Freedom from the Stronghold of Death

The Holy Spirit was revealing and speaking to me about the significance for us of Jesus being buried in the tomb and even having it sealed.  The tomb would signify to the people of His day the permanence of His death and to add to this the Chief priests and pharisees requested the Roman legal authorities to seal the tomb to be sure Jesus body was not taken.  The purpose of the seal was to authenticate Jesus death and prove to everyone He was not resurrected.  This process included not only the Priests and Pharisees inspecting Jesus dead body but also Roman officials, the Roman guards standing watch over the tomb, and Joseph of Arimathea who placed His body in the tomb.  The Chief Priests and Pharisees had remembered Jesus words about resurrection and that wanted to make sure none of His followers stole His body to stage a resurrection.  In Hebrews 2:14-15 says, "Therefore, since 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 free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."  The Holy Spirit connected these verses with Jesus being buried in the tomb, this is when Jesus was under the power of death (buried and sealed in the tomb) and the Resurrection was when the power of death and the fear of death was broken.  Hebrews 2 refers to this as a form of slavery (the fear of death) that we have been subject to all our lives.  Truly, strongholds (lies we believe about God, our identity, or others) in our lives are impregnated with hopelessness and hopelessness ends in death.  You could say that death is the ultimate stronghold, so how was God going to overcome this on stronghold on our behalf.  Since Jesus is our human representative who died on our behalf to put us in right relationship with God, to give us a new identity, to bring our complete forgiveness, and give us eternal life by defeating death on our behalf.  When we live behind strongholds in our life it is like being in the tomb sealed and secured in death, it is a place that the enemy has brought us to a powerless place.  Jesus not only broke the physical barrier of death, He overcame the stone tomb that held Him, broke the legal seal and permanence of death, moved past the guards, and opened the way to eternal life (Jesus said He was the truth, the way, and the life).  In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 the term stronghold or fortress of thought is referred to in the midst of the battle to bring the truth of Christ into the world, our own lives, and all the nations and tribes of the world.  These reinforced fortresses where the enemy is deeply entrenched for many years are the idea of strongholds, they are the very structures that prevent the "Bride of Christ" from knowing and living from her true identity keeping the glory of Christ from being revealed.  In 1 John 3:8 says that Jesus came to "destroy the works of the devil", I want to propose to you that these take up "mental real estate" in people's minds before they manifest in physical form.  These strongholds are at root of depression, suicide, anxiety, hopelessness, and many other things that plague people's lives.  Jesus has entered the very place of hopelessness, powerlessness, bondage, and death to deliver us.  He truly understands our pain, bondage, and obstacles because He is Emmanuel "God with us".  Father God through Christ demolishes the stronghold of death and then turns to us who are empowered by the Holy Spirit and charges us to go demolish strongholds in people lives that the truth of Christ would be revealed to them.  First, He delivers us from the strongholds of death in our life and in the process we become a deliverer to others (just as Jesus was).  The verses in Hebrews point to the power that the devil had, the power of death.  So what stronghold in your life, in those you love, in those in your workplace, or of those in your family members do you need to see deliverance from.  The stronghold of unbelief is a powerful one keeping people from Christ, truly Jesus is the "desire of the nations" so it is strongholds that keep people from seeing and believing in Him.

In My Deliverer,
Bret