Seven Reasons to Not Fear Death

The older you get, the more you understand the brevity of life. None of us has any idea when our last breath will be. One common exercise at the beginning of a year is to remember all the people who passed into eternity the previous year. When we consider notable deaths in 2025, Charlie Kirk probably comes to mind first. He was young and nobody expected it, and probably the most significant American Christian martyr since missionary Jim Elliot in the 1950s. A name that is known to many in the Christian world is Voddie Baucham, a Christian apologist and missionary to Zambia. Both Charlie Kirk and Voddie Baucham were public apologists who helped us in a 1 Peter 3:15 way to be able to give an answer for the hope that lies within us.

How about you? Do you fear death? In a sense, we are all uncertain about our relationship with death, for none of us knows when is our appointment to die. Additionally, none of us are promised tomorrow. If we are not to fear death, then, that confidence must be rooted in something more substantial than just a will to ignore or swallow our fear. Personally, I am not afraid to die. Such a statement is not an arrogance; it is biblical Christianity. I am not afraid to die, not because of James, but because of Jesus. He is the substantive root of my confidence.

No fear of death is deeply rooted in the gospel. None of us knows what shall be on the tomorrow (James 4:14). None of us knows when the time of our departure is at hand. The brevity of life is a very significant thing to consider. But Christians consider life’s brevity with confidence. Here are seven reasons.

The first reason Christians should not fear death is that Jesus came to destroy death. This idea comes from Hebrews 2:14."For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,” the verse says, Jesus “also himself likewise took part of the same." Do you see what is happening? We are flesh and blood, and Jesus took part of that flesh-and-blood nature so that, through death, he might destroy the devil, who had the power of death. Notice that idea also in verse 15 that Jesus is able to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” The text communicates that fearing death is a type of bondage that enslaves you mentally with anxiety. People fear death because it is uncertain, and so it becomes a type of haunting bondage.

No longer caught in devilish bondage, I have eternal life for God's glory. If you are saved, you are also the present possessor of everlasting life. This also means you are not in danger of eternal damnation (Mk. 3:29). I will not suffer “the vengeance of eternal fire,” a term used in Jude 7 to refer to hell. Because I do not fear going to hell, I do not fear death.

The lack of fear is a gift that God has given the redeemed. I have eternal life not because of me, but because of Christ Jesus. This is what Romans 6:23 says: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Salvation a gift you receive, not a prize you earn. In this sense, eternal life has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Him. We have no fear of death because we have eternal life. God’s promise in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 is that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”

1 John 5:11-13 makes a similar promise that gives believers confidence. “This is the record: that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal life.”  We do not fear death, dear Christian, because we have eternal life.

The second reason you should not fear death is that your sins are gone. This wonderful truth was first instilled into me when I was a teenager. As an inner-city kid in north Minneapolis, I was blessed to participate in a tuition-free church basement Christian school. My school had a little chapel they called the John R. Rice Room. There in that chapel, my youth pastor, Marc Monte, would stand at the pulpit and lead 35 kids in all kinds of songs. One of them had these lyrics: “You ask me why I'm happy, so I'll just tell you why. Because my sins are gone!” This inner-city kid, affected by the drama that accompanies a broken home, benefitted so much from the biblical truths instilled in me through songs like that one.

Christians are to carry themselves with a fearless happiness. People should be able to look at us and recognize our spiritual swagger and God-confidence. This verse from that song I learned as a teenager communicates that confidence:

This person is different; there's something different about them. 

You ask me why I'm happy, so I'll just tell you why: 

It's because my sins are gone.

And when I meet the scoffers who ask me where they are 

I say, "My sins are gone."

They're underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary. 

And they're as far removed as darkness is from dawn.

And in the sea of God's forgetfulness, that's good enough for me. 

Praise God! My sins are gone.

What a wonderful thing that God chooses to remember our sins no more! He forgets them, not because he is mentally derelict or deficient. No, the songwriter was referencing Jeremiah 31:34, where the Lord says, "I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more." Psalm 103:12 says something similar: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” The New Testament passage Hebrews 10:17 proclaims this same truth: "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

Some may ask this: “Where did He put our transgressions when He removed them?” The Bible answer is that He nailed them to the cross.  Colossians 2:14 describes the “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us.” Then it says Jesus took them out of the way, “nailing it to his cross.” These truths are the types of things that should embolden us to be missionaries, whether vocational missionaries or ministers of reconciliation in the town where we live.

The third reason you should not fear death is that to die is gain. This familiar phrase comes from Philippians 1:21, where Paul said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." This is a win-win scenario where living is Christ, but dying is more Christ. Often, we emphasize the latter half of the verse because heaven will be far better than this sin-cursed earth “that groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22). However, I desire that the first part of the verse true of myself, that for me to live is truly Christ.

The application of Philippians 1:21 is simple. When people see you, do they see Jesus in you? They saw him in the Apostle Paul. While Paul acknowledged in Philippians 1:23 “a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better,” none of us should be in a hurry to die. However, when we do, death will usher us into the presence of the One who loves and saved us.

