Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?—Part 3
When God Entered Our World and Why It Matters.
“…and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Hebrews 2:15)
Imagine a damp, dark, and depressing dungeon beneath a stone fortress. At the gate to the dungeon stands is the executioner, constantly threatening and tormenting prisoners. The prisoners are haunted with the constant fear of death.
That’s what life was like before the coming of Jesus Christ. Humanity was imprisoned under the power of sin, with the devil as our executioner and death as our sentence. But then, the Son of God came. He stormed the castle of this world, fought his way through the darkness, struck the executioner, and shattered the prison doors. He came to set the captives free.
So far in Hebrews 2, we’ve learned that the Son of God became like us to destroy the devil’s power over death. Now, in verse 15, we see another purpose: Jesus came to deliver us from slavery.
Our Incarceration
The writer says that we were “subject to lifelong slavery”—enslaved by the one with “the power of death” (2:14) in the fear of death. The devil used that power pf death as a weapon, threatening and tormenting us with death. He reminds us constantly of our guilt before a holy God. He keeps us trembling in fear—afraid to die, afraid to face justice, afraid to be forgotten.
That fear of death takes many forms.
First, it’s the fear of temporal death—the physical end of life. The Bible calls death “the king of terrors” (Job 18:14). For those who live apart from Christ, death looms like “the valley of the shadow of death” that never lifts (Ps. 23). Psalm 49 says, “No man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life… the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice” (vv. 7–9). We can’t buy immortality. No amount of wealth or wisdom can prevent the grave (Ps. 49:10–12).
Second, it’s the fear of spiritual death. The Bible describes life without Christ as living death—breathing, working, and striving while spiritually cut off from God. Paul writes, “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but… the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Rom. 8:15). Before Christ, every person lives enslaved to sin, already dead on the inside.
Third, it’s the fear of eternal death—the dreadful awareness of living eternally in the conscious awareness that God’s love, mercy, and grace will never be available to you; only his justice. Revelation 6 describes those who hide from the face of the returning King, crying out to the mountains, “Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb” (v. 17).
Jesus came to earth to deliver sinners like you and me from all of this—from temporal death, spiritual death, and eternal death.
Christ’s Liberation
The good news is that what we could never escape on our own, Jesus conquered. The word “deliver” describes a change from one condition into another—like the boy delivered from demon-possession. To be “delivered” is to be pulled out of captivity and brought into freedom. That boy went from anguish to peace. Others who were sick, were healed; the blind could see; the lame could walk. These deliverances were signposts to a greater truth: Christ came to deliver us from sin’s dungeon and death’s grip.
Isaiah saw this centuries before the birth of Christ:
“The LORD goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.” (Isa. 42:13)
Jesus is that mighty warrior. Yet the wonder of the gospel is that he conquered not by wielding a sword, but by laying down his life. The devil’s destruction and our deliverance came through the death of the divine warrior.
This is the beautiful irony of Christianity: God became man to die, that those who were dead might live. He didn’t destroy evil from a distance. He entered the battlefield himself. While every other religion tells you to work your way up to God, Christianity tells you that God came down to rescue you. We live because Jesus died. We are free because Jesus was bound.
Freedom from Death Gives Courage to Face Death
Because of Jesus, believers no longer live in the fear of death. As Martin Luther wrote starkly, “He who fears death or is not willing to die is not sufficiently Christian.” John Calvin added, “If anyone cannot set his mind at rest by disregarding death, that man has not yet gone far enough in the faith of Christ.”
In other words, faith in Christ brings freedom—not just from guilt, but from fear itself. Jesus’ death has already satisfied God’s justice. His resurrection has already secured eternal life for all who trust in him.
The Heidelberg Catechism asks, “Since Christ died for us, why must we also die?” And it answers: “Our death is not a satisfaction for our sins, but only a dying to sin and entering into eternal life” (Q&A 42).
So, when death comes for the Christian, it is no longer the doorway to despair—it’s the entrance into glory.
An Invitation for Advent
Jesus came to earth to deliver us from the slavery of fear and the tyranny of death. He came to free captives and to make us children of God.
You don’t have to live under the shadow of fear anymore. The One who stormed the gates of death now holds them open for you.
This Advent, take courage. The mighty warrior has come.
Give your life to Jesus, who came from heaven to earth to liberate fearful sinners—and to make them free forever.
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