Correspondence.

Hebrews 2:5
 
W.T.— Deliverance from the fear of death (Heb. 2:1515And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15)). What does this mean? The effect of the death of Christ was to extract the sting of death which is sin; so that the believer can say, “O death, where is thy sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55, 5655O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:55‑56)). No Christian need dread death; for he does not die (if he die at all) as a sinner, but is put to sleep by Jesus as a believer Thess. 4:14). Old Testament saints however being under the bondage of the law, which is the “strength of sin,” feared death, as we see in the case of a pious man like Hezekiah who wept sorely at the prospect (Isa. 38). Fear of death arose from sin being on the conscience and from the apprehension of the judgment of that sin which follows death. The Lord Jesus, by Himself submitting to death and thus receiving the “wages of sin,” destroyed the power of the devil to terrify the soul with forebodings of the consequences of sin unatoned for. The believer knows that He became the propitiation for his sins (1 John 4:1010Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)). There is therefore nothing to fear in death itself, because there is nothing to fear after death. The completeness of the victory over death obtained by the Lord for us is shown by the apostle’s word, “We shall not all sleep” (1 Cor. 15:5151Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, (1 Corinthians 15:51)). The fact that some believers will be “present with the Lord” without the dissolution of the “earthly house of this tabernacle” (2 Cor. 5 1-8) shows how great is the deliverance. While there is the possibility of the believer dying, there is no necessity for it. “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:5757But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)).