That He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man (everything)” Hebrew 2:9 KJV
That by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9 NASB
The epistle to the Romans teaches us that by one man, Adam, sin entered our world, and with it, death. God, in His government, decreed that sin resulted in death. All of Adam’s considerable posterity have experienced death under the principles of divine government.
There has been one exception, however, to this long history. There was One Man Who did not experience death because of Adam’s disobedience. It was not under the government of God but by the grace of God that He tasted death for everything.
I know there is another sense in which divine government was seen in His death at Calvary. Justice exacted what sin deserved from the Man of Calvary. But the Hebrew letter stresses that Divine grace was operative in His experiencing death.
It was grace that conceived the plan of salvation. It was eternally sourced in the heart of God. Titus 1:2 tells us of eternal life that was promised before the world began. Paul encouraged Timothy in 2Timothy 1:9 that God had purposes for him in Christ Jesus, which predated creation. Before the clock of history began to mark time, before the second hand on the clock traversed its first small distance from one minute to the next, grace was reigning in the heart of God.
It was grace that marked the down-stooping of the Savior. “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ …” (2 Cor 8:9). Who can think of the riches and glory that were His from eternity, and then look upon the babe of Bethlehem, the carpenter of Nazareth, the itinerant preacher in Galilee and Judea, and not marvel at the grace which brought Him so low? He moved from adoration and acclamation by angelic hosts to the hostility and accusations of His own creatures!
But the Hebrew writer takes us one step further. “He tasted death.” This must not be construed as a sampling, as a person would sample food or beverage, taking only a small portion. No, He entered into all that death meant. He experienced it in its entirety. Elsewhere, He spoke of His death as being a baptism in which He would be immersed; and as a cup which He must drink, all of its contents entering into His holy soul. He entered into death by the grace of God.
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The marginal readings are to be preferred here. He did not just taste death for every man, but for everything. The chapter is concerned with the tragic results of Adam’s fall. God’s original plan for a man to rule over His creation appeared, on the surface, to have been frustrated by Satan’s attack. How will the corruption of creation be reversed? How will it be possible for a man to reign over the earth as God intended.? How will all the far-reaching effects of sin be cancelled? It was by Him tasting death for everything.
A day is coming on the horizon of earth’s sad history, which is referred to as “the regeneration” (Matt 19:28) of all things. A rebirth is in store in the program of God for the very creation itself. The calendar is marked. All of this is because of the grace of God.
Consider:
Can you see other links between Adam’s fall and its consequences and the work of the Lord Jesus to reverse those consequences in Hebrews 2?