Despairing of life, someone commits suicide. The survivors learn of the tragic, final act. All the possibilities for that life come to an abrupt and shocking end.

Is that it? Is there no more hope for him? Has he committed an act for which there is no forgiveness? Many wonder whether suicide is the unpardonable sin. Is it?

God will not fail in His mercy. He will bring them again to life and offer them repentance and hope for which they can find every reason to live.

The Bible reveals that it is not.

A person committing the tragic act of suicide disbelieves God’s promise to deliver him from all his troubles. He has come to think that continuing with life is harder than death. The act of self-murder is the tragic end of a life, but the Bible reveals it is not the end of hope for the dead.

Contrary to what most professing Christians believe, the dead, including the ones who took their own lives, have not gone to heaven or to an ever-burning hell. The Bible teaches that the dead are asleep in the grave; they are unconscious and know nothing.

“The living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing,” reads Ecclesiastes 9:5. King David wrote, “In death, there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?” (Psalms 6:5).

Scripture also teaches the dead wait in the grave for a resurrection. Jesus said: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29). Our Savior tells us here of a coming resurrection for everyone who has ever lived and died.

A mind despairing of hope for this life and making the tragic choice of suicide has failed to believe God. This does not mean God has given up on that person and will never forgive him. He has not committed the unpardonable sin.

God understands the weakness of the human mind to truly repent and live by His holy law. As the Bible makes abundantly clear, “His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 136:1). Scripture says He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

In His boundless mercy, He will return to physical life all those who have failed to believe Him. Then, they will have an opportunity to repent, set their lives in order according to the law of God and inherit immortality. Those who have taken their own lives will have that opportunity with the rest of mankind.

In crushing despair and in mental torment, many people have given up on life and committed suicide. Their hope is lost but for a moment while they rest in the grave. Although they failed in this life, God will not fail in His mercy. He will bring them again to life and offer them repentance and hope for which they can find every reason to live. Then, as God’s Word says with such tender comfort for the afflicted, He will “wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:4).