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| Q.
Sam, the Bible states that we ‘sleep’ in death, and will be resurrected when Yeshua comes back. What is your opinion? Warmly, *Simone A. Simone, I appreciate your question. The Bible teaches “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8) and Paul wrote that he would rather “…depart and be with Messiah” (Phip. 1:23). Upon death, the soul of the believer in Messiah Yeshua does not ‘sleep’, but goes immediately into the presence of the Lord; but, the soul of the non-believer goes immediately to judgment (Heb. 9:27, Luke 16:22-23). The idea of “sleep” in regards to the death of a believer refers to the promise that the believer’s physical body will “awaken” to a new, resurrected body (see 1 Thes. 4:13-18, 1 Cor. 15:51-53). Those who deny the distinction between soul and body, and the biblical teaching that there are material and immaterial aspects of our lives, also teach that the soul sleeps. The Bible, however, teaches that we are made up of both material and immaterial aspects: body, soul and spirit (1 Thes. 5:23). Therefore Paul makes the distinction between the “sleep” of the body, and the blessedness of the soul in the presence of the Lord upon death of the believer. To explain this even further, the “body” is our physical existence, like a house we live in (1 Cor. 5:1-4). At death we are physically separated from this existence. The soul is our personal existence, or self-awareness, sometimes defined as our personality. This includes your intellectual self (intelligence), emotional self (feelings) and your volitional self (will). The “spirit” (Hebrew [ruach] and Greek [pneuma]) is literally wind or breath (see Genesis 6:17) and refers to our spiritual existence, which is the essence of what man is. As spirit beings we are separated from, or dead to, God because of sin (Gen.2:16, Eph. 2:1, Isa. 59:2). The corrupting power of sin influences all that we think, feel and do until a person receives Messiah as their Savior. Then the spirit is made alive (regenerated) to God by faith in Messiah
(Eph. 2:4-5). This is what Messiah referred to as being 'born again' (see John 3:3). One more thing: In John 11:23-26, Yeshua said to Martha, “'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to Him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Yeshua said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?'” Please note the emphatic statement by Messiah, “everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” I believe this is essentially assuring all present believers that the death of the body does not at all mean death or sleep of the soul. Rather, this refers to the ongoing, continuing eternal life in the spirit, and an unbroken relationship with the Lord. In Messiah, our future home is more wonderful than we can imagine, and no one needs to be left out. The question for us is,“Do you believe this?” I hope this is some help on this vital biblical topic. Sam
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