Introduction
 
There is a significant amount of confusion among believers concerning the afterlife. In part this is due to the misrepresentation of terms and the use of variant nouns as synonyms.
 
Additionally the swinging back and forth between hyper-law and hyper-grace movements within the global faith community throughout the millennia means that the subjects of heaven and hell are either misappropriated or disestablished depending on the specific type of syncretized worldview possessed by scholars, community leaders, teachers and laypeople who continue to teach the doctrines of men rather than receiving the doctrine of Scripture. 
 
A correct Scriptural understanding of the afterlife is fundamentally important in establishing both a sense of security for the believer and an appropriate warning to the non-believer.
 
Recent attempts by so called “Progressive” theologians to revise the meanings of words, and to decontextualize and falsify the usage of the original languages of Scripture pertaining to the afterlife, have served to place many in the wider body of faith under a satanic delusion regarding what is to come.
 
Sadly Universalism, Annihilationism and numerous other pseudo-Christian lies have now become common place in the community of faith. This has in part been a polemic reaction to the overly zealous misapplication of the Scriptures by hyper-conservative theologians and preachers.
 
As Messiah essential people we are tasked with gleaning our understanding from a contextual reading of Scripture according to the illumination of the Holy Spirit, Who reveals the teaching of Messiah unto the glory of the Father.
 
What follows is a concise and orderly look at the use of key nouns and terms and the wealth of information in the meta-narrative of Scripture that clearly establishes both everlasting life and perpetual fire (punishment) respectively, alongside the nuanced nouns alluding to the holding place of the departed, the grave, and the distinct elements of the body, and spiritual consciousness which make up the unity of human existence in God the Creator.
 
We begin with the understanding that God is all existing and that in Him all things are created, exist, and have their being (Acts 17:28). Nothing can exist outside of God. Therefore, it’s necessary to hold a godly Biblical Hebrew worldview regarding the created order.
 
Where many Christian theologians teach a compartmentalized Greco-Roman worldview of separations and the whole, the godly Biblical Hebrew worldview understands distinctions within the whole. With this in mind we seek Messiah for the illumination of the written Word by the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father.
 
“And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing, renovation of your intellect, that you may prove through scrutiny what is that good and acceptable and full will of the God.”
 
-Romans 12:2 [Author’s translation]
 
Afterlife Nouns & Phrasing
 
The proper defining of nouns and common terms is essential. The following are the nouns and common terms used by the Scriptures to refer to the afterlife and related observations of it within the limitations of sin affected time and space:
 
Sheol[H] (שׁאל) – The spiritual holding place of the departed. It is a Hebrew noun equivalent to the Greek ᾅδης Hades, and should not be confused with the Hebrew קברה/קבר (keverah/kever) meaning grave.*
 
*[Biblically speaking, the Hebrew קברה/קבר (keverah/kever) always refers to the above ground interment of a physical body, be it in a cave, tomb, or under a pile of stones. Biblical Jews did not bury bodies beneath the earth].
 
By inference the spiritual location called Sheol is below, subterranean, however, it is not locational in the earthly sense but is simply a place where all the departed souls/spirits of human beings reside following death in preparation for the resurrection and the judgement.
 
Sheol is a unity consisting of two distinct places divided by an uncrossable chasm (Luke 16:19-31). Those two places are:
 

• The Bosom of Abraham a.k.a Gan Eden גן אדן, Paradise παράδεισος
• Gehinnom גֵיהִינָּם/γέεννα, sometimes misidentified as Hell*

 
*[Hell is an English translation typically used to render Sheol or Hades but colloquially used to describe the Lake of Fire, an entirely unique place of eternal torment that receives Hell but is not Hell].
 
Gehinnom/Gehenna/Geena is distinct from the Lake of Fire but will be cast into the lake of fire and thus has both a temporal application and an everlasting one when made convergent to everlasting fire following the judgement (Rev. 20:10-15).
 
Sheol is used approximately 65 times in the TaNaKh (OT). It’s often translated as “grave,” though it is not the grave (As explained, Biblical Hebrew has a specific word for grave קברה  keverah which always denotes an above ground interment), except where grave is used as a euphemism for “holding place of the dead.”
 
