The solid, straightforward, Biblical foundation is that death is the total absence of life, that there is no part of a person that “goes to heaven” when he dies and that the dead are actually dead and sleeping in Sheol until Christ’s appearing. We now turn our attention to some sections of Scripture commonly misconstrued to indicate otherwise. Let’s remember that they must harmonize with those parts of God’s Word.
Category: Apostolic Writings
These studies cover the writings by the closest shelakhim (apostles) of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ). Commonly called the “New Testament,” this standard canon includes the four Gospels, the letters and the Apocalypse (Revelation).
“You have heard it said, but I say…” was a common rabbinic phrase used when a rabbi wanted to encourage yeshiva students to dissect and discuss a particular Torah principle. A “problematic” Torah edicts is “eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” etc. Many Christians and Jews are very uncomfortable with this “barbaric” “tit-for-tat” law.
Not coincidentally, Yeshua’s warning about taking oaths in Matthew 5 follows His reminder that God’s allowance for divorce is very narrow. Marriage vows are serious business, and oaths to or referencing God are even more grave.
During this year’s celebration of Sukkot (festival of Tabernacles) and Shmini Atzeret (convocation of the Eighth Day), we’ve been learning from each other and from God’s word and trying to put them together in our hearts. Every feast gives us something a little different. We have to be at first with God before we can be at peace with others. God gives us this shalom.
God requires us to “bear fruit.” This is not optional. Yeshua got so angry at the Pharisees because of their failure to produce righteousness that he said God would give the kingdom of God to another nation that produces it.
Adultery and divorce are rampant problems in modern society, even among the body of believers in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah. Rather than changing the words of Torah, Prophets and Writings on these two topics, Yeshua closes loopholes in interpretations of adultery laws and expands the meaning of adultery, in keeping with other teachings in the Scriptures.
The focus of Isaiah 61 is the status of the poor. Notice there are several similarities between that passage and Yeshua’s “happy are”/“woe to” discourse, commonly known as the Beatitudes.