If You Die...Will You Live AGAIN?

You are going to be surprised by the NEW FACTS you will learn about life after death in this article -- facts you may NEVER have been taught, but information your Bible has ALWAYS contained.

IS DEATH the end of everything? Just what IS the chance of YOUR coming back to life -- of living again?

ANYONE in great physical danger fights for his life! He exerts almost superhuman energy to save himself -- and he does not give up until all strength is gone!

The answer is obvious -- death is the opposite of life! It snuffs out this very mortal life that you would defend with all your strength!

All people down through the ages have had to die, but this is not a satisfying answer when you yourself have to face it.

Whether or not you realize it, your only hope of living again is by a resurrection! But what is your ASSURANCE -- if any -- of such an occurrence? Where can you look for such assurance?

You can look to the Bible! It will give you the answers to those important life and death questions that no human mind can give! It is the revealed WORD of YEHOVAH GOD.

The preachers and televangelists today DO NOT GRASP THE FACT that the WHOLE BIBLE deals with ONE SUBJECT ONLY: THE FORMATION -- through a resurrection of faithful Israelites -- OF THE KINGDOM OF YEHOVAH GOD by YEHOVAH GOD THE FATHER!

The central theme of the Bible is the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God. It can also be called the Family of YEHOVAH God. It will be a family of SPIRIT BEGINS with YEHOVAH God the Father at the head; the Messiah will be the eldest Son, and those of Israel who are finally saved at the resurrection will be the other sons.

THE RESURRECTION TO IMMORTALITY represents THE VITAL TRANSITION FROM THIS MORTAL BODY -- BY BEING BORN AGAIN -- INTO THE SPIRIT FORM AND ENTRANCE INTO THE KINGDOM OF YEHOVAH GOD! "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3). As we proceed to study the various RESURRECTIONS, let us keep in mind how the MASTER MIND, YEHOVAH God the Father, reveals HIS PLAN to us. It will build our FAITH in the resurrection! We will KNOW that we are in a world that is running according to a PRECONCEIVED DEFINITE PLAN!

From the time Adam and Eve sinned, YEHOVAH God foretold the coming of ONE who would give YEHOVAH's people Israel an opportunity to immortal life, and foretold of his descent through Abraham. He who was to give those of US of Israel the opportunity of a RESURRECTION TO ETERNAL LIFE -- Yeshua the MESSIAH!

David foretold the Messiah’s resurrection about 1000 years B.C. (Psalm 16:10), and Isaiah about 700 years B.C. (Isaiah 7:14 and 26:19). The Messiah himself foretold that his resurrection would occur the THIRD DAY (using the Hebrew inclusive counting)!

The resurrection of the Messiah was an entirely different type of event than has ever happened on this earth before or since. The pagans had taught about immortal souls and that people returned to life after death in various other forms (i.e. reincarnations), but they could never produce PROOF. The Messiah, before his crucifixion, raised many of the dead back to life to fill out their natural life span (Matthew 9:24, 25; Matthew 10:8; Luke 7:15; John 11:44).

These resurrections were all, only for a relatively short return to a PHYSICAL LIFE, and were of no great importance except to the ones involved! But on the Messiah’s resurrection depends the RESURRECTION and ETERNAL LIFE of ALL OF US OF ISRAEL, for I Corinthians 15:17, 18 says, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they [of Israel] also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Doomed to eternal death!

Do you understand it? Had the Messiah -- as an ordinary mortal MAN -- not had the spirit of YEHOVAH God, he would have SINNED sometime during his life and could not have paid OUR DEBT for sin! "The wages of sin is DEATH" (Romans 6:23) -- ETERNAL DEATH! His sin would have taken his own life and YEHOVAH God would not have resurrected him! He would have had no life left to PAY FOR THE SINS OF ISRAEL -- THOSE OF US OF ISRAEL COULD NOT EXPECT TO BE RESURRECTED TO ETERNAL LIFE!

Suppose the Messiah had died but set no time as to when he would be resurrected and suppose further, that after a year or so his body disappeared. THOSE OF US OF ISRAEL WOULD HAVE NO EVIDENCE WHATEVER THAT WE WOULD EVER BE RESURRECTED AND BECOME IMMORTAL! His body might only have been stolen.

