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THE FEAR OF DEATH

By George W. Sinquefield

Hebrews 2:14 through Hebrews 2:15 (KJV)
¹⁴Forasmuch 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; ¹⁵And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

        The Bible teaches us that we human beings are immortal spirits living in a house of clay which is weak, flimsy, subject to disease and death. All men, except the one generation of Christians who are alive when Jesus comes, are subject unto death. From the first family, Adam and Eve, to this hour only two have escaped the great reaper of death and that was Enoch and Elijah. Enoch walked with God and God took him. Elijah was carried away in a whirl wind. You don't read very far in this book of Genesis until some eighty times you read "and he died," - "And he died," - "And he died." There was one man who lived nearly a thousand years but the summary of his life was "and he died."

        A modern writer has said, "The fact of death is the great human repression, the universal complex. Dying is the reality man dare not face and to escape which he summons all his resources. Death is muffled up in illusions. And yet we cannot live indefinitely on illusions. We know that eventually we must stop kidding ourselves."

Hebrews 9:27 (KJV)
²⁷And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

        Paul Harvey tells of an ad in the paper, "For sale or trade -- A cemetery lot. I have decided to keep living."

James 4:13 through James 4:16 (KJV)
¹³Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: ¹⁴Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. ¹⁵For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. ¹⁶But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

        The Bible says that "for everything there is a season, there is a time to plant, there is a time to pluck up, a time to sow and a time to reap, a time to live and a time to die." We can be sure that when it is our time to die, we will die.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 (KJV)
⁸There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

        We have heart transplants and someone has said it is possible to have head transplants. We have hair transplants and some of us ought to look into this. We may transplant heads, hearts, hair, hands, feet and every other part of the body but when God says it is our time to go, we will go. "There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit."

The Fear of Death

        "There are many things that enslave us, but there is no enslavement quite equal to the enslavement of fear. There is no enslavement to fear quite equal to the fear of death."

        The ancient Jews had an old saying that went like this, "In this life, death never suffers a man to be glad or joyous."

        Dr. Ralph Sockman says, "Fear is natural. Indeed, normal, fear has a very necessary place in life. We have to be afraid of things like heights and fire; if we weren't, we would not live very long. It is only when fear changes from being a servant of life to being a master that it becomes an unhealthy emotion."

        We will never be able to live victoriously until we are convinced that there is nothing in death for Christians to fear. Theodore Roosevelt said, "Only those are fit to live who are not afraid to die."

        Henry Van Dyke, pastor and author (1852-1933) observed, "Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live."

        How may we be delivered from this fear of death?

1.    We must understand and really believe what the Bible teaches about the death of a Christian.

Philippians 1:21 through Philippians 1:23 (KJV)
²¹For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. ²³For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

2 Corinthians 5:6 through 2 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV)
⁶Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: ⁷(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) ⁸We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

        Paul says:

2 Timothy 4:6 through 2 Timothy 4:8 (KJV)
⁶For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. ⁷I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: ⁸Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

2.    Death is the possession of the child of God.

1 Corinthians 3:21 through 1 Corinthians 3:22 (KJV)
²¹Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; ²²Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

        A little 11 year old boy turned aside from a mound of flowers where the earthly remains of his "Mommy" had been placed. He tried to comfort his father as they returned from the cemetery where "Mommy" had been left to sleep beneath, awaiting the call of the resurrection morning. "She had two lives, Daddy, one on earth and one in heaven. She just finished the one on earth and is waiting to start the one in heaven -- so it's not so bad as it looks!"

        Death is the gate through which a child of God passes into a fuller and richer and more abundant life in Heaven.

        The poet pictures on coming in a dream to a gate on which was inscribed, "Gate of Death." As in dread he approached, it opened and he found himself within -- strangely at home. And looking about he saw written on the inside of the gate he had entered, "Gate of Life." Christ went through the gate of death and changed it for all who follow Him into the gate of life.

3.    Jesus removed the sting of death.

        Death is represented a a hornet or bee. Paul could face his enemy, death, and shout, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (I Corinthians 15:55) Now the sting of death is sin according to the words of Paul. It is because of sin that we dread death. To die and stand before God with sin upon us unatoned and unforgiven is a terrible prospect which causes fear and trembling in the heart of man. It will mean eternal damnation, and therefore, death for all such means the passing into the place of outer darkness and condemnation forever and ever. To face God at death without Christ , our sin bearer, is an awful, terrible, fearful prospect. And only the taking care of the sting of death, which is sin, can take away this fear.

