THE LAST HURDLE

(Getting Over The Fear Of Death

by Pastor Dick

Physical death is something everyone has to pass through, and, regardless of how much faith we have, we don’t know how we will act until that time arrives. I hate death. I don’t like to talk about it. I go to as few funerals as possible, and I even put off writing about it for a long time. I am not the only one who feels this way. A funeral director once told me, “Most people will not face the reality of death unless they have to; then it is usually only for a few hours.” I have been at wakes where people, standing in front of an open casket, were laughing, talking about business, the weather or sports, while trying to avoid looking at the corpse. I have done it myself.

An older woman, a dear friend of mine, died of cancer. he casket was to remain closed during the funeral, but the undertaker, beforehand, insisted that I let him lift the lid to show me how nice she looked. I reluctantly agreed, and, after viewing the body, told him he had done a good job. But, let’s face it, there is nothing pretty about a cold, lifeless corpse!

I don’t blame people for not wanting to face the reality of death. It is ugly! But wait, don’t let these negative statements get you down. I have been speaking from the natural viewpoint, from what can be seen with the human eye. Praise God, Christians can view death from a different perspective.

The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith” (Rom.1:17). We can approach that big hurdle of death with confidence and joy if we look at it from God’s point of view. We view it from below; He sees it from above. We see physical death as ugly; God sees it quite differently when it happens to His people: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints ” (Ps.116:15).

Some of the things you have thought, said or done may come to your mind, and you may not feel much like a saint; but, regardless of what your feelings tell you (or what some religions classify as sainthood), if you have received Christ as Lord and Savior, you are a saint: “. . . ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit of  our  God” (1 Cor.6:11).

So how should we, as saints, using our spiritual vision, view physical death? As an opportunity, a door to heaven and something to  really  look  forward  to.  From  a  faith  viewpoint,  we  can  truly say,  “O  death,  where  is  thy  sting? O  grave,  where  is  thy victory? ” (1 Cor.15:55). For us, death is not a vehicle that carries us to defeat; it is a chariot that brings us to glory!

Paul the apostle knew how to look at death. He said to the Philippians, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith” (Phil.1:21-25).

Death is a mysterious thing. It is understandable why it causes so much fear and confusion, but if we want to learn more about it, I believe the Lord will teach us. And we will learn that it is nothing like we imagined it to be in our natural way of thinking.

I remember, years ago, when I had to make frequent trips through a little town in Northern Massachusetts, I would often stop to visit an old man who lived alone. He had outlived all his relatives, including his children. He was lonely and enjoyed having company.

One time, while sitting in his kitchen, he said to me, “I want to tell you about something that happened to me over fifty years ago. I’ve never told this to anyone; you are the first to hear it.” I had never seen this man so serious. His eyes were moist and his voice shaky. “Please tell me about it,” I said. He regained his composure and began to talk about what he had experienced.

He said, “When my wife was alive, we had a good life together, but went through some hard times. The most difficult I can remember was when we discovered that our nine-year-old son had leukemia. We did all we could for him, but nothing seemed to help. Within a few years, we had to take him out of school and helplessly stand by and watch him get weaker and weaker, until he died at the age of twelve.”

Now it was my turn to hold back the tears. He paused for a moment; then he went on to say, “Now, I’m a religious man; I believe in God, and I know there’s life after death. But one night, shortly after my son died, I laid in bed and said to God, ‘If only I could know for sure that my son is alive.’ Then I noticed a little dot of light on the wall, which grew into a big ball as it came toward me and stopped beside my bed. There, in the middle of that light, was the most beautiful being I have ever seen. There are no words to describe it. Then this presence came closer, leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, and I knew it was my son! Before I could speak, he disappeared.”

I was overwhelmed and said, “Leo, why did you wait so long to tell about this? That was a wonderful answer from God, and you’ve kept it hidden for fifty years!” He then replied, “You are the only one I thought would not laugh at me if I told you about it.”

How much do you think about death? Are you ready to face it? Time is slipping by; it is getting closer. Think how quickly the last ten years have passed. Would you want to be told if you had only a short while to live? Fear of the unknown is the reason many people are afraid to face death. Learning all we can about it will be helpful for us, because true know- ledge overcomes much fear.

Man’s first encounter with death was in an ideal setting: the Garden of Eden. Some would like proof that this garden was for real. Of course, there is no archaeological evidence because it existed long before the days of arrows and axe heads, but the Bible speaks very clearly about it.

It is interesting to note that this place was not the first of God’s creations. The Bible says, “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Gen.2:8). Therefore, Eden had to have been there first in order for the garden to have been put in it. I believe this place was created like man, both physical and spiritual; it had no dimensional curtain. Adam and Eve were able to live in the spiritual as well as the physical realm. It was like a piece of heaven placed here on earth. There was no need to worry about becoming sick, growing old or dying. They also enjoyed a good relationship with their Creator. They could walk and talk with Him (Gen.3:8).

