How can I be prepared to die?

Fear of death is removed when the soul looks only and simply to the Lord Jesus, and believes that He has died in his stead, and suffered for his sins on the cross. The believer thus knows, that whatever changes may take place, his life is hid with Christ in God, and though he may sleep in Jesus, yet he shall never see death. This fills the languishing spirit with consolation and peace, as well as strength for the service of God, and running the heavenly race.

Liberty from the Fear of Death. Man trembles at death; his bones shake, the joints of his back are loosed, and his countenance becomes ghastly, when he sees death enter the room, and feels its chilly grasp. There is only one thing that enables the soul to triumph in death; it is knowing that Christ died for our sins, and that He who is now in the glory is our life. It is only beholding Christ who was on the cross that will enable any one to say, that death is but the opening of the golden gates that admit him into the celestial glory. Nothing can remove the fear of death, and enable us to meet it with composure and peace, but the sheltering power of the blood of the Lamb, the blessed knowledge that we have passed from death unto life, and the assurance, that though the mortal body may fall asleep in Jesus, death can have no claim upon us, because Jesus hath borne death and judgment instead of us. So that the true language of faith is, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Thus we have liberty from the fear of death.

When Saul heard of his impending death he "fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid." We are reminded of Jacob when he learned that he must now meet the one against whom he had sinned: "Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed" (Gen. 32:7). Now mark the contrast to all this in Paul the apostle. His life was in jeopardy for the Gospel's sake. But was he dismayed? The very reverse. "We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). It is such an unusual thing to find men willing to be absent from the body (even the devil once said, "All that a man has will he give for his life"), that we are constrained to inquire as to the ground of the apostle's confidence. His own words in Rom. 5:8 tell us all we need know as to this: "God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Here we have that which, when known and believed, banishes from the soul all dread of death. Christ has been into death for us, thus making complete atonement for all our sin and guilt, and breaking the power of the enemy once and for ever.

Am I speaking to a soul here who has doubts, or fears, or misgiving? Have you a doubt? I know very well that people say, I am thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. My beloved brother or sister, let me tell you this, if You talk about looking to the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, you are looking at Him where He is not. There is no such thing as the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross; how can you see Him where He is not? If you say to me, I look back by faith, I understand that, that is plain enough, I look back by faith and remember that He was on the cross, but you could not look back by faith and see Him on the cross, though you can look back by faith to see what He bore, and what He was and endured on the cross. Do you want to see Him? You must look up to see Him alive. He was dead, He is alive, He is risen. I see Him in His new place as man, victorious, triumphant man, the whole power of death and of Satan broken, the whole power of the enemy dashed in pieces by that magnificent victory of His; every hostile power put down, every enemy that had triumphed, triumphed over by Him in His death and in His resurrection. What fear can you have now? What are you afraid of? I am speaking perhaps to a trembling believer to-night, to some one who is not established in the truth of the gospel, who says, I am afraid of death. Oh, beloved friends, look here. He was the death of death, "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Death has been vanquished; death has lost its sting; death has been spoiled of its victory, its power is broken, you need not be afraid of death. Sin? He came to bear away His people's sins; He bore them. Thank God, however feeble you may be, you belong to Christ, and I can tell you every one of your sins were laid by God on that blessed One on the cross. Perhaps you have sung the hymn, "I lay my sins on Jesus."

