Salvation

28. Is it normal for a Christian to be afraid of death?

Not at all, because a Christian is not afraid of death for he knows that when he dies, he will go to heaven to be with the Lord. For to a Christian death is the end of the physical life, of the bodily life, and the beginning of a much better life in the heavenly places with Christ because he ceases to suffer, to weep, to need sleep and food, and he enters into peace, he enters the rest of God, the heavenly glory.

How can such a person be afraid of death? He can’t. Rather, he has the desire to depart from his body and be with Christ in heaven. Was it not this the desire of the apostle Paul? Listen to his words: “For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23 – NKJV), “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8 – NKJV).

Therefore, a true Christian has the assurance that when he dies he will begin to live a far better life: that’s why he has the desire to depart from his tent. However, there are also false Christians in this world, that is, people who claim that they are Christians but as a matter of fact they are not yet Christians because they have not yet experienced the new birth. They are religious people, they say that they believe in God, but they are still dead in their sins. I am not referring only to the Roman Catholics or to the Orthodox, but also to many Protestants (Waldensians, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, etc.), who are still lost.

“He who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47) said Jesus. Therefore, if one has really believed in the Lord he is sure he has everlasting life, and so he is sure that when he dies he will go to heaven to be with the Lord. On the contrary, if one says with his mouth that he believes, but as a matter of fact he has not believed with his heart, he has not everlasting life and does not have the assurance that when he dies the Lord bring him safely to His heavenly kingdom. Therefore, no wonder such a person is afraid of death, because he knows that he is not saved yet, and he is afraid of what awaits him in the afterlife (no matter if he believes in the existence of hell or not).

Therefore, if you are among these so called Christians, I exhort you to repent of your sins immediately, to confess them to the Lord, and to believe with your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again for our justification. When you do these things, you will feel the peace and the joy of the Lord flooding your being because you will receive the forgiveness of your sins and everlasting life. Then you will no longer be afraid of death.

Back