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Yeshua’s
coming is often referred to by
many as the "second advent, "second coming," or "rapture" (from
the Latin "rapere"). Some of the Brit Chadashah promises that teach
Messiah's return include:
John 14:2-3
"I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may
be where I am."
Matthew 24:30
"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of
Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory."
Acts 1:11
"This
same Yeshua, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the
same way you have seen him go into heaven."
Matthew 24:36
"No
one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father."
Click here to view Dr. Michael Brown's video - "In Search of Messiah in Crown Heights"
The End of Days
Yeshua described in detail the events that would
precede His second coming. He said there will be false messiahs and prophets performing signs and
miracles that deceive many; many wars and threats of war; numerous famines and
earthquakes; increases in persecution and hatred; displays of wickedness; and people with
self-indulgent behavior (Matthew 24). Other signs include people who are lovers
of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient, ungrateful, unholy, loveless,
unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, treacherous, conceited, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power of
God
(2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Another sign is the restoration of the land of
Israel promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as an everlasting inheritance for
their descendents (Genesis 12:7; 28:13-15; 32:28; 35:12; 48:4). This
is happening in our time. Leviticus 26:40-45 and Deuteronomy 30:1-7 state that
God will
restore Israel to the land, in spite of past unfaithfulness. The prophets Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Zechariah all wrote about God's restoration of Israel.1
One of the final events to be witnessed before
Yeshua returns is the proclamation of the good news of God’s salvation, through the
Messiah, to all the nations of the world (Matthew 24:14). Those who believe this
good news will be spared from God’s judgment.
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A Jewish View of Death
In Jewish thought, a person is viewed as a
body-soul; a single entity, an indivisible whole. Neither of the Hebrew terms "nephesh" (soul) or "ruach" (spirit) refer to the
nonphysical part of a human being.2
Man’s nephesh, or soul, is primarily
his vitality, his life. It is never a separate part of man. Ruach, or spirit, is
God's breath and power (Isaiah 40:7) which creates and sustains all living things
(Psalm 33:6; 104:29-30).3
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Yizkor - remembering the dead
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The teaching that the soul lives apart from the
body comes from Greek philosophy. Origen, one of the early fathers of Christian
theology, developed his "life after death teachings" from Greek philosophers
such as Plato, and taught the cosmic journey of the soul in an afterlife.4
In the Bible, death is often referred to as
sleep. Solomon said
"the dead know nothing; in the
grave there is no work, no plans, no knowledge, and no wisdom." (Ecclesiastes
9:5-10). He also wrote that our dust returns to the earth and the ruach
(spirit) returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Job, David,
Jeremiah, Daniel, Yeshua, and Paul all referred to death as a sleep.
While the souls of mankind are in
God's hands, the belief that souls are reincarnated into the bodies of
humans or other animals is totally outside the teaching of the Bible.
From a biblical perspective such belief is pure nonsense.
In Genesis 3 the serpent told
Adam and Eve that they would not die. Occultists and mediums promote the
idea that people can contact the dead souls in the afterlife through
the phenomenon of séances. For that very reason, the
Bible warns us not to engage in divination, sorcery, witchcraft, mediums, spiritualists,
or consultation with the dead (Deuteronomy 18:10-13; Leviticus 19:31). Astrology
is also forbidden (Isaiah 47:13). Such practices undermine trust in
God and
teachings of the Bible.
Resurrection of the Dead
Isaiah 26:19-21
"But your dead
will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy...
See, the Lord coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their
sins."
Daniel 12:2
"Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will
awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt."
Hosea 13:14
"I
will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?"
John 5:28-29
"Do
not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves
will hear his voice and come out; those who have done good will rise to
live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."
1 Corinthians
15:51-52
"Listen, I tell
you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we will be changed."
Isaiah 25:8
"He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign
Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces."
1 Thessalonians
4:16-17
"The Lord himself will
come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with
the Lord forever."
The Bible speaks of the resurrection of both the
righteous and the wicked. Some believe God’s judgment will happen prior to the
resurrection, while others believe it will happen right after the resurrection.