Reason number four we should not fear death is that your Father knows. There have been times in my life, especially in my early years as an inner-city kid, watching my stepdad and mom interact and experiencing a broken home, when I found myself stressed, worried, and full of anxiety even to the point of tears. However, at some point in my Christian maturity, someone showed me Matthew 10:28-31, which is worth quoting in its entirety: “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. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father. But the very hairs on your head are all numbered." Let me pause to interject that your Father knows the most minute details of who you are. Not only that, but He knows the timing of your death. He knows all your uncertainties and insecurities. "How will the timing of my death affect my spouse? How will it affect my kids? How will it affect or impact my job? Will I be a burden in my dying days or will I break the hearts of my family by dying young?” For those who ask these things, my comfort is that whatever the uncertain situation in your mind, your Father knows. He knows the very hairs on your head. Matthew 38:31 fittingly concludes this way: “Fear ye not, therefore; ye are more valuable than many sparrows.” No fear or uncertainty because of God’s comprehensive knowledge and care.

The fifth reason you should not fear death is because of guardian angels. Though this is a doctrine about which good Christians disagree, I personally believe in guardian angels as an extension of the way Almighty God ministers to the redeemed in unique and precious ways. One passage that I learned to love as I grew in the Lord was Luke 16:19-31. For many reasons, it became very precious to me, perhaps my favorite New Testament passage other than my life verses. One reason I love it is because in it we see how the father cares for His children through His ministering angels. The rich man died and he was buried, but when Lazarus died, he was carried to Abraham's bosom by angels. Likewise, Hebrews 1:14 communicates the idea that angels are ministering spirits “for them who shall be heirs of salvation.”

Many times I have sat in a hospital room when a godly saint took his last breath. You may have been in that situation as well, when the machines flatline and the person’s spirit passes. I remember specifically an old deacon during my time as pastor of Temple Baptist Church. When the deacon passed from this life into eternity I sensed an angelic presence in that room, perhaps escorting him just as Lazarus was escorted by an angelic presence in Luke 16. When you think on that godly old deacon being brought into the presence of his Savior, it will be obvious that there is nothing to fear. Instead, there is a tenderness in death.

Here is reason number six not to fear death: because of your inheritance. The New Testament has much to say about the inheritance that the redeemed receive because of Christ. For example, Ephesians 1:11 says, "In Christ we obtained an inheritance." Colossians 3:24 speaks confidently of “knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance." Among the passages that speak of what we inherit in Christ, my favorite is Romans 8:14-17. These verses speak both of heirs and of joint-heirs. If something were to happen to Britan and I, the way our will is written means that all our sons are our heirs. Therefore, each of our three sons would each get a third of our possessions. Romans 8, however, says that the redeemed are not merely heirs, but joint-heirs with Christ. To be a joint-heir with Christ is to say that everything Christ gets, I also get. Just as much as the inheritance is his, it is also ours.

This begs the question, of course, of what Christ inherited from God the Father. The answer to that question is in Hebrews 1:2. Christ is heir of all things, and we are joint-heirs with him. So our inheritance, likewise, is all things. One theologian said it this way: "Every adopted child will receive by divine grace the full inheritance Christ receives by divine right.” This means that anything that is Christ's will be yours as well. This is a tremendous grace that we do not fully understand. Nevertheless, God has promised it to all the redeemed.

The seventh reason you should have no fear of death is the instantaneous aspect of our transport to heaven. Our transition from the body to the presence of the Lord will be even more instantaneous than anything you see in popular science fiction. Many people fear death because they are uncertain how they will die. However, at the point of death is no purgatory, soul sleep, or layover in Atlanta. Rather, 2 Corinthians 5:8 says “we are confident, I say, and willing rather that to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” This instantaneous transition is true for both saved and lost. In Luke’s historic account of the rich man and Lazarus, it is said of the rich man that he died. The next phrase is “and in hell he lifted up his eyes.” Those that reject Jesus to go to hell just as instantaneously as believers go to heaven.

I say that no Christian should fear death. However, if you are not a Christian, you should be afraid, because eternal hell is what awaits you, just as it did the rich man. If you are a Christian, be bold with the gospel. One day, it may cost you your life, like it did for Stephen and Charlie Kirk. The 21st century church, the United States of America, and your local town needs a fresh dose of their kind of boldness. We ought to be tenacious, bold, and Spirit-filled to tell people the good news, so they do not die and go to hell.  No fear of death.

I say to you: ditch the victim mindset! Your mind is extremely powerful, and the story you tell yourself determines the person you will become. Focus your mind on the truths of Romans 8:28 and the ability of God to take what man meant for evil and turn it to good. Preach these promises to yourself. Be the victor, the overcomer, that God wants to enable you to be, and do it for His glory!

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The above article was written by Pastor James C. Johnson. He is the pastor of NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fl. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.

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