What Does the Bible Say about Life after Death?

By Amasa George Davis

Are you willing to test whether what you believe is built on sand or stone? Are you absolutely positively sure what you believe is true? Want to find out what the Bible really does say? It just may shock you. It shocked me BIG TIME!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781641913683

Book preview

Introduction

The following studies in no way encompass everything I believe but are meant to only whet what you believe. If I am wrong, show me. I am not perfect, and I am teachable. My goal is NOT to make you believe what I believe but for you to consider what is written and really ponder it, not just gloss over it.

The way to read the Bible is not as a book or novel. It is to be read slowly, out loud, as if someone is talking directly to you. Imagine, if you will, someone who is most dear to you telling you what you are hearing. If you don’t understand a verse, reread it slower, understanding each word you are reading. Look up any word in the dictionary that throws you. Insert a word from the definitions that makes the verse make sense, and then reread it again. Once you understand the verse, go on to the next one, and read as far as you can.

In rehearsing, you generally read aloud what you want to remember or you listen to it over and over. Here’s something that may make your work more efficient. In one experiment, people were asked to either read or listen to a long sequence of numbers then say them back. Those who heard the numbers remembered them longer than people who only saw them, which seems to indicate that auditory memory last longer than visual. However, this is an individual thing. If you hear and see the material at the same time, you more than double your chances of remembering.

(Total Recall: How to Boost Your Memory Power, by Joan Minninger, PhD., copyrighted 1984, ISBN: 0-87857-515-4, page 144, 3rd paragraph under Reinforcement—Writing Things Down or Rehearshing)

You will notice that I repeat the same verses over and over again sometimes. Repetition is a memory process. The verse may also have different ways at looking at something. This doesn’t make it wrong, just different. To me, this shows how great our Creator is. He can take one verse and have so many meanings to it, and none of them is wrong, unless it is interpreted incorrectly. The way to tell if the interpretation is wrong is by comparing it with the rest of the Bible. If the interpretation is in complete agreement with the rest of the scriptures, it is correct. If there are no scriptures to back up the interpretation, it is wrong. It is like looking at a tree. If you take one step to the right, you will see a different perspective, but it is still the same tree. Suppose you took a step to the right until you had circled the tree completely. Each step would have given a different perspective, but still it was the same tree. Now do this in spring, summer, fall, and winter. God gives us deeper understanding of a verse based on what we are learning. No man can do that. Let me give you an example:

Psalm 23:4: – Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Let us just take the highlighted part.

This could mean someone close to you has died and you are standing in the shadow of their death.

This could also mean we are all going to die someday and we are constantly walking in the shadow of our own death.

This could also mean we had a near-death experience in which we were given a glimpse of death but were resuscitated. Thus we were in death’s shadow.

This could also mean we had been dead for days but were then resurrected back to life.

This could also possibly pertain to reincarnation where an individual may have walked through this same valley of death over and over again. (Keep an open mind until you know all of the facts. Making a decision based totally on tradition or what one is taught does not make it right. Know what is right and what is wrong by learning everything you can about it, then you will have no doubt.) An example: suppose you never felt cold or saw snow because you lived on the equator, would cold and snow be wrong? Suppose you live in Antarctica. Would someone who described wearing only shorts all year round, rain, and palm trees be wrong? Another example: history states that a top general of the United States Army was able to defeat Hitler because he learned about Hitler, what he thought and how he reacted. His main source? Mein Kampf (My Struggle), the book Hitler wrote himself about himself. My yardstick is the Holy Bible, King James Version. If it disagrees with what God has had written down for us, it is wrong—period.

Something is in a shadow until it is brought into the light. Suppose an individual did not make it for the first resurrection but is waiting a thousand years to past for the second resurrection. Wouldn’t he be in the shadow of the second death?

Suppose there was a possibility of someone going to Hell instead of going to heaven. Wouldn’t they be in the shadow of death? Hell has been described by some as being dark and gloomy, whereas Heaven is described as being bright almost blinding in light by others.

Suppose we are taking drugs (alcohol, medications, anything else to excess). Couldn’t we be possibly walking in the shadow of death? We could get so rip roaring drunk we pass out and crush our skull or impale ourselves. We could get so high on drugs or overmedicate that we don’t recover. In the act of inebriation or overdosing, wouldn’t we walk in the shadow of death?

Suppose we had a tendency to be a rage driver. Wouldn’t we be in the shadow of death; either our own or someone else’s?

