Last time, we talked about how Christianity responds to terror management theory with the promise of a favorable afterlife with God. But what other promises does Christianity have that removes the sting of death, that frees us to be un-terrorized?
The good news is that Jesus also provides is himself, promising and proving always, “I am with you.”
As a reminder, I’m describing terror management theory as the juxtaposition of the human impulse toward survival with our realization of the inevitability of death and how we deal with these competing facts. The result in this heightened, ever-present state of cognitive dissonance, tending toward terror. Ultimately, humans are naturally afraid of death because it conflicts with their desire to live.
But the reality of Christ comes in direct opposition to that fear.
That is one of the reasons Immanuel—“God with us”—is so incredible.
When the sovereign, omnipotent God of the universe is literally with us, so much fear can fade away. God says as much in Isaiah 41:10:
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
He repeats similar comforts throughout the Psalms, and then in the New Testament Jesus himself arrives in the flesh—a God must visibly among his people. In John 8, Jesus says he is the “light of the world,” and whoever follows him—that is, stays near to him—will have “the light of life.”
God’s very Spirit is within us. And we ourselves are hid with Christ. God’s with-ness is closer than any physical degree of proximity. He desires that we be in him. There is nothing closer than that.
And all of God’s talk of being near to and with and his presence being among his people—it’s a reason why Christians need not be overcome with terror. For what can happen over which God is not sovereign, of which God cannot work for good? Even in trials—even in death—God himself goes before us and also ahead of us, while staying beside us.
Bonhoeffer, a man who would eventually be killed by the Nazi regime, knew that true life and grace were the result of God’s with-ness. That knowledge freed him, and us, from the fear that so easily entangles. Bonhoeffer wrote in “The Cost of Discipleship”:
For the rest of mankind to be with Christ means death, but for Christians it is a means of grace. Baptism is their assurance that they are “dead with Christ,” “crucified with him,” “buried with him,” “planted together in the likeness of his death.” All this creates in them the assurance that they will also live with him. “We with Christ”—for Christ is Emmanuel, “God with us.” Only when we know Christ in this way is our being with him the source of grace.
Heaven, ultimately, will not be a place far distant from our present home. It will be here, in a new Earth, made by God and inhabited by him—in a fuller way than he inhabits it now.
Randy Alcorn reminds us that “heaven will not be ‘us with God’ but God with us (Revelation 21:3).” A place beyond death because it is the dwelling place of the Giver of Life.
This is what the incarnation proclaimed and foretold. That God himself would enter the physical-ness of time and space, our planet, and be with us as a fellow human being. Even with all the things that threaten us, God is here, among us.
Something more powerful than death is here. We don’t need to be afraid.
Amen, amen, amen. He is so near. He is intimate with us. We need not fear. You have such a beautiful heart, thanks for sharing this.