Included in the garden were two special trees. One was off limits to man. The Lord God commanded the man (before Eve was created) not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He warned him, “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen.2:17). At the time, Adam had a brilliant mind, not darkened by sin; he also had a free will. When he ate the forbidden fruit it was more than a physical act; it was making a willful decision to: become independent from God; rebel against His authority; ignore His great love; and take evil into his heart and soul (which, until then, had been pure and innocent). It was man’s first taste of death.

The Bible says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom.5:12). Eve was deceived by the devil; Adam knew what he was doing. However, we cannot place all the blame on him; he was our representative. I think that any one of us would have done the same if we had been in his place, because we “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23).

There is a humanistic teaching that man is basically good. That would be true if it were stated in the following context: Man was basically good while in the Garden of Eden, before he ate the forbidden fruit, or man becomes basically good when he receives a cleansing by the blood of Christ. In any other condition, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ” (Jer.17:9).

Some people want to blame God for man’s downfall as well as for everything else that goes wrong in this world. When we insisted on going away from God by sinning, what else could the Lord do other than let us go? After all, the garden was not a prison, and God is not a harsh warden as Satan led Eve to believe (Gen.3:1-5). Adam was not made in the image of a robot.  He was not under remote control; he could make his own decisions. God wants sons and daughters who choose by their own free will to love, honor, worship and obey Him. But we have misused this freedom, and, with a rebellious, independent spirit like that of the prodigal son, have left our Heavenly Father  to  chase  after  sin.  That’s  right!  We  left  God.   He  didn’t leave us.

The Bible says that “. . . the wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23), and “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek.18:20). The Lord personally warned Adam that he would die on the day that he sinned by eating the forbidden fruit (Gen.2:17). Adam did sin but still lived to be 950 years old (physi­cally). Still, as God had promised, he died that same day. His death was spiritual (separation from the living God). The paradise created for man to enjoy became the stage where the great rebellion of mankind against God took place, which ushered sin and death into the world.

The other special tree in the Garden of Eden was called the Tree of Life. I believe it represents our Lord Jesus Christ before the crucifix­ion. Adam and Eve had a unique opportunity to receive Christ by eating of the Tree of Life without first having to repent, because, for a time, they were innocent—as a child is before knowing right from wrong. That oppor­tunity ended when they ate the forbidden fruit, which allowed evil to enter their hearts (spirits).

God is not a big, humanistic grandaddy up in the sky; He is not “Mr. Easy” who cannot say “No!” The Bible says, “So He drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims (angels), and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen.3:24). In other words, God said “No!” to man. “You cannot eat of the Tree of Life and live forever in heaven with Me in your sinful condition.”

There is a way to the Tree of Life, but it is still supernaturally guarded. One cannot sneak by those angelic sentries, and no amount of money can bribe them. Even with all the modern technology, no man made weapon will ever be powerful enough to destroy the flaming sword of the Lord, which guards the way to the Tree of Life. Right in the middle of that narrow pathway—between the angels and the flaming sword—is the cross of Calvary. There is no getting around it; one must pass through it and receive a cleansing from sin by the blood of Christ to get to the Tree of Life. And the first step on the pathway is true repentance.

I am sure you know some people who have gone to church for many years, have been baptized, have taken communion many times, and may have even repeated the sinner’s prayer, yet are not born again because they don’t want to take that first step. They don’t think they need to repent.

Imagine, for a moment, if God had overlooked sin,  if  He  had  allowed  Adam,  in  his  sinful  state, to “. . . put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Gen.3:22). It would mean no death and would eliminate the need for the crucifixion of the Son of God, but the results would be devastating. Hitler and every other murderer would still be around if the entrance to eternal life was left open to all. Heaven, as well as earth, would be filled with whoremongers, adulterers, perverts, fornicat- ors, liars, and idolaters, just to name a few. There would be no freedom from sin, no new spiritual life available, and no filling of the Holy Spirit. If it was not for physical death, there would be no relief from sickness and suffering. And what a crowded place this planet would be!

Since mankind made a choice to go his own way  (away  from  God),  what  are  the  results? “. . . the whole world lieth in  wickedness”  (1 Jn.5:19). Those who question the Bible can come to that conclusion just by reading the daily newspaper. The world is on a course of disaster. Everyone will try to escape. Some will bury their heads in unreality; others will look for the way back to God.

Of course, that way cannot be seen with the natural eye. One must look by faith, and the right direction in which to look is: East.

Remember how the garden was planted east in Eden? The sun, which gives light and warmth to the earth, rises in the east. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, in a prophecy, called Christ “the dayspring from on high” (Lu.1:78). By tracing the word “dayspring” back to its origin, we find it means “a light rising from the east and shining out into the whole world.” The wise men who went to Bethlehem seeking the newborn King of the Jews said, “We have seen his star in the east” (Matt.2:2). In times past, the Hebrews would only give directions according to a man’s position when his face was turned toward the east. So to find eternal life, one m