See what I mean? All these examples could be as described, and yet all this is from just eleven words: though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And this is by no means a complete list. We could include driving a car, flying in a plane, the passengers boarding to take a cruise on the Titanic, participating in extreme sports, etc.

This study shows various ways the spirit is called up upon death and ascension and brought down through resurrection and reincarnation. Perhaps the best way to get started is first to briefly determine what life is before discussing in more detail what happens after death.

What Is a Spirit?

¹spir∙it \‘spir-ət \n [ME, fr. OF or L; OF, fr. L spiritus, lit., breath] 1:a life-giving force; also: the animating principle: SOUL

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, copyrighted 1974 by the G. & C. Merriam Company, ISBN: 0-671-52612-X, page 662

Genesis 2:7

And Yahweh God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

My thoughts:

1. The breath of life (spirit) is received from Yahweh God through the nostrils. I wonder if that is also the way every living creature receives life (a spirit) that has nostrils.

Here are some questions you may want to search on the Internet for answers (too complicated and would take too many pages to answer in this study):

What of animals that do not have nostrils with which to breathe? How would they receive life?

How do insects breathe?

How do spiders breathe?

How do fish breathe?

How does octopus breathe?

How do shellfish breathe?

How do crabs breathe?

What of living plants? How do they breathe to receive the breath of life?

2. We are shown in the Bible that humans and animals have the same fate concerning the physical body at death, and we know, through observation, the same thing happens to plants. Inserting plants where humans and animals are mentioned by Solomon also proves to be a true statement (Ecclesiastes 3:19 thru 3:20; 9:1 thru 9:6 and 9:10).

Job 14:12 – So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

Proverbs 2:18 thru 2:19 – (18) For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. (19) None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

My thoughts:

This could exclude plants because there are some that appear to die and disappear from the face of the earth only to reappear in the spring such as jonquils, tulips, crocuses, etc. but this is because they have bulbs and roots that continue to live even after their foliage above ground dies so they really didn’t die. Once the whole plant dies, the above verse would be true.

Ecclesiastes 3:19 thru 3:20 – (19) For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. (20) All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Ecclesiastes 9:1 thru 9:6 and 9:10 – "(1) For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. (2) All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. (3) This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (4) For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. (5) For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. (6) 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.

(10) Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

My thoughts:

The body does not contain what the spirit does. The body is just an old coat thrown aside. It is the spirit that contains the love, hatred, envy, knowledge, wisdom, etc. It is the spirit that animates the old coat (the body), not the other way around. So when the body dies and is put in the grave, it is true it knows nothing, just like an old coat buried in a landfill. It remains as if asleep, unconscious of whether it is day or night, does not see, feel, etc. unless the spirit brings it awake again. But the body can only sleep for so long without the spirit before it decays beyond the point of resurrection.

John 6:63 – It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

It is also true that all remembrance of the individual is forgotten over time. I have even found that an event was forgotten while still alive in this lifetime. I had a misunderstanding with a friend, and it bothered me greatly. When I again met the individual twelve years later, I found that when I asked for their forgiveness, they had forgotten the event ever took place. So how would we expect any remembrance of anything we did to be remembered past the third or fourth generation?

Even houses and buildings we have worked for, cried over, soaked money into repairs and insurance, etc. are torn down or destroyed in our lifetime or shortly thereafter. There are very few places over one hundred years old (that’s about two generations). One hundred years from 2016 (when this was written) is 1916. The house or building was built in 1916 or older. It is even fewer the further back one goes in time. How many houses (not ruins) exist that are five hundred years old? Five hundred years from 2016 (when this was written) is 1516. The United States did not exist in 1516, but there were Native Americans here. As far as I know, there are no old houses that are not ruins. So there would be no remembrance of the builder or the person occupying these dwellings that no longer exist, unless history kept their memory alive. How many people who have lived since the beginning of time has history kept the memory of them alive, a lot fewer than those who have lived and died since the beginning of time?

Isaiah 26:14 – They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

My thoughts:

Remember, the dead being spoken of is the physical body, not the spirit (the soul).

This verse would be incorrect if it pertained to resurrection, but the majority of people are not resurrected at death. Refer to my sub-study to this one, "What Does the Bible Say about Resurrection?" starting on page 227. Isaiah 26:14 is referring to the body of the deceased in general.

3. We are also taught not to touch a dead body of man or of a beast that has died on its own or was killed by another beast because it could result in our own death.

