Near the small town of Manassas Junction in July of 1861, federal shells screamed in and exploded, showering the Confederate troops with dirt and shrapnel. Wounded men cried out, as volley after volley of bullets zipped past, many men falling under the Union fusillade. The thunder of artillery had been constant, and the ears of the men rang with the concussion of each bursting shell.

Facing the center of the advancing North, Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson still sat astride his horse at the head of his brigade, holding both his nervous mount and his men in control. As the Confederates prepared to withdraw to regroup, Brigadier General Barnard E. Bee reportedly shouted, “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians!”

Asked later by a fellow officer how he could remain so calm in the face of enemy fire, Jackson is said to have replied, “Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready no matter when it may overtake me.”

Although a fine combat general, appropriately nicknamed “Stonewall,” Jackson had a well-known reputation as a Christian gentleman. His attitude toward death showed a remarkable amount of faith, especially for the times in which he lived.

With the world in a noticeably downward spiral, we see many deaths occurring every day—not only in natural disasters, but also in day-to-day life in the form of accidents, terminal illnesses and murders. Further, we are visually assaulted by violent killings in both movies and television, where those who die are too often portrayed as weaklings or “losers”—too unfit or unlucky to survive. The value of human life is minimized. This negative exposure, coupled with a natural fear of the unknown, brings about a fear of death.

What is death?

Aside from being a cessation of physical life, what is death? Is that all there is? What happens afterward? As Christians, what should our own attitudes be toward the subject? More importantly, how does God view death? We have only to look into the pages of our Bibles to find the answers.

Let’s take a look at a couple of Old Testament scriptures first. We’ll start in Psalms:

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).

What does that mean? If God loves us, why are our deaths precious to Him? From the time of our calling, we dedicate our lives as Christians to grow and overcome our weaknesses and sins, becoming as much like Christ as we can. Our deaths—the ending of our physical lives—mean that our struggle is ended. Our battle is won. We have qualified through God’s grace to be resurrected as spirit beings (the continuation of our spiritual lives) and rule with Christ on His throne, teaching the nations to live as we have lived, as Christ Himself lived. In essence, we become part of the family of God.

Now, let’s look at Ecclesiastes 7:1: “A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.”

We can see now why the day of our death is better than the day of our birth. At birth, our struggles are all ahead of us. At death, they are all behind. We’ve succeeded. We’ve won. Notice what the apostle Paul wrote in both 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’” (1 Corinthians 15:52-55).

From these scriptures, we can see that the death of any saint—a true Christian—is not a negative experience. It can even be a positive thing. According to the Bible, it is a victorious moment!

Can God bring good out of a death?

As a longtime member of God’s Church, I have been blessed with the opportunity of retrospection in the way the deaths of my parents and even a great-grandparent have affected my calling. Can God use death as a positive, constructive force? Yes, without a doubt.

My grandfather’s parents were active in their church in southern Ohio through the late 1800s and early 1900s. Upon my great-grandfather’s death, my great-grandmother moved north to the city of Columbus, Ohio, where she put herself through nursing school to be able to earn a living. My grandfather, the oldest boy, quit school after the eighth grade to help support the family.

The connection with her church there was broken, leading to the following successive events:
Shortly after the death of my mother in 1967, my father began listening to Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong on the radio, which led to my siblings and I being raised in God’s truth. Although my father never attended services to any extent, he believed the truth and proved it to his own satisfaction. My mother was active in the Lutheran church before her death, as was most of her family. In trying to figure out why God allowed her to die, I came to believe that she might have opposed our affiliation with the Church of God.

After the death of my father in 1992, I became more determined than ever to stick to the truth. If I gave up, I felt that his life would have been in vain. His pain and sacrifices for the opportunity to be in the Kingdom of God would have been for nothing. I want him to be proud of me. I want to be there as a spirit being when my family is resurrected.

In short, death has been a powerful influence on my life as a Christian. I made the life choices, but the path has been shown through the deaths of key members of my family. I, in turn, will have the joyous opportunity to teach them God’s way in the world tomorrow. By no means do I deny the pain of loss to my family and friends. Death can be tragic when a spouse dies of cancer or a dear one is killed in a car accident. Death is harder for those left behind than for those that depart this life.

It’s like sleep…

Part of the fear of death is fear of the unknown: What’s going to happen and what is it going to be like? Can you remember visiting your grandparents’ house and perhaps getting sleepy as you sat on Grandpa’s lap? Next thing you know, you’re waking up the next morning in your own bed. Perhaps you go to sleep riding in the car, and you wake up somewhere else. And it’s OK, because Mom or Dad, or both, are there.

Just as there is no consciousness in sleep, there is none in death. Time passes without awareness. As it’s written in 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

In Psalm 13:3 it states: “Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.” That’s what death is like. In many more places in the Bible, scriptures liken death to sleep. You simply awake in a better world or, for Christians, rise into the air to meet Christ as He returns.

Ultimately, it all depends on your point of view. For the Christian, death is the threshold over which God carries us into the Kingdom. As it was stated by English poet John Milton in the 17th century, “Death is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity.”

God’s Kingdom is the next step in His great plan of salvation for mankind. It’s literally just a heartbeat away. The apostle Paul understood this well, as he wrote to Timothy:

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only, …but unto all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

We see now that death is not failure. While death is the enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26, 54-57), the resurrection gives us victory over this enemy. It is not a thing to be feared. God alone chooses the time of our departure from this life, and He chooses a time when He deems us ready for the next step, our first step into His glorious Kingdom. This is not something to be feared, but to be rejoiced about. This is why God’s people stand firm in the face of adversity. Victory is but a moment away.

In this light, let us recall the words of Stonewall Jackson: “…I do not concern myself about that [death], but to be always ready no matter when it may overtake me.” He paused, looking over at the younger officer. “That is the way all men should live,” he added, “then all would be equally as brave.”

Should Christians fear death? Look at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14: “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” The hope of the resurrection can help us put death in better perspective.

Suggested reading

For more inormation about this subject, read our free booklet What Happens After Death? For your free copy or to download a copy, just click on the link here.