Can The Dead Speak To Us?

When man sinned he forfeited his right to live, "for the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). And it is "our Saviour Yahushua, the Anointed, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). Thus, there is hope of everlasting life only in Yahushua (John 3:16).

Creation Of Man

1. Of what was man formed in the beginning?

“Yahuwah Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground.” Genesis 2:7.

Answer: Of the dust of the ground.

2. How was life imparted to the inanimate clay?

“And Yahuwah Elohim breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7.

3. Is the physical life of man any different from that of the beasts?

“They have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast.” Ecclesiastes 3:19.

When man was created, his body was first formed of dust. Then Yahuwah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living, thinking, feeling, active being. Yahuwah called him a living soul. He did not exist before.

When man dies, the simple opposite of the creative process takes place. Says the Bible, "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4). The breath of the spirit of life of all men, good and bad, returns to Yahuwah. Yahuwah also takes back the breath of life from animals, as you have read. Solomon rejects the theory that man's spirit goes upward and a beast's spirit downward (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21).

Answer: All living creatures die the same way as man (see Psalm 104:26-29).
 

4. In what way does death come about?

A. Yahuwah requires of man the spirit of life.

“Yahuwah said unto him. This night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Luke 12:20.

B. Man surrenders the spirit of life.

“Yea, man gives up the ghost, and where is he?” Job 14:10.

“The spirit shall return unto Elohim who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:7.

5. What process of dissolution thereafter takes place?

“Man dies, and wastes away.” Job 14:10. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was.” Ecclesiastes 12:7.

6. How does Job describe the condition of man in death?

“He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down: he flees also as a shadow, and continues not.” Job 14:2.

7. Who only has immortality?

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise Yahuwah, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” “Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Master of masters; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” 1Timothy 1:17; 6:15, 16.

Answer: Yahuwah.

The Soul

8. What is a "soul"?

"And Yahuwah Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7.

Answer: A soul is a living being. A soul is always a combination of two things: body plus breath. A soul cannot exist unless body and breath are combined. Yahuwah's Word teaches that we are souls.

9. Do souls die?

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:20. "Every living soul died in the sea." Revelation 16:3.

Answer: According to Yahuwah's Word, souls do die! We are souls, and souls die. Man is mortal (Job 4:17). Only Yahuwah is immortal (1 Timothy 6:15, 16). The concept of an undying, immortal soul goes against the Bible, which teaches that souls are subject to death.

NOTE: In the Bible, the dead are never represented as being capable of a conscious existence apart from the body. Even the animals became living souls when the breath of life entered their bodies at creation. In Genesis 1:30, we read: "To every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life." The marginal rendering of "life" is "a living soul."

In Revelation 16:3, the animals of the sea are called living souls (nephesh chaiyah). This same expression is used in Genesis 1:20-21, 24, in referring to the animals as "the moving creature that hath life," "every living creature," and "the living creature." Thus animals are called "living souls," or nephesh chaiyah. This is the identical expression used in Genesis 2:7, when man became a 'living soul" (nephesh chaiyah). At death, this breath leaves man.

10. Do the dead retain any of the mental faculties after they die?

A. They have no knowledge of Yahuwah.

"In death there is no remembrance of Thee." Psalm 6:5.

B. They cannot worship Yahuwah.

“The dead praise not Yahuwah, neither any that go down into silence.” Psalm 115:17.

C. They have no emotions.

“Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any [thing] that is done under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:6.

D. The dead are not capable of pleasure of pain.

“Neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” Ecclesiastes 9:5.

“There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.” Job 3:17.

E. They have no knowledge of anything.

“The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.” Ecclesiastes 9:5.

F. They have no thoughts.

“His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Psalm 146:4.

The mental faculties did not exist before Yahuwah breathed life into man, and they stop entirely when the man dies. When the electric current is turned off, the bulb is there, but light is gone.

Answer: No.

NOTE: What, then, is death? The answer of the Bible is simple and explicit. It is the opposite of life. It is a return to what man was before Yahuwah breathed into him the breath of life. Death is the withdrawal of life and all that it implies. Life implies thought and consciousness. In death there is neither thought nor consciousness. Life suggests activity. Death means the cessation of activity. In death all connection with life is broken off.

11. What else is absent from the abode of the dead?

A. No light.

“A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.” Job 10:22. “Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death.” Job 10:21.

B. No sound.

“The dead... go down into silence.” Psalm 115:17.

12. Communication with the Dead: Can the dead communicate with the living? ...Can the dead speak to us?

"His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:21.