Leviticus 22:4 thru 22:8 – (4) What man so ever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him; (5) Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath; (6) The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water. (7) And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things; because it is his food. (8) That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith; I am Yahweh.

My thoughts:

Why can’t we touch a dead person or animal? Why can’t we eat an animal that has died in a way we don’t know of? We don’t know if the animal died of natural causes or disease. If it were diseased, the disease may be passed on to us if we eat the dead animal. If the animal was torn, something was wrong with the beast that was torn. If the animal was perfect mentally and physically, the predator would not have gotten close enough to tear it. Predators normally catch only those animals that are weak by disease or age. Neither an animal that had died on its own or wounded by another animal would be good for us for food.

What about a deer that you just hit with your car? Why can’t you take it to the butcher and have it for food? You are taking a chance it was diseased, and that is the reason you hit it. I once saw a cat I owned commit suicide by running in front of a truck after being run over by a car. The car had crushed its ribs, and the cat was gasping, and blood was coming out of his mouth when he purposely ran in front of the truck. What if the deer were diseased and purposely ran in front of your vehicle and then you ate it?

My dad and I once ran down a rabbit. I was only in my early teens. I thought it great fun that we caught it. It was obviously getting tired from us chasing it in relay form (I chased it until I got tired, and then Dad would chase it until he got tired and so on), but when the rabbit was showing fatigue, it ran to my dad who quickly grabbed its ears and lifted it from the ground. I was all excited and exclaimed we would have rabbit for supper (this was before I did my study, What Does the Bible Say We Can and Cannot Eat?). My dad corrected me and said no because there was something wrong with this rabbit or we would not have been able to catch it. My dad killed the rabbit and started to skin it. It smelled bad and was eaten up with something that looked like boils and open running sores. Dad burned the rabbit on a brush heap. We then washed our hands in rubbing alcohol, washed them in running water, and washed our hands again in hydrogen peroxide, let our hands air-dry, and washed them again with a good amount of soap and water before eating or drinking anything.

Now hunting and fishing are completely different. We now have the technology to kill an animal that we wouldn’t normally even get close to.

Numbers 5:1 thru 5:4 – (1) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: (3) Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell. (4) And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as Yahweh spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.

Numbers 6:1 thru 6:12 – (1) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto Yahweh: (3) He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. (4) All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. (5) All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto Yahweh, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. (6) All the days that he separateth himself unto Yahweh he shall come at no dead body. (7) He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head. (8) All the days of his separation he is holy unto Yahweh. (9) And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. (10) And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: (11) And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. (12) And he shall consecrate unto Yahweh the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

Numbers 9:6 thru 9:12 – (6) And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: (7) And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of Yahweh in his appointed season among the children of Israel? (8) And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what Yahweh will command concerning you. (9) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (10) Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto Yahweh. (11) The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. (12) They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.

4. ¹soul \‘sōl \n 1: the immaterial essence of an individual life; 2: the spiritual principal embodied in human beings or the universe; 3: an active or essential part; 4: man’s moral and emotional nature; 5: spiritual or moral force

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, copyrighted 1974 by the G. & C. Merriam Company, ISBN: 0-671-52612-X, page 657

Genesis 7:22

All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.

My thoughts:

Could it be the removing from the nostrils the breath of life is what caused them to die? I have noticed when people die, they normally give a sound like a heavy sigh, and immediately afterward, they are considered dead. But I never noticed if the sigh was from their nostrils or through an open mouth. I wonder if it makes a difference where it comes from or if the makeup of the human anatomy makes it a difference.

Job 33:4

The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

My thoughts:

1. The Spirit of God makes us, but we remain dead or unalive until the breath of the Almighty gives us life. Kind of like a man creating an animated toy. But it won’t work until you give it some form of energy by putting batteries in it or plugging it in.

If I remember my science right, I believe I was taught that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. What produces matter is energy becoming compact. The more compact the energy, the more matter appears to be hard. For example, the energy is more compact in a diamond than a tablecloth. It makes no difference if the energy is composing a diamond, a tablecloth, or a physical body, all will become pure energy when the matter is obliterated. The same energy composes ALL THINGS; it just depends on how compact the atoms and molecules are.

