As I approach my 73rd birthday this coming July, I realize that death is getting closer every year. If I am fortunate and live another 20 to 25 years, I literally can see my death not too far away compared to the life I have already lived. And to be honest with you I have grown attached to my earthly life and if I could stay in good health would prefer more than the 25 years, at best, I can look forward to living here on earth. But while I do occasionally think about death, I really have no fear of death, because I know with absolute certainty that physical death is only a phase of life. And not only that I echo the words of William Gurnall who once said: “Let your hope of heaven master your fear of death.”1
To me, heaven makes all the difference when I occasionally ponder my physical death. Many years ago, I read a devotion in Our Daily Bread about a man who had the perfect perspective on pain, suffering, and death. He had a permanent disability. When asked how does he cope knowing that his situation will never get better, and that death is a certainty. I will never forget his response. He said though my disease is permanent, it is only temporary. I like how Pastor John Piper put it when he said: “Suffering for Jesus is temporary. Pleasure in Jesus is eternal.”2
I believe that non-Christians, and even many Christians, fail to view life and time correctly. For me life is a five-stage continuum. First, we are conceived before the foundations of the world in the mind of God. Second, when the male sperm and female egg cell unite at conception the foreknowledge of God becomes the reality of physical life. Third, nine months later, we burst onto the scene as a new life, separate from our mother’s womb. Fourth, we live for hopefully 70 to 90 years in our earthly bodies. And fifth, we transition from earth, by means of physical death, to either heaven (the new earth), or to those who don’t know Christ, to an eternity in hell!
And it is this fifth stage of life, that gives me great peace of mind, to look at death, not as something to fear, but as something to eagerly look forward to. Physical death for the Christian is the great transition phase from frail bodies to a glorified body, from ailing heath, to perfect health, and from pain and suffering to eternal bliss and joy!
My friends, eternal life for the Christian, is our great and certain hope that allows us to no longer fear death, but to anticipate this transition phase as the ultimate graduation, where we are promoted to a place where we will never have to fear death again, but just eternally rejoice in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Heaven – it’s the great antidote for the fear of death. And even if life throws you a curveball, through much pain and suffering, this knowledge that our eternal destiny in Christ is secure allows us to proclaim: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18).
“I believe that non-Christians, and even many Christians, fail to view life and time correctly.”
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Cor. 4:16-