1. I loved my father (husband, mother, grandparents, brother, best friend, …) dearly, but he passed away. Will I ever see him again?
Who is better placed than our Heavenly Father Yahweh to answer these and other important life questions? He recorded those answers thousands of years ago in a collection of books known as the Bible. It is He who, together with Yahshua the Messiah, created heaven and earth, and all that is in them. The first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve, crowned His creation. Yahweh and Yahshua made the first couple with their own hands out of the dust of the earth, in their image and likeness. That is, we humans resemble our Heavenly Father and His Son Yahshua, both in appearance and in our ability to think and make moral choices. But Yahweh is spirit and is immortal, while man is physical and mortal.
2. But why did Yahweh make man mortal? Does He not know that it hurts immensely to lose a loved one?
Yes, of course He knows! But He never intended for Adam and Eve and their descendants to die! He…
3. Sorry to interrupt you, but now I don’t understand! Yahweh makes man mortal, but He does not want man to die! How illogical!
Well, it seems so, but let me explain. In short, it means that Yahweh has given man a free will. He made Adam and Eve choose between the fruit of two literal trees in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life symbolized the eternal life that man would receive if He loved Yahweh and followed His standards of good and evil. Eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolized self-determination of good and evil, apart from Yahweh. Yahweh had expressly forbidden Adam to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Otherwise he would die. But in time, Adam and Eve decided to flout Yahweh’s prohibition, and ate from that tree anyway. And so in the end they both died.
4. Wow, what a severe punishment, just to eat some fruit from the wrong tree!
Indeed! Yahweh loves His children, but He is not mocked. He had given Adam and Eve everything they needed to live a happy and abundant life, but He expected that they would respect and be grateful to Him, and show their love for Him by obeying Him. Remember that by eating the forbidden fruit they indicated to Yahweh that they wanted to decide for themselves what is good and what is evil, and thus rejected Yahweh’s standards of good and evil. They never went back on their decision either.
5. But there’s something I still don’t understand. Adam and Eve were made of the dust of the earth, so would they have died anyway, even if they had not eaten the forbidden fruit?
Nope! Death is the penalty for sin, this is the transgression of Yahweh’s instructions, which He has given man for his good. If they had not sinned, Yahweh would have given them eternal life, and they would not have died.
6. OK, Adam and Eve sinned and died. But my father was a good man, and yet he too died!
Yes indeed. Even the most righteous in the Bible, such as Job and the prophet Daniel, have died. Also the apostles of Yahshua the Messiah have all died. These were all good people, just like your father, and yet they all died. Why? Because they have all sinned too! All their righteous deeds could not take away the death penalty for their sins.
7. But then we are all hopelessly lost! Or is there one who has never sinned?
No, all men have sinned, except the Man Yahshua, who before His incarnation Yahweh was the Son, who together with Father Yahweh created the heavens and the earth. Yahshua has taken the death penalty for the sins of all mankind by dying on the stake. Only He could, because His life as Creator of the universe and humanity is worth more than that of all humans who have ever lived together.
8. Do I understand correctly that we can now sin with impunity, since Yahshua has taken the penalty for our sins?
No, it’s like this. Forgiveness of sins and the remission of the death penalty are gifts from Yahweh and the Messiah, but we have to work hard to receive those gifts. In short, we must believe Yahweh and His Word, the Bible, and put our faith into practice. That is, we recognize that we have sinned, accept Yahshua’s sacrifice for our sins, deeply repent of our transgressions of Yahweh’s law, repent of it, and from then on begin to live by every word of Yahweh. This is truly a break with the past and a new beginning in our lives. Yahweh asks that we be baptized in the name of His Son Yahshua. This symbolizes that we bury our old self in a watery grave, and after our resurrection from the watery grave begin a new life of obedience to all Yahweh’s laws. However, we cannot do this on our own. We need the help of the Holy Spirit for this, which we receive after our baptism through the laying on of hands by a true servant of Yahweh.
9. But my father was Catholic. He was baptized as a baby in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, by sprinkling with a few drops of consecrated water by a Catholic priest. Isn’t that just as good as baptism by immersion?
