Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
A cut tree whose root is old and whose stock lies dead in the ground can still bud and put forth branches like a young plant at the touch of water, because living tissue remains in it and it never became utterly dead. A man is not so, for he dies and wastes away and gives up the breath, and lies down and rises not, sleeping unawakened in the grave till the heavens be no more. He has no remaining life-germ or spark of life in himself, and cannot be made to live again by any natural process or earthly skill. His life after death can be resumed only by power outside himself, as a gift from God through Jesus Christ, while he waits hidden in the grave in God's care until the appointed time when God shall call and he shall answer. Then at Christ's coming he shall see God in his flesh and rise to immortality, so that those who mourn the faithful dead sorrow not without hope but look for the resurrection morning and reunion.
Tree Contrasted with Man
A tree cut down will bud again at the scent of water and bring forth boughs like a young plant, even when its root is old and its stock is dead in the ground. The stump may look dead above ground and its roots may be decaying, yet living tissue remains in it because it never became utterly dead, and that is why water can stir it to put out branches.
The tree sensing water and sprouting again is a picture of renewal, of life and hope returning after seeming death. Even where the picture stands alone it shows that what looked dead can bud and grow new branches.
That renewal in nature is not an illustration of human resurrection but a contrast to it. Water can make a cut tree sprout again and bring forth new branches, but nature provides no corresponding source by which humanity after death can return to life. The plant's renewed growth therefore highlights the difference from the dead person sleeping in the grave and waiting for an appointed time to live again.
On the human side, a person dies and wastes away, gives up the breath and the ghost, and all that is of him returns to dust. He lies down and rises not till the heavens be no more, sleeping unawakened in the grave and neither awakened nor raised out of sleep. His lifeless body cannot be restored by any earthly skill.
A dead person has no remaining life-germ, no spark and no life in himself from which to begin again. By no natural process can he show signs of life again, and human beings in death do not rise again through natural life. Human hope therefore lies not in continued life at death but in awakening and resurrection.
The image belongs to a meditation on human life as brief and fragile, flourishing for a time and then lying in dreamless sleep. That sleep lasts until the world is shaken and nature disappears, with hope for shelter and redemption in God. It stands alongside concern for deceased friends and the hope of life beyond death.
Resurrection Alone Gives Life
Death is unconscious sleep in darkness and forgetfulness, with no conscious life in the grave. The dead know nothing, have no remembrance, and their thoughts have perished. There is no work or device performed there and no knowledge or wisdom possessed there, in blank unconsciousness as quiet sleepers. The dead cannot communicate with the living. Life and death are exact opposites, so if life means continued conscious existence death means its cessation.
Human beings are mortal without inherent immortality. Without a resurrection even those fallen asleep in Christ are perished. Future life does not depend on preserving one portion of matter above another, for all there is of man returns to dust. It depends wholly on resurrection at the last day through Christ Jesus, when He comes. Human life after death can be resumed only by power outside the person. It comes as a gift from God through Jesus Christ, by His direct power and the voice of the archangel, since a dead person has no remaining life-germ and by no natural process can show signs of life again.
The dead wait hidden in the grave in God's care until an appointed set time for their change. Though death brings silence and darkness and a person returns to dust, life will be restored when the dead are called from their sleep. Then God calls and they answer, and God has desire to the work of His hands. Job waits for that change and the resurrection at Christ's coming. Then he will see God in his flesh, rise to immortality, and receive immortal life as one who trusts in Christ.
This hope rejects death as the gate of endless life. The hope that answers the grave's gloom is presented in 1 Corinthians 15. The plant's budding after receiving water is reflected in spring's new growth after apparent barrenness as a promise of resurrection.
Comfort for the Bereaved
The verse gives words of comfort and hope at funerals and burials, assuring mourning family and friends that the loss of one faithful to death is not without hope. Like a tree that buds again when it receives water, it pictures hope beyond death for those who fall asleep in Jesus. The dead have no conscious existence, yet they will live again when God calls them, as taught in Job 14:7-15. The tree's renewed growth after sensing water is a picture of the dead being brought forth again to receive immortal life through trust in Christ. The verse itself, marked and cherished in a Bible, comforted a believer with that expectation.
It assures mourners that the dead await the resurrection morning, when the one faithful to death will rise in the first resurrection. Read in the face of death, it serves as comfort in the hope of reunion at that resurrection. Death is a brief sleep of only a few days because Jesus is soon coming. Falling asleep in Jesus in triumph of faith therefore gives calm assurance in death.
The upright who die rest in God's care even when people do not regard their death as a loss. That care keeps them until they are raised to immortal life.
