Category: Death

The Resurrected Body – Part 2

The Resurrected Body – Part 2

Like the Messiah’s Body
Saul notes that at the Resurrection we will obtain a body resembling the one Messiah had. More specifically, we are to acquire a body like the fleshly body Yahushua had while he was a man on the earth, before his resurrection from the dead, i.e., a ruach-type incorruptible fleshly body, one that was still mortal. Saul writes regarding the resurrected body:

It is sown a psuchikon (= nephesh-type) body; it stands up a pneumatikon (= ruach-type) body. There is a nephesh-type body and there is a ruach-type body. So also it has been written, the first man, Adam, created into a living nephesh; the last Adam into a living ruach. (1 Cor. 15:44-45)

Yet the first (Adam) was not the ruach-type, but was the nephesh-type. Afterward came the ruach-type. The first man was from out of the earth, made of earth; the second man, the sovereign, from out of the heavens.

As is the earthy, such also are those made of earth; and such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones. AND ACCORDING AS WE BORE THE IMAGE OF THE ONE MADE OF EARTH, WE WILL ALSO BEAR THE IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY ONE. (1 Cor. 15:47-49)

Notice that the body we will obtain after the Resurrection is like the one that the Messiah had when he came “from out of” the heavens, i.e., when he was transformed into a human, not like the quickened ruach-type body he had when he returned to the heavens. Continue reading “The Resurrected Body – Part 2” →

The Resurrected Body – Part 1

The Resurrected Body – Part 1
Scriptures reveal two Great Resurrections from the dead, referred to as the First Resurrection and the Second Resurrection. This raises several important questions.
  • How is the divine aspect of our nephesh (the self or person) resurrected back to life?
  • What kind of body will we have when we return to life during either of these two Great Resurrections?
  • Will our body be flesh or spirit, mortal or immortal?
  • Does our new body get old and suffer from disease or does it remain forever young and vibrant?

Saul begins to address these questions in his first letter to the assembly at Corinth. He points out that some will ask the questions, “How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?”1

Saul responds by dividing the process into two categories: Continue reading “The Resurrected Body – Part 1” →

Why Yahushua the Messiah Had to Die

Why Yahushua the Messiah Had to Die
Why did the Messiah have to die for our sins so that we could attain salvation and eternal life?
Many believe they know the answer and point to various passages in Scriptures to demonstrate their understanding of Yahweh’s truth.
For instance, a common answer is that Yahushua forgives and redeems us from our sins by shedding his blood as the perfect sacrifice. The Messiah now gives us grace or the free gift of salvation and eternal life.
The frequently referenced passage of Scriptures is from the book of John, which states:

For the deity so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

So, it would seem that having only faith to be saved is sufficient.
At this point, we still do not have an answer to why the Messiah had to die for our personal sins. This prompts us to engage in a deeper exploration of our trust and the Scriptures.
This particular study will concentrate on one of the crucial reasons for the Messiah’s death and how it benefits all mankind. Continue reading “Why Yahushua the Messiah Had to Die” →

Why the Epistle to the Hebrews?

This Article presents an intriguing perspective on the reason and purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

We understand that this Epistle was initially written in the 1st century C.E. for an audience of Jewish or Hebrew converts to Christianity who needed encouragement to maintain their trust in Yahushua the Messiah.

This Article intends to demonstrate that the Epistle’s message was prophetic and also directed to the Hebrews of the House of Israel (commonly referred to as the Lost Ten Tribes) long after the death and resurrection of Yahushua.

We will also demonstrate that the House of Israel would be located far from the biblical land of Judaea, speaking in a foreign language differing from Hebrew or Hebrew/Aramaic.

Due to time and circumstance, we are approaching, or have already reached, a crucial period for the elect audience within the House of Israel to hear and understand Yahweh’s doctrine of the Eternal Inheritance, an indispensable theme throughout all of Scriptures.

This study aims to uncover the key found in the Epistle to the Hebrews, allowing those who are truly seeking to grasp how Father Yahweh, by means of Yahushua the Messiah, enables mankind to acquire the gift of salvation and eternal life.

