How can I overcome the fear of death? How can I stop being scared of dying?

How great can be that fear many can tell. How real the deliverance Stephen (Acts 7:59) and Paul attest (Phil. 1:23; 2 Tim. 1:10, 2:11, 4:6-8). And the Lord, knowing what that power is, and knowing that it might terrify His saints so as to make them turn aside from the path of testimony for God, tells all in Rev. 1:18 that He is the living One; alive for evermore, and has the keys of death (which claims the body) as well as of Hades, where the unclothed are. If then Christians die, they depart to be with Christ, and their resurrection to everlasting bliss is assured. The sting of death, which is sin, is removed for them (1 Cor. 15:56) by the death of Christ on their behalf. The terror of death should be dissipated by the remembrance of the Lord's victory over the enemy.

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.

Here we have the deliverance of Christ's people through His death from all the power of Satan. Satan had the judicial power of death. That he got through man in Eden deliberately taking his word instead of God's. "The woman was deceived, being in the transgression," and the man deliberately, with eyes open, accepted all the consequences of being under the serpent's rule. "Therefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin," Satan became, in that way, the prince and god of this world, and had the power of death. Thus death was the judicial infliction of God upon man, and Satan was connected with it in such a way that Scripture says he had the power, or authority, of death. Satan in that way was the executioner of God's judgment upon man. And how he has used his authority! How he has held the fear of death over people's heads! How he has driven them frantic with terror, made them suffer, turned their religion into superstition, made them commit incredible acts of cruelty through the fear of death! Satan is master of man's religion, and you will find that most of it is dictated by the fear of death.

But now Christ has come, and has delivered from the fear of death. How? By dying Himself he has become the destroyer of death, has taken away its sting and fear, and thus delivered all those who were subject to bondage through fear of death. For the believer the fear of death is now gone; it is really only sleep. Could you lie down quietly with the assurance that you would never wake again, and pass into eternity? Has the work of Christ so effectually removed every fear of death from you that you could do that? That is what He came for.

At half-past twelve, at her earnest desire, I retired to rest, leaving her nurse, our sister, to sit up with her. At three, she sent to call me, and I immediately went to her. I found her labouring for breath, and covered with cold perspiration. She seemed much distressed in body, but apparently not more so than she was on the previous day. She said, "I cannot continue long if I have not breath." I had not the least idea that she was dying, and I lifted up my heart to the Lord, that, if it were possible, this cup of suffering might pass from her, and some relief be given to her poor body. I heard her repeating a part of Isaiah 43:2, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." I rose and reached a Bible, intending to turn to the passage. When she saw I had the Bible she said, "Read the twenty-third Psalm," which I did. Almost immediately afterwards, her countenance, which had previously been marked with an expression of the deepest anguish and pain, from her great difficulty of breathing, became exceedingly animated, and beamed with an expression of joy and triumph. I was then kneeling at her side, and the change was so striking, that I rose from my knees, in order that I might have a more perfect view of her countenance. She looked steadfastly up to heaven, the radiance of which seemed really reflected on her face, and said with great energy and emphasis, and with a strength of voice far beyond what I should have supposed her then capable of, Satan, thou hast nothing to do here. Death is no king of terrors to me. I am washed in the blood of the Lamb. I am upon a rock. I am on a firm foundation. Lord, it is a solemn moment, but this is reality" (the latter words were pronounced with increased deliberateness and emphasis.) "O Lord look upon my dear children! Oh, grant that I may meet them before the Throne!" And then, making a further effort to speak, and having apparently strength given her for the occasion, she said with great animation, and with an expression of increased joy and triumph, "I would not change places with the greatest man on the earth." I was standing at her side, holding her hand in mine. She said, "Kiss me — kiss my sweet little boy in the morning — give my love to all the saints." Her breathing then became more difficult, and her voice feeble, but she said repeatedly, "Jesus, Master, come, come to me. Jesus, come, come!" Her voice then became inaudible, but observing that she moved her lips, I put my ear down to her mouth, and she said with an emphasis, which marked how she felt the words, "Precious — very precious!" These were her last words, and in less than twenty minutes afterwards — at fifty minutes after four a.m., she most gently and peacefully fell asleep.