No, unfortunately not. The symbolism of burying the old self is completely lost in this way. Nor was he baptized in the name of Yahshua. But worst of all, he was baptized as a newborn. So this was not his conscious choice, but that of his parents, who raised him in the Catholic faith from birth. Did your father keep the Sabbath?
10. The Sabbath? Uhhh… he occasionally went to mass on Sundays…
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. Sunday is the first day of the week. Yahweh commands us to rest and to have a holy assembly on the Sabbath.
11. But no one ever told my father to keep the Sabbath! So… my father is irretrievably lost for not knowing he had to keep the Sabbath, and now burns in hell forever? How cruel and unjust! My father was the best father you can imagine. He has always taken very good care of my mother, my sister and myself. He didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and was faithful to my mother for life. He never hurt a fly, did good works and was always ready to help anyone.
Hola, hola, don’t jump to conclusions so quickly! Your father, like most people, was misled by religious teachers and priests, who were deceived themselves. And he certainly doesn’t burn in hell. No, he’s just dead now. He is unaware of anything. He is not in heaven, not in hell, nor in purgatory, which, by the way, does not exist at all. He is now, in a sense, sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep, awaiting his resurrection from the dead.
12. Resurrection?? Will my father rise from the dead? Shall I see him again?
YES! Yes, that’s the good news! After his resurrection, he will finally hear the truth of the Bible and the opportunity to repent. Your father was apparently a very good person, and I am convinced that he will then enthusiastically accept that truth, and begin to live according to all Yahweh’s commandments, including those that he never knew in his first life. Yahweh will then give him eternal life. Yahweh loves all people and wants everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth.
13. And where and when will my father rise? Will I be there too?
Normally yes! The resurrection happens here on earth, a thousand years after the return of Yahshua the Messiah to earth to set up the kingdom of Yahweh, the government of Yahweh. And yes, you have the chance to be there and to live forever yourself. In fact, if you wish, you can even be part of Yahweh’s thousand-year reign on earth. And then you can then teach your own father the truth about Yahweh’s plan for mankind.
14. Really?? What do I have to do for that?
Well, as I just said when you asked if we can now sin with impunity. You must first believe Yahweh and study His Word, the Bible. However, you cannot understand the Bible without the help of people who live by every word of Yahweh. You also need a bible translation, but even those bible translations are made by learned but misguided people. Two examples. In most modern Dutch Bible translations the name Yahweh (or YHWH) in the Old Testament is always replaced by the LORD. And in the New Testament, the name Yahshua is replaced by Jesus, an English translation of a Greek translation of the real Hebrew name of our Savior — Yahshua. There is, however, a version of the Dutch Bible translation that retains the name YHWH in the Old Testament. That is in any case better than replacing the name of our Creator almost 7000 times with LORD. Or maybe you have a Petrus Canisius translation of the Bible at home somewhere, which correctly uses the name Yahweh in the Old Testament whenever it appears in the original Hebrew text.
15. You’re right. I don’t know anything about the Bible. Who can help me understand the Bible?
You can contact the following website: www.bijbelstudent.org . You can also email your questions to info@bijbelstudent.org. If you know English, you can also find a lot of interesting information at www.assemblyofyah.com .
16. Thank you very much! I am so happy to know that I will see my father again.
Don’t mention it! May Yahweh bless you abundantly and help you understand the truth
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All kinds of questions
17. What does the word “trade” in the next verse referring to Satan mean: “By your extensive trade you were filled with violence and became sinful…” (Ezek. 28:16)?“Trade” is the translation of the Hebrew rekullah which means trade, commerce, commerce. The translation of the Dutch Bible Society (1951) is therefore correct. According to van Dale hand dictionary contemporary Dutch “trade is: buying and selling”. “Sell” means, inter alia: “to administer; give best; plausible, credible”. Satan did trade! He sold his ideas of rebellion—administered them, indulged them, and made them plausible and credible—to a third of the angels.