As an example, suppose there was a nuclear explosion. Some matter under the explosion would instantly be changed into energy (light, sound, or heat). The energy moving the fastest would be perceived as light (enough to blind someone even with their eyes closed). The next fastest would be a sonic blast of sound (energy fast enough to throw people and things around and further away, someone off their feet). The next fastest would be perceived as heat. The closer one is to the blast, the more likely they would be instantly cremated; further away, the eyes and tongues would be consumed before they fall to the ground. People five miles away from the blast’s center would receive second and third degree burns. A mile further away, they would receive something like a sunburn.

What does all this have to do with this study? If energy cannot be destroyed and the spirit is a form energy, that means there is life after death.

Since matter can neither be created nor destroyed, it is reasonable that when we die, an energy in some form survives and moves onto another dimension.

We Don’t Die: George Anderson’s Conversations with the Other Side by Joel Martin & Patricia Romanowski, copyrighted 1988 by Joel Martin and PAR Bookworks, Ltd., ISBN: 0-425-11451-1, page 106, last paragraph

2. Notice the first Spirit is capitalized symbolizing it comes from God. The second spirit is not capitalized symbolizing a lesser degree (an image of God or man’s spirit?).

John 3:6

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of Yahweh, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of Yahweh.

2 Corinthians 4:18

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 5:1 thru 5:9

"(1) For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2) For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: (3) If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. (4) For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (5) Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. (6) Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from Yahweh: (7) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with Yahweh. (9) Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him."

Philippians 3:21

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.

My thoughts:

John 4:24 – God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Why Do We Have a Spirit?

Job 33:4

The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

My thoughts:

We are given life in a physical body to enjoy the physical world we live in that we would not be able to appreciate fully if we lived only in the spirit. It is my understanding that the spirit does not have the same five senses our physical body does. For example, we must walk or run to get from one place to another unless we have learned how to levitate or use other spiritual means, which I will not get into in this book. It also gives us the ability to live life in a three-dimensional world; unlike the multidimensional world of the spirit. How else could one explain John 20:19 and 20:26?

John 20:19 – Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Immanuel and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

John 20:26 – And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Immanuel, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

1 Corinthians 15:45

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

My thoughts:

We go from being made a living soul that walks and runs to a quickening spirit.

¹quick \’kwik\ adj 1: archaic LIVING; 2: RAPID, SPEEDY (~ steps); 3: prompt to understand, think, or perceive: ALERT; 4: easily aroused (a ~ temper); 5: turning or bending sharply (a ~ turn in the road) syn fleet, fast, prompt, ready – quick adv – quick-ly adv – quick-nessn

quick∙en \’kwik-ən\vb quick-ened: quick-en-ing \-(ə-)nig\1: to come to life: revive; 2: AROUSE, STIMULATE; 3: to increase in speed: HASTEN; 4: to show vitality (as by growing or moving) syn animate, enliven, excite, provoke

Definitions are from The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, copyrighted 1974 by the G. & C. Merriam Company, ISBN: 0-671-52612-X, page 569

MY THOUGHTS:

More of why we have a spirit is covered later in this book: What does the Bible say about reincarnation?(starting on page 575), and What is the final end of the spirit? (starting on page 684).

Where Does the Spirit Come From?

Numbers 16:22

And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

Job 12:9 thru 12:10

"(9) Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of Yahweh hath wrought this? (10) In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."

Isaiah 42:5

Thus saith God Yahweh, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.

Zechariah 12:1

The burden of the word of Yahweh for Israel, saith Yahweh, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

Acts 17:24 thru 17:25

"(24) God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Master of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; (25) Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things."

Hebrews 12:9

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

My thoughts:

Matthew 5:16 – Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 6:9 thru 6:10 – (9) After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. (10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

My thoughts:

1. I hope you don’t mind a little levity.

From an e-mail received on March 12, 2012:

A Sunday schoolteacher began her lesson with a question: Boys and girls, what do we know about God?

A hand shot up in the air. He is an artist! said the kindergarten boy.

Really? How do you know? the teacher asked.

You know, our Father, who does art in heaven.

2. What is God’s will?

May your will be done: Meister Eckhart has given the definitive commentary on this verse:

You might ask, How can I know if something is God’s will? My answer is, "If it were not God’s will, it wouldn’t exist even for an instant. So if something happens, it must be his will." If you truly enjoyed God’s will, you would feel exactly as though you were in the kingdom of heaven, whatever happened to you or didn’t happen to you.