Death is not the king of terrors to believers. He that had the power of death is nullified new to those who believe in Jesus. Through carelessness of walk some may say that they do fear death; they accredit the power of the enemy so as to sanction in themselves a certain degree of fear of it. If I look back before I was converted it was not the thought of death but of the great white throne, the judgment after death, that I shrank from. There is such a thing as a physical fear of death. It may be given of God for the protection of the body, to make people take care of themselves; but believers on their death-bed have no fear; the Lord has been with them, and they have desired earnestly to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. I have never known anyone who, walked closely with the Lord Jesus who feared death. I have known some who have said "If I were to meet death in my present strength I am not able to bear it." But will not Christ be faithful to His promise, "when thou passest through the valley of the shadow of death, I will be with thee, my rod and my staff they shall comfort thee?"

Christians often fear death. As old age approaches the fear sometimes becomes acute. As someone has said, It is the dying they fear, not death. It is the weakness and pain and difficulty of dissolution that fills them with foreboding, not the thought of being actually with the Lord. How this might be alleviated if the thought of the arrow sharpened by love were kept in mind.

The fact is, we shall not get grace for dying till the dying time arrives, if the Lord does not come first. Let us then seek grace for living; if old and feeble, grace to live in that condition—which grace the Lord will abundantly minister, if we only seek it. Let the grace for dying not trouble us. It will come when it is needed. The Lord will not fail us “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me,” is as true for the end of the journey as for only a portion of it, for “the valley of the shadow of death” surely means the whole of our life in this world. Let our minds dwell on the heavenly scene. Let us be at home with the Lord now, and we shall rejoice to think that we shall actually be with Him where He is, in that land of pine delight, for ever.

(Vv. 14, 15). Verses 12 and 13 have shown how blessedly Christ has identified us with Himself in His position before God. Now we are to learn the further truth that He has identified Himself with us in our position of weakness and death before God. If the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He likewise partakes of the same. If they are under the dominion of death and the devil, He, having taken flesh and blood, is able to enter into death to annul the devil who had the power of death, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The devil knows that the wages of sin is death, and is not slow to use this solemn truth to keep the sinner in the fear of death and its consequences all his life. The Lord, on whom death has no claim, goes into death and bears the death penalty that was upon us, and thus robs the devil of his power to terrify the believer with death. We may indeed pass through death, not as the penalty of sin leading to judgment, but only as the gateway out of all suffering into the fulness of blessing.

Here is the deduction. "Since then the children have a common share (κεκοινώνηκεν) of blood and flesh, he also himself in like manner took part in the same, that through death he might annul him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all those that by fear of death were through the whole of their life subject to bondage" (verses 14, 15). The Son of God became man, as the children were men, in order to meet Satan in his last stronghold of death, and thus by dying exhaust his power for those who being under law were harassed all their life long by fear in their conscience. It is plain that the enemy is here in view, as God was in verse 10, and as the sufferings of Christ vindicated God's holy nature and character, leaving His love free to act in saving us and bringing us to glory, so did His death break Satan's power to nought and deliver from fear the troubled saints, henceforth in peace, for He was raised for their justification. Satan is no longer to the believer the King of terrors. Christ has disarmed the enemy by submitting to death, and his power is gone for ever for His own. His resurrection proved the seal of death broken for us, as for us He died; and our resurrection will be the demonstration of its truth, not to us that believe who have in ourselves the witness of His grace and glory, but to all who disbelieve, rejecting Christ and the gospel.

The Psalmist now waxes more bold. He has told us what Jehovah is, and what He does. This gives him confidence, and he is consequently able to say, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me" (Ps. 23:4). The valley of the shadow of death is not so much passing through death, as the character of our pathway through this scene. We are passing through a judged world. Death hangs over it like a pall; and hence to the believer, who enters into God's thoughts about it, it is the valley of the shadow of death. But what is his antidote against fear? It is that "Thou art with me." This indeed is the source of all our security and blessing — the Lord is with us. And being with us, we have His rod and His staff to comfort us — His rod to direct, and His staff to support. Do we sufficiently enter into this? Is it as constantly present to our souls as it should be — that the Lord is with us? and that His rod and His staff comfort us? The scene may be never so dark and desolate, and we may be never so weak and weary, but we have boundless resources in the One who is our Shepherd — His own presence to cheer our souls, and His rod and His staff to guide in perplexity, and to support in weakness. Blessed be His name!