Erwin W. Lutzer - The Vanishing Power of Death: Conquering Your Greatest Fear

THE
Vanishing
Power
OF
DEATH

Erwin W. Lutzer

M OODY P UBLISHERS
CHICAGO

2004 by
E RWIN W. L UTZER

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, 1992 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover photo: 2003 Kevin Fleming/CORBIS

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lutzer, Erwin W.

The vanishing power of death / Erwin W. Lutzer.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-8024-0945-8

1. DeathReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.

BT825.L92 2004

236.1dc22

2003020505

ISBN: 0-8024-0945-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-8024-0945-4

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

To our dear friends Scott and Janet Willis,
who eagerly await the day when
they shall be reunited with six of their children
who even now behold the face of their Father in heaven

Ben

Joe

Sam

Hank

Elizabeth

Peter

Q uestion: How many people died in the United States the day before September 11, 2001?

We dont know the exact number, but we have a reasonable approximation. Every year in the United States about 3.3 million people die. Divide that by 365, and you will discover that about 6,400 people die each day from various causes: cancer, heart disease, accidents, murder, choking, drowning, and so forth.

That means, then, that twice as many people died in the United States of natural causes on September 10, 2001and again on September 11as died in the terrorist attacks! Yes, for every person who died in the Twin Towers, that field in western Pennsylvania, or the Pentagon, two others died in our hospitals, homes, and highways.

That fact is obscured by the dramatic and heart-wrenching loss of life in lower Manhattan, western Pennsylvania, and just outside Washington, D.C. that sunny September morning. The burning Twin Towers in New York forced us to confront the reality of death on a massive scale. I was at a meeting with religious broadcasters at the Maranatha campgrounds in Michigan when the news came that a plane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. About thirty of us gathered around a television set, only to see a second plane crash into the other tower. And when we watched the burning towers collapse, we knew that thousands of lives would be lost.

Death came suddenly to some, but others had their lives spared, often by a strange coincidence. There was a man, we are told, who was waiting to get into a subway car, but the doors slammed in his face. He was upset because of the delay, but because of that coincidence, he arrived at the World Trade Center just in time to see people jump from the top floors, clothes on fire.

That morning, a mother visited with her daughter, who worked at the World Trade Center. The visit delayed her daughters intended arrival time and spared her life. Others, who diligently arrived to work on time, sealed their fate.

One man on the eighty-fourth story returned to his desk when the announcement came over the intercom that employees were to stay put. He died because he obeyed the instructions. Some of his friends ignored the command and began the long trek down the stairs. They lived to tell their stories. If three thousand were killed, there were three thousand near misses.

That day the religious died with the nonreligious; Christians died alongside New Agers; Jews died with Muslims. Just as God sends sunshine and rain to the righteous and unrighteous, just so, tragedy strikes without discrimination. If we ask why one person lived while another who worked in the same office died, we cannot answer.

Yet terrorisms casualties do not increase the ultimate death toll. Those who did not die in New York on that fateful day would have died at a later time and in a different way. That is not to speak lightly of the horror of that day, nor does it absolve the evil men who carried out the deed. We must simply realize that death cannot be avoided because of extraordinary good health or a streak of luck. We might be able to postpone the event, but it can never be canceled altogether.

Death comes to all of us, rich and poor, famed and unsung. No matter how powerful or celebrated we may be, we cannot escape the fact of dying. It is said that the great Louis XIV of France would not allow the word death to be uttered in his presence. Ascending to the throne at the age of four, Louis reigned for seventy-two years, longer than any other European monarch. He built the glittering palace of Versailles. But on September 1, 1715, the Sun King discovered what all of us must: that death cannot be wished out of existence. When our moment comes, it will not matter whether we accepted death with tranquility, fear, or indifference; we shall find ourselves fully conscious in an eternity in which the atmosphere cannot be altered. There is literally nothing we can do about the fact that someday the bell will toll, and it will toll for us.

Which brings us to the subject of this book.

For those who believe in Him, Jesus forever changed the way we view death. Read these words carefully: Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of deaththat is, the deviland free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Hebrews 2:1415). The mission of Jesus, to put it simply, was to free us from the fear of death! Jesus came to turn an enemy into a friend, a terrifying journey into the anticipation of a welcome reunion.

How could Jesus accomplish this on our behalf? Only if He Himself became one of us, so that by His death He would destroy the fear of death that the devil used to enslave us. In other words, Satans weapon of fear was taken from him when Jesus died and rose again. The Resurrection is proof that death need not terrify; the grave has been emptied of its power.

This is why Paul could say, Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55). Just as a bee loses its stinger after a bite, death was emptied of its arsenal when Jesus rose from the dead. He freed us from the fear of passing through the parted curtain. Death, Paul says, has been swallowed up in victory.

Thus the resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Standing at the empty tomb, we are assured of the triumph of Jesus on the Cross; we are also assured that He has conquered our most fearsome enemy. Yes, death can still terrify us, but the more we know about Jesus, the more its power fades.