Part B

The term “sleep” when it is used of death is in reference to the body. Whenever the Bible speaks of death in the sense of sleep it is always used of the physical body and not the soul, because the appearance of a sleeping body and a dead body look very much the same. The term “sleep” is never applied to the soul or the spirit , but only the body. The soul and the spirit continue to exist after death. whenever the Bible uses the term “sleep” in reference to death of the body. It is never used of the unbelievers in the New Testament. It is a term used only of believers which shows Yahweh's viewpoint of the death of a believer. From Yahweh's perspective the death of a believer is a temporary suspension of physical activity. For example, in physical sleep there is a temporary suspension of physical activity until one wakes up, but there is no suspension of the activity of the mind, the soul or spirit, and the sub-consciousness keeps operating (as in Lk.16:19-36 death is not a cessation of existence for either the rich man or Lazarus.)
Yah'shua's own word's teach that there is an existence of rest and reward for the faithful and certain types of punishment and torment for those who are evil. In Lk.16 the story of the rich man and Lazarus, which is not a parable. The Master would begin by saying he spoke to them in a parable, he did not use proper names as he did in this story (There was a certain man named Lazarus). However even if we were to grant this to be a parable, do we find any parable that did not tell the truth about the subject matter using illustrations for a real event? When the rich man died and was buried he spoke of being tormented in flame. It describes some type of heat that did not destroy him but made it extremely uncomfortable as he is existing in some type of form. He had his intelligence emotions and he could see, hear and speak as he asked for his family to be warned. He was still alive as he spoke, thirsted and remembered his family asking Abraham to send Lazarus to warn them so they would not end up in this PLACE of torment. (This word torment is used 5 times in the thirteen versus certainly making the point of how real it is).
So how can a spirit be able to do the same things he does in the body? Angels/Malakim (both good and bad) are spirits and they certainly can see, hear, speak. The Bible does not give us much information about man after he dies. What we do know is that communication even among those in heaven requires much like we have here on earth, so any argument refusing this capability is going against what Messiah said as a reality.
Mt. 10:28: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Also Lk.12:4-5) After he has killed the body but not the soul/spirit? How is this possible if they are the same? If the soul/spirit and the body refer to the same thing then wouldn’t the soul/spirit die when the body does? Yahweh distinguishes the dual natures in man. Man's body is clearly not the same as his soul/spirit. Yah'shua himself taught in Mt. 10:28 there is a difference between the body of man and his soul/spirit by using the word both. When a person dies physically his soul lives. Yah'shua is distinguishing the material and non material and says although the body can be killed the soul/spirit cannot. “But are NOT ABLE to kill the soul/spirit.” Neither is the soul/spirit the body or the body the soul/spirit, they are different components of the same person. So if the body is killed the soul/spirit is not dead, it continues in its life. So then what does he mean by “fear Him who is able to destroy both soul/spirit and body.” The Greek word here is Apollumi it does not mean to bring to utter destruction or ceasing to exist. This same Greek word is used of those living in Mt.10:6 (lost), Mt.15:24 the lost); Lk.19:10 (that which is lost). So this means to be in a lost condition, in context those in Hell that are in a eternally lost state, separated from Elohim for all eternity. This also refutes any teaching of annihilationism, that we don’t exist after we die. Yah'shua says we do.
Moses' appearance at the Mount of Transfiguration proved one exists after they die. Mt. 17:1-8 and Luke 9:28-36 are just a few of the passages on the transfiguration where we find Moses and Elijah appearing on the Mount with Yah'shua. Moses who died and was buried has his spirit speaking to Messiah along with Elijah who never died. Elijah was taken to heaven alive while Moses died a physical death, yet, Moses is consciously alive just like Elijah. Moses couldn't have been resurrected, because Messiah is to be the firstfruits of the resurrection and he had not risen yet. He had to die first. So this proves that Moses' spirit continued to exist after he died.
In response to those that teach the soul sleeping doctrine, the existence of angels shows that spirits can and do live and function apart from bodies. One of the reasons that people come to the conclusion that soul sleep is true is because they believe that disembodied spirits cannot function without a body. The existence of angels shows that spirit beings can and do live and exist apart from physical bodies (Hebrews 1:14). Man is both Body and Spirit.
