Although, as a youth, I was told again and again that Christ died on the cross for our sins, I was never told that He tasted death on behalf of everything (2:9). Christ tasted death not only for human beings but for everything, every creature. Have you ever heard this? Have you ever heard that Christ tasted death for the animals? Although this may sound quite harsh to your reasoning, if you consult the Greek text of Hebrews 2:9, you will see that the word everything is there. If Christ did not taste death for everything, how could God have reconciled everything to Himself? Colossians 1:20 says that God has reconciled everything to Himself through the death of Christ. Noah’s ark is a clear type of this, for in the ark there were not only people but also living creatures. The ark not only saved the people in it; it also saved the creatures. The ark was a picture, a type, of Christ in this respect. The meaning of this is exceedingly deep and it would take us much time to cover it adequately. This is a profound revelation. Be impressed that Christ not only tasted death for man but also for all other things. This is the reason that we say that Christ’s death was an all-inclusive death.
In His death Christ made propitiation for the sins of God’s people (2:17). The Greek word for propitiation here is hilaskomai which means to appease, to reconcile one by satisfying the other’s demand, that is, to propitiate. The Lord Jesus made propitiation for our sins to reconcile us to God by satisfying God’s righteous demands on us. Thus, He has appeased God for us.
Christ died on the cross to taste death for us and to appease God for us. By His tasting of death, death has been abolished (2 Tim. 1:10). By His propitiation, He has fully appeased God for us. Now we are neither under death nor sin. Although there are death and sin in the universe, because of Christ’s death, His all-inclusive crucifixion, we are through with death and sin. Do not care for your feelings. Do not say that you lack the feeling that death and sin are over. Your feelings are a lie. God says that it is so. Are you going to trust your feelings or God’s Word? I do not care about how I feel. I only care for God’s Word. The Bible says that death has been abolished and that Christ has made propitiation for our sins.
Beside death and sin, we have another problem—the devil. In His crucifixion Christ also destroyed the devil (2:14).
The Greek word translated destroy may also be rendered as “bring to nought, make of none effect, do away with, abolish, annul, discard.” After the devil, the serpent, seduced man into the fall, God promised that the seed of woman would come to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). In the fullness of time, the Son of God came to become flesh (John 1:14; Rom. 8:3), by being born of a virgin (Gal. 4:4), that He might destroy the devil in man’s flesh through His death in the flesh on the cross. This was to abolish Satan, to bring him to nought. Hallelujah, Satan has been abolished and done away with!
Perhaps you will say, “How could the devil have been destroyed when he is still so prevailing?” It is a lie to say that the devil is prevailing. The Bible never says this. Do not believe in this lie. The Bible says that the devil has been bruised, destroyed. His head has been crushed. Are you going to believe your feelings or God’s Word? God’s Word tells us that through His death on the cross Christ has destroyed the devil. This is an accomplished fact, a fact that is included in the Holy Word as the testament bequeathed to us. We need to take this bequest by faith according to the Holy Word.
Christ’s death has also released us from the slavery under the fear of death (2:15). Since through His death Christ has tasted death for us and has destroyed the devil who has the might of death, His death has released us from the slavery in which we were held through the fear of death. We have been released from this slavery. Because of the all-inclusive crucifixion of Christ, there is no more death, no more sin, no more devil, no more fear of death, and no more slavery. By His mercy, the Lord has opened our eyes and has shown us the all-inclusiveness of His death. And through experience we do realize that death, sin, the devil, the fear of death, and slavery were all truly crossed out in Christ’s crucifixion.