Regardless, there will be a judgment.
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God's Final Judgment |
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Yom Kippur
points to God's
final judgment.
May your
name be
inscribed
in the Book of
Life. |
When the Messiah comes back, a judgment of all
people will occur. This final judgment is called the "Day of the
Lord." This event will be accompanied by many unprecedented occurrences:
the stars will disappear; the sun will be darkened; the moon will not give its light; the
earth will shake; and people everywhere will be afraid. These events are recorded in
Isaiah 13:9-10; Ezekiel 32:7-9; Joel 2:10-11, 30-32; Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:14-18;
Matthew 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-26; Luke 21:25-28; and Revelation 6:12-17.
There will be only two kinds of people on
Judgment Day: those who have accepted God’s salvation through the
Messiah, and those who have not repented and rejected God's
forgiveness and atonement for sin. There will be no second chance or
opportunity to come back in another life (reincarnation) and live
righteously. The dead cannot be saved through indulgences, special prayers,
baptisms performed on their behalf, or living repeatedly through
reincarnation. In fact, the Bible teaches just the opposite.
"All will be condemned who have not believed the truth."
(2 Thessalonians 2:7-12).
The judgment will be
God’s final
pronouncement on sin and sinners.
"By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for
fire, being kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men." (2 Peter 3:7).
God’s final judgment will be fair and just.
"I choose the appointed
time; it is I who judge uprightly. When the earth and its entire people quake... It is
God
who judges: he brings one down, he exalts another."
(Psalm 75:2,7).
"He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with
equity." (Psalm 98:9).
Sheol - Hades
The English word "hell" is translated
from the Hebrew word "Sheol," meaning the world of the dead; and from the Greek
word "Hades," meaning the unseen world of those in the grave. Where Sheol
appears, it signifies the unseen state of the dead rather than a place of torment.6
In Jewish thought, Sheol or Hades is the place of departed souls, and the location
for final judgment.
Another Hebrew word "Gehinnom" (Gehenna)
refers to a place located south of the Old City of Yerusalalyim; where the city's rubbish
was burned; hence, metaphorically, because of the fires - hell fire. Both rabbinical
writings and Yeshua (Matthew 5:22) refer to Gehinnom as the ultimate reward for
the wicked.8
Many Jews
state emphatically that
they do not believe in hell,
thinking
it to be a Christian doctrine.
Yet the
Hebrew Scriptures and orthodox rabbis
teach there
is a hell fire for the wicked.
Generally there are two views
held by Jews and Christians concerning death. The first view is that
the dead, both the righteous and wicked, are at rest until the final judgment. The second view is that the souls of the
righteous dead return immediately to God, while the souls of the wicked descend directly into gehenna
(hell) for punishment. A theological difficulty with the second view is
that the wicked's punishment is immediately meted out, prior to the final
judgment of
God.
For the righteous, either view doesn't matter
because the ultimate result is the same - eternal life with God.
The Bible calls the final destruction of the
wicked by fire the "second death."
" The
lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in
the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation
20:14-15).
"But
the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually
immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their
place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second
death." (Revelation 21:8). "‘Surely the day is
coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble,
and that day that is coming will set them on fire,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Not
a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of
righteousness will rise with healing in its wings... Then you will trample down the
wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these
things.’" (Malachi
4:1-3).
The choice we make has lasting
consequences—eternal death or eternal life.
"As
surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live."
(Ezekiel
33:11).
A New Heavens and Earth
When sin and sinners have been destroyed,
God
will create a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 66:15-24). Death,
sickness, and sin will be gone forever, and God will reign with the redeemed in his
Kingdom.
"Then I saw a
new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and
there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a
loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will
live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their
God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’...
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city
does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and
the Lamb is its lamp." (Revelation
21).
The Bible teaches much more on these
topics than
can be presented here. Open up a Bible, ask the Spirit of God to
reveal His Word to you, and study these things for yourself. |
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