Psalm 23:4
God has put within every human a natural fear of death and a resistance to it. That is one of the things that make us distinct from the animal world. Under normal circumstances therefore, no one wants to die. Most of us, if found to have a terminal illness would do everything and spend as much money as we had to even prolong our life. I have always wanted to parachute from an air plane, but if I had the chance to do it I’m sure my heart would be racing and my mouth would be dry; in other words, there would be a great deal of fear.
When the child of God comments that he or she is longing to be in heaven and to be in the presence of the Savior, it is not that we want to die, but that we wait in anxious hope for that better life which has been promised. The saint is not afraid to die, but certainly afraid of death.
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator and general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, died in 1953. His daughter reported to Newsweek Magazine that her father died a horrible and frightening death. “My father died a difficult and terrible death…God grants an easy death only to the just…At what seemed the very last moment he suddenly opened his eyes and cast a glance over everyone in the room. It was a terrible glance, insane or perhaps angry and full of fear of death…then he lifted his left hand as though he were pointing to something above and bringing down a curse on us all. The gesture was full of menace…The next moment…The spirit wrenched itself free of the flesh.”
Voltaire, and eighteenth century philosopher, who was also an atheist, said to his doctor as he lay dying, “I am abandoned by God and man. I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months’ life.” The doctor replied, sir, you cannot live six weeks.” Voltaire replied, “Then I shall go to hell and you will go with me.” You see, people are not atheist by nature, it is a religion. When people come to their last breath, you see that every person is, by nature God conscious.
In Psalm 23:4, David expresses that he may walk even through that dark valley of death and be assured that his Shepherd walks with him. Psalms 23:4 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. There is something much different that takes place with a dying saint because of what we call dying grace. Everyone shall walk through that valley, but the Psalmist assures us that God will not let His child walk through that valley alone. Psalm 116:15 ” Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”
There are only two ways for a person to get out of this life. The rapture, (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) or by death. The oldest person in the world is said to be 126 years, but they will die. Some, in the Bible are recorded to be nearly 1,000 years old, but they died.
Psalm 23:4 implies that the valley of the shadow of death is what we call the death experience. This verse can be applied to the death experience of the saint because he fears no evil of judgment on the other side of it. Though all will walk through the valley of the shadow of death, not all will walk that way without fear. People die either in faith or fear. The saint dies in faith that the rod and staff of God’s word will prove to be true and faithful to him in all of His promises of the hear-after. However, even some unsaved people die in faith. However, their faith is not in the Son of God and His shed blood, but in their own erroneous philosophical view of the here-after. Be sure to be in class next week so that we can follow up on these thoughts. E-mail, johnpruitt@frontiernet.net or “message” me on face book.
