What does the Bible say about fear of death?
When I was younger I was always afraid to die. You have so much things in your head. Where are you going to go? What will it be like? Now that I’m older and I’m saved by the blood of Christ I stopped fearing death. What I have struggled with at times though is the suddenness of death.
The unknown factor. If Jesus asked me do you want to go to Heaven now I would say yes in a heartbeat. But, for a while sudden death did seem scary to me.
I brought this problem to God and He showered me with love. I’m justified by grace through faith in Christ. To die is gain. I want Christ! I want to be with Christ! I’m tired of sin!
As Christians we don’t grasp Heaven as we should. We don’t grasp Christ as we should, which can lead to fear. Faith is believing that Christ died for our sins.
He paid the price in full and we have hope that we will be with Him. What a great comfort it is that God lives inside believers. Think about it! God is living inside you right now.
Picture the most comforting best place you have ever been to. If you put Heaven and that place on a scale it’s not even a comparison. Look forward to being in God’s Kingdom with your father.
You will never be sad, in pain, fear, or feel dull again. Nothing can take away a believers glory in Heaven. Christ has set believers free from death. He died so you wouldn’t have to. The people who should fear death are unbelievers and people who use Christ’s blood as a license to live sinful rebellious lives.
For believers always remember that nothing can take away God’s love for you. There is nothing wrong with praying for a deeper sense of God’s love for you.
Christian quotes about fear of death
“When you erode the fear of death with the knowledge that you already died [in Christ], you will find yourself moving toward a simple, bold obedience.” Edward T. Welch
“To go back is nothing but death: to go forward is fear of death, and life everlasting beyond it. I will yet go forward.” John Bunyan
“If you want to glorify Christ in your dying, you must experience death as gain. Which means Christ must be your prize, your treasure, your joy. He must be a satisfaction so deep that when death rakes away everything you love – but gives you more of Christ – you count it gain. When you are satisfied with Christ in dying, He is gloried in your dying.” John Piper
“Let your hope of heaven master your fear of death.” William Gurnall
“He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.” Matthew Henry
“A Christian knows that death shall be the funeral of all his sins, his sorrows, his afflictions, his temptations, his vexations, his oppressions, his persecutions. He knows that death shall be the resurrection of all his hopes, his joys, his delights, his comforts, his contentments.” Thomas Brooks
“Death to the Christian is the funeral of all his sorrows and evils, and the resurrection, of all his joys.” James H. Aughey
Let’s learn what Scripture teaches us about fearing death
1. 1 John 4:17-18 This is how love has been perfected among us: we will have confidence on the day of judgment because, during our time in this world, we are just like him. There is no fear where love exists. Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.
2. Hebrews 2:14-15 Because God’s children are human beings–made of flesh and blood–the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
3. Philippians 1:21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
4. Psalm 116:15 The LORD cares deeply when his loved ones die.
5. 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
The glory that awaits believers.
6. 1 Corinthians 2:9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.
7. Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
8. John 14:1-6 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Holy Spirit
9. Romans 8:15-17 For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father!” God’s Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children. Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ’s suffering, we will also share his glory.
10. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Pray to God to help you to overcome your fear of dying
11. Psalm 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
12. Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Peace
13. Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
14. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
15. Proverbs 14:30 A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.
We will be with Christ in Heaven
16. Philippians 3:20-21 But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. By his power to rule all things, he will change our humble bodies and make them like his own glorious body.
17. Romans 6:5 For if we have become united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Reminders
18. Romans 8:37-39 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
19. 1 John 5:12 The person who has the Son has this life. The person who does not have the Son of God does not have this life.
20. Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
21. John 6:37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out.
22. Romans 10:9-10 If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with his heart and is justified, and declares with his mouth and is saved.
23. Psalm 56:3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
24. Psalm 94:14 For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.
Examples of the fear of death
25. Psalm 55:4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Thank you for making it easy to help a friend find peace and comfort during her last days on earth.