The Scapegoat in Atonement - Satan's Power of Death is Nullified Through Christ's Decent Into Hades

There is a line in Hebrews that Christians quote often, but I am not sure we have always stopped long enough to ask what it actually means.

Hebrews says that Jesus became flesh and blood so that through death he might destroy the devil.

Hebrews 2:14-15

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

That passage raises several questions.

What is “the power of death”?

In what sense did Satan have it?

How did Jesus’ death destroy the one who had that power?

And why would Satan participate in the crucifixion if the crucifixion was the very event that would undo him?

That last question is especially important. The New Testament gives us reason to believe that the crucifixion was, in some sense, a mystery hidden from the rulers of this age.

1 Corinthians 2:8