Life After Death

THROUGHOUT history people have wondered whether this life is all there is. Is there a heaven or hell? Or does it all end here?

Job asked that same question as he contemplated his sufferings (Job 14:14). He believed that death would end his pain (Job 14:13); but would it also end his existence? Elsewhere Job described death as the “way of no return” (Job 16:22) and the “king of terrors” (Job 18:14). At times it appears that Job did not have a particularly positive outlook as he faced the end of life.

Yet in reading about Job’s perspective on death, it is important to remember that he was working from a smaller knowledge base than God’s people have today. He probably had no written portion of Scripture, and he was unfamiliar with the work of Jesus to deliver people from sin and death (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:20–28).

Yet even without these important truths, Job had a certain confidence that he would see God after death. In fact, his stirring declaration of faith, beginning with the words, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25–27), has provided hope for generations of believers (helped in no small measure by George Frideric Handel, the eighteenth-century composer who set Job’s lines to music as part of his masterpiece, “Messiah”).

Whatever questions about death may have lingered from the days of Job, Jesus answered them when He declared, “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). For that reason, Jesus’ followers can celebrate even in the midst of grief and mourning over the loss of friends and loved ones. Jesus has promised eternal life to believers, free from all tears, sorrow, and pain (Revelation 21:4). That is why when it comes to death, Christians are a people of hope.

Courtesy of Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
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