Tag Archives: Immortality

What Happens to You When You Die?

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Restoration of Truth Series: The State of the Dead

by Nathan Lawrence
Hoshana Rabbah Biblical Resources at www.HoshanaRabbah.org

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Yeshua the Messiah, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which Elohim has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:19–21, emphasis added)

It has been the common belief among nearly all Christians universally for nineteen hundred years that upon physical death a person’s soul immediately separates from their body and lives immortally either in heaven or in hellfire. In this brief study we will show incontrovertible proof that this cornerstone of Christian orthodoxy needs to be reexamined, and that the idea of the soul being immortal is of non-biblical (even Satanic) origination. Admittedly, this is not a salvational issue, but this belief is detrimental to one’s biblical understanding, since it leads to a skewed view of several other key biblical truths. This belief also hinders the advancement of YHVH’s kingdom as we will also demonstrate below. If you are a bold truth seeker, and not timid about questioning sacred cow beliefs then read on.

Does Man Possess an Immortal Soul?

This question of the immortality of the human soul should not be passed over quickly. Why? Because nearly all of the world’s false, non-biblical religions believe that each person possesses an immortal soul that lives on after death. To the questioning mind, shouldn’t the universality of this idea be suspect? Therefore, shouldn’t it behoove the assiduous truth-seeker to know the origination of this belief? Is it biblical or from some other source? These are excellent questions that we will answer below. The answers affects everyone! 

The Source Is Not Elohim!

The first place in the Bible that the immortality of the soul concept is mentioned is in Genesis chapter three—literally at the beginning of man’s existence on earth, and the source of this idea was not YHVH Elohim, the Creator of man. Rather it was from the spiritual entity Yeshua the Messiah labeled as “the father of all lies” (John 8:44), Satan the devil, the serpent (Rev 12:9). 

We pick up the story of how the immortal soul idea come into man’s initial awareness way back in the Garden of Eden at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where the serpent (i.e., Satan the devil; Rev 12:9), in enticing the woman to eat from the forbidden tree, told her that “you shall not surely die” even though YHVH had told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate of it (Gen 2:8–9; 3:1–6). Was the serpent the originator of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, According to the Bible, the answer is yes! As we shall now discover, this concept was not even an aspect of Old Testament theology.

An Analysis of the Hebrew Word Nephesh

Upon a careful analysis of all the Bible scriptures on this subject from both the Tanakh (i.e., Old Testament or OT) and Testimony of Yeshua (i.e., New Testament or NT), a truth becomes clear. Man possesses a soul, but nowhere does Scripture state that his soul is immortal. An understanding of how Scripture uses the Hebrew word nephesh (in the OT) and the Greek word psuche (in the nT)—both translated as “soul” in our Bibles—reveals that notion that the soul of man is immortal is to overlay the Word of Elohim with a concept that is foreign to biblical truth. This is because neither the OT nor the NT indicate that the soul is immortal, but rather that it is simply that part of a human that defines who one is. That is, it is merely one’s personality, character, emotional make-up, mental capabilities and the volitional or will part of a person.

Let’s now examine the actual meanings of the words nephesh and psuche. According to The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (volume 9, p. 617ff), Scripture equated nephesh with the breath of man, the blood of man and the person of man. In the latter, it is used as a term for the total nature of man, for what he is, not just what he has. The same cannot be said of the spirit, heart or flesh part of man. The classical text in Genesis 2:7 clearly expresses this truth when it calls man in his totality a nephesh hai-yah or “a living being” (NKJV) or “a living soul” (KJV). The nephesh has no existence apart from the body. Hence the best translation in many instances is “person”comprised in corporeal (relating to the physical body, as opposed to one’s spirit) reality. Nephsesh can denote what is most individual in human nature, namely, the ego (ibid. p. 620).

Nephesh as used in the OT can also be an expression of the will. The nepheshis manifest in orientation to an object, whether this be the elemental realities of hunger and thirst on the one side (Deut 12:15,20; 1 Sam 2:16, etc.) or the lofty aspiration of yearning for Elohim on the other (Ps 103:1). Nephesh can refer to the sex drive (Gen 34:3; Jer 2:24), to hatred (Ps 27:12), to pain and sorrow (1 Sam 1:10; 30:6), to the will (Gen 23:8), and the supreme striving of man for Elohim (Isa 26:9; Ps 63:1; 84:2, etc.) (ibid., pp. 621–622).

