by Sherri Stevens

Are you afraid to die?

It's natural for us to fear the unknown. But fortunately, because of the truths of Scripture, believers do not need to live out this temporal life in fearful ignorance. Instead, we can echo Paul's triumphant words: "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:55).

The preacher of Ecclesiastes said that the day of our death is better than the day of our birth (Ecc. 7:1). He was cynically expressing the meaninglessness and futility he experienced in this earthly life, but there is a valid sense for the Christian in which it is true that our death ushers us into an infinitely greater glory than our birth ever did.  As Job expressed in Job 14:1, this earthly life “is short-lived and full of turmoil.” Many of us have lived long enough to be able to validate the turmoil we endure upon this terra firma. But the confidence that heaven awaits us can fill us with glorious hope. Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21). The prospect of heaven made him joyful even in the face of death, and we, too, can live with such comforting assurance.

For humans, death can taunt us like an unsympathetic landlord waving an eviction notice. But earthly eviction merely releases believers from a dilapidated and eroding neighborhood to an infinitely grand and glorious dwelling in a heavenly neighborhood. For the believer, then, the sorrows, sadness, and suffering of this life are worse than death. Death releases believers from living in comparatively "slum-like" conditions to then be ushered into the presence of our eternal Father to live in a splendorous holy city.

Knowing that, Christians do not need to fear death. Their hearts can long for, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better” (Phil. 1:23).  Being tormented by a morbid fear of death is inconsistent with a Christian perspective. Believers can long to live in the afterlife as a prisoner longs for freedom, a sick person longs for health, and a thirsty person longs for a drink. 

Paul welcomed the end of his temporal existence, “prefer[ring] rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). This was not a morbid death wish on Paul’s part. He was not saying that he was eager to die, but rather, he was expressing his confidence that earthly existence is not the end of life for the Christian. Death immediately ushers the believer into a fuller, higher realm of more abundant life—in the very presence of the Lord. 

If you are a Christian, someone trusting Christ alone for your salvation, Scripture promises that the moment you leave this life, you will be translated into your heavenly home. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The righteous man who dies “is taken away from evil, he enters into peace” (Is. 57: 1-2). Indeed, we can trust that “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

Life for the Apostle Paul was a race to finish, a battle to win, a stewardship to discharge. Once the race was over, the battle won, and the stewardship discharged, Paul saw no reason to cling to this earthly life. The only reason for him to remain on earth was to serve God, and he stated his readiness to leave when that service was complete:

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

The reality of life in this world for believers, however, is that “while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6). Believers communicate with God through prayer and study of the Word and have communion with Him through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Yet there is still a sense in which we are separated from God and long for that separation to end. Psalm 42:1-2 expresses that desire: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?” “Whom have I in heaven but You?” the psalmist asked rhetorically, “And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Ps. 73:25).

Paul longed for the day when he would “always be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:17). That sense of separation caused Abraham to look for “the city...whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10) and the Old Testament saints to acknowledge “that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). It is only in heaven that believers will experience intimate, unbroken fellowship with God.

We can have a heart that resonates with Paul's—yearning to be clothed with our heavenly form and to exchange this transient world for eternal joy. He wrote, “This perishable must put on imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53). We can look forward with full assurance that mortality will be swallowed up by a more beautiful and abundant life (2 Cor. 5:4).

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Anyone who has placed (or will place) their faith in Christ's death at the Cross for the forgiveness of their sins and His resurrection that offers them eternal life, need not fear death. But the good news of the gospel goes beyond just the assurance of a person's salvation. For believers, "we need not grieve as those who have no hope" (1 Thes. 4:13). We can live with the hopeful expectation that we will reunite with lost loved ones who have also trusted in Christ.

In the Old Testament, we read the story of King David whose child had died, and he said: “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me" (2 Samuel 12:22-23).

With this hope, Christians can color the pages of their challenging lives with joyful confidence as they await the radiant reality of their new heavenly home where they will be united with their Lord and loved ones for eternity. So, for now, and in the days to come, your heart can hold tightly to God's title deed of hope, which promises that death is not a period but a comma.

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