Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

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. For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the offspring of Abraham.
Hebrews 2:14-16 (emphasis added)

The fear of death. That’s a biggie. Not to be laughed at. People have done incredible things to avoid the sting of death. They have also done terrible things. As believers, we are not supposed to fear period. But this death thing… How many people quiver when they are given a diagnosis of cancer? How many people are thankful it isn’t them when they see the latest celebrity struggling with MS? How many people shuffle just slightly away from the person in that wheelchair? We don’t like death. We don’t like reminders of death. And even when things aren’t a death sentence, even when they are just illness, disease, or sickness, we shy away. No one enjoys going to the doctor. People put off physicals and examinations – even those called ‘standard’ by the industry. It is the basis of such mental disorders as health anxiety, panic disorder, and depressive disorders. It can get so bad that there is even an exclusive disorder called Thanatophobia, the fear of dying. It can get crippling. But even the world says that we shouldn’t give into a fear of death.

They say it is a natural process. Central to existence and THE common bond we all share. We have different appearances, cultures, rituals, beliefs, manners, and languages; but we all die. Psychologists tell us that a fear of death impacts our ability to grieve or even care for dying loved ones – such as parents as they age. They have even developed virtual reality programs that simulate an out-of-body experience to help you cope with a fear of death since studies have shown that near death and out-of-body experiences give you the sense that you live on even when you are separated from your body – how’s that for a half-truth from the enemy? The number one thing they recommend is cultivating a meaning to your life. To develop a strong sense of a big-picture force that drives you, perhaps for the feeling of legacy that it can impart.

At its core, the world deals with fear of death by promoting the idea of accepting the inevitability of death. Those who are terminally ill have more time to adjust to the idea. You get used to the idea of dying, you see. We get accustomed to it much the same way we get accustomed to anything, be it running at 5am or abuse. Initially, a diagnosis of death is (apparently) horrific, but the longer you have to think about it the more you get used to it. Dread subsides. Acceptance moves in. And there is a kind of peace to the whole thing, so they say. A kind of fearing it more like you fear being disappointed by Santa than fearing being stabbed on the subway.

What about believers? Well, from where I sit it seems to hinge on what you believe about the bible. Do you believe it is true, or do you believe it is a nice book? Is it literal, or is it symbolic? Is it the inspired Word of God, or a book of philosophy written by humanity geared toward either utopian living or as a means of control? This is the big question. If you believe that the Word is the inspired Word of God, the heart and will of the Father, then you will have no fear of death. Period. Not even a niggling nervousness. In fact, given the opportunity you might even be eager for it. The reason is that for a literal believer of the bible, you’re already dead. Yup. I have done all the dying I am EVER going to do.

“For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him! For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:5-11). If we are dead to sin, then we are dead to our old self. If we are alive in Jesus, then we are alive in our new self. If my eternal dead spirit has been passed away and I have been given Jesus’ eternal righteous living spirit (1 Corinthians 1:30), then I am not going to die. I’m going to take off this meat sack, but I myself ME am not going to die. In the blink of an eye – that’s approximately 0.1-0.4 of a second or 100-150 milliseconds – I will be changed from what I physically am now to what I am physically going to be for the rest of the rest of existence.

But wait, you might say, that whole thing hinges on Jesus dying for our sin and I heard that it was kind of a made up doctrine of Paul since he is the only one who mentions it. I have also heard this rumour. And it is unequivocally false. John taught that Jesus died for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). Peter taught that Jesus died for our sins (1 Peter 3:18). Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would die for our sins (Isaiah 53:5). And Matthew taught that Jesus was the Messiah in relation to Isaiah’s prophecy (Matthew 8:16-17). All the gospel writers proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah (Matthew 1:20-25; John 1:1-2, 14-15; Luke 2:10-11, 25-26; Mark 8:29). Even demons acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah (Luke 4:41). And Jesus Himself acknowledged that He was the Messiah (Matthew 11:2-6; Luke 4:18-21; Mark 14:61-62; John 4:25-26). If you believe the bible is literal truth, then you too should acknowledge that Jesus is the firstborn Son of the Most High God, our Messiah, the sacrifice for our sin, and the only way to Yahweh, Lord God Almighty on High. Because Yahweh is Righteous and Holy. If we aren’t Righteous and Holy, we will never survive the experience of seeing Him face to face (Exodus 33:20, John 1:18). In Jesus we are made His righteousness. Abiding in Jesus, we abide in His Holiness. Therefore, we can see God. It is the whole point of Jesus coming to earth.

The first word of the first chapter of the first book spells it out for us. The Hebrew word is bereshit. There are anomalies in that particular word which coincide with the other words of that first sentence. The first actual words of the Hebrew torah (translated as much as possible to English) are: ‘In the beginning God created et’. Et is an untranslatable word used to indicate a definite direct object is next. But even this word has an anomaly and would make it in English ‘Beginning created God – the heavens and the earth’. Whenever there is an anomaly the Hebrew is telling us something. Looking at the anomalies and the letter groups they make in the order in which they appear it spells out (again in English): Son, God, Thorns, Head, Tree, Gift, Covenant. If you read that as a phrase you’ll get: The Son of God with thorns on His head hangs on a tree as a gift to give covenant. So when you take [in the] Beginning created God – the heavens and the earth. Or: “The Son of God with thorns on His head hangs on a tree as a gift to give covenant; beginning by creating the heavens and the earth.”