Sheol is less often translated “Hell,” which, as explained, is extremely misleading given that Hell is often used as a synonym for Everlasting Punishment in modern English and is therefore not representative of either the Hebrew שׁאל (Sheol) or the Greek ᾅδης (Hades), but is in the case of its misuse a noun denoting the Lake of Fire.
 
On rare occasions translators render Sheol as “Pit.” This is done specifically where it is used to describe the final destination of those wicked ones who have been swallowed up by the earth due to quake fissures opening up to consume them in God’s wrath.
 
Kever/Keverah[H] (קברה/קבר) – The location of an above ground interment of a physical body, be it in a cave, tomb, or under a pile of stones.*
 
*[Biblical Jews did not bury bodies beneath the earth. Additionally, many modern observant Jews follow this ancient practice. Above ground stone encased corpses of Jewish people cover much of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to this day].
 
Abaddon[H] (אבדּון) – A place of destruction and perishing distinct within Sheol and therefore equivalent to the later first century CE Hebrew/Aramaic Gehinnom גֵיהִינָּם (Job 26:6, 28:22, 31:12; Proverbs 15:11). Abaddon is also transliterated into Greek in the New Testament as the name of the angelic keeper of the Pit Ἀβαδδών (Abaddon) who is called Apollyon Ἀπολλύων in Greek (Rev. 9:11). The Greek Apollyon Ἀπολλύων means Destroyer.
 
אבדּון (Abaddon) is used 5 times in the TaNaKh (OT) and once in the New Testament.
 
Gehenna/Geenna/Gehinnom[H & G] גֵיהִינָּם (γέεννα) – A place of torment within ᾅδης (Hades)/ שׁאל(Sheol) where the wicked reside awaiting the resurrection and the Judgement.
 
There is an uncrossable chasm between Gehinnom and The Bosom of Abraham (Paradise) where the righteous departed reside (Luke 16:19-31).
 
The Greek γέεννα (Geenna) is synonymous with the Hebrew גֵיהִינָּם (Gehinnom) which combines the Hebrew גּיא (giy) meaning valley and הנּם (Hinnom) meaning lamentation. This refers to the ancient valley of (the son of) Hinnom; thus, Gehenna (or Ge-Hinnom), a valley directly south of Jerusalem, used figuratively as a name for the place or state of perpetual punishment, where the departed wicked await judgement and ultimately everlasting imprisonment in the Lake of Fire, which is where Gehinnom, Death and Hades will be thrown following the judgement (Rev. 20:14).
 
It’s noteworthy that both Yeshua the Messiah and Rabbinical Jewish eschatological traditions use Gehinnom/Gehenna to refer to a spiritual place in the afterlife. A place of torment for the wicked.
 
Gehenna/Geena (γέεννα) is used 23 times in the Greek New Testament. It is also used countless times in its Hebrew/Aramaic forms in ancient Rabbinical Jewish literature including but not limited to the Mishnah, Talmud Bavliy, Musar, Chasidut, and the Zohar, and carries a similar meaning in all instances of its use.
 
Both modern Rabbinical and Progressive Christian scholars seek to diminish the meaning of Gehinnom/Gehenna by invoking an almost mythical application. They seek to reduce Gehinnom/Gehenna to a hyper figurative form that at best is nothing more than a slap on the wrist for the wicked and a type of Grimm’s fable warning to the righteous. They are tragically wrong and devoid of repentance are themselves in danger of entering Gehinnom/Gehenna.
 
Bosom of Abraham[G & H] Ἀβραάμ κόλπος [a.k.a Gan Eden גן אדן, Paradise παράδεισος] – The distinct holding place of the righteous within ᾅδης (Hades)/ שׁאל(Sheol), kept distinct by an uncrossable chasm between it and Gehenna/Gehinnom (Luke 16:19-31).
 
Paradise[G] (παράδεισος) [Gan Eden גן אדן] - The distinct holding place of the righteous within ᾅδης (Hades)/ שׁאל(Sheol), kept distinct by an uncrossable chasm between it and Gehenna/Gehinnom. Paradise is a synonym for the “Bosom of Abraham,” and “Gan Eden” (Luke 16:19-31).
 