Dame Julian of Norwich most beautifully expresses the same truth:

And after this, I saw God in a point, that is to say in my understanding, by which vision I saw that he is in all things. I beheld with care, seeing and knowing in that sight that he does all that is done. I marveled at that vision with a soft dread, and thought: What is sin? For I saw truly that God does all things, be they ever so little. And I saw truly that nothing is done by chance or by accident but all by the foreseeing wisdom of God. If it be chance or accident in the sight of man, our blindness and unforesight is the cause. For those things that are in the foreseeing wisdom of God from without beginning, which rightfully and worshipfully and continually he leads to the best end, as they come about all to us suddenly, without our knowledge, and thus by our blindness and our unforesight we say that these things are by chance and accident.

Thus I understood in this revelation of love, for I well know that in the sight of our lord God there is no chance or accident, wherefore I had to grant that all things that are done are well done, for our lord God does all.

The point of this verse is not that we ask God to do his will—as if there were any possibility that God’s will would not be done—but that we wholeheartedly assent to it. There is a wonderful Japanese story about a woman who embodied this attitude:

A hundred and fifty years ago, there lived a woman named Sono, whose devotion and purity of heart were respected far and wide. One day, a fellow Buddhist, having made a long trip to see her, asked, What can I do to put my heart at rest?

Sono said, Every morning and every evening and whenever anything happens to you, keep on saying, ‘Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever.’

The man did as he was instructed for a whole year, but his heart was still not at peace. He returned to Sono, crestfallen. I’ve said your prayer over and over, and yet nothing in my life has changed. I’m still the same selfish person as before. What should I do now?

Sono immediately said, Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever.

On hearing these words, the man was able to open his spiritual eye and returned home with a great joy.

(Adapted from Zenkei Shibayama, A Flower Does Not Talk, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1970, pp. 189f)

The Gospel according to Jesus, copyrighted 1991 by Stephen Mitchell, ISBN 0-06-092321-0, pages 177 and 178

What Does a Spirit Look Like?

Genesis 25:8

Then Abraham gave up the Ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

My thoughts:

Matthew 14:22 thru 14:26 – (22) And straightway Immanuel constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. (23) And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. (24) But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. (25) And in the fourth watch of the night Immanuel went unto them, walking on the sea. (26) And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

My thoughts:

Question: when is the fourth watch?

Answer: 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. according to one of the Bibles I use for my studies.

Mark 6:45 thru 6:49–(45) And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. (46) And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. (47) And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. (48) And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. (49) But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out.

NOTE: In my Bible, both Matthew 14:26 and Mark 6:49 have as an explanation of spirit in their footnotes as being an apparition.

ap∙pa∙ri∙tion \,ap-ə-‘rish-ən\n: a supernatural appearance: GHOST

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, copyrighted 1974 by the G. & C. Merriam Company, ISBN: 0-671-52612-X, page 49

¹ghost \’gōst\n 1: the seat of life: SOUL;2: a disembodied soul; esp: the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear in a bodily form to living people;3: SPIRIT, DEMON;4: a faint trace or suggestion ; 5: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen – ghost∙ly adv

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, copyrighted 1974 by the G. & C. Merriam Company, ISBN: 0-671-52612-X, page 303

Luke does not talk about Immanuel walking on water. Luke 9:10 thru 9:17 mentions the five thousand being fed as described in Mark 6:30 thru 6:44 but then jumps over where Immanuel walks on water to Immanuel’s transfiguration (Luke 9:28 thru 9:36 and Mark9:2 thru 9:9).

Luke 9:10 thru 9:17 – (10) And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. (11) And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. (12) And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place. (13) But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. (14) For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. (15) And they did so, and made them all sit down. (16) Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. (17) And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.

Mark 6:30 thru 6:44 – (30) And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Immanuel, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. (31) And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. (32) And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. (33) And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. (34) And Immanuel, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things. (35) And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed: (36) Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. (37) He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? (38) He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. (39) And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. (40) And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. (41) And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. (42) And they did all eat, and were filled. (43) And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. (44) And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.

Luke 9:28 thru 9:36 – (28) And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. (29) And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. (30) And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah: (31) Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. (32) But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. (33) And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Immanuel, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah: not knowing what he said. (34) While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. (35) And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved son: hear him. (36) And when the voice was past, Immanuel was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.

Mark 9:2 thru 9:9 – (2) And after six days Immanuel taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. (3) And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. (4) And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Immanuel. (5) And Peter answered and said to Immanuel, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. (6) For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. (7) And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved son: hear him. (8) And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Immanuel only with themselves. (9) And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the son of man were risen from the dead.

