SHALL WE FEAR DEATH?

    The Bible tells us that Humankind has a fear of death.  This would seem to be a natural thing because it is a journey into the unknown.  I believe that I hear it said that Voltaire, on his deathbed, "I am taking a fearful leap into the dark".
     Recently, in a University level Literature Course, I came across a poem which expresses my feelings on the fear of death. It thrilled me when I first read it.


The Poem is called :   

'Prospice' by Robert Browning

Fear Death?--To feel the fog in my Throat,

The mist in my face,

When the snows begin, and the blasts denote,

I am nearing the place,

The power of the night, the press of the storm,

The post of the foe;

Where he stands, the Arch-Foe in a visible form,

Yet the strong man must go:

For the journey is done, and the summit attained,

And the barriers fall,

Though a battle's to fight ere the guerdon be gained,

The reward of it all.

I was once a fighter, so--one fight more,

The best and the last!

I would hate that death bandaged my eyes and forbore,

And bade me creep past.

No!, Let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers

The heroes of old,

Bear the brunt, in a moment pay glad life's arrears

Of pain, darkness, and cold.

For soon the worst turns the best to the brave,

The black minute's at end,

And the element's rage, the fiend-voices that rave

Shall dwindle, shall blend,

Shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain,

Then a light, then my breast,

O soul of my soul, I shall clasp thee again,

And with God, be the rest!

     My title asks the question, Shall We Fear Death.  The answer is, If we are prepared for it.  We can prepare for it, because of what Jesus Christ, The Son of God has done for us.  This is 'Holy Week'-the week that the Lord Jesus Christ bore all of Humanity's sins on the Cross. And three days later, He defeated death, by raising from the dead-thus completing and putting a seal on God's plan of Salvation