Quarantine Quick Read: Christ our Brother - The Fear of Death

Jesus is a spiritual big brother for every Christian. Having suffered in every way like us He is able to sympathetically come alongside us with grace to help (Hebrews 2:17, 4:15-16).

What is your greatest fear? Whether it is fear of snakes or fear of spiders, fear of closed spaces or fear of open spaces, fear of heights or fear of water, we all have our phobias. You might put a brave face on most of the time but sooner or later a ‘near death experience’ or a ‘close call’ will forcibly confront you with the fact that the clock is ticking and your life will not last for ever. Perhaps through the threat of this viral pandemic you have realised your own deep-seated fear of death - many people have. The Bible is realistic about this universal base-line fear. It calls death the last enemy.  Death is not a walk in the park. However, the Bible also makes it clear that death is a defeated enemy. Christians have a spiritual brother in Jesus who became like us in every way - sharing fully in the flesh and blood reality of our humanity. As a real man Jesus went through the battle of death on our behalf. He experienced all the fears, anxieties and temptations that death brings. This shedding of Jesus’ blood satisfied the demands of God’s law against our sins. It also marks the destruction of the devil; Satan can accuse us before God as much as he likes but those accusations cannot and will not ‘stick’ any longer. Although physical death remains an enemy to our natural bodies Jesus delivers those who trust Him from the fear of death. Jesus’ death gives Christians the boldness to face this last enemy and say:

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,

who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).