Hebrews 2:14
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,
–NKJ
Let’s look at each phrase in this verse:
Inasmuch then as the children… Children. A word that means children of toddler age. No longer entirely dependant, they can manage to walk around on their own. They are learning to talk but don’t know all the words yet. They can feed themselves, but someone else has to provide the food and cook for them. They are over zealous about the word “No.” They are curious, inquisitive, nosy, even sneaky. More often than not, it seems, the sneaky behavior is more fun to the child than the good behavior. When they get hurt, they are prone to come running for a quick fix from mommy or daddy’s love.
… have partaken … Partaken, fellowship. The children have socialized together, sharing ideas, playing nice on the playground of life. Playing and sharing the joy of new games that they know about. Even sharing their sneaky little tricks, with much delight to the kids, and great frustration to the parents, with all the others on the playground.
… of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, … Flesh and blood. Real tangible, bodily form. Jesus likewise shared.
God wanted to communicate, he wanted to have a relationship with the people he created. God is a spirit, and people are flesh. God created a human body, Jesus, and through him was able to communicate and relate to his created people. Through Jesus he could speakthe the same language, on the same level as his little toddlers. Jesus shared all the playground secrets with the other kids, encouraging them to play the good games. He refused to take part in the sneaky little tricks that went against the rules. Some of the kids might not even have known those tricks were against the rules. Others did know and felt bad, and stopped, but others didn’t.
Jesus was able to interact with people. He lived where they did, and felt what they felt. Just like the other toddlers, he liked the good things in life, milk and cookies, and playing the fun games. He knew there is more to living though. Jesus knew it and wanted to lead the others in the right way to go.
… that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
Things take a serious turn here. Jesus can’t stay and play forever. In the nursery school of life, there is a time when the kids must go home. There’s a door to pass through to get to mom and dad on the other side. Guess what, it’s locked. Somebody played a mean trick on the kids. The devil seems to hold the power of sin and death, the locked door that keeps us from going home. The real nasty part of the trick is that the devil didn’t actually lock the door of sin, he convinced the kids to lock it themselves. The devil just holds the keys and won’t give them back to the kids.
However, Jesus is the son of the guy who owns the school. Not only that Jesus is the son of the man who runs the whole city. He has his own key. In reality his key is his own death.
Jesus had to leave life here early, but he holds the door open for all the kids. He was the first to break through it, and with him standing there holding the door open, the devl can’t do anything about trying to lock it again. Now, the devil can try to send kids to some other place, or tell them the door is still locked, when it isn’t. Some kids will believe those lies. Don’t be one of them.
Amazingly, Jesus now holds all the keys of each of our toddlers in this story. All that is needed is to believe he holds our key, and ask him for it. Ask him for your key so you can go home. Don’t believe the lies that the door is locked, or that some other door will take you home.