Death is the subject we least want to discuss and none can escape. This article faces its reality and weight. Scripture never romanticises death as our natural destination; it calls it the last enemy. Yet someone has entered death and emerged victorious. For those trusting Christ, death is no dark ending but the doorway home. We still grieve, but no longer as people without hope.
Speaker: Pastor Bond
How we should face death
“Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14–15)
Death is among the world's most impartial realities, and most avoided.
Rich or poor, influential or obscure, wise or foolish, strong or weak: everyone must face it. We avoid it because we do not know what to do with it, refusing to think or talk. Yet in a quiet night or beside a dying relative, deep fear rises:
Where will I go? What is beyond? Will I see loved ones again? If death ends everything, what meaning has all my striving had?
Do not be ashamed. Fear of death is human, rather than a failure of courage. I want to discuss it honestly, facing its weight before sharing news strong enough to overcome fear, rather than passing over it with “rest in heaven”.
Some call death natural, part of life, or a return to the earth to nourish future flowers. Such images may briefly comfort, yet rarely settle our deepest unease. Our hearts know something is wrong.
Scripture is remarkably honest. It never romanticises death as a gentle destination, but names an intruder and enemy.
It teaches that among creatures, human beings alone are made in the eternal God's image and were not originally created for death. Death entered because humanity left the source of life, the Creator. A fish removed from water faces death; a rose cut from its branch and placed in a vase inevitably withers, unable to grow again the following year.
“Sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin.” (Romans 5:12)
Our protest that death should not be like this is no illusion. Death intrudes as the bitter fruit of sin damaging God's creation. Because Scripture is honest about death, its hope is a substantial answer rather than cheap comfort. Paul calls death the last enemy to be abolished (1 Corinthians 15:26).
Yet from another perspective, temporary death also carries the Creator's mercy. After humanity sinned, God did not allow the human being to reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, eat, “and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). Living for ever with sin would be endless bondage rather than a blessing. Death therefore also becomes a boundary, preventing evil from spreading without limit.
Our tears at graves and reluctance at parting therefore have dignity and are understood by God. Jesus himself wept at Lazarus' grave (John 11:35). God never demands false strength or pretence that death is insignificant.
Yet the biblical story continues.
Humanity has long looked towards death from this side, unable to describe beyond the door because those who went had not returned.
Until someone entered personally and emerged.
Jesus Christ, the eternal God's Son, shared flesh and blood to destroy through death the one holding death's power (Hebrews 2:14). Consider this astonishing strategy: entering death's territory and defeating it from within, rather than shouting reassurance from outside.
Crucified and buried, he entered the tomb. On the third day it was empty. He rose, appeared to more than five hundred, ate, spoke and let people touch his nail wounds. This is an event with many witnesses that transformed history, rather than a beautiful legend.
Bodily resurrection may seem incredible. Yet consider this: two centuries ago, flying skywards belonged to myths such as Chang'e travelling to the moon; today air travel is ordinary. What people call impossible is often simply something they have not yet seen. Biblical resurrection is not a soul exchanging one outer shell for another: this very body is transformed. “The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:42); “this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53). Paul uses a seed as his illustration: what is sown is only a bare grain, while what grows has the body God gives it (1 Corinthians 15:37–38). It is the same life, yet completely renewed. For the one who created life and the whole universe, this is no harder than creating humanity in the first place. Moreover, Jesus' resurrection already happened two thousand years ago. He is like spring's first shoot breaking frozen ground, or summer's first ripe fruit, foretelling the whole harvest (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Resurrection means the apparently invincible enemy was overcome by a human being for the first time. Paul therefore cries triumphantly across two thousand years:
“‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?’ … But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54–57)
An essential insight lies here: the sting of death is sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). Death's deepest terror is judgement before God afterwards, beyond physical pain or uncertainty: people are appointed to die once and then face judgement (Hebrews 9:27). Christ bore believers' sin on the cross. Once sin is dealt with, death's sting is removed. It may still bite, but cannot deliver the final fatal wound.
Further reading To explore why Jesus' resurrection is credible: Jesus: Is the Resurrection Credible?
Christ's victory rewrites death's meaning for every believer. It becomes a comma rather than life's full stop. Scripture offers gentle pictures.
Death becomes sleep. The New Testament repeatedly describes believers as having fallen asleep (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Sleepers awaken. Death becomes rest awaiting resurrection's morning, rather than extinction.
Death becomes a door into the Lord's presence. Imprisoned Paul considers continuing to live in service, yet also says:
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. … But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” (Philippians 1:21, 23)
“We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)
Notice far better. Believers return to the Lord who loves them most, rather than fall into nothingness. Jesus can therefore tell the thief beside him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Beyond death lies bodily resurrection and the new heavens and earth. Christian hope reaches beyond souls floating into an abstract heaven. When the Lord returns, dead believers rise bodily, transformed into glory and imperishability (1 Corinthians 15:42–44), living in God's renewed creation:
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
We await the complete healing and renewal of this world damaged by sin and death, rather than merely escape. The last enemy will finally be removed for ever.
Jesus' words to Martha address you today too:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)
Apply this both to your eventual departure and to saying farewell to loved ones.
Entrust your death to the Lord who conquered it. You need not pretend fearlessness, especially about parting from those you love. Even Jesus was deeply sorrowful in Gethsemane. Like David, take the hand of Jesus, the great Shepherd of our souls: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). God promises companionship within the valley, rather than a route around it. Believers are led by the Shepherd through a valley towards home in the light, rather than falling alone into darkness.
Grieve loved ones with hope. Scripture tenderly says:
“But we don't want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don't grieve like the rest, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
Paul does not forbid grief, but grief like those without hope. Christians' tears contain light, and their pain contains hope. Longing, tears and hollowed-out hearts testify to love; God sees and receives them. Beyond tears, we know loved ones who died in the Lord have not vanished. They rest with him, and resurrection's morning will reunite us. This assurance of meeting again offers comfort absent without the gospel.
Prepare seriously while alive. Death reminds us life is limited, calling for clear, substantial living rather than life in a shadow. Be reconciled to God and people, speak important words, and offer the love you owe. Moses prays, “So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Freedom from death's fear enables a more open and abundant life.
Dear friend, death is real and weighty. We need not pretend it is not frightening. But remember this:
Someone entered death for you and emerged victorious. In him, death becomes the doorway home, rather than a dark ending.
Jesus came to free those enslaved all their lives through fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). You need not remain under that fear's rule.
If you do not know him, consider him seriously. Everyone must eventually face death, and the only way to prepare is to know the Lord of life and death. Begin with John 11, where Jesus raises Lazarus.
Let us pray together:
Lord Jesus, thank you for taking flesh and blood, entering death for me and overcoming it, rather than watching my fear from afar. I admit death's fear often rules me. Free me through your resurrection's power. Because you live, I too will live; because you await beyond the door, death becomes homecoming. Comfort everyone grieving, letting them see resurrection's hope through tears. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
- At life's end: How to Face the End of Life
- Accompanying dying loved ones: How Do You Care for a Loved One at the End of Life?
- After bereavement: Where Are My Loved Ones Now?
This article may be freely reproduced, printed and used for preaching or training without requesting the author's permission. Please contact the author before commercial publication.