When he tried to knock Yahweh off His throne, he was cast down to the earth, as we read in Revelation 12:9 and Luke 10:18.____________________________
18. Is it a proof of their faith if believers ingest poisonous snakes and drink deadly poison? Is that the mission the Messiah gave them?
First, let’s see where this idea comes from. Yahshua said: “These signs shall follow the believers: in my name they shall cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them” (v . Mark 16:17-18).
When we read the context, we see that this verse is part of Yahshua’s commission to His disciples to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of Yahweh in all the world (verses 15 and 16). Extraordinary signs and wonders would follow them—and they did, as the book of Acts shows. But verse 18 also contains a promise of protection for those whom Yahweh calls to preach the gospel.
The phrase “even if they drink something deadly” clearly indicates an accident. There is no instance in the New Testament of a deliberate intent to take up snakes or drink poison. But we do find a promise of protection from Yahshua—the promise to give us power “to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and against all the host of the enemy” (Luke 10:19).
What happened to Paul in Acts 28 is a striking illustration of what Yahshua meant. During his journey to Rome, Paul was shipwrecked, but thanks to the intervention of Elohim, all those on board were able to reach the island of Malta unharmed. “And when Paul had gathered a bundle of dry wood and laid it on the fire, a viper came out of the heat and bit his hand” (verse 3). It was expected that Paul would suffer serious injury or even die as a result, but Yahshua fulfilled His promise by protecting Paul from this involuntary contact with a poisonous snake (verses 1 to 10). It goes without saying that Paul did not intentionally cause this incident to prove his faith. It was simply an accident used by Yahshua to testify to the truth.
To deliberately test Yahweh by ingesting poisonous snakes or drinking deadly drinks is contrary to Yahshua’s teaching. When Satan tried to persuade the Messiah to throw Himself down from the roof of the temple, he appealed to His vanity: “If You be Yahweh’s Son, throw Yourself down” (Matt. 4:6). Then Satan quoted the Scriptures, however distorting their meaning.
Satan still uses the same wiles today. So we must remember Yahshua’s firm response: “Thou shalt not tempt Yahweh thy Elohim” (verse 7). Nor should we tempt Yahweh by knowingly doing dangerous things that are contrary to common sense.
19. Is it true that the Bible mainly says that one goes directly to hell or heaven and not that one has a second chance?
To answer your question right away, no, the Bible does not say that people go straight to heaven or hell when they die. And the Bible certainly doesn’t talk about Catholic purgatory.
When people die, they are simply dead, so completely unconscious, just like the animals (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20). The dead know nothing at all (Eccl. 9:5). This applies to the just as well as to the unjust (Eccl. 9:2-4). The only difference between humans and animals is that the spirit of humans returns to Elohim at death, while the spirit of animals descends into the ground (Eccl. 3:21; Eccl. 12:7). This human mind is a kind of tape recording of our memory, character and experience and has no consciousness apart from the body. The human spirit is not an immortal soul. The soul is not immortal (Matt. 10:28). The behold that sinneth shall die (Ezek. 18:4, 20, King James Version).
No one has ascended into heaven except Yahshua (John 3:13). David did not ascend to heaven (Acts 2:34). None of the biblical heroes has yet obtained the promises (Heb. 11:13, 39-40). That will only happen at the first resurrection to eternal life, at Yahshua’s return.
Anyone who has ever lived and is not in the first resurrection will be resurrected after death to be judged (1 Cor. 15:22; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:5). Be sure to read 1 Cor. 15 all the way.
The wages of sin is death — not eternal life in hell (Rom. 6:23).
Yahweh is righteous. Everyone is judged — most after the Millennium. But this is more than just appearing before a judge’s seat to hear a verdict. Everyone gets one real chance at eternal life, either during this lifetime or after their resurrection to physical life after the Millennium. That is, the Bible was or will be correctly explained to them in this life or after their resurrection to physical life. Then they can still make the choice to obey Yahweh and His law or to reject it. Whoever chooses to serve Yahweh will live forever. Whoever rejects Yahweh will be burned up in hellfire. This is the second or eternal death (Rev. 2:11; 20:14).
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20. Is lighting candles a good way to start the Sabbath?
