uses fear to seize us, take hold of us, and suck the life right out of us! American journalist Dorothy Thompson says, “Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.” We will see this morning how, in order to have true life in the Lord, we must begin to walk in faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), and that we must place our lives completely in God’s hands and face fear head on.
Hebrews 2:14-15
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
To begin, I want to first of all focus on verses 14b-15 which tell us that Jesus came to destroy the devil – or the one who had the power of death and utilized the fear of death to enslave people and to subject them to bondage. We are seized and placed in bondage by fear. Mentioned here specifically is the fear of death, which I will address in a moment; but I want to first look at how fear enslaves us.
Isaiah 33:14 states, “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites.” Jeremiah 49:24a shares with us, “Damascus has grown feeble; she turns to flee, and fear has seized her.” The word “seized” can mean, “to take possession or control,” or “to capture [and] take into custody.”(2) Fear can halt us dead in our tracks, and it will capture and imprison us.
Allow me to share some quotes that reveal how fear leads to bondage: William Shakespeare said, “Fear can neither fight nor fly,”(3) revealing how fear can lead to emotional or spiritual paralysis. Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize,(4) said, “The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” In the movie Blade Runner (1982), the character Roy Batty said, “Quite an experience, to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.”
When we fear we tend to hide, seeking security behind self-imposed walls, but the very walls we build to protect ourselves become the walls of our own prison. Helen Keller became blind and deaf after a childhood illness, but she did not allow this to crush her spirit. She later became an activist for social equality and reform. Listen to something she said: “Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” We have a choice. Lay hold of true life or live in the bondage of fear. Keep in mind Romans 8:15a, which says, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption . . .” – or the Holy Spirit.
1 John 4:18 says that, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” If we abide in God and His love, then there is true peace and security. If we are living in fear then we are living apart from trusting God. We are telling God that we do not trust Him with our lives, and we then try to take our lives into our own hands. The problem with trying to assume full responsibility for our life’s course is that this task is too big for us and we crack under the pressure.
We read here that “fear involves torment” – that is mental, emotional, and spiritual torment – as we begin to buckle and break under the weight of the load. Part of the bondage of fear is living in torment and anguish. The Lord told Israel in Deuteronomy 2:25, “This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.” Did you happen to catch that part about being in anguish? Fear is not just imprisonment; it also involves torture – and we must keep in mind that it is completely self-imposed, for we can choose to trust God at any time and walk in victory and freedom.
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” We are to have a spirit of power and love – power from the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15), or the Holy Spirit; and power from the love of God; an unconditional love which leads to trust and security in His unfailing faithfulness. Both “power” and “love” lead to possessing a sound mind – one that is unwavering, stable, and fearless under the weight of life’s challenges.
In our main passage we read that one major fear that ensnares people is the “fear of death” (v. 15). Female writer and actor Anias Nin said, “People living deeply have no fear of death.” The fear of death keeps many people from experiencing abundant life; Jesus however has granted us this life, for He declared, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10b). How?
Verse 14 says, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” We – the children – are made of flesh and blood, and Jesus partook of flesh and blood. Jesus was God come to the earth in the form of human flesh (John 1:1-2, 14). He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35), and given birth by the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:22-23). Jesus lived and walked among us, and Hebrews 4:15 tells us He “was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus underwent every temptation that we must endure, yet He never sinned, proving that He was holy, and the perfect Son of God.
As the perfect Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29), Jesus laid down His own life on the cross to become the perfect sacrifice to pay the price for our sins. Hebrews 2:9b tells us that Jesus “taste[d] death for everyone.” He died for everyone, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “the wages [or penalty] of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Jesus died for us so that we don’t have to die a spiritual death.
Jesus not only died, but He rose from the grave (Matthew 28:5-6) proving He had power over death (Romans 6:9). He wrestled from the devil the keys of death and the grave, for Jesus declared in Revelation 1:18, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” In Romans 6:4b we read of our victory: “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Jesus faced death for us, in order to free us from the fear of death. I think there is a lesson to be learned here. Hebrews 4:15 stated that Jesus “was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.” If Jesus faced temptation as we do, then did He experience the temptation to fear death? Keep in mind that temptation is not sin, according to James 1:14-15.
