Jump Start # 1623

Hebrews 2:15 “and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

  Yesterday in our Jump Start, we took a look at hatred. There are feelings and emotions that are can define us. Joy, happiness, contentment, thankfulness are core attitudes and emotions of those that walk with Christ. However, we so often are plagued with the negative emotions and feelings and those can control us and even defeat us. Hatred is one of those.

Another is fear. Fear is strong and can change our behavior. There are things people fear because of what others have said or their own personal experiences. Some fear flying. Some fear going to the dentist. The list of phobias is long. Others fear things that are not so obvious, such as fear of running out of money, or fear of growing old. Our passage today mentions the fear of death. That is a big one for many people.

We don’t normally sit around with a group of friends and talk about death. That subject doesn’t bring laughter and joy to us. It’s a serious discussion and one that most would like to avoid. Things associated with death are often considered creepy. I know nurses that hated going to the hospital’s morgue room. Funeral homes can seem creepy. Every thing around this topic of death, can seem eerie, dark and something most folks just don’t talk about. The “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome seems to work well with the subject of death. But the news media and the desire to know things has brought the subject of death into our homes on a regular basis. A mass shooting in Orlando. Killings in Paris. Plane crashes. Drug overdoses. We are reminded constantly and daily that death is always around. It is always around.

The fear of death therefore is something that affects the thinking and even the faith of a person. Without Christ, without a solid faith in the Lord, the fear of death is haunting. What happens when a person dies? Do we live on? Where do we go? What is it like? Why do we have to die? Can we live forever here? These type of questions fill the shelves of many bookstores.

Our verse today reminds us that through Christ, the fear of death has been removed. He has freed us from that fear. Christ became flesh and blood and journeyed through death so that He could conquer Satan. The devil’s greatest tool is death. No one could get around death. The great kings of history, with all of their wealth and armies, every one of them, eventually died. The Caesars. The Herods. The Pharaohs. They all died. Men who amassed great wealth, like the rich man in Luke 16, all died. That is one hold over us that Satan had. No one escaped the prison of death. Everyone died. It seemed like Satan won. It seemed like Satan was the supreme ruler. Even God’s greatest died. Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Joseph—all of them died. Satan conquered. That is, until Jesus came. He too died. But “up from the grave He arose.” He lived. He lives on and on. Satan can not re-kill Jesus. Death has no power over the resurrected. The gates of Hades shall not prevail over God’s kingdom. Fear not, Jesus said, the one who can kill the body and do no more. Fear, rather, the one who can kill the body and the soul.

Because of Jesus, we understand that death is nothing more than a doorway into the next world. Just as birth was a doorway into this world, so death is the doorway into the next world. The door flings open and we enter through faith into the marvelous arms of the Savior. His home becomes our home. Together, with the righteous of all time. Freed from the things that limit us here, such as time, age, the need for food, medicine and rest. Freed from temptation and the sorrows of guilt and shame that come with sin. Freed from Satan and his evil ways. Freed from having to labor and toil in a world that is broken. Freed from those that want to harm you. Freed from disappointments and failures. Free at last.

The fear of death is removed because of the resurrection of Jesus. Death isn’t something that the child of God gets fixated about. Death doesn’t define us. Death doesn’t shape us. It’s a moment. It’s something that on the other side we won’t think much about. It’s just a passage way, a door, to be with God.

This understand and this faith in the Lord is why so many of the early disciples faced terrible torture and death with optimism and faith. They knew. It wasn’t the end. It wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. It lasts a few moments and then that door opens widely to a wonderful world of paradise.

It seems therefore, that the child of God ought to be able to talk about death openly and freely. There is nothing to fear. It seems therefore that with great understanding and hope that the child of God longs for the time that he can pass through that door and be with the Lord. Paul viewed it as a “gain,” or an advantage. He told the Corinthians that we prefer to be absent from the body and to be home with the Lord.  In our vernacular today, “We’re out of here.”

Fear—don’t let it cripple you or define you. Pray to the Lord. Stand upon your faith that is founded in the Scriptures. Don’t listen to all the hype and phony stories of people who died and came back. Don’t put your stock in the testimonies of men, but rather in the truthfulness of God’s word.

When there is a thunderstorm late in the night a child may wake up scared. He races to his parents bed and there, sleeping between them is safe. The thunderstorm continues on, but the fear is no longer there. This is what our faith will do. This is how we conquer fear. We race to our Savior.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

Roger