Not Afraid to Die—A Personal Word of Testimony
Summer 2023
by Greg Munger
In August 2021, when I was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer, one of my first thoughts was “How long do I have to live, and how will the end come?” I learned all I could about the cancer, and turned to God's Word for comfort and hope.
Current statistics show that my type of cancer has been the third most frequent type of cancer diagnosed in both men and women and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Furthermore, records tell us that in the United States, approximately 2.6 million people die from various causes each year—over 7,000 each day, 300 each hour, and 5 each minute.
One vital statistic that is not often written down is what a person says or does or writes before his death. Yet we know that how a man finishes tells you much about his character, the condition of his eternal soul, and what he thinks about God and life after death.
Some have little concern or hold erroneous views of eternity and the state of their eternal soul. Mark Twain, morose and weary of life shortly before his death, wrote, “A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle;...squabble and scold and fight...scramble for little mean advantages over each other; then age creeps upon them; infirmities follow;...those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The release comes at last—the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them—and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence...a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever.”
Others, like Sarah Winchester, widow of the wealthy rifle and gun magnate, suffering from severe depression, followed the advice of a spiritist to avoid death by buying and expanding an unfinished 17-room mansion to supposedly appease the ghosts of people killed by the Winchester rifle. For the next 38 years she poured tens of millions of dollars into the seven-story mansion, ending with 150 rooms, 13 bathrooms, 2,000 doors, 47 fireplaces, and 10,000 windows. At her death, she left enough materials to have continued building for another 80 years. Today that weird monstrosity of a house stands as a silent witness to the fear of death that holds millions of people in bondage (Hebrews 2:15).
In stark contrast, consider the death-bed testimonies of some of God's choicest servants of the past.
Martin Luther: “Our God is the God from whom cometh salvation: God is the Lord by whom we escape death.”
John Calvin: “Thou, Lord, bruisest me; but I am abundantly satisfied, since it is from Thy hand.”
Hudson Taylor (founder of China Inland Mission): “I am so weak that I cannot read my Bible or even pray. I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child and trust.”
Fanny Crosby (blind from infancy): “When I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior! ‘And I shall see Him face to face and tell the story—saved by grace!’”
How can they be so unafraid of death? They had the assurance of God's blessing, promised in his Word, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” (Revelation 14:12–13)
In these verses of Scripture, we can note the following:
I. A Cheering Comfort
Here is a blessing from God in the midst of a book and chapter of terrible judgments and woes, of punishments and eternal damnation. C.H. Spurgeon described it as “a picture grim and black to mortal eye. No sounds of music, no consolations of friends, but quite the reverse; all is painful, terrible, and the very opposite of blessed, so far as strikes the eye and ear. Hence it became needful that there should be a voice from heaven to say, ‘Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.’”
The word “blessed” is plural, so it could be rendered, “Oh, the multiplied happinesses.” This is one of seven named blessings recorded in Revelation. Revelation 1:3, 14:13, 16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7, and 22:14, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
These cheering words echo the multiplied comforts the Word gives believers when they face the last enemy, death.
Their death is precious to God (Psalm 116:15). They go immediately to be with the Lord—“Absent from the body...present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:1–8). They are asleep in Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). No purgatory, no annihilation, no soul sleep, no waiting for reincarnation—only safety in the arms of Jesus! They will come with Christ when He returns. “The dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 3:13; 4:13–18). They will receive a new glorified body. “This mortal shall put on immortality…This corruption shall put on incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:16–28, 35–57).
II. Confirmed Certainty
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write ...Yea, saith the Spirit.” A Christian enjoys the certainty of final salvation as it is confirmed by the Father’s decree, accomplished by the Son, and confirmed by the Holy Spirit.
The voice from heaven is the voice of the Father (2 Samuel 22:14; Matthew 3:17) who has determined eternal redemption for all those in Christ. “Everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11). This redemption was accomplished by God the Son. He by “himself purged our sins” (Hebrews 1:3). He took on our humanity that “through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14–15). The Holy Spirit confirms these truths. “Yea, saith the Spirit.” The word “yea” can also be translated “verily” or “most assuredly” and conveys a strong, solemn, and emphatic affirmation.
The believer can sing:
A monument of grace, A sinner saved by blood:
The streams of love I trace Up to the Fountain—God,
And in His sov'reign counsels see
Eternal tho'ts of love to me.
III. Critical Condition
Though all will die, only some will “die in the Lord.” The blessing promised is not upon all that die. A brief survey of Revelation reveals many verses that speak of death and eternal judgment on those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The blessing promised is only for those that die “in the Lord Jesus Christ.” C.H. Spurgeon said, “To be blessed when we die we must be saints. By nature we are sinners, and by grace we must become saints if we would enter heaven; for it is the land of saints, and none but saints can ever pass its frontiers. Since death does not change character, we must be made saints here below if we are to be saints above.”
No one can ever know either the comfort or the certainty of the promises of this text unless they meet this critical condition of being “in the Lord.” Those in Christ have been “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). They persevere in their faith in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by and through the grace of God's Holy Spirit. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).
IV. Confident Consequence
Those that die in the Lord also know confidently that they will experience the consequence, “they may rest from their labors.”
Labors are united with trouble and produce deep fatigue and extreme weariness. But those who die in the Lord shall rest, experiencing refreshing after all the necessary work and toilsome labor is done. Since all the work is done, there is nothing left to do but rest forever. The final rest promised by the Lord, “Come unto me...I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
All Christians will be free from suffering the many sicknesses, sorrows, faults, and failings of this earthly life. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
They we will be free from struggling against sin, self, and Satan.
They will cease in their striving for sanctification and holiness for they will join the company of “the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23).
V. Christian's Crown
The final observation from this verse in Revelation is that the Christian’s crown is that “their works do follow them.” Their works do not proceed them to plead the merits of self-righteousness or procure admittance to heaven. They are not “ignorant of God’s righteousness” and hence don’t seek to “establish their own righteousness.” They know that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:3–4).
Furthermore, their works do not accompany them. The Christian does not take his works along with him to add anything to his faith in Christ. “A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16).
Their works simply follow the Christian works as evidences of genuine saving faith and God's grace at work in their life. Works are a proof that the person is Christ's indeed. “I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18).
The Lord will be pleased to reward the believer. “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12; 2 Timothy 4:7–8).
My final testimony is this:
Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust:
Jesus is my hope and trust.
Mr. Greg Munger was a man of God, a family man, who served as an elder in Grace FPC, Winston Salem, NC. He went home to be with the Lord, April 29, 2023.