John 6:15 thru 6:19 – (15) When Immanuel therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. (16) And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, (17) And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Immanuel was not come to them. (18) And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. (19) So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Immanuel walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.

Job 19:25 thru 19:26

"(25) For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: (26) and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."

My thoughts:

Perhaps the physical body we have here will become corrupted, but our spiritual body will not see corruption. We cannot see God if we are in the flesh; we have to be born again in the spirit. Only those who are in the spiritual realm can see God.

In my remembrance of before I was born, I was in a spiritual body not much different than the one I now occupy and so did my best friend who bid me farewell as I was leaving to be reborn. Later in each of the dreams and visions I had, the people were also in spiritual bodies resembling what I now have in this physical world.

Psalm 17:15

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

My thoughts:

Genesis 1:26 – And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Romans 6:5

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Romans 8:29

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

My thoughts:

How could one be conformed to the image of Immanuel?

1. In the physical sense such as these three examples:

Honor the same Holy Days he did.

Leviticus 23:1 thru 23:44 – (1) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of Yahweh, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. (3) Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of Yahweh in all your dwellings. (4) These are the feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. (5) In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is Yahweh’s passover. (6) And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto Yahweh: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. (7) In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. (8) But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh seven days: in the seventh day is a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. (9) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (10) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest: (11) And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (12) And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto Yahweh. (13) And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto Yahweh for a sweet savor: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. (14) And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (15) And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: (16) Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto Yahweh. (17) Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the first fruits unto Yahweh. (18) And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto Yahweh, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto Yahweh. (19) Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. (20) And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest. (21) And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be a holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. (22) And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am Yahweh your God. (23) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (24) Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. (25) Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh. (26) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (27) Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh. (28) And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before Yahweh your God. (29) For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. (30) And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. (31) Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (32) It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath. (33) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (34) Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto Yahweh. (35) On the first day shall be a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. (36) Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. (37) These are the feasts of Yahweh, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: (38) Beside the sabbaths of Yahweh, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto Yahweh. (39) Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto Yahweh seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. (40) And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days. (41) And ye shall keep it a feast unto Yahweh seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. (42) Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: (43) That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am Yahweh your God. (44) And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of Yahweh.

Worship on the same day of the week as he did.

Exodus 20:8 thru 20:11 – (8) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (9) Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: (10) But the seventh day is the sabbath of Yahweh thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: (11) For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Sat∙ur∙day \’sat-ərd-ē\n: the seventh day of the week: the Jewish Sabbath

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, copyrighted 1974 by the G. & C. Merriam Company, ISBN: 0-671-52612-X, page 617

My thoughts:

How could it be a Jewish Sabbath if it was declared by Yahweh God? Wouldn’t that make it Yahweh’s Sabbath? Besides that, Immanuel was a Jew (Matthew 1:1 thru 1:2, 2:2, and 27:11), and we are told in scriptures to be like him (Philippians 3:14 thru 3:16).

Matthew 1:1 thru 1:2 – (1) The book of the generation of Immanuel the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (2) Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.

Matthew 2:2 –

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Matthew 27:11 –

And Immanuel stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Immanuel said unto him, Thou sayest.

Philippians 3:14 thru 3:16 – (14) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in the Messiah Immanuel. (15) Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. (16) Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

Sun∙day \’sən∙dē\n: the first day of the week: the Christian Sabbath

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, copyrighted 1974 by the G. & C. Merriam Company, ISBN: 0-671-52612-X, page 685

My thoughts:

Show me in the Bible where the Sabbath was changed by Yahweh God from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. There is NOT ONE VERSE in the whole Bible that shows the Sabbath day was changed—NOT ONE. If Immanuel is to be our example and Yahweh God designated which of the two days is holy, why is there a Christian Sabbath? Shouldn’t there only be the one Sabbath? Does it make a difference?

Exodus 16:1 thru 16:36 – "(1) And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. (2) And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: (3) And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. (4) Then said Yahweh unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. (5) And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. (6) And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that Yahweh hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: (7) And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of Yahweh; for that he heareth your murmurings against Yahweh: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? (8) And Moses said, This shall be, when Yahweh shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that Yahweh heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh. (9) And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before Yahweh: for he hath heard your murmurings. (10) And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud. (11) And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, (12) I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am Yahweh your God. (13) And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. (14) And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. (15) And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said