There is a scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying to His Father, and we read in Matthew 26:37-39, “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’ He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will’.” The “cup” that Jesus mentioned here was the weight of the entire world’s sin that he was to bear on the cross. We cannot find the words “fear” or “afraid” here. We only read of “sorrow” and “distress.”
A. T. Robertson shares that Mark’s rendering “has the startling phrase ‘greatly amazed and sore troubled,’ . . . [which he says is] a ‘feeling of terrified surprise’.”(5) The Inter Varsity Press New Testament Commentary says, “Being fully human, Jesus experienced the full human dread of death.”(6) The word dread means, “To fear greatly” and to “be in extreme apprehension.”(7) Whether Jesus feared or not is uncertain. In fact, it’s not really that important. What is important is that He faced death; and facing the cross led to eternal “life” for those of us who trust in Him.
The lesson is that we often have to face fear in order to live; and in 2 Samuel we read about a young man named Mephibosheth who had to face his fear. He was King Saul’s grandson, and Jonathan’s son. Remember, Jonathon was David’s best friend. When news arrived that Saul and Jonathon were killed in battle, Mephibosheth was taken away by his nursemaid in a flight of fear (2 Samuel 4:4), because she feared that David would wish to take revenge on Saul’s grandson. It is not entirely Mephibosheth’s fault that he was on the run; however, because he was running he fell down and became lame. What I wish to point out is that when we run or hide in fear it can become crippling to us.
David did not want to harm Mephibosheth, for he decided to bless any survivor of Saul’s house for Jonathon’s sake, and Mephibosheth was the sole survivor (2 Samuel 9:1-6). King David sent for him and had him retrieved from his hiding place, and when he arrived and saw David, Mephibosheth fell down before him and cried out, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?” (2 Samuel 9:8). Fear led him to view himself as a worthless dog, instead of realizing his true identity and rightful place as heir to King Saul.
So the lesson is that fear led Mephibosheth to hide, and fear then crippled and hindered him from pressing into his true identity and rightful place of blessing. When Mephibosheth finally pressed through his fear to trust King David, and accepted his kindness, he began to truly live; for we read in 2 Samuel 9:11 where David stated, “As for Mephibosheth . . . he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.”
In the Disney movie called “The Princess Diaries,” Eduard Renaldi, Prince of Genovia, stated, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. From now on you’ll be traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be.”(8) I want to ask a few closing questions: “How has fear led you to view yourself?” “Are you becoming all that you can and should be in Christ?” and, “Are you truly living life to the fullest?”
Time of Reflection
Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son, came to “release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). Are you someone this morning who is living in bondage? Are you living in the fear of defeat and demise? Or are you ultimately living in the fear of death? If you are a Christian, perhaps you are not becoming all that God wants you to be because you are afraid to step into the unknown and trust God to help you through the difficulty. Maybe you’re not following God whole-heartedly because the way appears too treacherous and life-threatening, so you have settled down in your own comfortable self-created world of order; but I want to point out that you are creating a prison for yourself, and you are not really and truly free.
Perhaps you are someone who has never believed in Jesus as Savior and Lord and you fear death, because you don’t know whether or not you will go to heaven when your life on earth comes to a close. This is a healthy fear, for it is a fear leading to sorrow and repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10), but if you do not repent you will continue to be held in bondage by sin and fear. John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” I wish to encourage you to believe in Jesus, escape death, and receive life!
NOTES
(1) “Fear of Death is the Beginning of Slavery,” posted on Everything2 on Wednesday, September 26, 2001; taken from the Internet in August of 2007 at http://everything2.com.
(2) “Seize,” Dictionary.com Unabridged, v. 1.1, taken from the internet in August of 2007 at http://dictionary.reference.com/
(3) William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece (1594).
(4) Aung San Suu Kyi, Wikipedia, taken from the Internet in August of 2007 at http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi.
(5) A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures of the New Testament, taken from the Internet in August of 2007 at http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/.
(6) Inter Varsity Press New Testament Commentary, taken from the Internet in August of 2007 at http://www.biblegateway.com.
(7) “Dread,” Dictionary.com Unabridged, v. 1.1, taken from the internet in August of 2007 at http://dictionary.reference.com/
(8) “The Princess Diaries,” Disney, 2001.