        But, thank God, how different for the child of God. His sin has been taken care of, paid for, atoned for, forgiven and forgotten. He is complete in Christ and death means only a "going home" without fear of judgment for sin. Let us remember that the sting of death is sin and when sin is removed the sting is taken care of entirely.

        A little girl and her mother were picking flowers and a bee keeps buzzing around. The little girl was afraid of it and her mother said to her, "That bee won't sting you." "How do you know that bee won't sting me?" she asked. Her mother replied, "Because it has already stung me. There is the stinger in my arm. That bee will never harm you." When we hear Paul cry, "O death, where is thy sting?" we can answer, "In the body of Jesus, our Savior."

4.    Jesus abolished death.

2 Timothy 1:10 (KJV)
¹⁰But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

        "Abolished" means to make of no effect, to void, to make empty. In His resurrection, our Lord, emptied death of everything it held in the way of fear as far as we Christians are concerned.

5.    Death is swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:51 through 1 Corinthians 15:54 (KJV)
⁵¹Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

       In Isaiah 25:8 the prophet said, "He will swallow up death in victory." Now Paul puts it in the present. "Death is swallowed up (down) in victory." Just as death thinks that it is about to swallow those in its grasp, behold, it is itself swallowed in the victory of our Lord over death, a victory in which His people shall share. It is no wonder, then, that Paul continues as he taunts death in derision, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

        Death having stung once can sting no more! Thus with Paul all the redeemed can shout, "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Yes, "through our Lord Jesus Christ." For apart from Him there is no victory. It is His victory over the ultimate enemy, a victory in which all His people shall share

6.    Jesus is our forerunner.

Hebrews 6:20 (KJV)
²⁰Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

        The writer of Hebrews calls Jesus our forerunner. In those days when a heavy ship  was coming into a harbor a smaller ship would go into the harbor first, checking out the conditions: the depth, the strength of the currents, the positions of the rocks. All the hidden dangers would be revealed so that the large ship could come in safely. That little boat was the PRODROMOS, the guide, the forerunner. That is the word Hebrews uses to describe Christ. He is the one who has gone before us scouting the way. He is the one who leads us safely into the harbor.

7.    Death is spoken of as decease.

        On the Mount of Transfiguration Moses and Elijah "spake of His decease (death) which He (Jesus) should accomplish at Jerusalem."

Luke 9:28 through Luke 9:31 (KJV)
²⁸And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. ²⁹And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. ³⁰And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: ³¹Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

        Peter spoke of his death as his decease.

2 Peter 1:15 (KJV)
15Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

        The word "decease" is the same as the word "exodus." It is used to describe the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. Thus it means going into something far better and more desirable and much better.

        For a child of God, his decease is his going from a world of sin, sorrow and suffering into Heaven itself where there is no sin and suffering but only eternal joy, peace and happiness.

8.    Death is as a shadow.

Psalm 23:4 (KJV)
⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

        Donald Grey Barnhouse, was one of America's leading Bible teachers. Cancer took his first wife, leaving him with three children under 12. On the way to the funeral, a large truck passed them casting its shadow across their car. Turning to his oldest daughter, he asked, "Tell me, sweetheart, would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?" She replied, "By the shadow. It can't hurt you." Then he said to all his children, "Your mother has not been overridden by death, but by the shadow of death. That is nothing to fear."

        Charles Hadden Spurgeon said, "Death in its substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it remains. Nobody is afraid of a shadow for a shadow cannot block man's pathway for even a moment. The shadow of a dog cannot bite. The shadow of a sword can't kill." Christ took the full force of death's destroying power by dying and paying for our sins, then rising from the grave.

9.    Jesus has promised to be with us always -- to never leave us.

Hebrews 13:5 (KJV)
⁵Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

        One evening when a mother was tucking her small daughter into bed, the child pleaded, "Mother, stay with me while I go to sleep." Remembering all the tasks that still awaited her, she hesitated. But she knew of the child's dread of the darkness, so she sat beside the bed and took her daughter's hand in her own; soon the child was asleep.

        As the mother sat there, the Lord brought to her mind a comforting thought. She bowed her had and prayed, "O Lord, when life's evening shall come, bring before me all Your promises so that by grace I may be able to say with childlike trust, 'Father, take my hand. Stay with me while I go to sleep, guide me safely in the valley, and receive me when I awaken in Glory!'" That is what He has promised to do and we can rest assured that He'll keep that promise.