A cut tree whose root is old and whose stock lies dead in the ground can still bud and put forth branches like a young plant at the touch of water, because living tissue remains in it and it never became utterly dead. A man is not so, for he dies and wastes away and gives up the breath, and lies down and rises not, sleeping unawakened in the grave till the heavens be no more. He has no remaining life-germ or spark of life in himself, and cannot be made to live again by any natural process or earthly skill. His life after death can be resumed only by power outside himself, as a gift from God through Jesus Christ, while he waits hidden in the grave in God's care until the appointed time when God shall call and he shall answer. Then at Christ's coming he shall see God in his flesh and rise to immortality, so that those who mourn the faithful dead sorrow not without hope but look for the resurrection morning and reunion.
Tree Contrasted with Man
A tree cut down will bud again at the scent of water and bring forth boughs like a young plant, even when its root is old and its stock is dead in the ground. The stump may look dead above ground and its roots may be decaying, yet living tissue remains in it because it never became utterly dead, and that is why water can stir it to put out branches.
The tree sensing water and sprouting again is a picture of renewal, of life and hope returning after seeming death. Even where the picture stands alone it shows that what looked dead can bud and grow new branches.
That renewal in nature is not an illustration of human resurrection but a contrast to it. Water can make a cut tree sprout again and bring forth new branches, but nature provides no corresponding source by which humanity after death can return to life. The plant's renewed growth therefore highlights the difference from the dead person sleeping in the grave and waiting for an appointed time to live again.
On the human side, a person dies and wastes away, gives up the breath and the ghost, and all that is of him returns to dust. He lies down and rises not till the heavens be no more, sleeping unawakened in the grave and neither awakened nor raised out of sleep. His lifeless body cannot be restored by any earthly skill.
A dead person has no remaining life-germ, no spark and no life in himself from which to begin again. By no natural process can he show signs of life again, and human beings in death do not rise again through natural life. Human hope therefore lies not in continued life at death but in awakening and resurrection.
The image belongs to a meditation on human life as brief and fragile, flourishing for a time and then lying in dreamless sleep. That sleep lasts until the world is shaken and nature disappears, with hope for shelter and redemption in God. It stands alongside concern for deceased friends and the hope of life beyond death.
Resurrection Alone Gives Life
Death is unconscious sleep in darkness and forgetfulness, with no conscious life in the grave. The dead know nothing, have no remembrance, and their thoughts have perished. There is no work or device performed there and no knowledge or wisdom possessed there, in blank unconsciousness as quiet sleepers. The dead cannot communicate with the living. Life and death are exact opposites, so if life means continued conscious existence death means its cessation.
Human beings are mortal without inherent immortality. Without a resurrection even those fallen asleep in Christ are perished. Future life does not depend on preserving one portion of matter above another, for all there is of man returns to dust. It depends wholly on resurrection at the last day through Christ Jesus, when He comes. Human life after death can be resumed only by power outside the person. It comes as a gift from God through Jesus Christ, by His direct power and the voice of the archangel, since a dead person has no remaining life-germ and by no natural process can show signs of life again.
The dead wait hidden in the grave in God's care until an appointed set time for their change. Though death brings silence and darkness and a person returns to dust, life will be restored when the dead are called from their sleep. Then God calls and they answer, and God has desire to the work of His hands. Job waits for that change and the resurrection at Christ's coming. Then he will see God in his flesh, rise to immortality, and receive immortal life as one who trusts in Christ.
This hope rejects death as the gate of endless life. The hope that answers the grave's gloom is presented in 1 Corinthians 15. The plant's budding after receiving water is reflected in spring's new growth after apparent barrenness as a promise of resurrection.
Comfort for the Bereaved
The verse gives words of comfort and hope at funerals and burials, assuring mourning family and friends that the loss of one faithful to death is not without hope. Like a tree that buds again when it receives water, it pictures hope beyond death for those who fall asleep in Jesus. The dead have no conscious existence, yet they will live again when God calls them, as taught in Job 14:7-15. The tree's renewed growth after sensing water is a picture of the dead being brought forth again to receive immortal life through trust in Christ. The verse itself, marked and cherished in a Bible, comforted a believer with that expectation.
It assures mourners that the dead await the resurrection morning, when the one faithful to death will rise in the first resurrection. Read in the face of death, it serves as comfort in the hope of reunion at that resurrection. Death is a brief sleep of only a few days because Jesus is soon coming. Falling asleep in Jesus in triumph of faith therefore gives calm assurance in death.
The upright who die rest in God's care even when people do not regard their death as a loss. That care keeps them until they are raised to immortal life.