ARE YOU AFRAID TO DIE?
Hebrews 2:14-15
Here
is a solemn, sobering, serious question. It is a question you might prefer to
avoid, but one you cannot avoid. You may suppress it, and postpone dealing with
it; but you cannot avoid it. – Are you
afraid to die?
I
have watched a lot of men die, some young and some old, some believers and some
infidels, some with no hope, some with a false hope, and some with a good hope.
I have seen some die in utter terror and some with great comfort, some in
brazen blasphemy and defiance and some with peace and joy. How will it be for
you, when you come to death’s chilly waters?
I
know a good many men and women who do everything they can to avoid visiting a
rest home, a hospital, or a funeral parlor. They simply cannot face the fact
that they, too, must soon die. Even now, the fear of death terrorizes them. I
ask of you, what Jeremiah asked long ago. – If sickness and death torment you
now, “then how wilt thou do in the
swelling of Jordan?” Are you afraid to die?
A Reasonable Fear
The fear of death is a very
natural thing to sinful men. And, the fact is -- If you are without Christ, you
have reason to be afraid. "It is
appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment” (Heb. 2:15).
Soon you and I must die. Long ago, a dying man requested that the words below
be inscribed upon his tombstone. He wanted all who passed by his grave to be
reminded of the brevity of life and the certainty of death. We would be wise to
lay them to heart.
“Please view my grave as you
pass by, For as you are so once was I,
And as I am soon you must
be, So make your plans to follow me.”
Because of your sin and
guilt before God, you must die. But death will not end your existence. You will
stand before a holy, just, and righteous God in judgment. And you will reap the
exact penalty due your sin, the infinite, eternal wrath of God in hell (2 Cor.
5:10-11; Rev. 20:11-15). This is “the
second death,” the everlasting death of your soul in hell. It is a
torturous death that never dies!
A Blessed Deliverance
For the believer, however,
things are far different. In Hebrews 2:14-15 the Holy Spirit tells us that one
great purpose of our Savior’s incarnation was that he might destroy Satan and
deliver his elect from the fear of death. The Lord Jesus Christ came into this
world for this purpose, that he might "deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage."
You and I, who are washed in
the blood of Christ and living by faith in Him, should have no fear of death.
Certainly, we must not expect to have dying grace until our time to die has
come. Yet, we ought not live out our days on this earth clinging to the vanity
of mortality and fearing its end. Christ came not only to deliver us from
death, but from the very fear of death. He does so by effectually teaching us
the gospel, giving us the blessed confidence of faith in himself as our
all-sufficient Savior.