Answer: Yahuwah condemns attempts to communicate with the dead. Read Deuteronomy 18:9-12. Attempts to communicate with the dead are considered by Yahuwah as an "abomination." According to Bible prophecy, spiritism is to have a great revival in these last days, but it is not of Yahuwah (1 Timothy 4:1).

13. What terms are used to indicate that death is a temporary condition?

In the Bible, death is referred to as "sleep" fifty-four times illustrating that the dead have no consciousness.

A. The dead only fall asleep.

“He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Master, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Acts 7:60. “These things said He: and after that He said unto them, Our friend Lazareth sleeps.” John 11:11.

B. They rest.

“There the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.” Job 3:17, 18.

14. Where is the sleeping chamber of the dead?

“Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.” Job 21:32. “If I wait, the grave is mine house.” Job 17:13.

Answer: The grave.

15. Is there any separation between the righteous and the wicked in the sleep of death?

“All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” Ecclesiastes 3:20.

Answer: No.

16. What distinction, however, is retained in the mind of Yahuwah between the righteous and the wicked?

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Master.” Revelation 14:13.

“If we believe that Yahushua died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Yahushua will Yahuwah bring with Him.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14.
 

Resurrection Unto Life

17. Who will awaken the dead out of their sleep and when?

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Yahuwah: and they that hear shall live.” John 5:25.

Answer: Yahushua, at the second coming.

NOTE: Yahushua did not teach that we receive either reward or punishment at death, but that the dead wait unconscious in the tomb until the human race comes to the end of its day of grace. Then, in “the last day,” He will return to the earth in triumph to call forth all the righteous dead in glorious resurrection from their earthy beds.

18. What will the sleepers at the appointed time do?

“Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2.

“As in Adam all die, even so in the Anointed shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order.” 1 Corinthians 15:22, 23.

Answer: The dead will be resurrected some to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt.

NOTE: If Adam and Eve had proved faithful, they and their posterity would finally have been made immortal, and this earth in the Edenic condition would have been their eternal home. When they transgressed, they were shut away from the tree of life, and as a consequence died in process of time. Being mortal, their death was complete, covering both soul and body. Once in their graves, they would have remained there forever had it not been for the atonement of Yahushua, which secured a resurrection from the dead for all men.

19. Of what was the resurrection of Yahushua a token?

“Now is the Anointed risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.” 1 Corinthians 15:20.

Answer: A token of the resurrected righteous at the second coming.

20. How is the resurrection of the righteous dead described by Paul?

“The Master Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of Yahuwah: and the dead in the Anointed shall rise first.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16.

21. What will be the signal for the resurrection?

A. Trumpet of Yahuwah.

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:52.

B. Voice of Yahushua.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Yahuwah: and they that hear shall live. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.” John 5:25-29.

22. What question relating to the resurrection body did Paul anticipate?

“Some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” 1 Corinthians 15:35.

23. How does Paul explain the relation between the earthly and resurrection bodies?

“All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.” 1 Corinthians 15:39, 40.

24. In what way will it differ from the earthly body?

“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” 1 Corinthians 15:44-46.

25. How much more glorious will the resurrection body be?

A. Incorruptible.

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye: ... the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15: 52.

B. Immortal.

“When . . . this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15: 54.

NOTE: What a body that will be! Immortal, incorruptible! No marks of disease or age, no scars of sin, will mar that glorious frame. “Man is at last what Yahuwah originally intended him to be.”

26. In whose likeness will it be fashioned?

“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.” Philippians 3:21.

27. While not desiring death, for what may we yearn?

“In this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” 2 Corinthians 5:2.

28. What experience will come to the living righteous immediately following the resurrection of the righteous dead?

“Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51.

29. From whence will the resurrected and translated saints be gathered and by whom?

“He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:31.

30. Where will they be taken?

“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Master in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Master.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

31. How long after the resurrection of the righteous will the wicked remain dead?

“The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Revelation 20:5.

NOTE: An interval of one thousand years will separate the resurrection of the wicked from the resurrection of the righteous. This period, commonly known as the “millennium,” is dealt with in Lesson: “The Rapture And A thousand Years of Peace.”

32. From whence will the wicked dead come?

“The sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” Revelation 20:13.
 

33. For what will they be finally raised?

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before Yahuwah; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:11-15.

NOTE: The first resurrection is a resurrection to immortal, incorruptible, and endless life. The second is a resurrection for judgment. The life conferred by the first resurrection is forever. The life of those who will be raised in the second resurrection is but for a brief season, to be finally taken away in “the second death” (Rev. 20:14) from which there is no return.

34. In what resurrection, therefore, should we, by grace, seek to have part?

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” Revelation 20:6.

35. How may we attain unto the resurrection of life?

“He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.” Revelation 2:11.