Last year, my elderly cousin, a Conservative/Orthodox Jewish woman, whom I will call Ida, asked me if there was an afterlife.  She had asked the same question of her rabbi and a pastor at her grandson’s wedding (it was an intermarriage).

Here’s what I wrote to Ida…

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Dear Ida:

It’s always wonderful to speak with you!  I am glad Sam and Angela had a beautiful wedding.

You told me a few weeks ago that you asked your rabbi if there was an afterlife.  Then you told me you also asked the same question of the pastor that officiated at the wedding.

Here’s what the Hebrew Scriptures teach:

When King David had a son with Bathsheba (before Solomon) and that first baby was very ill, King David fasted.  Then the baby died.  Afterward King David ate food.  He said to his servants, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the L-RD may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’  “But now he has died; why should I fast?  Can I bring him back again?  I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”  (2 Samuel chapter 12 verses 22-23)  King David obviously knew that the baby went somewhere after his death, and after his own death, he would also go there.

Furthermore, in the twelfth chapter of Daniel the Prophet it says, “Now at that time Michael (the archangel who protects Israel), the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise.  And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.  Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground (i.e. who are dead) will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt…  Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time.  Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand…But as for you, go you way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”  (Daniel chapter 12 verses 1,2,9,10,13)

King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11, “…He has also set eternity in their heart…”

Because He has set eternity in your heart, Ida:  That is why you are asking if there is an afterlife.  Generally we are distracted by daily chores, worries, activities, and fulfilling dreams in this life, and rarely, if ever, think about eternal matters.  However, you have asked one of the most important questions that can be asked!  Yes, there is an afterlife.  The issue is:  Will you, according to the Prophet Daniel, spend eternity in the Holy One of Israel’s presence, or in a place of disgrace and everlasting contempt? What is the basis of “rising to everlasting life” vs. everlasting separation from the Living God?

Here is the answer!

Two thousand years ago there were some Jewish siblings: Lazarus, Martha and Mary.  Lazarus was sick.  Yeshua (Jesus) knew about this.  Then Lazarus died.  “Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.  Martha then said to Yeshua, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.  Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

Yeshua said to her, “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?”

She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Messiah, the Son of God even He who comes into the world.”  (John chapter 11 verses 18-27)

Then, Yeshua proved who He said He was by raising Lazarus from the dead! 

Also, a young Jewish ruler asked Yeshua, “Rabbi, what must I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (Matthew chapter 19 verse 16)

Clearly, two thousand years ago the idea of eternal life and the kingdom of heaven was part of Jewish thought.  The liberal rabbis of today, who discount the authority of the Scriptures, have dismissed this…possibly because of the agony of the Holocaust and the subsequent feeling of being abandoned by the G-d of Israel.

Nicodemus, the Teacher of Israel, came by night to Yeshua, afraid to be seen by his peers in the Sanhedrin.  After telling him that he must be born from above (born again), Yeshua said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (Numbers chapter 21 verses 9-21) even so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life  (John chapter 3 verse 15)  Yeshua takes an event from Jewish history to explain what He came to do.  You see, fifteen hundred years prior, some Israelites were bitten by vipers and died in the wilderness.  Moses was told to make a bronze serpent and set it on a standard.  “And it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.”  Messiah was lifted up on the tree (cross), raised from the dead, and gives eternal life to those who look to (believe in) Him.

Yeshua continues to tell Nicodemus:  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.“  Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John chapter 5 vs. 24)

What is this judgment?

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, everyone according to their deeds.  Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.  This is the second death, the lake of fire.  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation chapter 20 verses 11-15)

All people have sinned and fall short of God’s righteous standard.  The composite of all the sins in this world is reflected in a world that is out of control with pain, violence, separation, poverty, injustice, etc.

However, the good news is the Messiah bore our sins in His body on the tree when He purposefully came to provide atonement for us.  His blood atonement covers our sins, just like the Passover lamb’s blood on the lintel of the doorpost spared every Israelite firstborn who came inside the house, on whose doorposts the blood had been applied. (see “Post #1!”)

