Hebrews 2:14-15 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, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve begun a series of devotions based on the Exodus wanderings of the Children of Israel, and their tragic mistakes which we can learn from and avoid. One powerful influence common to their failures was fear.
Fear is a terrible motivator and a true slave-master. And it’s a source of incalculable sin. Yet, the Lord has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, of power, and a sound mind! [2 Timothy 1:7]
The first test came when the Israelites feared death at the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians [Exodus 14:9-14] The Lord heard their cry, opened the Red Sea and made a way of escape. Nevertheless, time and again the children of Israel became fearful of death, and this is why they failed miserably in the wilderness.
But this bondage to the fear of death can be broken. Yeshua (Jesus) has said that He holds the keys of hell and death. [Rev. 1:18] Because He Himself was resurrected from the dead, in Him we are no longer in bondage to this fear.
If the Egyptian Pharaoh is a type of the antichrist spoken of in John’s Revelation, then we may also find there the examples of those who are overcomers, as were Joshua and Caleb in the time of the Exodus. And there they are: “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” [Rev. 12:11] The martyrs throughout all of history testify to this faith in the Resurrection.
The fear of death must not have its hold upon us. Identifying with Yeshua in His death will enable us to live a fear-free life, for there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. [1 John 4:18] Life enters a realm of freedom with this realization: “If you’re willing to die for Yeshua (Jesus), then it becomes easy to live for Him!” So instead of wandering fearfully in the wilderness, make it your place of victory over the fear of death.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Yeshua (Jesus) said He is the “bread of life”. It was His body that was broken on our behalf as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Notice that He never once called us to be the “bread of life”! He is the ONLY “Bread of Life” – the true bread who came down from Heaven which anyone may eat and not die. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is His flesh, given for the life of the world.
For years, when I visited my father-in-law’s home in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, we would break bread and bless the bread with the traditional blessing – “Baruch Ata Adonai Eleheynu Melech HaOlam Ha-Motzi Lechem Min Ha’aretz” – which translated means,”Blessed are You Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has given us bread from the earth”. After the blessing, my father-in-law would take salt and sprinkle the challah bread as he broke and passed it to everyone at the table.
One day a passerby saw a homeless man on the roadside. He stopped for a moment to hand him some loose change and casually said “God bless you, my friend”.
“I thank God,” said the homeless man, “I am never unhappy.”
Here in Israel we have an interesting geographical phenomenon – there are two landlocked seas. One is alive and one is dead. The sea full of life is the Kinneret, better known as the Sea of Galilee. The dead sea is…….you guessed it, the Dead Sea. Now the Kinneret is constantly emptying as it flows through the Jordan River valley…. into the Dead Sea. But the Dead Sea does not empty its water at all. Instead, the Dead Sea is continually shrinking, because the intense heat at this lowest place on Earth actually evaporates more water than is flowing in. Do you see a parable here?
One of my passions is studying history, especially the American Civil War. Here is an amusing story about General Stonewall Jackson’s famous Valley Campaign. During the war, Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other.
We tend to focus on the part of that scripture where God does the blessing — but why did He bless Him? The answer lies in the passage! The Lord told Abraham: “I will bless you — and you shall be a blessing.” Abraham was blessed so that he could be a blessing!
In the Olivet discourse recorded in Matthew 24, Yeshua prophesied that “… nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” The word “nation” in Greek is the word “ethnos”, from which we get the English word “ethnic”. All of this polarization and ethnic warfare which the media feed upon and incite is the work of the enemy as he stirs up the sinful nature of men.