The priests in the temple had to do every day — including the Sabbath! — to light the lamps at night (Lev. 24:3, 2 Chr. 13:11). But there is currently no temple, and therefore no temple rituals such as lighting oil lamps.
“You must not even light a fire in your dwellings on the Sabbath” (Ex. 35:3). When you light a candle, you naturally light a (albeit small) fire. This commandment probably refers to lighting a fire in a way that requires real work, so perhaps not lighting a candle with a match, but why would you do it as some sort of ritual at the beginning of the Sabbath when this commandment , which, while giving rise to different interpretations, is in the Torah? Better to err on the side of caution. In case of doubt whether something is permissible or not, it is better not to do it.
The most common candles are the stearin candles and the paraffin candles. Stearin is obtained by processing animal fats. If that is pure beef fat, then those candles are clean, but if there is fat from pigs or other unclean animals, then you become unclean by touching those candles. It would be crazy to make yourself unclean at the beginning of the Sabbath by touching stearic candles. Paraffin candles do not have that problem, because paraffin is a by-product of petroleum.
Following are a few quotes about candles:
“We have found that some apparently harmless things have a negative effect on people’s lives. The following is a short list of such things: […] Incense and some candles ([…] Some candles evoke unclean spirits and are used in witchcraft)” (Stephen Bell, No other gods, p. 8).
Stephen Bell does not clarify which candles he means. Everyone should therefore check for themselves whether they have experienced any negative effect after lighting candles.
“The reason I replaced the word candlestick here [in Exodus 25:31-33] with lampholder is that the word candlestick reminds us of a candle holder as we know it today. I am not convinced that such candles were used in ancient times. True believers are also not allowed to use them, because of some of their connotations. Consequently, it is more correct to use the word lampholder ” (Jacob O. Meyer, The Seven Lamps Of YAHWEH, p. 9).
Indeed, candles are often used, among other things, in the Catholic Church, eg to worship Mary.
Conclusion: Touching candles made from fats from unclean animals is certainly not good – never, especially not on the Sabbath, because we must strive for physical and spiritual purity. The lighting of candles in our house at the beginning of the Sabbath is a man-made ritual not commanded by Yahweh, and which contradicts at least the letter of Exodus 35:3. In addition, we must not adopt any customs or traditions from the pagan religions to worship Yahweh. “Nay, you must not thus worship Yahweh your Elohim” (Deut. 12:31). So lighting candles is not a good way to start the Sabbath.
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21. Was Yahshua’s death a violation of Yahweh’s commandment against human sacrifice?
Scripture cannot fail or be broken (John 10:35). When passages appear to contradict each other, this is only apparent, either the translation is wrong, or it is a passage that is not part of Scripture but was added afterwards. In other words, it is a minor copying error in the original text, which can normally be corrected without much effort by comparison with other passages in the Bible.
This is an apparent contradiction. What Yahweh hates is to be worshiped in a way contrary to His instructions (Lev. 10:1) — eg, to burn sons and daughters with fire (Deut. 12:31).
Yahshua did not die as a result of ritual slaughter as part of the worship in the temple, commanded by His Father to appease Him. No, Yahshua was executed by the Romans, at the request of the Jews. Yahshua knew that He would come to His end in this way, and He chose this of His own free will, in consultation with His Father. So the context is very different.
But THE big difference is that the execution of Yahshua does notabomination in the eyes of Yahweh, nor in Yahshua’s own eyes. Nor was this violent death of Yahshua contrary to Yahweh’s instructions. Rather, this is at the heart of Yahweh’s plan of salvation! The death of Yahshua was planned from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). The wages of sin is death, and that death penalty must be suffered, precisely because Yahweh has so decreed in His law. Normally by the sinner himself (which also happens symbolically at baptism, which represents burial in a watery tomb), but in Yahweh’s master plan Yahshua has died in the place of all the sinners who ever lived, who live now and who will live . The principle of this substitution is already present in the Old Testament (Ex. 13:15: “and I redeem every firstborn son”).