“For the penalty of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Yeshua the Messiah.” (Romans 6:23)  Yeshua is the Passover Lamb who delivers from condemnation, all and only those, who believe in Him.

Ida, The Scriptures are clear that there is no other way to obtain eternal life.

During Hanukkah two thousand years ago, Messiah Yeshua said, as recorded in John chapter 10 verse 18, “No man takes My life, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.  This commandment I received from My Father.” So much for the outrageous history of blaming Jews for the killing of Christ. Incidentally, please read Acts 4: 27-28 which clearly states who is indeed responsible, humanly speaking, for His death–”Herod (a convert to Judaism; Pontius Pilate–a Gentile; the Gentiles, and the people of Israel to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.”  Wow!  The God of Israel predestined the Messiah to be put to death for the sins of all people.

This correlates with what we read in Isaiah chapter 53:  “It pleased Yahveh to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see his offspring, He will prolong his days…”  This Messiah would be the guilt offering for Israel and the nations.  He would then see and have his days prolonged, clearly speaking of resurrection!. 

There is a lot here, Ida.  The main thing is the Good News:  The God of Israel loves you and your family.  He is offering you and them eternal life.  But an offer does not take effect until there is an acceptance of that specific offer.  This is a legal transaction resulting in grace and eternal life!  If anyone would come to Him, it must be completely on His terms and not our own! His terms are stated in Romans chapter 10, “That if you confess with your mouth Yeshua is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation, for the Hebrew Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’”

For thirty four years I have prayed for you, almost daily.  If the nature of life and death; and these issues of eternal life and appearing before the Living God, either on our own merits/good works which are insufficient because they are tainted, or in the merits of Messiah’s perfect work on the tree, weren’t so serious, I wouldn’t be praying for you, nor would I have written you about what you could see as offensive.

I know if you humble yourself and ask the God of Israel if Messiah Yeshua is in fact the means by which you, Ida, can know you have eternal life when you pass from this place of pain...He will show you.

I love you!

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Some twenty years ago while on business in a rural area, we passed a honey farm.  It was about 4:45 in the afternoon.  The owner said he was closing in fifteen minutes.  We got into a nice conversation, having learned that we attended the same university years before.

Ten minutes into the conversation, an orthodox Jewish man and his wife walked onto the farm.  I could not tell from his clothes if he was Orthodox or Hasidic.  He looked at me.  There I was in short sleeves and slacks.  Normally Hasidic men do not speak with women (other than those in their families), let alone one that is not “appropriately” dressed in a long skirt/dress and long sleeves.  Summoning the courage to speak with him, I asked: “Are you Orthodox or Hasidic?”.  He said, “Hasidic.”  I told him that my ancestors were Hasidic and mentioned the family name.  He said, “I just completed the artistic genealogy of that family name!”  “But, beside being an artist, I am also a rabbi”, he added.

Sensing I was in a “divine appointment” with a Hasidic rabbi in the middle of nowhere, I asked what he thought about Messiah.

“Messiah will come in on a white donkey,” he said firmly.  He then added, “But, we do not know when He will come.”

Tears came to my eyes.  The rabbi thought I was in need of his counsel.  I was overcome with emotion because I saw how my steps had been directed in the middle of nowhere to this rabbi, who under normal circumstances, might never have had the chance to hear about the love of God through Messiah Yeshua.

Through my tears I said, “Rabbi, Messiah has come.  His name is Yeshua.”  I then offered the English translation (Jesus), so he did not think I was speaking about a Messiah named “Joshua”.  (Please note that the names Joshua, Hosea and Isaiah all come from the same Hebrew root, and have the meaning “salvation” or “Yah saves”.  Incidentally, when I was growing up, I thought Jesus was his first name, Christ was his last name, and Mr. and Mrs. Christ had a son, Jesus.  ”Christ” is actually the anglicized form of the Greek “Christos”, which means “anointed one”.  This is translated from the Hebrew word for Messiah, “Mashiach”.  In another post I will discuss how Yeshua of Nazareth was so far removed from his Jewish roots after the first century, that many Jewish people could not recognize or embrace Him as one of their own.)

