THE FEAR OF DEATH

 

Saturday, July 19, 2025

 

THE FEAR OF DEATH

 

Heb 2:12-15

12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.

13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

 

          I will here quote Adam Clarke’s comment regarding the fear of death. “It is very likely that the apostle has the Gentiles here principally in view. As they had no revelation, and no certainty of immortality, they were continually in bondage to the fear of death. They preferred life in any state, with the most grievous evils, to death, because they had no hope beyond the grave. But it is also true that all men naturally fear death; even those that have the fullest persuasion and certainty of a future state dread it.”

 

          Job was a much-afflicted man. In chapter 33 there is a very descripted portion that deals with death.

 

Job 33:21-24

21 His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out.

22 Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

23 If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:

24 Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

 

Even William Shakespeare contemplated death. In addition to the famous “to be, or not to be” quote. There is the following.

 

“To grunt and sweat under a weary life;

But that the dread of something after death,-

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveler returns,-puzzles the will;

And makes us rather bear those ills we have,

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Hamlet. Act 3, scene 1

 

          The Bible is the only source of hope for it holds the key that unlocks the treasure of confidence.

 

2 Cor 5:1

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

 

Hos 13:14

14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction:

 

1 Cor 15:55-57

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear Lord, we may yet fear, but you have given us real hope. AMEN