Are You Afraid?
Much is being said these days about fear, and great steps are being taken to procure what President F.D. Roosevelt in an address to Congress
in 1941 called one of our essential human freedoms—freedom from fear. Now a bold attempt is being made to “rid the world of terrorism” so that generations to come will not have to fear becoming its victims.
Though this is a good and just cause, it is an utter impossibility because of the very nature of man apart from God. The highest Authority in the universe says, “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20,21).
A world free from fear will only be realized by the regeneration of human nature, by men being “born again” through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Prince of Peace, and will alone be responsible for peace on earth. Man is absolutely unable to rid the world of fear, as evidenced by the long history of wars and rumors of wars that have permeated the globe to this day. According to unfailing Biblical prophecy, this world is not heading toward a man-made utopia, but toward the Great Tribulation, the time of greatest suffering it has ever known, when God’s judgments are in the earth (Revelation 6:15-17).
The present evil and wickedness in the world will eventually culminate in the antichrist coming after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, causing as many as will not worship the image of the beast to be killed and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (2 Thessalonians 2:8,9;
Revelation 13:15-17). Then Christ
will return to the earth as King of
Kings and Lord of Lords to set up His millennial kingdom of peace and righteousness (Revelation 19:11-21).
Meanwhile, there may be some
partial success in putting down evil, and we are thankful for this. However, if the very last terrorist has been captured or killed, if every airplane is made completely safe for travel, if every port and every border of every land is secured beyond question, there will still remain a fear in man’s heart that must be dealt with.
Of all the hundreds of things that men fear, perhaps the greatest is the “fear of death” (Hebrew 2:15). Anyone who has never been saved by the grace of God and washed in the blood of Christ has every reason to fear death, to die in his sins. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 9:27; 10:31).
Death is not the end for man. God’s Word says that after death each of us will be forever either in the torment and punishment of hell, or the joyful bliss of heaven (Luke 12:4,5; John 14:1-3). At the moment of physical death, one’s eternal destiny is forever sealed. The greatest fear anyone could ever have is an eternity in hell.
Jesus died on Calvary’s cross for our sins, bearing all the judgment that we deserved. Now He offers salvation to everyone who will confess his sins to God, and will trust Christ as his Saviour, believing that He died for him. You cannot be free from fear until your sins are forgiven. Believe on Christ “in Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7).