Job is lamenting the present and seems to be wondering about the future, and asks,
“For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
Though its root grow old in the earth,
and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out branches like a young plant.
But a man dies and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and where is he?
As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
so a man lies down and rises not again;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake
or be roused out of his sleep.Job 14.7-12
It looks like Job is wondering, what is going to happen to me? What happens when I die?
As human beings we must all endure a physical death. This is one thing that unites every single person ever to set foot on Earth.
Our bodies were not made to live eternally in their current state, evidenced by the fact there are no double-centurians in our midst. Do you know anyone who is 200 years old? The oldest recorded and fully authenticated human life in modern times was one hundred and twenty two years, one hundred and sixty four days. All this to say, Job’s question here is something that will certainly affect every one of us, and is consequently something of the utmost importance to us.
The Word is so clear about what happens for the believer. In as few words as possible, for those that have put hope, faith, and trust in Jesus, physical death brings ‘immediate transition…into the presence of Christ‘. As a believer in Jesus, your earthly death means closing your eyes here and opening them in the presence of your Redeemer.
There is no uncertainty for the believer, no apprehension about destination, no fear of the future.
For a more in-depth look at this with many Scriptural references, head over to GoodLion;
James Travis 