"Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying." ~Hebrews 2:15, NLT
In what way could God reunite himself individually with His people? With the blood of Jesus Christ. Only in this way could He set us free from Adam's curse of sin, from the fear of death that came with the presence of death. Everything a human does is done for self-preservation, to keep ourselves from dying. Such is the effect of sin. A terrifiedly selfish community arises.
But with Jesus we became set free from our terrors. We're no longer slaves of self-preservation. If anything, we should be slaves to the preservation of others, and that is how I understand the Great Commission. Why have the greatest Christians of all time fearlessly preached under extraordinary circumstances? It's because they were freed from the paralysis of fear, and they chose to trust God to deliver them bodily as He delivered them spiritually. I'm talking Peter, I'm talking Paul, I'm talking Martin Luther, I'm talking Billy Graham, and all of the persecuted Church.
We too can follow in these steps and fulfill God's purpose for us not as slaves to the fear of death in ourselves, but slaves to a fear of death in others. It's not the same, and I hesitate to compare them both so, but in a lot of ways it's true. What will we choose?
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