The Slavery of Death

by Richard Beck

concerning the work of Jesus—the work he accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection—we must pay attention to texts like 1 John 3:8: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” What is this “work of the devil”? And how was it destroyed? Most Protestants tend to reduce the role of Satan to that of tempter, and undeniably that is a part of the picture. But the New Testament also describes Satan as holding the power of death. As it says in Hebrews 2:14, the death of Jesus was intended to “destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.” This victory over the devil is reaffirmed in the opening vision of Revelation where the Resurrected Lord is declared to be holding “the keys of death and Hades.” Death, once under the power of Satan, is now under the power of Christ.