There were Jews on both sides of this question. I ask it specifically about the Jews who gave us the Old Testament writings. We know these men were moved upon by the Holy Spirit, but sometimes we see little of this subject of eternal life in those movings. And occasionally we see things that cause us concern.

First we need to check in with Jesus in one of His classic confrontations with the Jews of His day, and a couple of denominations known as Sadducees and Pharisees. We are told in Matthew’s account, chapter 22, that the former group denied the whole idea of resurrections, while the latter affirmed it. Jesus, clearly in favor of the Pharisees’ doctrine in this issue, quotes the Father as saying that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not the God of a bunch of dead patriarchs, but the God of some men who live still, in the heavenlies.

That settles the question as to life after death in Old Testament characters. They, like us, go to be with the Father upon leaving these bodies.

What Jesus made crystal clear must be dug out with a sharper pick when combing through the hills of history and prophecy, before Jesus. It’s really there, but doesn’t stand out so much, as many of God’s initial promises focus on a people and a land. Some Jews could easily have surmised that the idea of an “eternal” Israel meant merely the fact that the nation would survive, though its individual members would die and be forgotten.

But the Old Covenant Scripture, taken as a whole, says much more. Let’s look at a few places…

We were dabbling in 1 Samuel 28 not long ago, and Saul’s encounter with a witch. Not the best place to start perhaps, but remember the facts: Samuel, deceased in the natural, even as Lazarus in the New Testament, was brought back to earthly life, from a resting place so wonderful that he was irked with Saul for having disturbed him. He mentions that Saul will soon be joining him, not going out of existence, merely changing addresses.

The Psalms of David are two-edged. In some of the more depressing ones, David seems to declare that the grave is the end. No one praises God in the grave, says David. He speaks a literal truth about the physical world. His words cannot be denied from that angle. But the same David speaks of resurrection in Psalm 16, a passage referring prophetically to the Son of God Who would be buried in the earth, but not be allowed to decay, meaning He would be raised in a relatively short time.

Solomon, in his old age, seems to have inherited some of his dad’s pessimism about this life. In fact, “under the sun” as he puts it, there is a lot to be depressed about. He too concludes that this is the end of it all. A truth. But not the whole truth. His theology is greatly improved by chapter 12 in that same book of Ecclesiastes, when he reiterates the physical destiny of humans, the “dust” that will return to the earth, but he adds that the spirit in man will return to the God who gave it.

He does not comment on which way that spirit will eventually go, only that He Who breathed breath into man’s nostrils, will inhale that breath at the end. There is a life that goes on and on in the spirit realm.

We can’t leave Job out of this discussion. His was one of the first stories of Biblical antiquity. We know of his likewise sad feelings about life and its prospects, but let us not forget how the Spirit came upon him (chapter 19) and reminded him that one day he would see his Redeemer, in the flesh, on the earth, even after Job’s “skin” was destroyed, that is, after he himself was gone from the scene in the body.

In fact he said, “In my flesh I shall see God!” What a supreme revelation from perhaps the Bible’s oldest book! Affirmation of life after death and the Deity of Jesus Christ all in one Spirit-filled moment of utterance!

Daniel (chapter 12) the prophet speaks of people in the end time whose bodies are sleeping in the dust, then awakening, some to everlasting life, others to everlasting contempt.

Doesn’t get any plainer than that.