Shamayim[H] Heaven/Heavens (שׁמים) – The collected heavens consisting of the earth’s atmosphere (First heaven), the universe/universes (Second Heaven), and that which is beyond all creation, outside of all worlds, in God and subject to Him (3rd heaven) [421 uses in the TaNaKh (OT)]. The Greek equivalent is οὐρανός (Ouranos) [282 uses in the NT].
 
Lake of Fire[G] (λίμνη πῦρ) – The place of everlasting punishment following the Judgement at the end of days. 
 
In addition to the clear Revelation of Yeshua to John, which describes the Lake of Fire as the place of Everlasting Punishment, Yeshua also refers to Gehenna/Gehinnom as being a place of perpetual fire because He knows that those assigned to the temporal holding place of Gehenna/Gehinnom will ultimately be confined to the Lake of Fire for all eternity (Rev. 20:10-15).
 
Lake of Fire (λίμνη πῦρ) is used 4 times in the New Testament explicitly and 6 times as the synonymous phrase γέενναν τοῦ πυρός (Geennan tou pyros) “The Hell Fire” (Rev. 19:20; 20:10-15 – Matt. 5:22; 18:9; Mark 9:43-47; James 3:6).
 
The World to Come[H]/Age to Come[G]  (Olam Haba)[H] (עולם הבא) μέλλοντος αἰῶνος (mellontos aionos)[G] – The eternal dwelling place of all who are redeemed through the King Messiah Yeshua, both Jews and Gentiles. It’s often mistakenly called “Heaven,” but it is not!*
 
*[When a person says that a loved one has “Gone to heaven,” they are mistaken. Scripture teaches that a Messiah redeemed person goes to Paradise to await the resurrection and the Judgement, after which they will enter the World to Come (Olam Haba[H]/Mellontos Aionos[G]). The common Christian phrase, “He has gone to be with the LORD” would be a more accurate profession according to Scripture.]
 
A Concise Look at Sheol, Hades, & The Grave
 
The Hebrew Sheol[H] שׁאל (ᾅδης Hades[G]) is not the grave. Hebrew has a dedicated word for grave: Kever/Keverah[H] קברה/קבר.
 
To mistranslate Sheol as “grave” is to give the modern English reader a wrong idea concerning what is actually meant by the many verses in the Hebrew Bible that use the noun Sheol[H] שׁאל.
 
Sheol[H] שׁאל (ᾅδης Hades[G]) is simply the holding place of the departed. (Location unknown but by inference, below).
 
Kever/Keverah[H] (קברה/קבר) is the Hebrew word for the above ground interment of the dead human body. (All Biblical burials and many modern Jewish burials are above ground interments [tombs, mausoleums etc.] and not burials beneath the earth).
 
Burial beneath the earth and the burning of corpses are pagan practices. The Biblical Hebrew practice of above ground interment denotes a belief in the meta-physical resurrection of the complete human person, spirit, body, soul, consciousness.

A Concise Look at Gehenna/Gehinnom, Abaddon & Everlasting Fire
 
The Hebrew/Greek Gehenna/Geenna/Gehinnom[H & G] גֵיהִינָּם (γέεννα), is connected to but not directly synonymous with the Lake of Fire[G] λίμνη πῦρ.
 
Gehenna/Geenna/Gehinnom[H & G] גֵיהִינָּם (γέεννα) is the place of torment within Sheol[H] שׁאל (ᾅδης Hades[G]) which is distinct from Paradise[G] (παράδεισος) [Gan Eden גן אדן], the two being divided by an uncrossable chasm (Luke 16:19-31).
 
The Hebrew/Aramaic noun Abaddon[H] אבדּון, is both connected to and in certain instances synonymous with Gehenna/Geenna/Gehinnom[H & G] גֵיהִינָּם (γέεννα).
 
Abaddon[H] אבדּון is a place of destruction and perishing distinct within Sheol and connected to the imprisonment of Satan (Rev. 9:11; 20:1-3).
 
It’s important to note that Satan is not the angel Abaddon. Satan is a prisoner temporarily governed by the angel Abaddon and then made subject to the Eternal Lake of Fire “Prepared for the Devil and its (his) angels (Matthew 25:41).
 
The foolish and satanic notion that Satan is somehow ruler of Hell is not Biblical. In fact, like its (Satan’s) angels and the multitudes of wicked who will dwell in the Lake of Fire, Satan is just one of many prisoners equally tormented as a result of their wilful and unrelenting hatred of God and all things good. An everlasting problem requires an everlasting solution.
 