But the Messiah has given us the evidence! When the Scribes and Pharisees asked the Messiah for a SIGN (of his being the Messiah -- or Savior) he said he would be THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS in the grave (Matthew 12:40). While some believe in a literal 72 hour period, the literal interpretation of the phrase "three days and three nights" as representing an exact period of 72 hours ignores the abundant Biblical and Rabbinical evidence on the IDIOMATIC USE of the phrase "a day and a night," to refer not to an exact number of hours or of minutes, but simply to a calendrical day, whether complete or incomplete. Matthew, for example, writes that the Messiah "fasted forty days and forty nights" in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2). The same period is given in Mark 1:13 and Luke 4:2 as "forty days," which does not necessarily require forty complete 24 hour days.

It is important to note that in Biblical times a fraction of a day or of a night was reckoned INCLUSIVELY as representing the whole day or night. This method of reckoning is known as "INCLUSIVE RECKONING." The ignorance of the Jewish method of computing periods of days and nights and their contemporary colloquialisms lead those who believe in the 72-hour entombment to make a serious mistake about Yeshua's statement, and they proceed to make much the same mistake about his prophecy that he would be three nights in the tomb as well. Notes John Gilchrist: "The expression three days and three nights is the sort of expression that we never, speaking English in the twentieth century, use today. We must obviously therefore seek its meaning according to its use as a Hebrew colloquialism in the first century and are very likely to err if we judge or interpret it according to the language structure or figures of speech in a very different language in a much later age" (What Indeed Was the Sign of Jonah?).

YEHOVAH God has seen to it that these two IMPORTANT WORLD EVENTS -- the crucifixion and the resurrection -- have been well witnessed! The Messiah’s healing and miracles had attracted a large following. People were interested in him wherever he went. On the day of his crucifixion a large multitude was present (Matthew 27:24).

Since the Messiah said he would rise the third day the chief priests and Pharisees took great precautions to see that his body did not disappear by being stolen by the disciples, so a guard was set and a great stone was rolled over the sepulcher entrance (Matthew 27:63-66).

The Messiah’s body did disappear though! The Messiah was resurrected as a spirit being! He had been RESURRECTED from the dead THE THIRD DAY and Mary Magdalene (John 20:1, 14), the disciples (John 20:19), and after that about 500 people saw him at one time! (I Corinthians 15:6). Later -- in the summer -- a large number of Israelites gathered in Jerusalem from all over the ancient world to observe Pentecost and await the coming of the holy spirit (Acts 2:1-4).

From this point, the news "of the resurrection was spread by the apostles" (Acts 4:2) and their converts. Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, says that the resurrection is one of the best authenticated facts in all history. Also, Gibbon says "...it is no wonder that so advantageous an offer [resurrection and eternal life], should have been accepted by great numbers of every religion..."

MANY ISRAELITES IN THE WORLD OF THAT DAY WERE CONVINCED OF THIS RESURRECTION TO A DIFFERENT TYPE OF BEING -- to immortal life in the family of YEHOVAH God!

You have probably been taught that you have been born with an immortal soul which goes immediately to heaven, purgatory or hell when you die. This is NOT TRUE! YOUR BIBLE DOES NOT TEACH IT! "The first man is of the earth, earthy" (I Corinthians 15:47).

The SAME Hebrew word "NEPHESH" which means fleshly life -- whether of animal or man -- was translated "creature" in Genesis 1:24, where it was associated with animals, and "soul" in Genesis 2:7, where the Bible speaks of man becoming a LIVING SOUL!

In other words, both animal and man are composed of ONE THING -- the SAME THING -- MORTAL FLESH, and, as born into this world, one has no more an immortal soul inside him than the other! (Ecclesiastes 3:19,20.) No one would contend that any beasts are in purgatory or eternal torment.

Another passage, that shows that ANYONE THAT DIES GOES TO HIS GRAVE AND IS THERE NOW, is Acts 2:29 which shows that David is now in his sepulcher, "...David...is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day."

