"...it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." Hebrews 9: 27

There seems to be an increasing number of people who claim they have died and returned to life. Most describe death as being the most wonderful and glorious thing they have ever experienced. They vividly describe some sort of ecstatic feeling along with all kinds of visions of beautiful bright lights. We are led to believe that death is a very pleasant experience and certainly not to be feared or dreaded. It is impossible to prove that these people did not in fact have some sort of experience; although it is possible for people to make all sorts of claims just to get attention. What about these experiences? Are we to believe that death is something to be desired rather than dreaded?

The Bible records several instances where people died and were miraculously raised again from the dead. The prophet Elijah was used of God to raise a widow's young son from the dead. Christ raised Lazarus from the dead after he had been buried for four days. There are other instances recorded in Scripture, but there is no record of one being returned to life without God using one of His servants to bring about the miracle. There is no Biblical record of those who were returned to life who gave testimony that death was a delightful experience.

There is a distinction to be made between the fear of death and the fear of dying. The act of dying is something unknown and unnatural. God has created us with the instinct of self-preservation which keeps the normal person from running headlong into death or from taking "foolish dares." There are those who fear dying yet they do not fear death. There are only two basic reasons why a person would not fear death. Either he does not understand the true nature of death, or he has savingly believed in Christ who is the "resurrection and the life."
(John 11: 25)

The Bible speaks of physical death, spiritual death and eternal death. All men die physically because they are the sons of Adam. All men are born spiritually dead because of Adam's original sin. If physical death overtakes a man while he is still in the condition of spiritual death, he will experience eternal death which the Bible describes as eternal punishment, separated from the presence of God. The moment a person dies physically, the soul departs the body and goes either into the presence of God or into hell to await the final day of judgment. That is the reason why the Bible tells us "...it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment." If a person is not prepared for the final day of judgment, they have every reason to fear death. A right and proper fear of death is a great motivation to make sure one is rightly related to God through Jesus Christ the only mediator.

One of Satan's insidious methods of convincing people that there is no reason to fear death is to cause people to have all sorts of experiences which they equate with dying and returning to life. If they can give glowing testimonials of how "beautiful and wonderful" it is to experience death, then why should anyone fear death? In Hebrews 2: 14,15 we read concerning Christ, He rendered powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; that He might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. Death is a reality and is to be feared by all who have not made peace with God through Jesus Christ.