The Lake of Fire[G] λίμνη πῦρ is not the grave, Gehenna/Gehinnom, or Abaddon, nor is it Hell but is specifically the post judgement prison of everlasting torment for the Devil, its (his) angels and those who have perpetually and wilfully rejected God’s sacrificial offer of redemptive love unto right relationship in Him (Rev. 20:10-15).
 
The Lake of Fire[G] λίμνη πῦρ in summation, is the place of everlasting punishment following the Judgement at the end of days. Following the Judgement, Death and Sheol/Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire along with the Devil and its (his) angels and all whose names are not written in the Lamb’s (Yeshua’s) Book of Living, where they will be tormented day and night forever [in eternity] (Rev. 20:10-15).
 
Yeshua's Dominion Over Death and Hades/Sheol
 
From before the beginning Messiah Yeshua the All Existing Word, had authority over death and Sheol/Hades because death and Sheol/Hades result from the rebellion of a created entity (Satan) and are therefore subject to the Creator, Father, Son and Spirit (John 1:1-2; Rev. 13:8).

Yeshua has also established dominion over the temporal effects of death and Hades/Sheol as the perfect Human through His death and resurrection (Rev. 1:18).

Therefore, as both the Creating All Existing Word of God and as the Perfect Human Being Who gave His life as atonement for all who would receive Him, Yeshua has established dominion in the Father over both the temporal and everlasting ramifications of sin and death.
 
Those who are in Messiah Yeshua by grace through faith need not fear Death, Hades/Sheol, or Eternal Punishment (Lake of Fire), because He is All Existing and holds us in His hand in the Father (John 10:28-30). God is One!
 
A Concise Look at Heaven/Heavens, Paradise, & The World to Come/Age to Come
 
The Hebrew Shamayim Heaven/Heavens[H] שׁמים is not the location of departed righteous souls/spirits, but is rather a collection of distinct heavens above and surrounding the earth.
 
Paradise[G] παράδεισος [Gan Eden גן אדן] is not Heaven, but a distinct holding place of the righteous within ᾅδης Hades/ שׁאלSheol. If there is any inference in Scripture as to where the spiritual location Sheol is, it is below, not above. Within Sheol Paradise is a place where believers await the resurrection, the Judgement, and the World to Come (Olam Haba)[H] (עולם הבא) μέλλοντος αἰῶνος (mellontos aionos)[G].
 
The title the World to Come/Age to Come does not refer to “Heaven” or the “heavens” but to the eternal dwelling place of all who are redeemed through Messiah. This place is established now but is not yet fully realised by those who currently reside in this sin affected world.
 
Believers do not go to heaven when they die but to Paradise in Sheol, awaiting the Judgement. Following the resurrection and the Judgement at the last day all believers will dwell in the World to Come Olam Haba[H] עולם הבא in God for all eternity (Rev. 21).
 
The World to Come Olam Haba[H] עולם הבא Mellontos Aionos[G] μέλλοντος αἰῶνος is the eternal dwelling place of all who are redeemed through the King Messiah Yeshua.

What the Scriptures Say About the Afterlife
 
TaNaKh (Old Testament) Scriptures
 
There is a lie repeated by modern theologians and scholars which says “Jews had no concept of the afterlife or Hell prior to the Hellenization of the known world in the 4th century BCE.”
 
This is of course utter nonsense!
 
The Afterlife & Hell
 
The TaNaKH (OT) repeatedly speaks of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as “resting with their ancestors” or “resting with their fathers” (1 Kings 2:10; 11:43; 2 Kings 21:18 etc).
 
“So David lay down (rested) with his fathers, and was buried (interred) in the city of David.”
 
-1 Kings 2:10 [Author’s translation]
 
The phrases “rested with his ancestors,” “rested with his fathers,” “slept with his fathers,” and the like, are used countless times in the TaNaKh (OT) to not only describe the physical interment of bodies in the tombs of their anscestors but also to describe their transition to a place after death, where they would reside with their departed forbears.
 