Now notice this: if people are in heaven, purgatory or hell, where most preachers today say they are, then they are STILL ALIVE; THEREFORE THEY COULD NOT BE RESURRECTED -- for the very word "resurrection" itself implies that those resurrected were dead!

Therefore a resurrection is necessary if an Israelite person who once died is brought to life again! Otherwise we of Israel could not attain immortality and YEHOVAH God would be defeated in His main purpose of giving salvation to His people Israel and creating spirit beings. But those of us of Israel do have this hope of a resurrection.

"There shall be a resurrection of the dead [of Israel], both of the just and unjust" (Acts 24:15). Paul said this when he was being tried before Felix. Do you grasp the meaning of this? Everyone of Israel is going to be resurrected!

"The hour is coming, in which all [those of Israel] that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [judgment]" (John 5:28, 29). Daniel 12:2 gives the same thought -- a resurrection for everyone of Israel!

NOW YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN FOR A SURPRISE! Undoubtedly you are going to learn of one resurrection that you never heard of before and possibly two or three! Yet they are in YOUR BIBLE. The things that are in the BIBLE are just not being taught today!

The FIRST resurrection of YEHOVAH's people Israel TO IMMORTALITY that has ever occurred in this world (except the Messiah’s), will occur when YEHOVAH God comes at the LAST TRUMP. I Thessalonians 4:16-17 describes this:

But these Israelites will go immediately to Jerusalem to start their 1000-year rule with YEHOVAH God and the Messiah. Read Zechariah 14.

This is the resurrection just ahead now! I Corinthians 15:51 through 56 describes this same resurrection and Revelation 11:15 describes the blowing (sounding) of the "last trump" which ushers this period in.

The JUST DEAD OF ISRAEL will be raised by the power of YEHOVAH God. These are those Israelites WHO HAVE REPENTED (i.e. turned from their former ways), been baptized, received the GIFT of the HOLY SPIRIT and were overcomers to the end (Acts. 2:38 and Romans 8:11).

NOTE! This HOLY SPIRIT is a GIFT that is given ONLY TO THOSE OF ISRAEL WHO QUALIFY TO RECEIVE IT!

Of this resurrection, Revelation 20:6 says, "Blessed is he that hath part in the FIRST RESURRECTION: on such the SECOND DEATH [i.e. the eternal death] hath no power..."

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them..." (Revelation 20:4). This is the resurrection to the SPIRIT FORM (I Corinthians 15:44) just described. Now notice verse 5, "...but the REST OF THE DEAD [OF ISRAEL] LIVED NOT AGAIN UNTIL THE THOUSAND YEARS WERE FINISHED" -- all but the SAINTS of Israel remain dead through the 1000 Years! There are no resurrections in the millennium of those who died before the thousand years began.

A thousand-year period follows YEHOVAH God's return and during this time YEHOVAH RULES THIS EARTH (Isaiah 11:11-16; Jeremiah 31:1-18; Ezekiel 36). This one thousand years is the time represented by the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:34 and Exodus 23:16) in YEHOVAH GOD’S HOLY DAYS. It is a time when YEHOVAH God REALLY BEGINS IN EARNEST TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL WHO LIVE IN THE END OF THIS AGE AND INTO THE WORLD TOMORROW!

At the end of the thousand years, during which time YEHOVAH God has been ruling the world and the earth has been full of the knowledge of the ETERNAL (a condition that certainly has not been present up to now), there will be another resurrection!

Matthew 13:24 through 30 and verses 36 through 42 (the parable of the tares), describe this HARVEST! Note verse 30: "Let both grow together until the harvest."

Also note verse 39 "...the harvest is the end of the age" -- or consummation of this age -- the one thousand-year age and the time of RESURRECTION which will follow. Matthew 25:31 to 24 describes the salvation of Israel during the millennium and this RESURRECTION also!

Now you are REALLY GOING TO GET A SURPRISE! Yet it is only WHAT YOUR OWN BIBLE TELLS YOU if YOU WILL READ IT!

Most of you have been told by the churches ever since you could remember that if anyone is NOT SAVED IN THE PRESENT LIFE then he is ETERNALLY LOST!

