Job’s affirmation that God, in his own due time, would call him forth from death is fully in keeping with the testimony of the entire Word of God on the matter of life after death. It is this hope of the resurrection that is set forth so clearly, and with such comforting assurance in the New Testament.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” (I Cor. 15:21) The two “men” referred to in this text are Adam and Jesus. Adam transgressed the divine law, and brought upon himself and his progeny the penalty of death. Jesus took the sinner’s place in death, and thus made possible the release of the Adamic race from death by means of a resurrection. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”—Rom. 6:23

The resurrection of the dead is so vital to the assurance of life after death that the Apostle Paul, writing concerning Christians, emphasized that if there is no resurrection then “they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” (I Cor. 15:18) This simply means that if there is no resurrection, even those who now believe in Christ, and follow in his steps, perish in death.