How to be set free from death

(2 Timothy 1:8-10 – How to be set free from death)

Are you afraid of death or dying? Would you like to know how to be set free from death?

Of course you would! Every person on the planet is concerned at some level about dying. And the lengths people will go to to try and cheat death! There is a whole industry around freezing the bodies of people and pets when they die. Those who do this believe at some point science will be able to “repair” the cause of death and restore these people to life. The most enduring example of someone undergoing this treatment is supposedly Walt Disney. However, that has been proved to be a myth and official records indicate Walt was cremated.

I’m not going to sugar coat it…everybody dies! And when you’re dead, you stay dead until the final judgement and the resurrection. But if this is true, is it possible to learn how to be set free from death?

Jesus is the answer to how to be set free from death

Now, taking my last statement that everybody is going to die, how does that reconcile with being set free from death? And before going further, let’s look at the verses I am reviewing today.

8 Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, 10 and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:8-10)

Notice in the last verse that Paul states Jesus “…abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

But if everyone dies, how can death be abolished? And how can we receive life and immortality?

Quite simply it is because the life Jesus is giving to us and the death He is speaking about is not a fleshly thing. The ministry of the New Covenant is not targeted at the flesh of man but at the spirit of mankind. This is how to be set free from death.

Death of the body is not really death

When Jesus spoke about death in the flesh, He likened it to being asleep. Look at this situation when He brought a young girl back to life who had died.

49 While he was still speaking, a man from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” 50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she shall be well.” 51 And when he came to the house, he permitted no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and bewailing her; but he said, “Do not weep; for she is not dead but sleeping.” 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once; and he directed that something should be given her to eat. (Luke 8:49-55)

Jesus did not consider the death of the flesh to be of any consequence. There were a number of occasions when He raised people from the dead, and in each He said they were only sleeping.

What is death?

The death of the flesh is not important. Our bodies are basically just an outer covering or a container that holds our spirit. It is the spirit within us that is who we are. The flesh is of no consequence.

Death as we understand it in the world is basically just a separation of the body and the spirit. The body returns to the dust from which it was made, but the spirit goes into the spiritual realm to await the Day of Judgement.

The spirit of those who die goes to either Hades or to Paradise. Those who die in the Lord go to Paradise to await His return, while those who rejected God go to heel or Hades where they await final judgement.

This is why Jesus does not see the death of the flesh as the true death. He has the power to return the spirit of a person back to their bodies, as the example above shows.

So, what is death in the eyes of God?

The real death is the death of the spirit. This does not occur until after the Final Judgement when decisions will be made about the lives of every person who ever lived. If they meet God’s parameters, they will go into life, but if they don’t, their spirits will be cast into the lake of fire to permanently die.

Understanding this, it becomes even more important to learn how to be set free from death. It isn’t the death of the flesh that matters in the long term, it’s the death of the spirit.

When the flesh dies, everything that makes you who you are still lives on in the spirit. But when the spirit dies, all that you are dies too. So, understanding how to be set free from death becomes even more important to preserve your life and who you are.

How to be set free from death

Jesus came to save us and offer us salvation and life. He came to save us from death and the fear of death.

The reason people die is because of sin. Every person sins and has sinned. So, to be set free from bondage to death we need to be set free from the bondage to sin. And in addition to that, we need to be set free from the bondage to the law because sin is the breaking of the law.

Death is the penalty for sinning. Death is also the payment we must pay to atone for our sins. But of course, when we die in the flesh it’s too late to use that atoning death to receive life.

That is why Jesus died for us. We take His death and resurrection as our own, which we do by faith in the practice of baptism. When we are baptised we die with Him and so His death becomes our death.

So, when we have died we are no longer under the power of sin and God in His mercy and grace overlooks and in fact forgets all of our past sins. But there is the issue of future sin which comes by breaking the law.

But God in His wisdom sets us free from the law because the law is binding only on people when they are alive, as it says in Romans 7:1.

God has done all of this so that we can learn how to be set free from death. These things are the starting points and God agrees to help us to learn how to live in His grace. He gives us the Holy Spirit whose job is to work transformation in us. The Holy Spirit is charged with the work of transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ so that we may have life.

This is how we are set free from death. It is by the working of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant that we are able to continue to live on into eternity, even after our physical bodies are dead and gone.

As I said earlier, everyone will die physically The flesh and bodies of man were made to be temporary, and the life we have now is given only so that we can make one choice: to follow Christ or not. But the spirit of man is what is important. It is the spirit that lives on until after the resurrection when God will give us a new body that will not grow old, get sick or die.

You might also like:

Where There Is Life There Is Hope
Jesus Foretells His Death
The Stone That The Builder Rejected
You Shut The Kingdom Of Heaven Against Men
Jesus Nailed To The Stake
The Death Of Jesus
The Christian Value Proposition
Conditions To Receive Eternal Life
The Hope Of Eternity Is In Christ
No One Hides A Light Under A Bushel
The Two Deaths
What Does It Profit A Man To Gain The Whole World And Lose His Life
Inherit Eternal Life
Be Afraid Be Very Afraid
What Shall I Do To Inherit Eternal Life
Who Was The Creator
Bringing The Dead Back To Life
Food For Thought Food For Life
Life In Abundance
Unstoppable
I Am The Resurrection And The Life
Why Jesus Died
Victory In Jesus Christ
Receiving Eternal Life
This Life
Resurrection