But what about all those MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF ISRAELITE PEOPLE back there who were BORN BEFORE THE MESSIAH’S TIME WHO NEVER HAD THE CHANCE OF SALVATION because the Messiah had not yet come to MAKE IT AVAILABLE?

REMEMBER this important biblical fact. Salvation is only possible through the name of Yeshua the Messiah of Nazareth. Notice Acts 4:12, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Revised Standard Version). Other passages in the New Testament express the very same principle. Note an important verse in Paul's first letter to Timothy: "For there is ONE GOD [YEHOVAH], and there is one mediator between God and men, the MAN Jesus Christ" (I Timothy 2:5, RSV). The gospel of John puts it in a slightly different manner. "Truly, truly, I say unto you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in another way, that man is a thief and a robber...Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers...I AM THE DOOR; if any one [of Israel] enter by me, he will be saved..." (John 10:1, 7-9, RSV).

It is ONLY through the Messiah that those of us of Israel may be saved. The Bible says, "If the spirit [the holy spirit] of him [YEHOVAH God the Father] that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ...shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:11). But the holy spirit from the Father was not generally available to all of Israel until after the Messiah ascended.

The Messiah had to ascend unto heaven first! Yeshua said in John 16:7 "For if I go not away the comforter [the holy spirit] will not come in unto you." The holy spirit FIRST CAME TO THIS EARTH TO BE AVAILABLE TO ALL OF ISRAEL in the summer after the Messiah was crucified! It came on the day of PENTECOST (Acts 2:1-4).

These MILLIONS ARE NOT LOST FOREVER! They NEVER were called to be saved! YEHOVAH God is a JUST GOD and He has PROVIDED A WAY whereby they CAN BE SAVED!

Also, what about the great number of Israelites since the Messiah’s day who have shown very little interest in religion and have died? ARE THEY LOST FOREVER? No, because they have never had a chance of salvation. They are blinded. YEHOVAH God is NOT trying to save many of Israel now. He has BLINDED them! Read Romans 11:5, 7, 8, 25. Also Acts 7:42, Isaiah 28:13, Matthew 13:10, 11, 13.

Now notice WHEN YEHOVAH GOD IS GOING TO GIVE THESE PEOPLE THEIR FIRST CHANCE for SALVATION! Note this carefully! You have probably NEVER heard it explained before in its TRUE meaning!

"Ye shall know I am the Eternal, when I have opened your graves...and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land..." (Ezekiel 37:13-14). This is speaking of the ancient northern ten tribes of Israel -- a people who had been scattered among the nations almost 150 years before this was written!

WHEN does this take place? It cannot take place before YEHOVAH God returns to the earth because that will bring about the FIRST RESURRECTION. It WILL NOT take place then but only after one thousand years have elapsed from the time of the first resurrection because, as we have already seen, only the GOOD of Israel will be RESURRECTED then! (Also Revelation 20:5).

Therefore THERE ARE ONLY TWO CLASSES THIS RESURRECTION CAN POSSIBLY REFER TO -- the evil dead of Israel who have knowingly rejected the truth or the dead of Israel who never had a chance! The evil dead of Israel are those who DELIBERATELY DECIDED they did not want to be ruled by YEHOVAH God. There is NO REASON to give them a second chance to attain immortality! They had their chance and turned it down!

Therefore IT IS THE VAST BLINDED MAJORITY OF YEHOVAH'S PEOPLE ISRAEL, WHO NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO ACCEPT YEHOVAH’S WAYS OF LIFE, WHO ARE RESURRECTED!

Read what Revelation 20:11-12 says about this RESURRECTION: "And I saw a great white throne....and I saw the dead, small and great [of Israel] stand before God...." [these people are STANDING -- A RESURRECTION]...and another book was opened, which is the book of life...[they are given LIFE]; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books."

It is the GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT! Even the WORST of the sinners of Israel who never had a chance will be in this RESURRECTION, for even the inhabitants of SODOM will be there! "When thy sisters Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou [Jerusalem, refer to Ezekiel 37]...shall return to your former estate" (Ezekiel 16:55).

