Nothing to Fear

Intro:

Tombstones can often say a great deal about an individual. Listen to these humorous ones:

“Here lies Lester Moore; Four slugs from a .44, no Les, no more.” From Tombstone Arizona

“Sacred to the memory of Jared Bates who died August the 6th 1800. His widow, age 24, lives at 7 Elm Street, has every qualification for a good wife, and yearns to be comforted.” From Lincoln, Maine

“Underneath this pile of stones lies all that’s left of Sally Jones. Her name was Briggs, it was not Jones, But Jones was used to rhyme with stones.” From Skaneateles, N.Y.

“Here lies Jane Smith, wife of Thomas Smith, marble cutter. This monument was erected by her husband as a tribute to her memory and a specimen of his work. Monuments of the same style 350 dollars.” From Springdale, Ohio.

We often joke of death or use it to express ourselves. Comedian Woody Allen once said, “It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” The reality is death causes fear in the hearts of men b/c it raises so many questions of unknown possibilities.

3rd century Church Father, Tertullian said, “It is a poor thing to fear that which is inevitable.”

Message

Two inherent characteristics of death

Death is inevitable and mysterious.

Death is the great equalizer of mankind.

Plutarch wrote that Alexander the Great, seeing Diogenes looking attentively at a parcel of human bones, asked the philosopher what he was looking for. Diogenes’ reply: “That which I cannot find—the difference between your father’s bones and those of his slaves.”

Diogenes’ reply: “That which I cannot find—the difference between your father’s bones and those of his slaves.” - Plutarch

Death doesn’t care who you are.

Psalm 89:48 NASB95

What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

Hebrews 9:27 NASB95

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

I believe it is these two inherent characteristics of death—its inevitability and its mystery that are the foundation for all the fears of mankind.

Fear of death is the womb which gestates all fears.

Inordinate fear is the result of sin. It was Adam’s first response to the presence of God after he sinned.

V. 15 of our text τουτους οσοι — “those, as many as.” The indication here is not everyone is afraid of death.

I asked a co-worker once if he was ready to die; he couldn’t answer the question but claimed he wasn’t afraid to die. I didn’t believe him but didn’t argue w/ him either.

This verse is primarily referencing those of the OT. Most people in antiquity were afraid of death.

Socrates said, to be afraid to die is to love the body more than wisdom; the then took his own life.

Like Socrates, there are people today who are defiantly or deceptively not afraid of death.

If we understand that there is a holy God, that all life comes from Him, and that one day we will stand before Him, then there should be a fear of dying in us.

It was immediately after they sinned that Adam & Eve were afraid of the presence of God b/c they knew they had done wrong.

Before Christ, people who were cognizant of their sinfulness (a.k.a the people of God) were then held in bondage to their fear of death b/c there was no hope of life after death.

Psalm 18:5 NASB95

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

Psalm 116:3 NASB95

The cords of death encompassed me And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow.

How do we understand then what the fear of death is?

It is a fear that builds on the inevitability and mystery surrounding death b/c of a hopelessness as to what comes after it, judgment and punishment, pain and sorrow, etc.

This is why the OT saints were in bondage to the fear of death; there was no real hope of life after death.

Liberated from Bondage

Look at v. 14 again.

Power over death here is κρατος and means the one who had sovereignty or rule over death.

Revelation 1:18 NASB95

and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

Before Christ, the devil had the power over the realm of death.

Jesus took the keys away from the enemy at Calvary.

V.14 Jesus was not flesh and blood; He did not share that w/ humanity, but took it upon Himself in order that He might break the power of death over humanity by dying Himself.

Jesus didn’t do away w/ death b/c we still die. Later the writer even states that “it is appointed for us all to die” (9:27).

The verb καταργεω is to be understood here as “rendering powerless.” So that even though we all must face death, death itself is powerless to fulfill its intentions against us—eternal separation from God (or from life).

My ability to overcome the power of death is my allegiance to Christ.

Death still has power over those who do not accept Christ and his completed work.

If the power of death is broken, then I really have Nothing to Fear!

Philippians 1:21–24 NASB95

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

Phil

1 Cor 15:50-58

A child of God should never fear death.

Death is not extinguishing the light from the Christian; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.