The rabbi was a little taken aback, but was not hostile.  I asked him, “How would you recognize the Messiah when He came?”  Are you aware that there are many prophetic clues in the Hebrew Scriptures that identify Messiah.  For instance, the Hebrew prophet, Micah, (who prophesied in the 700s BC (BCE))(chapter 5 verse 1 (Hebrew Bible; vs. 2 in other translations)) states the where of Messiah’s birth: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days (literally, ‘eternity’–Hebrew word is “Olam”). The ruler of Israel, was said to be from eternity, and yet was to come out of Bethlehem.  It’s common knowledge that Yeshua was born in Bethlehem.  The Hebrew prophet, Daniel, (chapter 9 verses 24 -27) states the when of Messiah’s coming:  Messiah will be cut off, and then the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed. (summary)  The city is Jerusalem; the sanctuary is the Temple.  Both were destroyed in 70 AD (CE) by the Roman Titus.  Messiah thus had to be “cut off” before 70 AD (CE).  Yeshua was “cut off” in 33 AD (CE).

Back to the story…We spoke for a half hour.  I was able to distill down the main difference between a Messianic Jewish believer in Yeshua, and a Hasid or Orthodox Jew who did not acknowledge Yeshua as the Messiah.  “Basically,” I said, “it breaks down to two things:”

1. I KNOW I have the blood atonement (I know my sins are forgiven and on Yom Kippur every year I don’t have to hope that God forgives me for I have been forgiven completely and forever when I trusted Messiah’s atoning work on my behalf when he was led like a lamb to the slaughter 2000 years ago and died for me, “the Just for the unjust to bring me to God.”) 
2. I also KNOW I have the Ruach HaKodesh, the Spirit of God, living in me. This gift of the Holy Spirit was imparted when thirty five years ago I came into a personal relationship with Yeshua as my Savior and Messiah.

While acknowledging our differences, he then shared what had happened earlier that day:  “My wife took a nap in the afternoon.  About a quarter to five she awakened and insisted we go to the honey farm.  For sixteen years, every summer, we stay at a (Hasidic) camp next door to this farm. In all those years, we have never been to this farm before!”  I replied, “I know that happened because the G-d of Israel loves you and wanted you to hear about Messiah.”  He answered, “Maybe it was to bring you back to Judaism.”  I said, “On the contrary, I know whom I believe…I didn’t find a religion but a person.”

Seven years later I searched and located him.  I sent him one of my Prophetic Regathering of Israel lithographs and a Jeremiah 31 print (these can be seen in our gallery on this site). The latter print contains the words, “Behold, days come saith the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which, my covenant, they broke.  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel:  After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law within them, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for they shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest; for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:31-34 Jewish Publication Society translation.)  Clearly, the basis of “knowing” the LORD is to have the problem of personal sin dealt with.  The basis of forgiveness is through faith in the atonement provided through the death of Messiah Yeshua.

He responded by sending me a six page letter filled with hostility.  Most of it was not against me personally, but directed against the New Testament and people who believe in that book.  This is not hard to understand.  Please note that the Hasidic Jews have suffered greatly over the past few centuries, with whole populations wiped out in Europe during pogroms and the Holocaust.  Clearly this rabbi grouped the perpetrators of the crimes against our people, who claimed to be “Christians”, with the New Testament.  He never read that Yeshua wept over the Jewish people, as did Rav Shaul (also known as the Apostle Paul) who said “I am telling the truth in Messiah, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit), that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Messiah for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the Temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers and from whom is the Messiah according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.”  (Romans 9:1-3)

Readers, I share the same grief.  Pray for the Jewish people, and all people everywhere, to find peace and healing through Messiah.