For a comprehensive study and discussion, see THE DOCTRINE OF SOUL-SLEEPING
Many
Messianics, along with the Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA), Jehovah's
Witnesses (JW), Worldwide Church of God (WCG) and offshoots, and
Christadelphians teach that our spirit is no more than the "breath of
Elohim". Using a number of poetic apssages from the Tanakh or Old
Testament, they subscribe to the doctrine that once the physical body
dies and the 'breath' returns to the Elohim who gave it, we cease to
exist as conscious entities and are known only in the memory banks of
Yahweh. They believe that we will be 'reconstructed' by Yahweh from
these memories as resurrected beings.
This is absolutely not the teaching or belief of this ministry.
We
believe, in common with the bulk of Christendom, that we have an
'immortal' spirit in the sense that so long as that our spirit walks
with and in Messiah that it will remain forever alive and conscious. We
certainly accept that spirits can 'sleep' in the literal sense (not the
Hebraic metaphor for death) because of distance from Yah'shua and
enchantments by demons but we do not believe they are extinct or are
only 'breath'. This is a big subject that is discussed at length on our
website. However, the clincher is Paul who makes it perfectly clear
that at death we go to be with Yah'shua as conscious entities:
"We
are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the
(physical) body and to be present (as a comnscious spirit being) with
the Master (Yah'shua)" (2 Cor.5:8, NKJV).
We will not be absent as thoughts in Elohim's brain but absent as personal , conscious entities present with Yah'shua.
For a more detailed study, see http://www.bible.ca/su-conscious-life-after-death.htm