Therefore, not only did the ancient Israelites (Jewish people) have a concept of the afterlife, that concept also included the idea that their departed souls/spirits would commune with their ancestors in an indeterminable location after death. This idea allows for the fact that the location of the departed (Sheol) was inhabited by both the righteous and the unrighteous and thus, regardless of spiritual standing before God, all were there. This is consistent with the idea that Sheol has two distinct areas divided by an uncrossable chasm (Luke 16:19-31) and predates the Hellenistic period by hundreds of years.
 
The TaNaKh (OT) also distinguishes between Sheol and a place of torment called Abaddon (the equivalent of Gehenna/Gehinnom and the modern English misnomer “Hell”).
 
“Sheol and Abaddon are before  YHVH the LORD:  how much more then  the hearts  of the children  of humanity?”
 
-Mishlei (Proverbs) 15:11 [Author’s translation]
 
This verse explains God’s all seeing nature and specifically differentiates between the holding place of the departed Sheol and the distinct place within that holding place called Abaddon, meaning torment, perishing etc.
 
“Sheol is naked before Him (God), and Abaddon has no covering.”
 
-Iyov (Job) 26:6 [Author’s translation] (Ref. Job 28:22, 31:12)
 
The prophet Job notes here that nothing is hidden from God and that Sheol is “naked” (never clothed), while Abaddon has “no covering,” inferring that Abaddon not only has no clothing but also has no effective means of atonement. This is consistent with Gehenna/Gehinnom, the place where the wilfully unrepentant wicked go to await the Judgement, at which time there will be no means of atonement for them because they have refused the blood of the Lamb (Messiah).
 
Everlasting Punishment
 
The TaNaKh also establishes the everlasting fate of the wicked.
 
“Although the wicked spring up as the grass, and when all the workers of perversity blossom; they will nonetheless be destroyed continually forever:”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 92:7 [Author’s translation]
 
We note that the end of the wicked is to “be destroyed continually forever.” The Hebrew reads להשׁמדם עדי עד lehishamedam adiy ad meaning “perishing, overthrown, destroyed continually forever.”
 
Some foolishly try to use verses like this to prove the lie of Annihilationism. This verse proves the opposite. To annihilate something is to wipe it out, cause it to cease, but in this verse the destroying “continues forever.”
 
The Hebrew text is careful to say that the wicked will be overthrown, perish, be destroyed, on an ongoing basis after death. This can’t refer simply to a physical death, one can’t be killed multiple times once dead for a final time. By necessity this verse must be referring to something that happens following death, the wicked person having been killed, is again destroyed and then again and again. This is describing the Lake of Fire and everlasting torment (Rev. 20:10-15). This verse from Psalm 92, written at least 600 years prior to the entry of Messiah into time and space through the womb of the virgin, and at least 200 years prior to the Hellenistic period, shows that ancient Israelites (Jews) understood that the ultimate end of the wicked was not an end at all but a perpetual suffering in the afterlife. Interestingly Jewish tradition understands this Psalm to have been written by Adam, the man through whom sin and death entered this world. [Targum on Psalms 92]
 
The Prophet Isaiah, some 700 years prior to the birth of Messiah, and 300 years prior to the Hellenistic period, writes of everlasting punishment as part of his description of the inception of the Messianic age (Isaiah 65-66):
 
 “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be abhorrent to all flesh.”
 
-Y’shiyahu (Isaiah) 66:24 [Author’s translation]
 
This passage uses the Hinnom valley (Below Jerusalem to the south) as a figure for the punishment that awaits the wicked in the latter days. It was in this valley that pagan human sacrifices occurred and in later times it became a place of burning refuse heaps. The prophet is saying that the everlasting torment of the wicked will be like the torment and perpetual burning in that wretched valley below Jerusalem. Thus the Hinnom valley is a physical representation within the sin affected creation of something much worse in the afterlife.
 
Those who deny everlasting punishment based on the argument that the Hinnom valley is temporal, are fools devoid of the Spirit of God. The Prophet Isaiah is speaking of the inception of the everlasting Messianic age, the beginning of the Olam Haba (World to come), and stresses that in that context, “their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched.” What’s more, even if the valley of Hinnom is being used figuratively, it is being used to convey something spiritual and is therefore not bound to a temporal application.
 
Yeshua quotes this portion of Isaiah 66, recorded in Mark 9:43-50 as a warning to His listeners. He thus shows that there is a perpetual connection between the holding place Gehenna/Gehinnom and the Lake of fire as the location and continuation of Gehenna/Gehinnom following the Judgement (Rev. 20:10-15).