From the beginning of the beginning (and even before that – John 17:24 and 1 Peter 1:20), Jesus had volunteered to die to pay the price of sin – a requirement for the betrayal and rebellion of Adam in the Garden (Genesis 2:16-17). Not just a physical death, but a spiritual one. A close translation of God’s exact words would be: “for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die die” (vs 17). This reveals something really, REALLY important. Prior to Adam’s transgression, death was not in the plan. We were NOT meant to die. That means that there is NOT an inevitability of death. Death is NOT central to human existence. And death is NOT the one single thing that we all have in common. LIFE is what we all have in common. We have all received the breath of life (or lives, Genesis 2:7). THAT is our common denominator. Do you see the subtle shift the enemy has crafted over thousands of years? Taking the focus off life and putting it on death? Even then, humans talk about finding purpose in life as an important part of staving off natural fear of death. Gotta make you laugh. It is so ingrained into us. Life. Life in our blood. Life in our bodies. Life in our minds. Life in our souls. Death in our spirit. Until Jesus, anyway.

Today’s verse is the principle behind the idea of leaving the fear of death behind you forever. Jesus came for us. To save us from fear and from death and from hell – the ultimate destination of all who cleave to death. “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.” Jesus defeated the devil who has been holding death over our collective heads since Genesis chapter 3. Jesus made a way for us to leave fear behind. The fear of physical death and the deadlier and deeper fear of a spiritual death.

Studies have shown that religious people fear death more than those who are not religious. Why is that? You’d think that having some religious belief would do the opposite. But the studies are looking at religions period. All religions. And if you head into religion because you are fearful, you will take with you and latch onto a spirit of fear within the religious teachings of whomever you have decided to follow. I have decided to follow Jesus (no turning back, no turning back), because He doesn’t do fear. He doesn’t do death. He doesn’t deny them, but His message isn’t ‘you’re going to hell’. His message is ‘you can have life’.

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God” (John 3:14-21).

And Jesus walked the walk. He didn’t just spout nice things and go meditate under a tree. He nailed Himself to that tree. “Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father” (John 10:17-18). He did it too. Followed through on the plan He, the Father, and the Holy Spirit created to save us from our own poor decisions and behaviour. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds” (1 Peter 2:24).

Jesus came to bring us life, to save us from judgment, and to cleanse us of the sin that lived in our flesh. As believers, we partake in that life. LIFE, not death. Death is no more (Revelation 21:1-4). Death has no sting (1 Corinthians 15:55-58). Jesus led the way (Revelation 1:18). In Him, I pass through death into life (2 Corinthians 4:11 and Galatians 2:20). I have been redeemed from the curse of the Law – all those penalties for sin/consequences for disobedience – and in humble obedience to the Lord God Almighty I live His life free from all that negative circumstance (Galatians 3:13-14). I am free, free, free from death. It doesn’t worry me. It doesn’t make me anxious. I don’t even think of it. Why would I? It’s an opportunity to leave this flesh behind and step into all the glory that Jesus is preparing for me to live in (John 14:3).

I am obedient to the Lord. I submit myself to His yoke because it is easy and restful. Crucifying my flesh daily. Admitting mistakes and taking His correction, repenting with my whole heart. This is how I live. I miss it, but when I do I take the correction, the change of course, and the renewal in Him as I continue to submit and be obedient to what I read in the Word. I do NOT fear death. Why? Because Jesus is greater than the enemy. He broke the power of death, took the keys of hell, and crushed the head of the devil (Revelation 1:18). Yes, the world is full of death. But I abide in Jesus. And Jesus is greater than anything in the world (1 John 4:4). That gives me the ultimate kind of confidence. Confidence in the Lord God Almighty. “Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him” (2 Corinthians 5:6-9). I cannot be pleasing to God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is manifested obedience. Faith is eager expectation that what the Word says, the Word delivers.

O death, where is your sting? Right in the back of the devil where it belongs. Join me in the freedom of being free from the fear of death. Have confidence in Jesus. Have confidence in the Word. Abide in Jesus. Let Him give you the life He created the world to give you. Life eternal in Him, by Him, through Him, and for Him. Pleasing to the Father, watched over by the Spirit, and fellow heirs in Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Exodus 17:14

Does God love you more than He loved the enemies that stood against Him in violent rebellion? Of course not. God IS love. And He loves us all the same. From Hitler to that kid down the street with a weird haircut. He loves us all. But how He treats us depends on how we treat Him. Is your old man a friend or an enemy of God Most High? An enemy, of course. Our old man is rebellious. Selfish. Fallen. Doesn’t care about God or anything of God. Determined to do what it wants, when it wants, how it wants, and to whom it wants. Disobedient. Deserving of death. When God by Grace gave us the Faith to believe in Him (Ephesians 2:8-9) and we responded in that Faith and believed, we died to our old selves. When we got baptized we were resurrected into Jesus (1 Peter 1:3). New creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17). So that old man – the disobedient one – is dead. Guess what? God can blot him out. That’s right. Death is part of the curse and that old man is steeped in the curse. In fact, that’s all that old man is. If God was willing to blot out the memory of an entire people (you only find reference to a people called the Amalekites in bible study resources, not a single article in all the world’s archaeological record); then He is willing to blot out the memory of that old man. Not so that you forget who you were or what happened, but to blot out the negative associations, memories, and triggers that are tied to them. No memory in your heart. No memory in your head. Like knowing all the most intimate details of a favourite fictional character, you’ll know you and what went on, but it will NOT affect you. Psalm 51:10, Isaiah 4:4, Ezekiel 36:25, Titus 2:14 and many other verses talk about His ability to wash us clean and purify us. He does it for our sin. He does it for our iniquity. He can do it for your memories, triggers, and uck. “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14). Trust Him on it. He’s good for it.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.