Most of us don’t like to think about death, let alone talk about it. It’s a frightening subject. But at one time or another we’ve all been touched by death, suffering the loss of a relative, friend, neighbor, or someone else in our lives.

Though we try to prolong life, no one can escape death. When death’s final summons comes to us, everyone—rich or poor, strong or weak, famous or unknown—must surrender.

Death is not only frightening in its inevitability and power but also in its mysteriousness. What happens when life as we know it ends? What awaits us in the great unknown beyond death? The Bible aptly says that all our life long, we’re held in slavery by the fear of death.

Yet our loving Creator, the living God, did not intend for us to die. From the very beginning He wanted to share His eternal life with us.

Then where did death come from? Death is the consequence of sin injected into mankind by God’s enemy, Satan. When God created man He intended for him to receive His life. But before man could receive the life of God, the devil, Satan, deceived and poisoned him with his own sinful nature. As a result, our human spirit, created to contact God, became deadened; our human soul, especially our mind, became an enemy to God; and our human body, created by God as a pure vessel, became polluted with sin, doomed to physically die.

Physical death, however, is not the end. The Bible also tells us it is reserved for men to die once, and after this comes judgment. What will we be judged by God for? Most importantly, we will be judged based on whether or not we have believed in Jesus Christ, the One who died for our sins and overcame death to free us eternally from its power. If we do not believe in Him, we will face the second death, which is the lake of fire, perishing in eternal torment.

Who is Jesus Christ? He is the very God who became a man of flesh and blood and lived a sinless life. He then died on the cross for us sinners. But three days after being crucified, He resurrected from the dead. He defeated the power of death! By dying for us, He solved the problem of our sins. By resurrecting from the dead, He broke the power of death over us.

Christ is living now and forever. In resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit, who is now available to everyone. As the Spirit He can come into us with His victorious, death-conquering life. When we receive the resurrected Christ by believing in Him, He makes our spirit alive with His eternal life today and delivers us from the second, eternal, death in the future.

Christ spoke these words of promise: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live.”

The Lord Jesus wants to free you from the fear of death and give you the hope of eternal life. Open your heart and pray this prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I believe You died for my sins on the cross. I believe You resurrected from the dead. Thank You for coming to give me eternal life. I receive You as my Savior and my life. Come into me, Lord! Amen.”