The Bible describes death as an enemy, not a friend, of man. (1 Cor. 15:26) And truly death brings shock, grief, loneliness, confusion, a sense of loss and often great hurt to the personality of the survivors. It often cuts off men and women in the prime of life, when they are in their best position to do good for their fellowmen. Aging, which is really the gradual process of dying, debilitates many long before their actual death. Death is a bitter enemy.

But why the fear of the dead or their “souls” or “spirits”? And why the fear of a prospect of “hellfire” or “purgatory”? This is all because of a teaching not found in the Bible​—the belief in the immortality of the soul. And why is this so widespread, common to every language and tribe? Because it has an ancient source, ancient enough to affect all nations. When and where was this?

This true hope God gives to relieve men of fear of what comes after death, the great enemy that has caused so much distress. It removes the pain of death to know that the Lord Jesus Christ, after emptying the grave of all mankind, will also do away with every trace of sin (which brings condemnation to death) in all obedient persons. Then Adamic death, as the last enemy of man to disappear, will itself be thrown into “the lake of fire,” the symbol of everlasting extinction. Thus the resurrection of the earthly dead during Christ’s thousand-year reign will banish the climate of fear in which mankind has lived for centuries. It will be forever removed. What a grand release!​—Rev. 20:13, 14; 1 Cor. 15:26; Rom. 8:20, 21.