Everyone has his own contender for that honor–the “best thing in the Bible”–and here’s mine.

“Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

“And might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Those two loaded verses tell us why the incarnation (the act by which Jesus became human) and why the crucifixion (His death on the cross). It all pointed to the same purpose.

Jesus defeated the one holding the power of death, the devil, and delivered those in bondage to the fear of death. (That would be “us.”) He accomplished this by His death.

Eugene Peterson restates that in The Message:

“Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by His death. By embracing death, taking it into Himself, He destroyed the devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.”

Think of that: “scared to death of death.”

It describes our generation to a T.

Now, a wonderful little glimpse of something. Fast forward over to the first chapter of Revelation. In John’s vision of the ascended/glorified Jesus, there is a detail you may have missed.

As John beholds the Lord, he hears the Savior say, “I am the first and the last, and the living One. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And, I have the keys of death and of Hades.” (Rev. 1:17-18)

Aha. He holds the keys.

When our Lord died on that Good Friday afternoon and “descended into Sheol” or Hades or even hell or the grave–the Bible sometimes uses these terms interchangably–in the act of “taking captivity captive” He robbed the Usurper, Satan, of the keys of death, hell, and the grave. Until then, Satan had exercised this awful power over so much of humanity.

Had Peter and the other apostles looked closely at the risen Christ in the Upper Room, I suspect they might have seen a ring of keys hanging from our Lord’s waistband. “This one is for death. This one is for hell, and this one for the grave.”

Ever since the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the keys have been in the hands of the rightful Owner.

Now, I would be naive to think this does not present us with a ton of new questions–the millions of death from the Holocaust for instance, or for that matter, the death of the two-year-old down the street–for which I, for one, have no profoundly satisfying answer.

And yet, there it is. We’re left with the absolute assertion that the devil is defeated and the fearful are delivered.

But isn’t the devil still around, still continuing his warfare against everything good and decent and holy? Indeed. And yet, things are different now.

He’s like a bee that has lost its stinger, still flying around scaring people, but harmless.

For all who are trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, the devil can do you no permanent damage. He’s a toothless tiger.

Paul revels in this. “O death, where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting?” (I Corinthians 15:55)

We ought to, also. We now have a license to gloat. The battle is won.

The devil is still with us, and death has not left the playing field yet. However, we know the final outcome, we have read the last chapter of the story.

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (I Cor. 15:26)

We are now in the situation I am sometime the morning after a big game which I missed the night before. I rise early and turn on the television and find the game being replayed. I check to see the final score, then, satisfied that my team won, I don’t fret and stew over each setback, fumble, or misplay. I know how it turns out.

It’s high time God’s children quit fearing death. At funerals, shed a few tears from grief but let the majority be prompted by joy. Let us quit consoling one another as though the death of a believer was the worst thing to happen in the history of the world.

The worst death can do is send you to Heaven. If you have repented of your sinful foolishness and self-centered ways and are trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you are a card-holding, bonafide, promise of God.

If that’s you–and it’s up to you, friend; it’s your choice since the Lord Jesus Christ has done everything necessary to get you into Heaven except force it on you, even to the point of bringing it to your front door and knocking (Revelation 3:20)–then you ought to live fearlessly and boldly.

No fear. Death has lost its fangs and been revealed to be an impostor.

It’s okay to laugh. In fact, it’s now mandatory.