Should I fear death?

In Billy Graham’s latest ‘show’ on tv The Cross he says "I know where I've come from. I know why I'm here. I know where I'm going. Do you?"  That got me thinking.  There are times in ministry when I wish I could spontaneously make someone understand something they have been struggling with in a new, di­fferent, and real way.  Sometimes it is how God accepts us as broken people, sometimes it is God’s overwhelming and abundant love for us, sometimes it’s that we really are completely forgiven for our sins.  One instance in which this happens pretty regularly is in funerals, in counseling those who are grieving, and talking with those who are concerned about their own death.  Death is something we don’t often like to talk about.  Isn’t it morbid to talk about one’s own death, or really even the death of anyone?  It probably could be, depending on what you look at, but from a Christian perspective, it is not morbid at all.

When I was growing up I always thought that you were sad at funerals and after the death of a loved one because you missed them, but also because you were worried for, or about, them.  Death can seem so mysterious.  One day you are there walking and talking and the next moment you are not there anymore.  I thought we needed to worry about the person who had died and be concerned about them.  My perspective on this changed when my grandmother died.  My grandmother was a very devout and faithful Christian, and she believed that if you were going to heaven you would see your name written in fire before you died.  Shortly before her death, after suffering from several strokes, she had a dream where she saw her name written in fire.  For me and my family, it meant that we didn’t need to worry about what happened to her after her death, and we could truly celebrate that she was in heaven. (We probably didn’t need to worry even if she hadn’t seen her name written in fire because of the fruit her life produced, but that is a different blog post.)  We still missed her and grieved that she was not with us any longer, but it also meant her death was a celebration.

When I learned in seminary that funerals/memorial services should actually be a celebration to the witness of the resurrection, I thought it was cute how the title was trying to make it not so sad.  But I now understand that it is, and should be a real celebration to the witness of the resurrection, which is what my grandmother’s funeral was.  Death has been conquered and we don’t need to fear it anymore, ever.  “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.  Where, O death, are your plagues?  Where, O grave, is your destruction?” Hosea 13:14.

We don’t need to fear death because Christ has already conquered it.  “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  “Where, O death, is your victory?     Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54c-57.  Death no longer has a hold on the believers because the power of death has been defeated.  Praise God that I don’t need to fear death, and that He has gone before me and conquered it.  I honestly don’t fear death. At times I have fear about how I might die and potential suffering that can come along with the death process, but I don’t fear death or what happens after it because I believe John 3:16 with all my heart. 

That is what I wish I could make people spontaneously understand when they are concerned about where a loved one may end up or fearful of what will happen to them after they die.  You don’t need to be concerned about where a loved one is now.  You should and need to grieve their loss and that you will miss them, but it should also be a celebration because Christ conquered death and, as Christians, we can now have eternal life with him in heaven.  We don’t need to fear our own death, because we know that Christ has already made a way for us.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3

Rest today in knowing that if you are a Christian, you don’t need to worry about what happens to you after you die, because Christ is victorious, prepares a place for us, and gives himself as the way.

God bless, Rev. Liz Arakelian, www.LivingHopeEC.org