Some things are genuinely frightening. All of us know what it is to experience fear, and whilst Christianity does offer a peace that passes understanding, it never promises to rid believers of all that rightly alarms us.
What it does promise, however, is that the God who stands over all that terrifies us is for us. [Romans 8:31] More than that, He is with us, sustaining us even as He sovereignly restrains those things that threaten us, so that – no matter how it may sometimes seem – they cannot harm us more than He lovingly allows.
And that includes death – the greatest of all our fears.
For when our time comes – as it surely will – we are assured that, like Jesus, we will be brought safely through death. And just as He endured the cross for the joy set before Him, so too will we one day experience eternal joy in God’s presence.
Because it is to that great fear of death that Christianity uniquely speaks. And the reason it gives for why we need not be afraid is the same one given to the terrified shepherds by the angel that announced to them the birth of Jesus in the little town of Bethlehem.
This is what he said:
‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord’. [Luke 2:10-11]
Given his heavenly nature, when the angel made his dramatic appearance, the shepherds would undoubtedly have needed some immediate reassurance. But the deeper reason as to why they needn’t have feared was tied up in the fact that a Saviour had been born – one who had come to save them from their sins.
Scripture tells us that ‘it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ [Hebrews 10:31] But as a result of Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross, bearing there the righteous judgment that we all deserve, we can be forgiven. Which means that we can, as a consequence of being pardoned, stand before God – not as those facing condemnation, but those who have been adopted into His family as his much-loved children.
Death then, for Christians, holds no fear. For not only are we accompanied on that always difficult path by the one who conquered it [Psalm 23:4], by trusting, not in ourselves, but the God who raises the dead, ours has also become the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.
Death, therefore, is not the end. Far from it. For when Christ returns and the trumpet sounds the dead will be raised. And the saying that is written shall come to pass:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
[1 Corinthians 15:52,55]
To read Day 11 from 2023, click here
To read Day 11 from 2024, click here
Some musings 