Therefore, ancient Israelites (Jews) had both a concept of the afterlife and an understanding of that distinct place within the realm of the departed which modern English speakers call “Hell.”
 
The Messiah
 
Ancient Jews also believed in the Messiah and the physical resurrection unto the Judgement and everlasting life for the righteous in Him. They held these beliefs long before modern Rabbinical Judaism’s revisionism, progressive Christianity’s deconstructionism, even prior to the first century Jewish Biblical Rabbinical Judaism of Yeshua’s earthly ministry and most certainly long before the Hellenization (4th Century BCE) of the known world. In fact, they held these beliefs from ancient days.
 
Bereishit (Genesis) 3:15 reads:
 
“And enmity, hatred וְאֵיבָה  v’eiyvah I will put between you (serpent) and the woman הָאִשָּׁה  ha-ishah, and between your seed and her seed; He shall crush, strike, bruise your head רֹאשׁ  rosh, and you shall strike, bruise his footprint, heel, footstep עָקֵב  akeiv.
 
-Bereishit (Genesis) 3:15
 
One need not be a scholar of the Ha-Brit Ha-Chadashah (NT) in order to see the Messianic significance of this passage. The pronoun describing the woman’s seed is singular, an individual is being spoken of here. That individual is clearly the Messiah Yeshua, Who through His death on the cross, crushed the serpent’s head of power, thus as the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), Yeshua freed humanity from bondage to death. The heel represents Yeshua’s humanity, connection to the earth, which, for a short time was bruised by temporary death.
 
Isaiah the prophet speaks of the Messianic child saying:
 
“Therefore אֲדֹנָי Adonai Himself shall give you an אוֹת (ot) miraculous sign; הִנֵּה  Hinei Behold, הָעַלְמָה  (ha-almah) the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name עִמָּנוּ אֵל  Imanu-El (with us God)’.

–Y’shayahu (Isaiah) 7:14 [Author’s Translation]

We note that עִמָּנוּ אֵל Imanu El is not the child’s Name but a description of His nature.

The Midrash Ha-Ne’elam sees here the common plight of every Jew in his struggle against the evil inclination יֵצֶר הַרַע  yetzer ha-ra. The serpent is said to seek to seduce the Jew into trampling on the commandments with his heel, but it is claimed that the Jew can overcome by using his head (the supposed seat of the Torah). However, this view at best represents a 2nd century CE polemic against Messiah following Jews and does not reflect the ancient Biblical Jewish view that sees the present text as representing the Messiah.
 
The misinterpretation given in Midrash Ha-Ne’elam neglects the fact that we cannot redeem ourselves, not even through Torah observance.
 
It is through the goal of the Torah (Romans 10:4), the true Head, Yeshua alone, that we are able to resist the serpent and be set free from bondage to death.
 
“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your fallen humanity, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled out the indictment of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”
 
–Colossians 2:13-15 [Author’s Translation]
 
For the believer there are these promises from God for the final crushing of Satan’s (the serpent’s) head beneath our feet:
 
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Yeshua be with you.”
 
–Romans 6:20
 
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Torah,”
 
–Galatians 4:4 [Author’s Translation]
 
The seed of the woman is only seen as corporate through the d’rash (comparative teaching) of Rav Shaul (Paul) in Romans 16:20, as a result of its singular application to the Messiah Yeshua, alluded to in Galatians 3:16.
 
“Now the promises were spoken to Avraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Messiah.”
 
–Galatians 3:16 [Author’s Translation]
 
Moses prophecies the coming Messiah in 1313 BCE almost 1000 years prior to the Hellenization of the known world (4th Century BCE).
 
“YHVH (Mercy) The Lord your Elohim (Judge) God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers. You are to listen to Him!”
 
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 18:15 [Author’s Translation]
 
Ancient Israelites (Jews) took this promise to heart and awaited the “Prophet/Messiah” with fearful expectation because HaShem had followed Moses’ initials words with:
 
“18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brothers, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it will be that whoever will not listen to My words, which He speaks in My Name, I will require an accounting of it from that one.”
 