As the passage you quoted in Rom. 5:6-11 itself indicates, the death of Yahshua is more like someone who sacrifices himself for his wife, or his child, or his brother. Do you think it is an abomination in Yahweh’s eyes for a man to go into a burning house to save his wife and die in the process? Or that it was an abomination in Yahweh’s eyes if a man asked the German occupier to be shot himself instead of his wife, eg in the context of reprisal measures? No, on the contrary, these are noble deeds for which Yahweh has the utmost respect. Likewise, He has the utmost respect for Yahshua, because He willingly sacrificed Himself for His future bride.
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22. Can you give me some clarification on the following verses:Exodus 22:29-30: Leviticus 27;Ezekiel 20:25-26. It seems to me to be human blood sacrifices to Yahweh…
Ex. 22:29-30 “You shall give me the firstborn of your sons.” To be read in conjunction with:
Ex. 13:2, 13 “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn. Whatever opens the womb of the children of Israel, whether in man or beast belongs to Me! (13) You must redeem all the firstborn of men, if they are boys.
Ex. 34:19 -20 “Everything that opens the womb belongs to Me: every firstborn male of your flock, whether oxen or sheep; only the first-born donkey shalt thou redeem with a lamb, or else break its neck. But you must redeem all the firstborn of your sons; and then they shall not appear before Me empty-handed.”
no. 18:15-16 “And whatever opens the womb of man and beast, to be offered to Yahweh, is yours. But the firstborn of men you must redeem, as well as the firstborn of unclean animals. You shall have a child. when it is a month old, its ransom shall be the fixed price, five shekels according to the holy weight, that is, twenty gerahs.”
It is all somewhat unclearly formulated whether it concerns both firstborn boys and firstborn girls, or only firstborn boys, but by analogy with the firstborn males it seems clear to me that only firstborn boys belong to Yahweh and, in contrast to the clean animals MUST be ransomed for 5 shekels, which is about 5 days’ wages. NO blood sacrifices of firstborn children!
Lev. 27:29 “No man that is under curse can be ransomed; he must be put to death.”
“under the ban” is the translation of the Hebrew word haram “Haram has the basic meaning “to destroy, banish, or devote to the ban.” It describes the consecration of someone or something as a permanent offering to Elohim. This word is used most often to designate cities that are to be utterly destroyed. […] Haram is occasionally used of punishment on individuals. This punishment can be severe as in an execution (Exod. 22:19-20) or less severe as in the forfeiture of property (Ezr. 10:8) (Mounce’s expository dictionary p. 175, “destroy”)
So this must be a person sentenced to death, who MUST be killed and cannot be ransomed.
Ez. 20:25-26 “And I commanded them that were not good, by which they could not live: by their gifts, by their surrender of all that openeth the womb, I have defiled them, that they themselves might be astonished, and know that I am Yahweh.” Comment on this verse in the Companion Bible with which I agree: “I gave them also statutes, &c. In Heb. idiom = I suffered others to give them statutes, &c.: ie in their captivity (or simply in Israel myself — my addition). Active verbs in Hebrew were used to express not only the thing which the agent is said to do. The verb nathan, to give, is therefore often rendered ‘to suffer’ in this sense. See Gen. 31 :7, Judg. 15:1, 1 Sam. 24:7, 2 Sam. 21:10. Where not actually so rendered it means ‘permission’.
So, I hope this explanation sheds some light on these obscure verses. Yahweh finds human blood sacrifice as part of worship horrific. As I said in my email yesterday, this is completely different from someone who gives his life to save others from death, as Yahshua has done. This is, also in the eyes of Father Yahweh, an extremely noble act.
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23. We know that our future is here on earth, but how do you explain the following texts? 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, Philippians 1:23
2 Cor. 5:6 “…as long as this body is our dwelling, we dwell far from the Master.” Yahweh and Yahshua now dwell in heaven, where Their throne is. We physical people now live on earth, so far from Yahweh and Yahshua.
2 Cor. 6:8 “…even though we would rather leave our bodies and take up residence with the Master.” When do we leave our body? Is that at the time we die or at the time of our resurrection? Paul means the latter here, if you compare with what he himself writes in 1 Cor. 15 and 1 Thess. 4:15-17.