        Dr. Alexander Maclaren was one of the greatest preachers this world has ever known. He tells about an experience that he had when he was a boy, just a mere wisp of a lad. He had left home for the first time. He said that his daddy had secured him a job six miles from his home which was in Glasgow. On Monday morning his father walked the distance with him to his new work. When he left him there, he gave him specific instructions to come home Saturday night after work. Alexander Maclaren said that between his job and his home in Glasgow there was a deep, dark ravine that was dreaded and shunned by people everywhere in the countryside because known criminals and wild beasts inhabit the area. It was a desolate place, and yet his daddy had given him instructions; therefore, he must go home alone on Saturday night. He lived in terror the whole week -- day and night he thought about that trip. When he finished on Saturday evening, he got his few belongings together and started out into the night as his daddy had told him to do. He came to the mouth of the ravine and stopped there in the darkness, crouching against the wall, behind a bush, because in the darkness he heard footsteps coming up out of the ravine. He said that his heart was pounding within him as though it would jump completely out of his mouth. He was stricken with terror and horror. Then he detected a rhythm to those footsteps that he recognized. Suddenly he saw a head and shoulders coming up out of the darkness that were most familiar to him. His daddy had come to walk through the ravine with him. He said that he placed his hand in the hand of his daddy's, and he went down into that ravine he was afraid of nothing in the world. His daddy was the greatest man on earth, and with him by his side, there was nothing to fear. Oh, my friend, that is exactly what Jesus Christ promises to do for each one of us. "He hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel."

        The most comforting thing on earth to the Christian's heart is to know that he never goes through an experience, even death itself, without the presence and power of God right with him. This is especially meaningful as he contemplates death.

10.    God's grace will sustain us at the time of death.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (KJV)
⁹And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

        Somebody asked Dwight L. Moody if he had dying grace, and he said: "Why, no, I have living grace, but when I come to die I shall have dying grace." And when they they carried him home from a meeting he was conducting in Kansas City, where a fatal sickness had seized him, there propped upon his pillows, with his loved ones around him, he looked at them, and then looked up into the open heavens and said: "The world is receding. Heaven is opening. God is calling me, and I must be away." He had dying grace when death came. He asked his son-in-law if what he was experiencing was death and was told that it was. Moody said, "It is wonderful."

        A pastor relates this experience:

        "I recall very vividly the recent going away of the wife of one of our most honored Texas judges. She had said to me again and again that she greatly feared she was not a Christian, and her fear came because all her lifetime she was in bondage through fear of death. She never went to a funeral, or to a death chamber, if she could avoid it. She had that unspeakable fear of death which is described in that Scripture which says: "Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

        I said to her again and again: "Mrs. So-and-so, if you are trusting Christ" -- and she would say: "If I am trusting Him? Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

        And then I said: "If you are trusting Him, when the day comes for you to go, His grace will be sufficient, and if you are conscious that day, you will know that it is sufficient."

        And the day did come a little while ago, and the nurse and the doctor were there, and she turned her lustrous eyes to the doctor, and said: "Doctor, what is this?" And he did not reply. He was a very dear friend of the family. And she said again: "Tell me frankly, doctor, is this death?"

        He said; "Yes, Mrs. So-and-so, it is death."

        And then she turned to her husband, and she said: "Oh, dear husband, you know this is the hour that for 30 years I have dreaded. This is the hour of all hours I have shrunk from." And then she said: "Husband, don't you see that face? Don't you hear that music? Christ is here. I have never known such rapture of light and peace and joy." And in a very flood of celestial glory the timid wife went out to meet the Lord. She found that God's grace was sufficient."

        A bright young girl of 15 was suddenly cast upon a bed of suffering, completely paralyzed on one side and nearly blind. She heard the family doctor say to her parents as they stood by the bedside --"She has seen her best days, poor child!" "No, doctor," she exclaimed, "my best days are yet to come, when I shall see the King in His beauty."

        Sir Phillip Sydney, one of the most brilliant men England ever produced, was sent at the age of 21 by the queen as her ambassador to the court of Germany. At 33 he was fatally wounded on the battle field. In the 3 weeks before he died, he was nursed by a Christian nurse who led him to Christ. When Sir Phillip Sydney was dying, he said, "I would not change my place today for the control of the whole world."