Elohim is Spirit we are told man was created in his image and likeness. Yah'shua said we would worship the Father in Spirit and truth. We need a spiritual nature to do this, only man was created like this and has this ability. When Adam was warned of the day he ate of the tree he certainly would die. He didn’t die physically but spiritually. He still existed but it meant a break, a separation in his relationship. If we read such passages as the Ezek. 18:4: “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul that sinneth, it shall die (which is to sleep according to those who hold to the soul sleep doctrine). This means that it is spiritual death a separation- not non-existence, otherwise they would cease to exist as soon as they sin. There are many scriptures that say the soul/spirit is dead even when someone is alive.” Rom. 8:10 And if Messiah is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Ruach/Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Are we really dragging a dead body around? Can we actually believe that if someone sinned their soul went to sleep or out of existence when they were alive? Were they walking around with a dead soul and an alive body. How did the soul revive?
The body “sleeps” and goes back to dust. The following verses refer to the state of the body in death as sleep: Matthew 9:24: “He began to say, “Depart; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they were laughing at Him.”
The term sleeping is used only of believers showing a rest, a temporary cessation of physical activity. Rom. 8:23 It is the body we wait to be resurrected not our spirit or soul. Just as in 1 Cor.15 :3 15-20 speaks of Messiah as the first fruits that slept, Referring to his body vs.35-38 speaks of how the dead are raised up. What you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain…but Elohim gives it a body as he pleases and to each seed its own body. Paul goes on to explain in vs.42-54 that the natural will be transformed to a spiritual type of body (for more on this > flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of heaven)
A promised was made to the converted dying thief by Yah'shua when he was on the cross (Lk. 23:42). “Verily I say unto you, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” Some claim this is not correct in its punctuation and the comma should be before the today as if Yah'shua is meant “today I'm saying this to you.” But there are no commas found in the Greek writing to give weight to this. Besides Yah'shua is answering the thief who was asking to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. This would mean Yah'shua went into soul sleep as well. Did Yah'shua lie when he said to the thief today you will be WITH ME in paradise? For if either Yah'shua or the thief went out of existence then his statement was not true. Then the question is who was resurrected?
Then those who hold to the deity of Messiah and soul sleep at the same time have to really stretch the Scriptures. For it was Yah'shua who said in Jn.2:19 He would raise up his own body, an impossible task to do if you no longer existing after death. For the Scripture states after he died he went and proclaimed his victory to the spirits in prison who were there since the time of the flood (1Pt.3:19-20).
Yah'shua meant that very day he and the thief would be united together in paradise otherwise there is no significance to the statement if it is left to some unknown future time.
Abraham's bosom (Paradise) is no longer located in the earth as it was in the Old Testament prior to Yah'shua's ascension. We find Paul was caught up to paradise (2 Cor.12:4) the third heaven. In Scripture there are three heavens described, as in Gen.1:1 Elohim made the heavens and the Earth. Elohim is called the possessor of the heavens (plural) and the earth. 1) Acts 14:17 “Elohim gave you rain from heaven.” This is our immediate atmosphere surrounding earth (Gen.1:20; Mt.5:20). 2) There is the celestial heaven, the place of the sun the moon and stars (Gen.1:14) and the place where principalities and powers are (Eph.6:12, Eph.2:2 possibly some overlapping in this with the first heaven.) 3) is called the heaven of heavens where Elohim's throne is and where He dwells (Heb.8:1). Yah'shua prayed to the Father in heaven (Mt.6:9). This is the place Paul called Paradise and where John was taken to (Rev.4:1). Lk.24:51; Acts 1:9-11, Heb.7:55-60 show us Yah'shua is in heaven, Paradise and the righteous dead are all associated with this place as well. It is the current place where believers go directly into his presence at death (Eph. 4:8-10; 2 Cor. 5:8).
We find in Eph.4 Jesus descended first into “the lower parts of the earth he then ascended on high” bringing a multitude with him (upward to be with him). So since Messiah ascended all go upward to be with HIM.