Thus matters went on for weeks, until at last, on my return home one afternoon, I heard she was much worse, and that death was evidently very near. After looking to the Lord, I sat down and wrote a very few lines to her husband, asking for her, expressing my deep sympathy for him, and also the earnest hope that she knew the Saviour, whose blood cleanseth from all sin; adding, that I myself, as a poor needy one, had known what it was to trust Him. I had occasion to make a call a little way from the house, and on my return, found that she had meanwhile sent a message to me, requesting me to call and see her. I hastened to her bedside, and, as I took her hand, she said with great earnestness, "Oh, I have been longing for some weeks to see you, and now I feel so thankful the Lord has sent you to help me on my way." As it was advanced in the evening, and she was very weak, I did not remain long with her. When leaving, she requested me to see her again next morning. I did so, and again the same evening, and so on, almost each day until she fell asleep. From the first evening I saw her, I found out that she was a soul awakened to a sense of her need of Christ and His sufficiency for the deepest need. I have since found out that the gracious Lord wrought this in her in various ways, mostly, perhaps, through sorrow and family bereavement, of which she had no small share. I was in nowise instrumental in this; but I had the joy of seeing in her the power of God's delivering grace and the blessedness of His word, in quieting her natural fear of death. One little circumstance of this kind I may record: she expressed to me, on one occasion, her fear in prospect of death; not, she said most decidedly, as to her acceptance in any way, but she had a shrinking from death and the suffering of it. The nature of her disease, too, was very likely to lead to such suffering. I read her part of Joshua 3, calling her attention to the fact, that when the children of Israel were crossing Jordan, it was on the ark, not on the waters of the river, their eyes and thoughts were to be fixed. "When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it." As soon as I had finished, she said with great earnestness, "That ark is Christ." I said, "Thank God, it is so." She never lost sight of that, and it comforted her many a time afterwards. The last time I saw her she had all her family around her bedside. It was the last time they saw her. She herself wished and arranged it so. Her simple acknowledgment of perfect confidence in Christ, and rest in Him, was very sweet. And then she asked for the hymn — "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer's ear; It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear." And the earnest way in which she sang it, weak though she was, and exhausted, was very touching. This was my last visit to her. I called, as usual, next day, but she was unable to see me; and that evening, without the struggle she at first dreaded, peacefully and calmly she fell asleep, so quietly, so gently, that "they thought her dying when she slept, and sleeping when she died."

"I should think," said he, "there are very few that die who have that certainty. At least not many would like to chance it, if it were put to them to-day; I mean if the question was put, Are you so sure of heaven, that you do not mind dying to-day?" I replied, "I fear even amongst those who profess to be Christians, too few would stand that test. But it was very different with my departed friend. She had only been ill a few days, and on the day before her death, knowing there was no human possibility of recovering, she calmly said, 'I would not exchange places with the Queen.' Not the shadow of a doubt passed over her happy soul. She rested not in anything she had done, but in the finished work of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Precious Jesus! thy blood and righteousness never fail in the hour of death. Nothing can be so certain as that which God has said, 'that whosoever believes on him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.'"

"The day of death is the master day," a great writer has said, and it is; in it is tested every hope and refuge and possession. The dying fisher-lad's hope for eternity stood the test. He had the rock beneath his feet — the finished work of Christ. His soul was washed in the precious blood which was shed on Calvary's hill for sinners — "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, which cleanses from all sin"; he was ready to go, and God gave him the "victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

To have learned the cross of Christ is the preparation. There He, the blessed Saviour, died for us and bore our judgment; there, too, we died with Him. Faith accepts and feeds on this. Now “death is ours.” Having acknowledged this we are fit for the path of testimony to our rejected Lord. “I am ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Christians who pass all their days in doubt and dread of death are like the man who wished to cross the Mississippi river on the ice. Supposing it to be dangerously thin, he crawled across on his hands and knees, with his heart in his throat, as they say. Just as he reached the opposite bank, a man overtook him with a team of horses and a load of iron. The ice was strong enough to bear an army, and his fears were groundless. The man's security depended on the thickness of the ice. And your security, fellow-believer, depends entirely on the work of Christ. Can that break down? Will it give way? Thank God, NEVER! Then doubt no more. Go on your way rejoicing, and live for the One who died for you.

It is not that the way will open when you come to it. If a soul does not see that it is open, he does not see how God has dealt with him, and he fears to approach death; he is standing, as the hymn says, "shivering on the brink, and fears to launch away;" but if his eye is on the Ark, he sees the way open, and it is known as definitely to him now on earth, as it was to Saul of Tarsus, or to Stephen. There is not a single barrier on God's side between me and the throne of God. My own self stands in the way, if I have not died with Christ, and am free from judgment; but scripture says I am dead with Him; if not, I could not get to this place of rest! If you say the way is not open till you die, you do not believe that it is open now; you think something has not been accomplished by Christ's death — you do not regard Him as the perfect accomplisher. Perhaps you say, "I am not afraid of judgment, but I fear death — the breaking up of the body." Then you do not see the way through death. Stephen sees the way clear up to glory. Did Stephen make the way? "No, Jesus made it; and if so, death is no king of terrors for him; he can say, if they kill me, I go straight to glory; if I die, the way is open;" and he suffers the most bitter death that ever man was exposed to, without a murmur; on the contrary, he prays for those who inflict the suffering.