Based on these definitions of the word nephesh as used in the OT, we see that the Bible refers to the soul of man as the mind, the will and emotions. It refers to who one is as a person or one’s personality. It is in this Hebraic sense that the writers of the NT would be using the term soul (e.g., 1 Thess 5:23). There is no reason to assume that the apostolic writers referred to man’s soul in anything other than Hebraic terms to the exclusion of any Hellenistic (pagan Greek) concepts of the immortal soul.

Further Study of the Hebrew word Nephesh/Soul from Various Lexicons

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament is not the only expert lexical source that reveals the meaning of the word soul as used in the Scriptures and debunks the notion that it is immortal. The following is a list of several other notable lexicons that contain similar information.

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A Chronological Analysis of Scriptures on the Resurrection of the Dead

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1 Corinthians 15

The resurrection of the dead is a biblical truth that stretches like a line from the beginning to the end the Bible. It is this glorious hope to which the Bible believing saint in faith clings as he or she traverses the wilderness of this life. It is this promise from on high, the saint’s cherished inheritance, our spiritual reward and Promised Land to which each child of Elohim looks that draws us forward in our spiritual journey day-by-day. The following is a list of Scriptures from the Word of Elohim that proves the hope of the resurrection of the dead is not a vain or empty one, but a reality for those who believe in and trust the promises of the Bible.

Genesis 3:2–3, The question of what happens in the afterlife goes back to the very beginning of man’s tenure on this earth as we can see from Eve’s discussion with the serpent. Out of fear of death, Adam and Eve chose not to eat of the tree of knowledge until the serpent tricked them to disobey YHVH and eat of it. The serpent lied to them by telling them that they could have immortal life and still violate Elohim’s commandments. Most men have believed this lie to this day.

Job 14:12–15, Job is likely the oldest book in the Bible, and we see that from early times until now, man has had a perennial interest in the afterlife. Job wonders what his fate will be when he dies. Will he die and that’s all there is, or is there an afterlife?

Job 19:25–27, Job came to a place in his life where he obtained a faith about his fate in the afterlife. He knew that it hinged on his faith in his Redeemer. Biblically speaking, what was the mission of the Redeemer (i.e. Yeshua the Messiah)? It was to redeem man from the sting of death brought on by sin.

Psalm 16:9–10, Though this is usually viewed as a messianic prophecy, it isn’t confined to this interpretation. Who are YHVH’s holy, kadosh or set apart ones? The Messiah fits this category, of course, but so also do YHVH’s saints. As the apostolic writers teach us, as Yeshua died and rose again, so the saints who are in Yeshua will die and rise again.

Psalm 17:15, The term “awake” as in “awake from the sleep of death” is a Hebraism referring to the resurrection. David knew that YHVH created man in his own image for a purpose. If so, then why? It’s deductive reasoning. The creation of man wasn’t a pointless, dead-end endeavor on the Creator’s part. David knew the heart and character of YHVH well enough to know that Elohim had a higher purpose for man than just to live and then to die off. David also knew that man could have his perennial yearning for immortal life satisfied by the fact that man was created in YHVH’s image for a reason and that the reality of this fact would satisfy man’s deepest yearning for immortality.

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Do YOU have your adoption papers?

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Do you have your ticket to the New Jerusalem? If not, why not?

Romans 8:15, Adoption. This word (found only in Paul’s epistles) is found in only four other places in the Testimony of Yeshua (i.e. Rom 8:23; 9:4; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5). It is the Greek work huiothesia and refers to that spiritual relationship which Elohim has established between himself and the saints—the Israel of Ellohim (Gal 6:16)—to the exclusion of all other people on earth.

In Galatians, Paul speaks of redeemed believers being both Abraham’s seed and being adopted as sons of Elohim (Gal 3:29, 4:5). Elsewhere where the term adoption is used in the Testimony of Yeshua, it is in reference to our relationship with our Heavenly Father, not with our earthly father, Abraham. The saints are therefore, the sons, seed or offspring of Abraham, yet adopted into the family of Elohim as spiritual sons. In other words, redeemed believers are the literal sons or seed (physically and spiritually) of Abraham, yet adopted sons (spiritually) of YHVH.