This is the Scripture that is consistently neglected by those who promote soul-sleep. As in Phil.1:23 Paul states to be with Messiah is far better and to die is gain. But I live in the flesh… For I am hard pressed between the two having a desire to depart and be with Messiah which is far better nevertheless, to be in the flesh is more needful for you.” What does Paul mean by I live in the flesh if he is not referring to the body... To die is gain. This would hardly be so, it would be a loss if one ceases to be alive. How could this be far better, is non existence better than existence? How could this be better if one does not continue to live after. And notice he says he departs to be with Messiah. This would be impossible if we go to sleep in the ground with the body, unless Yah'shua is in the ground too. When a believer dies their spirit goes to be with the Master in heaven.” In Phil. 1:23-24, Paul states that he desired to depart to be with Messiah, which is far better. Messiah is in heaven, He's not in the ground, so if this was soul-sleep, he being with Messiah, Messiah would have to be in the ground.
2 Cor. 5:1-8 V.5 Paul writes when our earthly house is destroyed (our body) we have another building that is eternal in heaven built of Elohim.V.4 while we are in this tent we groan looking to be further clothed. Examining this carefully we find Paul believed our Spirit /soul existed without the body. The very point he makes about we are in this tent, we groan to be clothed which is in heaven. There is an intermediate state before we have the resurrection where we are united with our former body that is transformed to house us permanently.
He sums it all up in verse 8 saying, “we are always confident knowing that while we are home in the body we are absent from the Master. and he goes on to say to be absent from the body is to be present with the Master.” Obviously something survives that has life after the body dies. What is absent when one dies? The soul/spirit. It becomes separated. Where is the Master? In heaven. And that is exactly where Paul said all who die in Messiah are headed. When all our earthly tent is dissolved, we can be assured that we will be in the presence of the One we serve and we love here on earth. We will be further clothed. We are immediately ushered into our new home like moving from one city to the next. in 2 Peter 1:13, Peter talks about putting off his tabernacle, or tent, calling it a temporary dwelling place. The person who is the spirit (soul -personality) leaves the body. The very meaning of death means that the believer enters immediately into Yahweh's presence. That is the clear teaching of Scripture, that upon death, the believer enters where Messiah is. So to be absent from the body is to be present with the Master, death to the righteous means to be WITH Messiah. Unfortunately there are some who are not confident. Messiah is in heaven and so all believers go by his grace to be where He is.
Stephen in Acts 7 when he was stoned states he fell asleep. Does this mean his soul became unconscious? The term sleep is used only of believers not unbelievers. As death is a temporary suspending of our physical activity on earth but not of our Spirit. V.59 Stephen looked upward and cried out, Master receive my spirit. How can he receive it if its going to sleep in the ground? The Bible says this he said truthfully, being filled with the Ruach haQodesh/Holy Spirit. The Greek is explicit in that there is an urgency as in, receive it right now. There was no temporary stop over for Stephen. Just as Yah'shua committed his Spirit to the Father, Stephen committed his Spirit to the Son.
Heb.11 has the hall of the faithful who died Heb 12:1 tells us we are surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses. What kind of witnesses are these? Living ones who went before us. V.23 “to the general assembly and Assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to Elohim the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.” (the word for witnesses means those who are able to testify which certainly mean living ones).
Yah'shua taught that he is the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Elohim of the living, not of the dead, referring to Moses at the burning bush. The purpose was to prove life exists beyond death, that Elohim is still (not was) the Elohim of the living. That the Saints/set-apart ones of old were still alive “for all live unto Him.” This silenced the Sadducee’s who challenged Him on this matter because they did not believe in an afterlife and it should do the same for those Sadducees today who say that a soul/spirit cannot live after the body dies.
Acts 23:8: “For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, no angels or spirit.” In other words not in body or spirit. Yah'shua refuted their teachings saying he was the Elohim of the living not the dead. Josephus wrote in antiquities b.28:4 “The doctrine held by the Sadducees is this, that the souls/spirits die with the bodies.” Exactly what 7th day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses and some Messianics believe. Yah'shua refuted them by saying, Elohim is the Elohim of the living not the dead. As Josephus wrote “They take away the belief of the immortal existence of the soul/spirit and the punishment and rewards of Hades. (War b. 8:14)
In Jn.11:25-26 Yah'shua said “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoever liveth and Believeth in me shall NEVER die. Here is the blessed assurance that one will live forever, that one possesses a present life that will continue forever, never die.