Revelation 20:13-15 describes the FINAL RESURRECTION in which the sea, death, and hell ("Hades" -- the grave) give up their dead to be judged. These are those Israelites who, after being begotten by YEHOVAH God, rebelled, and those of Israel who have lived contrary to YEHOVAH’s way of life and have refused to repent, be baptized and thus, receive the gift of the holy spirit. These are cast into the lake of fire which is described in verse 14 as the SECOND DEATH.

At first glance it seems strange that there are so many resurrections, but let us examine. YEHOVAH God the Father is forming a spirit family of His very own from His people Israel here on this earth, but He is also seeing to it that those of us of Israel develop into BEINGS OF CHARACTER -- beings that can ULTIMATELY BE TRUSTED WITH the GREAT POWER THAT YEHOVAH GOD WILL GIVE US!

This will take TIME in order that the Israelite man may learn that HIS (MAN’S) OWN WAYS of doing things, guided by his own natural tendencies, ARE WRONG and that he MUST be guided by YEHOVAH’s laws in ALL his activities or only WRETCHEDNESS and DEATH will result! We are just starting to see the terrible end results now of man’s own way of running this earth!

YEHOVAH God is going to enlarge His KINGDOM gradually. An increasing number of Israelites will be given immortality at each resurrection. Only those Israelites who qualify to become a spirit being and are changed into spirit can enter into this kingdom; for I Corinthians 15:50 says "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God."

Matthew 13:31-32 describes the manner of growth of this kingdom: "The kingdom of heaven [or Kingdom of YEHOVAH God] is like to a grain of mustard seed...which is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among the herbs, and becometh a tree."

Only ONE person has been born into this Kingdom so far -- that is Yeshua the Messiah. This was done by his resurrection to immortality (Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:18).

These resurrections of Israelites to immortality which are to GIVE BIRTH to the rest of the citizens of this spirit kingdom have not started yet, but will start at YEHOVAH's return! When these do start, there will be a shorter space between each succeeding resurrection.

Those of us of Israel who are transformed into spirit beings, will be used to govern the mortal being here on this earth. These spirit beings of the KINGDOM will be rulers, priests, and judges (Revelation 1:6; 20:4; I Corinthians 6:2). Ultimately ALL mortal men of Israel MUST be in this SPIRIT KINGDOM or CEASE TO EXIST! All of the Bible does start to MAKE SENSE ONCE YEHOVAH GOD’S PLAN IS UNDERSTOOD!

No wonder the apostles -- who were all witnesses to the resurrection of the Messiah to immortality (Acts 2:32; 3:15) -- were so joyous that they went diligently up and down the land preaching this hope.

The apostles had the Old Testament Scriptures to read -- they knew that David had said there would be a resurrection. They knew that Isaiah had later said the same thing. They also knew that Job had spoken of a resurrection from the dead to immortality. The Messiah had told them time and again "He must....be killed and be raised again the third day" to immortality (Matthew 16:21). It was too great a thing for them to comprehend. For even when told he had been resurrected, "they [still] knew [the Greek word for "knew" means "comprehend"] NOT the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead" (John 20:9).

BUT when the resurrected Messiah soon afterward came back to these same apostles who had witnessed closely his terrible death and remained among them for some time -- "Being seen of them forty days" (Acts 1:3) -- and when they, at the end of this time, saw him ascend into heaven (verse 9 ), they became convinced a resurrection of themselves and all the people of Israel to immortality is possible!

No wonder they were so joyous that they went diligently up and down the land preaching the Good News -- the Gospel -- of a resurrection into the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God! Your belief in a resurrection to eternal life is based on FACT! It is true! Yeshua's Israelite disciples witnessed and recorded for you the resurrection of another MAN of the same flesh as themselves -- the Messiah (Hebrews 3:14). A RESURRECTION CAN HAPPEN TO THOSE OF ISRAEL -- AND IT WILL!

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Preparing the Way for the Return of YEHOVAH God and His Messiah to Rule This Earth!

Hope of Israel Ministries
P.O. Box 853
Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A.
www.hope-of-israel.org

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