Can a Cut-Down Tree Sprout Again?

COMPARED to a majestic cedar of Lebanon, a gnarled and knotty olive tree may not seem especially impressive. But olive trees have the remarkable ability to survive the elements. Some are estimated to be 1,000 years old. An olive tree’s expansive root system enables it to rejuvenate itself even when the trunk has been destroyed. As long as the roots remain alive, it will sprout again.

The patriarch Job was convinced that even if he should die, he would live again. (Job 14:13-15) He used a tree​—perhaps an olive tree—​to illustrate his confidence in God’s ability to resurrect him. “There is hope even for a tree,” Job said. “If it is cut down, it will sprout again.” When rainfall breaks a severe drought, a dry olive stump can spring back to life with shoots rising from its roots, producing “branches like a new plant.”​—Job 14:7-9.

Just as a cultivator longs to see the roots of a cut-down olive tree spring up again, Jehovah God longs to restore his deceased servants and many others to life. (Matt. 22:31, 32; John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15) What a joy it will be to welcome back the dead and see them enjoy productive lives once again!