This adoption process will be finalized or completed at the resurrection of the saints at Yeshua’s second coming when each saint will receive their resurrected, glorified spiritual body (Rom. 8:23), for it is then, as John states, that we will be like him (Yeshua) for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2).

The Most High Yehovah Elohim, the Creator of the universe who made you and me in his image wants to adopt you and me into his eternal kingdom of heaven—the family of Elohim. Do you have your adoption papers and is your “ticket” punched for your ride to the New Jerusalem? If not, go here: https://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/?s=salvation&submit=Search. If so, then comfort yourself with this glorious truth! Maranatha and halleluYah!

 

Dear Natan: Is the soul immortal?

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Here is an email letter I recently received from M—. Perhaps my response will help answer some of your questions some as you’re trying to understand the Bible from a more Hebraic perspective, and separate out the truth from the error that the mainstream church teaches. If you already understand the truths presented below, perhaps this information will help you to answer those who come to you with the same questions.

Hello Natan,
I have read with a great interest your article “How the Church Divorced Itself From Its Jewish Roots” on your blog but I am a but puzzled by the following passage:

“Here is a partial list (along with the approximate dates) of several major unbiblical and anti-Torah and non-biblical doctrines crept into the post-apostolic church.

The Human Soul Is Immortal”

Is the immortality of the soul unbiblical and anti-Torah? If it is, do you have any scriptural proof to support that? What is the point of the coming of Yeshua if once the person dies, their souls also vanishes?

Hello M—,
Thank you for your inquiry about my thoughts pertaining to what happens to humans after they die. There are a plethora of opinions on this subject. Even though the Bible talks about this subject, understanding exactly what happens to us when we die is not a salvation issue. Having faith in and obeying Yeshua the Messiah and his word is a salvation issue however. Knowing exactly what happens to us after we die will not guarantee anyone eternal life; on the other hand, knowing Yeshua will. It must be said, though, that an improper understanding about what happens to us after we die can affect our understanding of some basic and important biblical truths. But we’ll save this for another discussion.
Now to answer your questions.
I have not written and published exhaustively on the subject of the state of the dead, since many have gone before me and competently addressed these issues already. Life is short and time is valuable, and so why reinvent the wheel? I have, however, written and published a brief article on this subject, which will answer some of your questions, and which is available on our ministry website at https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/state_of_dead.pdf. Perhaps you’ll find this helpful.
I will now answer your questions below in the briefest manner possible interlinearly and in bold type. 

“Here is a partial list (along with the approximate dates) of several major unbiblical and anti-Torah and non-biblical doctrines crept into the post-apostolic church.

The Human Soul Is Immortal”

Is the immortality of the soul unbiblical and anti-Torah? If it is, do you have any scriptural proof to support that? What is the point of the coming of Yeshua if once the person dies, their souls also vanishes?

What about verses like Matt. 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” ???

The Bible teaches that humans have a spirit, soul and body (1 Thes 5:23). There are many other Scriptures that talk about the spirit in man. They are too numerous to mention here. (I have teachings elsewhere on this subject.) Do a word search in your favorite Bible search program and you’ll find them. The Bible also teaches that the soul is mortal and dies with the body (e.g. Ezek 18:3). Briefly, the soul is who you are: your mind, your will and your emotions. It defines you. It’s what makes you unique from every other human. It is housed in your body and cannot exist without a body. It is not immortal. The immortality of the soul is a pagan concept as I document in my referenced article above. It is also promoted by those who don’t know the difference between the soul and spirit of a man. The Bible in a number of places makes this differentiation, even though, admittedly, in the Tanakh (OT) some ancient biblical writers used the terms soul (nephesh) and spirit (ruach) interchangeably. However, a more refined view of the soul and spirit as taught in the Bible by other biblical authors shows us that our spirit was given to us at conception; it comes from Elohim. The Bible also states that it returns to Elohim when we die, as I note in my article. The Bible is silent, however, on whether the spirit is conscious or not after the cessation of physical life. So it’s not wise to speculate on this. 