When we die we remain physical. Our body then decays quickly and after a few decades there is generally virtually nothing left of our body. Although our human spirit returns to Yahweh at death, this is like a memory card in which our character and all our memories and knowledge are stored. That human spirit has no life or consciousness of its own. The dead are dead and know nothing.
We leave our body, the physical, at the resurrection, and “then we shall always be with Him [Yahshua]” (1 Thess. 4:17). At the resurrection, the righteous are given a glorified body, consisting of spirit, combined with their human spirit that had returned to Yahweh at their death. As already explained in an earlier email, after our resurrection we will go to heaven for a short time with Yahshua, to marry Him in the presence of the Father, and then return to earth together with Yahshua, to Him to be kings and priests on earth. Our future is indeed here on earth.
Phil. 1:23 “On the one hand, I long to die and be with Messiah.” When we die we are no longer aware of anything. The next second of our consciousness is when we are resurrected from the dead. For those who died in Yahshua, this will happen at the first resurrection, and they will indeed be with the Messiah. Paul knew very well that he would not be with the Messiah immediately after his death, but only after his resurrection (see again 1 Cor. 15 and 1 Thess. 4). And the Messiah is coming back to this earth to reign here as King of kings, and Master of masters.
As usual, it’s “here a little, there a little” in the Bible. You have to bring together many relevant passages to correctly understand some less clear passages. To save time, I have not looked up all the bible passages and mentioned what the above explanation is based on.
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24. What does 1 Cor. 5:5 ?
1 Cor. 5:5 reads: “We deliver him up to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day [of the Master]” (free from the Petrus Canisius translation).
In The Holy Books, Messianic edition, this verse reads, also slightly modified: “And you must deliver him up to Satan for the destruction of his body, that he may live in the spirit in the day of our Master, Yahshua Messiah.” In both translations I have replaced “Lord” with “Master”.
So both translations do not say exactly the same thing, but they come down to the same thing: if the spirit of that man is saved on the day of the Master, then he will live in the Spirit on that day, that is, he will then live according to the holy Spirit of truth and love. The day of the Master Yahshua refers to the day of Yahshua’s return as King of kings, the day of the resurrection of the firstfruits to eternal life.
What does “hand him over to Satan for the destruction of his body” mean? Apparently a slow destruction of his body is meant here, not that his body is suddenly completely destroyed, causing him to die immediately. So he is handed over to Satan that he might afflict his body with an ailment that has a destructive effect on his body. The reason for this is that because of his openly sinful way of life he no longer meets the conditions to be under Yahweh’s protection.
Whoever turns away from Yahweh’s laws automatically brings a curse on himself, including all kinds of diseases (see Deut. 28: 14, 21-22). So Paul handed him over to Satan, just as Yahweh delivered Job to Satan, to harm his body (Job 2:4-9). Paul does this by passing judgment on that man, publicly stating that that man is living in sin, and instructing the brothers and sisters in the faith to remove him from the assembly under Yahshua’s protection.
The purpose of Paul’s bold action is to convert that man, just like the prodigal son who repented when he was in want after turning his back on his father.
In fact, this was successful, as can be seen from 2 Cor. 2: 1-11.
24. a. Does 1 Cor. 5:5 about the 2nd resurrection (because he would not die righteous) ?
No one gets a chance at salvation in the first resurrection, for the simple reason that only those who persevere to the end in obeying Yahweh and growing in grace and knowledge will be in the first resurrection.
So what is meant here is that this man is given the opportunity to repent after being removed from Yahweh’s congregation. That is exactly what happened, as can be seen from 2 Cor. 2:1-11, where Paul insists that Yahweh’s assembly should accept again in love the man “who himself was grieved by me” (verse 2) by open decree (verse 8). Both the Saints at Corinth and Paul himself have forgiven that man, showing that he has repented and thus no longer lives in sin.