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 18:18-19 [Author’s Translation]
 
The Resurrection, The Messiah & the New Heavens & New Earth
 
Ancient Jews believed in the resurrection and the Messiah’s place as Mediator based on passages like, but not limited to Job 19:25-27 and Isaiah 26:19.
 
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last day he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh (physical body) I will see God, Whom I will see for myself, and my eyes will behold, and not another. My kidneys (seat of emotion) are consumed within me!" 
 
-Iyov (Job) 19:25-27 [Author’s Translation]
 
We note that Job’s Redeemer is God and that He will “stand” on the earth. We further see that this will happen “at the last day” after Job’s “skin has been destroyed” and yet he says “in my flesh (physical body) I will see God,” which is an allusion to the bodily resurrection of the dead.
 
From this passage and others we also glean the truth that the resurrected, having awaited the final Judgement in Sheol, will dwell, not in Heaven but on the earth.
 
Isaiah writes:
 
“Your dead will live; my dead body will arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in the dust; for your dew (night mist) is lights, your night mist, and the land/earth will cast forth the dead.”
 
–Y’shayahu (Isaiah) 26:19 [Author’s Translation]
 
This is one of the places in Scripture from which the Israelite (Jewish) belief in the resurrection is proved; a belief that predates Hellenistic thought by at least 300 years. This verse is also applied to the times of the Messiah, and to the resurrection in His days (Talmud. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 90. 2, & Ketubot, fol. 111. 1. Midrash Kohelet, fol. 62. 3. Targum in loc.).
 
“Your dead will live” is an allusion to the resurrection of the righteous and specifically to the resurrection of the righteous of Israel.
 
“My dead body will arise” is firstly a personal testimony of the prophet himself and secondly the prophetic testimony of the Messiah. The first person singular should not be interpreted to refer to multiple people.
 
“Awake and sing, you that dwell in the dust” is a metaphor for the resurrection of the dead. This is a poetic repetition like the couplets of the psalms which seeks to remind the reader that these matters are firmly established.
 
“for your dew (night mist) is lights, talecha your night mist:” This is an allusion to the present glory of God in the convergence of the resurrection. The Shekhinah or kavod HaShem, a mist or dew of lights that raise the dead. Water (dew) and light are pictured together here as the mechanisms for bringing forth the plant that grows from that which had perished. As Rav Shaul (Paul the Apostle) says:
 
“For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”
 
– 1 Corinthians 15:53
 
Isaiah also prophecies the New Heavens and New Earth some 700 years before Messiah’s entry into time and space through the womb of the virgin:
 
“For behold, I create shamayim heavens chadashiym new (ones) and the land/earth chadashah new, and not to be recalled (remembered) are the first things (perishable) and nor will they ascend upon My inner being (heart, core being).”
 
-Y’shiyahu (Isaiah) 65:17 [Author’s Translation]
 
The New Jerusalem
 
Isaiah the prophet wrote of the New Jerusalem 300 years before the Hellenistic age.
 
“1 The Word Who Y’shaiyahu (Isaiah) ben son of Amotz (Strong) saw concerning Yehudah (Praise, Judah) and Yerushalayim (Flood, downpour of peace, Jerusalem). 2 And it came to pass in the end of the days, that firmly established will be the mountain house of HaShem (YHVH: Mercy) as the head of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and like a beam of light all nations shall flow toward Him (it).”
 
-Y’shiyahu (Isaiah) 2:1-2 [Author’s Translation] 
 
Ref. Isaiah 25:6-8; 10:19-22; Zechariah 2:10-12
 
New Testament Scriptures
 
Notwithstanding certain texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the collected books of the New Testament were written at least 30 years prior to the earliest codified extra-Biblical post temple Rabbinical Jewish writings, with the possible exception of the Mishnah.
 
Therefore, the texts of the New Testament stand as an illuminating view into the theological thinking and practices of first century Biblical Judaism in the land of Israel, which at that time was under Roman occupation and named Judea.
 
Numerous New Testament Scriptures address the subject of the afterlife and make clear distinctions between the various elements associated with the human transition from life to death, and then, after the Judgement, to everlasting life or everlasting death/torment, respective of position in relationship to God.
 