To begin our quest, we will first highlight three noteworthy details:
 Continue reading “Why the Epistle to the Hebrews?” →

Abrahamic Covenants & Promises – Part 2

The next group of promises Yahweh eloahi gives to Abram (Abraham) and his seed—being part of the Inheritance and coupled with the inheritance of land in his Covenant-Will—are found in Genesis 17 and 18.

When Abram was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to him and gave him several promises which were also conditioned upon Abram’s conduct (Gen. 26:1-5, esp. v. 5). Moses tells us:

Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, I am el shaddai. Walk before me and be perfect. (Gen. 17:1)

The expression, “Walk before me and be perfect,” is more specifically defined in Genesis 26:5, when it reports that Abraham had qualified because he “obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Abraham was able to keep these conditions of the Will because “he trusted in Yahweh, and he (Yahweh) reckoned it to him for justification” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23).

Yahweh advised Abram that if he met these conditions, along with giving him and his single seed (the Messiah) the Promised Land as an olam (world-age lasting) Inheritance (Gen. 17:8), Yahweh also promised to give Abram the following things: Continue reading “Abrahamic Covenants & Promises – Part 2” →

Abrahamic Covenants & Promises – Part 1

According to Genesis 11:30-32 and Acts 7:1-3, Abram (later renamed Abraham) and his father, Terah, left their homeland in Ur, located in the upper regions of Mesopotamia—not to be confused with the city of Ur in southern Babylonia. Per the instructions from Yahweh, Abram would later migrate to a land that Yahweh would show him.

When Abram left Ur, Abram and his family were subject to the head of their clan, his father, Terah. Although they worshipped idols (as the Israelites later did) (e.g., Josh. 24:2; Gen. 31:34), they, like the later Israelites, were a family of Yahwehists (cf., Gen. 24:31, 50-51, 30:27-30, 31:48-50).

Because Harran, the elder son of Terah, had died while living in Ur, Terah had decided to leave Ur and move south. But instead of going all the way to Kanaan, he settled his tribe in the rich pasture lands in the region of Harran, located in the middle district of western Mesopotamia. Continue reading “Abrahamic Covenants & Promises – Part 1” →

Tartaros and Demons – Part 1

The word τάρταρος (tartaros), under its verbal form ταρταρώσας (tartarosas; to thrust down into tartaros), is found only once in all of the Scriptures, at 2 Peter 2:4, “the deity did not spare the angels who sinned, but ταρταρώσας (tartarosas; thrust them into tartaros), keeping them in chains of darkness unto a κρίσιν (krisin; judgment; decision made by tribunal).”1 As James Orr writes, here tartaros “stands for the place of punishment of the angels.”2

S. D. F. Salmond similarly concludes, “the word is applied to the intermediate scene and condition of penalty in which those offenders are detained, held in chains of darkness, in reserve for the final judgment.”3

In neo-Christianity, the concept of tartaros, a word which primarily means “to incarcerate,” i.e., a place of incarceration in the deepest abyss,4 has been purposely blended with the following two concepts:

1. The pagan Greek notion of hades (the underworld of wicked immortal souls of the deceased).

2. A twisted interpretation of the scriptural concept of gehenna fire (the final punishment for the wicked). Continue reading “Tartaros and Demons – Part 1” →

Rapture Revisited

YRR has released an audio Mini-Pod titled “Rapture Revisited”

Our first Rapture Podcast, “016. Rapture – Shortcut to Paradise?” dealt with the possibility of a Rapture from an Old Testament viewpoint. Unfortunately, for the Rapture advocates, the Old Testament did not produce any evidence demonstrating that one could bypass death and then proceed to Paradise or the third heavens.

We will continue our quest to see if we can find that ever-so-elusive “Shortcut to Paradise” by next delving into the New Testament.

This audio presentation can be accessed and listened to at the following link:

M017. Rapture Revisited – (16:26)

It can also be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Podbean, among others.

Rapture – Shortcut to Paradise?

YRR has released an audio Mini-Pod titled “Rapture – Shortcut to Paradise?”

Needless to say there are a number of people that want to circumvent the rules by avoiding scriptural truth and the reality that all must suffer death at least once.

There is a popular saying that you might have heard which goes something like this, “Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.”

