The Undiscovered Country: God's Plan to Redeem You and Eliminate Suffering

Because Jesus faced the gates of death, we need not fear them.

Anton Konovalov

HAVE THE GATES of death been revealed to you,

    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

Job 38:17

These are just two of the many rhetorical questions God asked Job in response to Job's request for audience with the LORD. Job asked why, and God responded with questions of his own.

These weren't intended to dismiss or avoid Job's concerns, but rather to reinforce God's omnipotence and omniscience. The questions instead served as a reminder to Job that he could not possibly comprehend the complexity behind the answers he sought.

Yet this isn't to say God didn't offer any hope or satisfactory answers. On the contrary, Job walked away fully content. Perhaps all he needed was reassurance that God really is in control. And God did offer hope as we see in verse 17 above. While the mention of death and deep darkness may not stand out as particularly inspiring, bear with me as I attempt to explain.

As we learned in last month's exclusive email article, God first questioned Job about the physical world, specifically how the creator contains the ocean—vast to us—with ease. Here God goes metaphysical, asking if Job has experienced "the gates of death." God is essentially saying, Dive to the deepest parts of the ocean, and still that won't be deep enough. Check out the preceding verse: "Have you entered into springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?"

No, God transcends the material world, able to cross even into the realm of the dead. Meanwhile we struggle with exploring and understanding the physical world, and death remains a mystery. So the hope here lies in the fact that death is no mystery to God. He permeates all of reality and has an eternal perspective.

Job already knew this fact, but he had to have been encouraged by the reminder. When tragedy first struck Job, his wife famously asked him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!" (Job2:9). But Job rejected this proposition, instead reinforcing the sovereign nature of God.

Some might claim Job was merely afraid to die—afraid to approach the gates of death a la Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet, as you might recall from high school English class, is the orator of the well-known "To be or not to be" soliloquy in which the Danish prince contemplates suicide. The speech begins like this:

To be or not to be—that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And, by opposing, end them.¹

Hamlet's despair stems from the murder of his father and from his uncle who claims the throne and marries his mother. The prince concludes that we would all end our own lives were it not for "the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns … thus conscience does make cowards of us all."²

But while cowardice may have kept Hamlet at bay, Job was not afraid. In fact he demonstrated tremendous courage in placing his faith in God's sovereignty. (Faith in many ways is the antithesis of fear.)

Aside from Job's response to his wife, in at least two other passages prior to hearing from God he directly addresses this issue:

Though he slay me, I will hope in him. 

Job 13:15

But I know that my Redeemer lives,

    and in the end He will stand upon the earth.

Even after my skin has been destroyed,

    yet in my flesh I will see God.

Job 19:25-26

Keep in mind, these comments came millennia before the birth of Jesus! While Job didn't know how God would come though, he knew that he would come through.

We, on the other hand do have the privilege of knowing the how: the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus, born of a virgin, was fully God yet also fully human. He lived a perfect life and ultimately sacrificed himself for the benefit of humanity—both retroactively and in perpetuity until the day of judgment arrives. In doing so, Jesus experienced the gates of death from the human perspective. Yet on the third day after his death, God raised Jesus, restoring him physically from the realm of death.

This is our hope and our promise from Jesus: that because he overcame the grave, we too can enter into paradise with him forevermore. For those who place their faith in Jesus, the suffering we experience is only temporary and will be replaced with unsurpassed joy.

This is what Jesus told the disciples after Peter professed Jesus as the Christ. He said, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." (Matt. 16:18, NIV). The "rock" he refers to is the truth that Jesus was the anointed one—the messiah who saves the world by his sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection. On this foundation, Jesus established his church. This is the source of our hope.

Hamlet was dead wrong when he claimed death is "the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns." On the contrary, Jesus did face and conquer death. By rising from the dead, Jesus authenticated his ministry and promises that we too can overcome the realm of the dead. We need not fear death because Jesus faced its gates and overcame them.

So our lesson is really the same as it was for Job. While we can't see beyond the grave, God sees the full picture. He transcends space and time and therefore has a perfect and eternal perspective. And yet, he is not so far removed from humanity that cannot empathize with us. He subjected himself (via Jesus) to the constraints of time and space and lived as a suffering servant, ultimately unto death, for our sakes.

As a result, suffering is only temporary for those who place their faith in Jesus. For Job, simply knowing God had dominion even over the gates of death was enough to satisfy him, and that knowledge should do the same for us.

The hymn, "Because He Lives," states it simply in this way:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!³

Because of God's divine nature, death is no undiscovered country. Jesus conquered death, and he provided a path to redemption for those who place their faith in him.

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Notes:

1. William Shakespeare, Hamlet, ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, 3.1.64-68, accessed September 4, 2025, https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/3/1/.

2. Ibid., 3.1.86-87, 91.

3. Bill and Gloria Gaither, "Because He Lives." 1971.