At age 24 Peter Marshall set foot on American soil at Ellis Island, New York, in 1927, a penniless Scottish immigrant. In a short period of some 22 years, he became one of America's greatest preachers. While he was pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., he was appointed Senate Chaplain in 1947 and again in 1949. As one person put it, “Peter Marshall loved to preach; so sure was he that this was the thing God had designed him to do that it was hard for him to turn down engagements. His strength did not equal his enthusiasm and he collapsed in the pulpit with a heart attack in March, 1946.” In God’s providence, he died after his second heart attack at age 46 in 1949. After his death he was the subject of the book written by his wife, Catherine Marshall, and the subsequent movie entitled, "A Man Called Peter."
During his brief life, the prospect of physical death hung over his life as an unwelcome shroud. Yet death did not diminish his outlook on life. He acknowledged on one occasion, “We do not know what lies ahead, just over the hill. Terrible things are happening in our world…and we are afraid. But deep beneath our fear of life lies, carefully hidden, the real reason for our fear of these days. It is something we try to ignore. In the sunshine of life it seems so remote. The truth is we are afraid of death.”
Marshall acknowledged the venom that paralyzes our life – the fear of death. Did the prospect of death permeate his life with gloom? Apparently not. For he concluded, “The Christian should have no fear of death…But, on the contrary, faith should give him a touch of keen anticipation and a tingle of adventure as he looks forward to that experience that shall surely reward his hope and exceed his most glorious expectations.”
How could he radiate such a spirit? The key he revealed is that “It is only when we do know [Jesus] that we are not afraid, for there is nothing to fear.” When this fear is eradicated something marvelous happens in our life. He concluded, “Only when one is no longer afraid to die is one no longer afraid at all…If you are afraid of death, then you are afraid of life.”
A weakened heart that kept him on the threshold to the entrance of heaven did not diminish his zeal for life. Peter Marshall joined the Apostle Paul in recognizing that because of what Jesus had done, “Death is destroyed forever in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your pain? ...we thank God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Do not let anything change you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your work in the Lord is never wasted” (1 Corinthians 15:54, 55, 57, 58 The Answer).
Entering this New Year certainly we face a lot of potential disasters that could generate fear. Some fearfully focus upon the Mayan calendar and conclude that this year the world will end on December 21, 2012. Others fearing NASSA’s observations of increased electromagnetic activity on the surface of the sun, conclude this might be a foreboding of a massive solar flare that will engulf the earth, either destroying it or creating some other deadly disaster. Many discuss the financial collapse of the world’s economy and project major social and political upheavals that will result in anarchy and death around the globe. The prospect of nuclear or biological terrorism has some in a fearful frenzy. Add to these fears one’s personal concerns regarding health conditions, relationship tensions, financial challenges, and other issues, and the fear factor escalates even further. Doing so causes many to say as they enter 2012, “This world is a scary place.” Such a perspective easily generates an almost phobic paralysis when it comes to living life.
However, once one comes to the realization that they don’t have to be afraid to die, then they won’t have to be afraid to live. This attitude emerges once a person realizes that the work of Christ on the cross is finished and that He has fully dealt with the penalty of our sin – “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:23). Placing one’s faith in the work of Christ on their behalf can release a person from the tyranny of fear. This allows such a believer to say as the writer of Hebrews did, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (13:6).
Welcome to 2012! I trust that you have a blessed New Year and not a fearful one.
