The Old Testament character, Job, posed a question that humans have asked throughout the centuries, “If a man dies, will he live again?” (Job 14:14).
In asking this very important question he dared to go beyond the strict limits of the theology of his so-called friends and accusers. The New Testament doctrine of the immortality of the soul was not a fully developed belief in the Old Testament. Even so, countless inscriptions on tombs from many civilizations that are now extinct offer mute testimony to man’s quest for immortality.
The question concerning life after death is an anxious one. Job himself referred to death as “the king of terrors” (18:14) and as a “journey of no return” (16:22). Shakespeare’s Hamlet in his soliloquy echoed Job’s sentiment in describing death as “the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.” What Job and Shakespeare were saying is that once a person dies there is no way they will be able to return in their physical form to the earth again.
People do not argue with death; they argue about death. There have been endless speculations throughout history concerning its meaning and mystery. The atheist Feuerbach termed life after death “a wishful projection.” Karl Marx called it “a consolation for the oppressed.” Freud viewed it as “an unrealistic regression of the psychologically immature.”
It was a leap of faith for Job to even pose the question concerning the possibility of life after death. It expressed his innate hope and quest for immortality, a hope that would not be fully and satisfactorily answered until much later. Job was not the first person to have a yearning desire for immortality.
The question of life after death is one that schools of philosophy cannot answer. It is beyond the realm of science and technology to answer. Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, confronted with the stark reality of death of her Son, humans throughout the centuries have asked the question, “Who shall roll away the stone from the sepulcher?”
The question: “If a man dies, will he live again?” finds its answer only in Jesus Christ. He alone could speak with words of authority, “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25). Christ’s resurrection once and for all time indisputably answers the age-old question concerning the possibility of life beyond the grave. He is what the Bible calls the “firstfruits” from the grave that precedes the final resurrection of the dead at the Second Coming of Jesus.
Because of Christ’s triumph over the grave, death is no longer what Job called “the king of terrors.” The grave has become the door to immortality. It is the room where the garments of mortality are exchanged for the garments of immortality. Only those whose names are included in “the Lamb’s Book of Life” will be ushered into life eternal and experience the joys of heaven.
I am grateful for every single day that I have lived, and I want to live on the earth as long as I can. I suspect that the vast majority of people who are reading these words feel the same way. But one day, at a time of God’s own choosing, our lives will end. The physical body in which we have lived will walk through what the psalmist called “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23). Those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior will be prepared for that day.
Shortly before his tragic death, P.P. Bliss wrote the praiseful song “Hallelujah! What a Savior!”
“Man of Sorrows! What a name!
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah! What a Savior!”
In commenting on this great hymn, Ira D, Sankey said, “It seems as though God prepared it for the great jubilee of heaven when His children shall gather to sing ‘Hallelujah to the Lamb!’”
Jesus — the “Man of Sorrows” — took our penalty for sin upon Himself on Calvary that we might one day stand before the Judgment Bar of God with absolutely no stain attached to our name (Romans 8 :1). If you are not a Christian, please read Acts 16:31 and follow the suggestion the apostle Paul gave to the Philippian jailor. When you come to the end of your earthly journey, you will be very glad you did.
You will not have another opportunity if you wait until your life on earth is over. Think about it!
The Paper Pulpit 
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