Funeral of Andrew Ong

We attended Andrew Ong’s funeral service and the committal at the Mandai Crematorium today. As I came away the words of Job kept ringing in my mind.

Job writes, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; (Job 19: 25-26)

Like Job even in our pain there are some things that we can know and be certain about. Twice in this passage Job states there are some things that he knows (vv. 25, 26) with certainty.

It’s wonderful for a man, like Job living so many years before Christ, to affirm that he knows that there is a Redeemer. In verse 25 “I know that my Redeemer lives….” Job states that he is “my” redeemer; he had a personal relationship with the Redeemer. This is truth uttered from a heart of assurance and firm conviction.

Another thought came to my mind. Paul the Apostle many years later put it this way, "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, (2 Corinthians 5:1-2). In death we move from living in a tent to life in a mansion our Lord has gone to prepare for us.

Funerals need not be morbid. When we know the Lord as our Redeemer we can rejoice.