The early believers upheld the teaching of scripture many of those who were the apologists spoke out on this issue as they did on others.
Justin Martyr 150 AD “We have been taught that only they may aim at immortality who have lived a holy and virtuous life near to Elohim. We believe that they who live wickedly and do not repent will be punished in everlasting fire” (First Apology, 21).
Second Clement 150 AD “If we do the will of Messiah, we shall obtain rest; but if not, if we neglect his commandments, nothing will rescue us from eternal punishment” (Second Clement 5:5).
Athenagoras 177 AD “[W]e [Christians] are persuaded that when we are removed from this present life we shall live another life, better than the present one ... Then we shall abide near Elohim and with Elohim, changeless and free from suffering in the soul ... or if we fall with the rest [of mankind], a worse one and in fire; for Elohim has not made us as sheep or beasts of burden, a mere incidental work, that we should perish and be annihilated” (Plea for the Christians 31).
Hippolytus 212 AD “Standing before [Messiah's] judgment, all of them, men, angels, and demons, crying out in one voice, shall say: 'Just if your judgment!' And the righteousness of that cry will be apparent in the recompense made to each. To those who have done well, everlasting enjoyment shall be given; while to the lovers of evil shall be given eternal punishment. The unquenchable and unending fire awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which does not die and which does not waste the body but continually bursts forth from the body with unceasing pain. No sleep will give them rest; no night will soothe them; no death will deliver them from punishment; no appeal of interceding friends will profit them” (Against the Greeks 3).
To the martyr's that died they had immediate glory in Elohim's presence in heaven. To teach otherwise is to go against the whole body of scripture and almost 1500 years of teaching (until of course the reformation where purgatory was ratified). Did they all die with a false teaching of being in heaven?
In the catacombs of Rome are found inscriptions on tombs such as “In Messiah, Alexander is not dead, but lives-his body rests in the tomb.” “Gone to dwell with Messiah.” “One who is lives with Elohim.” I cannot find any instance of soul sleep among the writers (both good or bad) in the first three centuries of the messianic community.)
In agreement Heb. 9:27 states after death, the judgment. In other words the judgment is that one goes either to heaven or to hell, and it is determined at death, not afterwards in a resurrection. So we go to rest and fellowship with the Master, eventually to receive our rewards or to punishment and eternal separation, not to sleep.
In Mt.27:52 The scripture writes that at the time of the resurrection of Yah'shua many Bodies of the saints which slept arose. Notice what slept, the bodies. And the bodies arose, not their souls/spirits. The spirit that continues to exists is put back in the body animating it to life. As Paul states in his teaching on the resurrection of the body (1 Cor.15:15-20) Messiah is the firstfruits of those that slept.
1 Thess. 4:14-18 “For if we believe that Yah'shua died and rose again, even so Elohim will bring with Him those who sleep in Yah'shua. Whether one believes this is the 2nd coming or the rapture (I do not believe in the rapture), the point is made that there are those who come with Yah'shua to be united with their bodies. Since the dead rise first and those who are alive don’t receive a resurrection but a transformation. Vs.15 “For this we say to you by the word of the Master, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Master will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Master Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of Elohim. And the dead in Messiah will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Master.” Where is Yah'shua coming from? Heaven. If Yah'shua is bringing some people with him and they don’t have resurrected bodies yet, doesn’t this mean they are immaterial spirit?. What dead are rising? Certainly this are not those who are alive and remain. The dead are those who bodies are put to sleep. This is exactly what Paul explains in 1 Cor.15:52-54 “the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed (those who are still alive) previously Paul explains the body in vs.35-49 vs.42 so is the resurrection of the dead. The BODY is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.” So resurrection refers to the human body not the soul or spirit, it is the body that sleeps and will be resurrected. As we have seen our hope is to be immediately with the Master, not wait for some undetermined future time.
In conclusion it is the doctrine of soul sleep that needs to be put to death and out of existence.