Fear Of Death
A sudden panic gripped me when the current began to take me faster than I could swim. My heart bounded into a sprint and pounded inside with hammer blows while my lungs screamed for air. As I fought desperately my mind sped through the possible outcomes. All my survival instincts were running at full pitch.
Obviously I survived the scare (because I am here to write this piece) but it gave me an insight into how powerful are our survival instincts. It seems that such instincts are totally normal for us all. God created us with a healthy supply of adrenalin that spurs us into action when heightened physical responses are needed.
It is interesting to realize that God is not touched by fear, nor does He exercise survival instincts. He is all-powerful, so He is threatened by nothing. He is all-knowing, so He is never taken by surprise.
But God’s immunity to fear is not simply because He is all-powerful or all-knowing. It is because of the life and love in the Godhead, and the culture of continual giving in which the members of the Trinity live. Each One is not preoccupied with preserving His own life, but rather with giving it away to serve and preserve the Others. Such love-relationship is impregnable and eternal. Not the slightest element of fear can intrude here.
How opposite this is to our human mode of existence and relationship! For example, have you ever opened up your heart to a complete stranger you just met at the bus stop? Of course not! New friendships usually begin in a very guarded way because we are reluctant to entrust our personal thoughts and feelings to people we hardly know. Our starting point is insecurity and caution. Even in the closest of relationships, if provoked, we will stand up to defend ourselves. Our survival instincts are never very far away.
This was not always the case. When God created Adam and placed him in the garden he was in a secure relationship with God. But he was also told that if he were to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die. As we know, Adam did eat, and God’s warning certainly came to pass – at several levels. Firstly, Adam died to the relationship that he had had with God. Secondly, he became mortal so that he now had a limited physical life-span, and his body began to die. Third, his perception of himself, as a son of God, died. He was now bound by anxiety, so he hid among the trees of the garden when God came calling.
All three of these ‘deaths’ are now with us, and they each create an underlying anxiety. The Bible speaks of this as the ‘fear of death’. Heb 2:15.
The fear of physical death is plain to see everywhere. But what about the other aspects of the ‘fear of death’? We have all experienced the fear of losing some part of our lives – our reputation or position, our independence, our freedom – not to mention our possessions. We become terrified at the prospect of being dominated by someone or a circumstance. How many times have we heard the phrase, ‘Oh, I nearly died when …!’
All of this kicks in at a very early age. As I write this I am within the sound of children fighting over a toy. The screams of terror mixed with outrage are all part of the fallen survival mechanisms. ‘My life will end if I lose this toy!’
We do not naturally live the way God lives in secure self-giving mode. So what is the answer?
The answer is found in returning to the love and fellowship of God, and receiving His life within. Jesus said, ‘I give (my people) eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand’. Jn 10:28. What reassuring words!
How did He give us eternal life? The Son of God became a man like us so that ‘through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage’. Heb 2:14,15. In dying on the cross as our offering for sin, Jesus answered every accusation and criticism that could ever be levelled at us (legitimately or otherwise). He showed us that His love is stronger than death because it is an expression of His life.
When we accept His love for us, and we receive His life, He begins to deal with our deep seated ‘fear of death’. Our mode of relationship begins to change, and our insecurities begin to melt away. His life truly overcomes our death.