First, the truth is that no person is going to heaven regardless of dying. The one exception is the person whose name and title is Yahushua the messiah. As all would know, his circumstances differed from the average person’s. (Another topic to be addressed at a later time.)

Second, all persons will, in fact, die before the Millennial Judgment Day whether they believe so or not. Even Yahushua had to submit to this reality.

Is there any merit to the idea that some select group of believers can actually take a shortcut to paradise by avoiding death?

This audio presentation can be accessed and listened to at the following link:

M016. Rapture – Shortcut to Paradise? – (15:34)

It can also be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Podbean, among others.

The Resurrections in Scriptures

We should be aware that Yahweh has predetermined much more for mankind than a simple existence as mortal, flesh-and-blood creatures.

However, few are mindful that Yahweh’s plan for mankind’s afterlife is predicated upon a resurrection from the dead. Indeed, in the book of Hebrews, the “resurrection of the dead” is declared to be one of the fundamental doctrines of Scriptures,1 one which is strongly proclaimed throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

Basic Doctrine
As previously stated, the doctrine of the resurrection of mankind from the dead is one of the fundamental themes found in Scriptures. To begin with, we are the work of Yahweh’s hands. Isaiah remarks:

And now Yahweh, you are our father; we are the clay and you are the maker, and we are the work of your hands. (Isaiah 64:7-8)

Yahweh’s intent for the work of his hands extends far beyond sheol (the state of death), even though the deceased person resting in sheol has reached a state of temporary nonexistence. Continue reading “The Resurrections in Scriptures” →

Three Heavens in Scriptures

We will examine the fact that in Scriptures, there are three regions of רקיע (raqiya; open expanse),1 i.e., different realms, each called “heavens.”

Father Yahweh dwells in what is defined as the “third heavens,” the sun, moon, and stars occupy the “second heavens,” and flying birds and clouds are contained in the “first heavens” (i.e., in the atmosphere surrounding the earth).

The evidence will prove that no man—with only the exception of Yahushua the messiah, and then only in those periods before and after his fleshly, earthly existence as a human—has ever dwelt in the third heavens with father Yahweh.

The fundamental error made by those who would have mortal humans go off to heaven to be with father Yahweh before death, resurrection, and quickening is their confounding of the three different realms called “heavens.” Continue reading “Three Heavens in Scriptures” →

Does Hell Exist? – Part 2

Quite opposite to the pagan notion of a conscious existence in a mythical underworld for immortal souls (whether Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, etc.), there is no life or conscious existence in the sheol of Scriptures.

No Thought in Sheol
The following scriptural verses fully demonstrate the complete absence of thought in sheol:

Return Yahweh, rescue my nephesh; save me for your mercy’s sake; for there is no memory in death, in sheol who will give thanks to you? (Psalms 6:5)

What profit is in my blood in going down to the שוח (shuch; pit, grave); will you thank the ‘aphar? Will it (the ‘aphar) thank you? Will it declare your truth?(Psalms 30:9)

The above Psalms refer to the fact that after returning to the ‘aphar a dead person has no ability to thank anyone or receive thanks, for they are unable to speak or understand the speech of someone living. A parallel thought is expressed in the rhetorical question asked by Heman the Ezrahite. He notes that nothing can come from sheol, the land of נשיה (neshyah; oblivion)49 and the dark state of death. Continue reading “Does Hell Exist? – Part 2” →

Does Hell Exist? – Part 1

What happens to a person when they die? Is it possible for one to be condemned to suffer for eternity in an underworld of fiery torment called hell? To answer, we must address the Yahwehist concept of the Hebrew word sheol, translated into Greek as “hades.”

The term sheol is found 65 times in the Old Testament and 10 times in the New Testament under the Greek form hades. Unfortunately, these two terms are commonly rendered as “hell” in the English translations.

Sheol is not, as popularly construed, a place where after death, the wicked dwell as conscious, thinking, disembodied immortal souls. Rather, it is a “state of being” for the deceased person (nephesh) of every human, whether just or unjust—a circumstance equated with darkness. It is not so much the “grave” where the remains of the nephesh lie, but rather the “state of the remains” within the grave. Continue reading “Does Hell Exist? – Part 1” →