Matt.22:32 “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”???

The Bible defines the word life in a couple of different ways. There is physical life and there is spiritual life. Which life is Yeshua talking about here: physical or spiritual life? If physical life, then he contradicts what Scripture says elsewhere about the soul dying, about no man having ascending to heaven yet, about no man seeing the Father yet , about men’s thoughts ceasing when they die and so on. If however Yeshua meant spiritual life, then this is statement makes perfect sense, since Abraham had salvation because of his faith in Elohim, and even though he is dead and awaits the resurrection, his next waking moment will be in the presence of YHVH Yeshua. Moreover, in the mind of Elohim who inhabits eternity and who exists outside of time and space, Abraham is still alive spiritually (after all his spirit is in heaven), even though his body and soul are dead physically and await the resurrection of his body. Moreover, anyone whose name is written in the Book of Life, though he may be dead physically awaiting the resurrection and glorification of his body, again, in the mind of Elohim and in the scope of eternity, it’s as if he is alive. Death is but a split second in the mind of one who inhabits eternity.


Luke 23:43 “Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.””???

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Provoking Your Thinking About “Going to Heaven When You Die”

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John 3:13, No one has ascended to heaven. Most Christians believe that when they die, they immediately go to heaven in spite of Yeshua’s clear statement in this verse.

Moreover, many believers see this verse as referring to the saints who died before Yeshua’s resurrection, but not true of those who died afterwards, even though he doesn’t say this. Therefore, they reason, this is why, according to Peter, David, who was born before Yeshua, is still resting in his grave awaiting the last days resurrection (Acts 2:29). If what the majority of Christians believe on this subject were true, then the saints of old are second class citizens and YHVH is a respecter persons (which he is not, see Acts 10:34; Rom 2:11) in that they have to wait for resurrection day and for their ultimate reward of eternal life, while the saints born since Yeshua receive immortality immediately upon death.

Laying aside all the church traditions and doctrines of men, what does the Bible in the simplest and clearest terms say about the timing of the saints receiving immortality and their glorified bodies? Paul states that the resurrection of all the dead saints and their receiving immortality occurs not at the time of their physical death, but at the second coming of Yeshua at the last trumpet (1 Cor 15:51–54; 1 Thess 4:13–18 cp. Rev 11:15, 18). 

In reality, men’s eternal inheritance isn’t heaven, but will be the New Jerusalem, which is coming down from heaven to the new earth (Rev 21:2).

In reality, men’s eternal inheritance isn’t heaven, but the New Jerusalem, which is coming down from heaven to the new earth (Rev 21:2).

 

A Chronological Analysis of Scriptures on the Resurrection of the Dead

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Resurrection from Dead

A Chronological Analysis of Scriptures on the Resurrection of the Dead

 Gen 3:2–3, The question of what happens in the afterlife goes back to the very beginning of man’s tenure on this earth as we can see from Eve’s discussion with the serpent. Out of fear of death, Adam and Eve chose not to eat of the tree of knowledge, until the serpent tricked them to disobey YHVH and eat of it. The serpent lied to them by telling them that they could have immortal life and still violate Elohim’s commandments. Most men have believed this lie to this day.

Job 14:12–15,  Job is likely the oldest book in the Bible, and we see that from early times until now, man has had a perennial interest in the afterlife. Job wonders what his fate will be when he dies. Will he die and that’s all there is, or is there an afterlife?

Job 19:25–27, Job came to a place in his life where he obtained a faith about his fate in the afterlife. He knew that it hinged on his faith in his Redeemer. Biblically speaking, what was the mission of the Redeemer (i.e., Yeshua the Messiah)? It was to redeem man from the sting of death brought on by sin.

Ps 16:9–10,  Though this is usually viewed as a messianic prophecy, it isn’t confined to this interpretation. Who are YHVH’s holy, kadosh or set apart ones? The Messiah fits this catergory, of course, but so also do YHVH’s saints. As the apostolic writers teach us, as Yeshua died and rose again, so the saints who are in Yeshua will die and rise again.

Ps 17:15, The term “awake” as in “awake from the sleep of death” is a Hebraism referring Continue reading →