Are you afraid of dying? You can overcome that fear if you know you are saved and if you stand on the Word and promises of God.

John 14:6 (KJV)
⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 5:24 (KJV)
²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

John 6:47 (KJV)
⁴⁷Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

        A pastor had just received the news that he had a terminal illness. The next Sunday he said to his congregation, "I walked the 5 miles from the doctor's office to my home. I looked toward that majestic mountain that I love. I looked at the river in which I rejoice. I looked at the stately trees that are always God's own poetry to my soul. Then in the evening I looked up into the great sky where God was lighting His lamps and I said, 'I may not see you many more times, but mountain, I will be alive when you are gone. And river, I will be alive when you cease running toward the sea. And stars, I will be alive when you have fallen from your sockets in the great pulling-down of the universe.'"

        A wonderful hope (assurance) lies beyond the grave for all who are trusting Christ as their Saviour. Death is not the end. Innumerable, indescribable, eternal glories await the child of God.

        One has spoken the truth when he said, "When a Christian dies, He has just begun to live." Death is no longer a jailer but the porter that opens the gate of paradise. Not the riveting of chains, but the breaking of them. Not the setting of the Sun, but the dawn of a new day. Not the end of the stream but the fountain flowing into its rightful channel. Not the winding up of all living, but the beginning of life in all its fullness."

        Are we Christians really ready to die? A lady asked Martin Luther as he worked in his garden, "Mr. Luther what would you do if you knew you were going to die at midnight tonight?" He said, "Madam, the first thing I would do is finish hoeing my garden?" If you would have to change you living because you discovered that you had only two days to live, then you had better change it anyway. A Christian should live with his spiritual suitcase packed, ready to go.

        Someone asked Dr. Bailey E. Smith, "What is a person like when he is right with God?"  He answered, "A person who is right with God is one who can learn on Sunday that he is going to die on Tuesday and yet would do nothing different on Monday."

        A word about the death of the lost, those who have never trusted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It will be awful. If you haven't done so please trust Jesus now. Putting it off is very dangerous.

        A woman who nursed a man, a gifted writer, in his last illness said she never wanted to see another unbeliever die, because of the fear and agony and hopelessness with which he faced the end of his life.

        Voltaire cried out, as he came to die, "O God, I wish I had never lived." Ingersoll, agnostic that he was, confessed, "I am taking a leap into the dark."

        A prisoner in a Pennsylvania prison contracted a dread disease. He asked the doctor, "Is there any hope for me?" And the doctor answered, "No, there is no hope." The man looked up into the sky and cried out, "I can't go out there alone -- God is up there waiting for me." The chaplain told him that God was merciful. He tried to help him, but it was too late. He had hardened his heart against the Holy Spirit so long that he could not even listen to the message of hope. He said, "I can't face God alone -- send for my old father -- he will be glad to die for me." The father came, but he could not help his son. He had to stand by and see him die. The last thing that the son said was, "I can't meet God alone."

        When Kipling lay seriously ill his nurse asked him if he wanted anything. He replied simply, "I want God."

        You may not want God now but you will when you come to die. He'll be with you then if  you'll trust Him now. Keep God out of your life and one day you'll hear him say, "Depart from me, Ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt. 25:41)

        A young man named Charlie was accused of killing an administrator at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He was found guilty and sentenced to die in the electric chair. While he was in jail, a gospel team from the Alden Union Church led him to put his faith in Christ. He studied the Bible and took an interest in sacred music. He loved to sing "No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus."

        Just before he went to the electric chair, Charlie asked to speak to the other prisoners. The privilege was granted, and he told the men of his joy in the Lord. He testified that he had no fear about his impending execution. He spoke with sorrow about his crime, but he knew he would soon be with Jesus.

        Concluding his testimony, Charlie sang his favorite hymn with deep feeling. A Philadelphia newspaper reported that he sang it again as he walked from death row to the electric chair. As the hood was pulled down over his head, the last words to escape his lips were, "Till someday I see His blessed face above!"

        Charlie faced death without fear, for he knew that Jesus, who had taken "the sin and darkness" from his heart, was alive, and that He would walk with him through death's valley.

        You, too, lost friend can face death without fear if you know the Lord as your Savior. Those who fear God need not fear death.

        One day I am going to face death. I can either defeat it or be defeated by it. I am not going to allow death to defeat me because Christ is my Savior. I have trusted Him to save me and I'm safe and secure in His hands. I can say with Paul, "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."