The sound of one brain thinking about this question:
The question on the mind of every living person in all of history:
What happens when we die?
We can certainly ask it. My question is, what person in this kosmos is
qualified to give a comprehensive answer to it?
It is appointed for man to die, and face one of two possible outcomes.
"And as it awaits men
to die once, and after this the judgment; so also the Mashiak,
having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear
a second time, apart from sin, to those waiting for Him, for
deliverance."
Heb 9:27, 28
For those who trust in and obey Yahusha, there is
deliverance and eternal life. For those who ignore or shun His
deliverance, and fail to obey Him, there awaits eternal damnation,
the second death. There is not a third alternative.
But what will it be like?
If you ever meet anyone who claims they can provide a truthful,
comprehensive answer, and they have not yet died and resurrected, beware
of putting their understanding into your heart. Most of us have some
personal ideas about the “afterlife”, but the details of it elude our
minds. I don't have the answers to when, where, why, how, or why; but
Yahusha has the answers, and His Mind will fully possess ours when we
are resurrected, and we will then fully know, and have no reason to
ask. For now, all we need to know is what we are given from Scripture.
If I may offer my opinion, I believe that when our body dies we break
contact with the physical kosmos, and have no knowledge of what goes on
"under the sun" as Shalomoh expressed it. We "sleep" as Yahusha
described it, without any apparent knowledge of the passage of time. He
described "the grave", or sheol, in a way His listeners understood it to
exist in the form of the "bosom of Abraham", separated by an impassable
abyss or wide chasm. The Pharisees (Prushim, “separated ones”) had
belief in spirits, the bosom of Abraham, and the resurrection of the
body. They believed that after 3 days’ time, a dead body’s “nephesh”
departed, and could not be revived in that same body again. This is why
Yahusha waited until the 4th day to go to raise His beloved Alazar
(Lazarus).
The Sadducees did not believe in any of these things. At
Luke 16:24, the characters described by Yahusha were conversing with one
another across this chasm, but not conversing with anyone in the
physical realm they had "departed" from. His description is all we are
given, and we may assume it is possible they are conscious "elsewhere"
dimensionally, but it is not a consciousness that is connected with
their former flesh as we in our living flesh have. In our flesh, our
mind (nephesh, heart, inner spirit) may be conscious, or asleep. When
we sleep, it is a shadow of death. Our flesh needs to rest, but not our
inner component, which is renewed day by day through Yahusha’s presence
in us. After our flesh finally dies as appointed, some believe there is
nothingness; as the Sadducees believed. Yahusha differed in this
belief, saying that Yahuah is not the Alahim of the dead, but of the
living, for all are alive to Him. If we press on to add anymore to this
understanding of sheol, we cause more problems to arise. Yahusha is the
Sovereign of all creation, both of this physical kosmos and the
non-physical abode of those who have passed into the grave, sheol.
Those whose flesh has died are alive to Him, since He said He has
prepared a place for them. Whether we are here or there, neither is our
realm to comprehend; Yahusha is the Master over all, seen and unseen.
Even in this physical kosmos, our minds quickly reach their limits of
understanding it.
We are to pursue our commission in life as He directs us here in the
physical kosmos, and our ignorance of the future or understanding of
other realms is nothing we need to be overly-concerned about. In sheol,
there is no day or night, nor any need of resting as we do in our
flesh. Our main concern is to seek Yahusha's reign, and be found worthy
through the evidence of all we have done in our flesh to serve Him.
We are not to worry, or fear what lies ahead of us, He is there to catch
us and will make us "stand again" (resurrection, anastasia).
“But seek first the reign of Alahim, and
His righteousness, and all these matters shall be added to you.
Do not, then, worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow shall have its own worries. Each day has enough evil of
itself." Mat 6:33, 34
There is nothing that can separate us from the love Yahusha has for us;
Paul wrote:
"For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor messengers nor principalities nor
powers, neither the present nor the future, nor height nor depth,
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love
of Alahim which is in Mashiak Yahusha
our Master." Romans
8:38, 39
Will there be differing opinions on this? With so many people misguided
by mysticism, you can count on differences of opinion.
Nothing we can say or do will enable us to get our arms around it.
In this area, we are truly completely helpless, and eventually will fall
into the arms of the One Who created us. Prepare daily for that
encounter with Yahusha; He already knows the moment it will
happen.
TEHILLIM - PSALM
23 -
BYNV:
1Yahuah
is my Shepherd;
nothing do I need.
2He
makes me to lie down in green
pastures; He leads me beside still mayim.
3He
returns my breath; He leads me in
paths of righteousness For His Name’s sake.
4When
I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I fear no evil.
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5You
spread before me a table in the face
of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with
oil; My cup overflows.
6Only
goodness and lovingkindness follow
me
All the yomim of my life;
And I shall dwell
in the House of Yahuah for the duration of yomim!
"As it has
been written, 'For Your sake we are killed all day long,
we are
reckoned as sheep of slaughter.'
But in all this we are more than
overcomers through Him who loved us.
For I am
persuaded that neither death nor life, nor messengers nor
principalities nor powers, neither the present nor the future,
nor height nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the
love of Alahim which is in Mashiak
Yahusha
our Master."
- Romans 8:36-39
Death cannot separate us from Yahuah's love which is in Yahusha.
brother Lew
Torah Institute
POB 436044, Louisville, KY 40253
502-261-9833
