Psalm 27 · a question people ask
"I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living" (27:13). Is "the land of the living" heaven?
Other verses set the phrase beside death. Hezekiah had been "sick and near death" (Isaiah 38:1), and in what he wrote after he recovered (Isaiah 38:9) he remembered saying, "I won’t see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living" (Isaiah 38:11). A psalm says, "For you have delivered my soul from death" (Psalm 116:8), and then, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living" (Psalm 116:9). And Isaiah 53 says, "he was cut off out of the land of the living" (Isaiah 53:8). Psalm 27 says only, "I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living" (Psalm 27:13). It doesn't speak of what comes after death, and these notes don't build a teaching about it on this verse.
The verses
“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”
“In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, “The LORD says, ‘Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.’””
“The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness: I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.” I said, “I won’t see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.”
“For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.”