People who have been called by Yahweh in this life, who have accepted the call and have understood the truth, have NOW, in this life, their only chance of salvation. Everyone gets 1 real chance of being saved. Whoever is not called by the Father cannot come to Yahshua (John 6:44) and therefore has no chance of salvation. That is true of the vast majority of people, and so they will be in the second resurrection, and then be called and understand the truth. They will then have their first and only chance at salvation.
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25.Straight to heaven or hell?
What does the Bible say happens when a person dies?
Gene. 3:19 You shall sweat for your bread, until you return to the earth from which you were taken: dust you are, to dust you return.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 For men and beasts meet the same fate. As an animal dies, so also a man dies; they share in the same breath. A man is no better off than an animal, for all is emptiness. Everything goes to the same place, everything is made of dust and everything returns to dust. Who notices that the spirit of a man ascends upwards and that of an animal descends to the earth?
Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 At least those who are alive know that they must die, but the dead know nothing. Do all that your hand can do, for no works or thought, no knowledge or wisdom is left in the grave where you go.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 The dust returns to the earth from which it came, and the spirit returns to Elohim who gave it.
The verses we have read thus far give us little hope. When we are dead, we are no longer aware of anything. But there is also a human spirit that returns to Heavenly Father when we die.
Job 14:14-15 If a man dies, can he live again? Then I would serve all my time until I was relieved. You would call me and I would answer, you would long for the work of your hands.
John 5:21-22 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wills. The Father Himself judges no one, but He has entrusted the judgment wholly to the Son.
John 5:25-29 I tell you, the time is coming, and the time has come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Elohim, and those who hear him will live. As the Father has life in Himself, so the Son also has life in Himself; that the Father has given Him. And because He is the Son of Man, He has also given Him authority to judge. Do not marvel at this, there will come a time when all the dead will hear his voice and come out of the grave: whoever has done good will rise to life, whoever has done evil will rise to be judged.
1 Cor. 15:22 As through Adam we all die, so through the Messiah we will all be made alive.
There is indeed hope. The resurrection from the dead is our only hope of life after death. So death is not the end of a person’s life story. We look forward to our own resurrection and to the resurrection of all our loved ones who have already passed away. The good news is that we will see them again. As we read in John 5, the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Elohim, and those who hear Him, that is, really listen to Him and do what He says, will have eternal life.
open 20:4-5 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who were beheaded for the testimony of Yahshua and for the word of Elohim, who had not worshiped the beast and his image, who had not received the mark on their foreheads and on their hands. And they came to life again and began to reign as kings with the Messiah for a thousand years . 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they shall be priests of Elohim and of the Messiah, and they shall reign with Him for a thousand years .
The phrase “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were ended” does not refer to the first resurrection, of course, for the first resurrection takes place at the second coming of Yahshua. We might call this the second resurrection, 1000 years after the first resurrection. This is the resurrection of the people who were not called into this life. Now only a small minority of the people are called. So now they have no chance to be in the first resurrection, and will be in the second resurrection. Then they will have their first and only chance to know Yahweh and His Word, and to repent and in turn receive eternal life.
John 6:44No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me takes him to Me – and I raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written by the prophets: And all shall receive instruction from Yahweh . He who has listened to the Father and has been apprenticed to Him comes to Me.
Hand. 2:38 Peter replied, ‘Turn from your present life and be baptized in the name of Yahshua Messiah, that you may be forgiven of your sins. Then the Holy Spirit will be given to you, 39 for this promise is for you, as well as for your children, and for all who are far off, whom the Lord our Elohim will call to Himself.’ 40 He bore witness in yet another way, appealing to his hearers, saying, “Be delivered from this wicked race of men!”
Conclusion: Immediately after death, no one goes straight to hell or to heaven. The dead know nothing. When a man dies, his spirit returns to Yahweh, but that spirit has no consciousness unless it is in a living body. Whoever is in the first resurrection will reign with Yahshua on this earth, not in heaven. And the true believers who after that turn from Yahweh will suffer the second death in the gehenna fire. They will burn up and be dead forever. So they will not live forever in hell. The vast majority of mankind are not called by Yahweh during this lifetime, but only in the second resurrection after the millennium, when they will have their first and only chance at salvation, and will be judged.