Many of these Scriptures are misrepresented by modern scholars who seem to be jumping through hoops to try and prove that the ancient Biblical text actually says something entirely opposite to what the plain meaning suggests. These scholars and theologians are in grave error (pun intended) and need to repent before it’s too late and they find themselves in the same Lake of Fire which  they claim only exists as a metaphor. One should ask, “If it’s a metaphor, what is it a metaphor for?”
 
So what does the New Testament actually say about the afterlife?
 
Hades, Gehenna/Gehinnom
 
The Greek ᾅδης Hades, equivalent to the Hebrew שׁאל Sheol, occurs 10 times in the New Testament and reflects the TaNaKh use of שׁאל Sheol as the holding place for the departed.
 
The noun Gehenna/Geenna/Gehinnom[H & G] גֵיהִינָּם γέεννα is used 12 times in the New Testament, and on each occasion is clearly describing a specific part of Sheol where the departed wicked dwell in perpetual torment awaiting the Judgement and a continuation of their torment in the Lake of Fire. (Ref. Matt. 5:22, 29-30; Matt. 10:28, 18:9, 23:15; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; James 3:5-6).
 
As alluded to earlier, some foolishly claim that Gehenna/Gehinnom simply relates to the continual burning of refuse in the valley of Hinnom and not to the afterlife. Yeshua refutes this outright:
 
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”
 
-Matthew 10:28 [Author’s translation]
 
Note that Yeshua’s hearers are admonished not to fear those who kill the physical body in this life but instead to fear God, Who, is ultimately in control of the death of the human body, and post death, is able to destroy both the body and the soul/spirit in a continual burning (Gehenna/Gehinnom).
 
There is no question that this verse describes Gehenna/Gehinnom as a place that exists spiritually beyond physical death and is therefore described using the valley of Hinnom as a metaphor only because the reality is something terrifyingly inexplicable. Something which is beyond physical death.
 
Yeshua quotes the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 66:24) repeatedly in describing the perpetual nature of the torment in Gehenna/Gehinnom which awaits the wilfully unrepentant wicked following physical death:
 
“42And whoever causes one of these little ones that believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have had a millstone hung about his neck, and for him to be cast into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off: it would be better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched: 44 Where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is not quenched.’ [Isa. 66:24] 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off: it would be better for you to enter into life disabled, than having two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched: 46 Where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is not quenched.’ [Isa. 66:24] 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out: it would be better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into Gehenna fire: 48 Where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is not quenched.’ [Isa. 66:24]”
 
-Mark 9:42-48 [Author’s translation]
 
Paradise, Heaven & the Lake of Fire
 
Paradise
 
As I have already established Paradise παράδεισος, Gan Eden גן אדן, and the Bosom of Abraham are synonyms.
 
The Greek παράδεισος Paradise is used 3 times in the New Testament, and in every instance refers to the distinct place within Sheol/Hades where the righteous await the Judgement and eternal life.
 
To the thief on the cross alongside Yeshua, who in humble repentance honoured Yeshua acknowledging Him as the promised Messianic King, Yeshua said:
 
“Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise!”
 
-Luke 23:43
 
We know that Yeshua died that day and descended into Sheol, into Paradise. He did not go to the Father in the heavens until after His resurrection. This is consistent with the ancient and first century Jewish understanding of Sheol/Hades and its two distinct parts divided by an uncrossable chasm (Luke 16:19-31).
 
In 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 Paul the Apostle describes himself in a vision, as being “taken away” on two separate occasions, once to the third heaven and once to Paradise. Paul, a first century Jew, chooses his words carefully to ensure that two different locations are understood by his readers. This is also why he repeats the phrase “I knew a man… whether in the body or out of the body I can’t see, God knows,” prior to describing each instance.
 
We know Paul is describing a vision and not a journey in the body (meaning not physically traveling) because Scripture states plainly that “it’s appointed to a human being to die once (a final time in the case of the temporarily resurrected) and then the Judgement!” (Heb. 9:27).
 
We note that there is no room in Scripture for a human being to traverse worlds or enter the heavens/heaven prior to the Judgement. Yeshua says, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man Who is in heaven” (John 3:13). Although this is said prior to His resurrection, we know based on the words of the writer of the book of Hebrews (according to the Holy Spirit), which were written following Yeshua’s resurrection, that, “it’s appointed to a human being to die once (a final time in the case of the temporarily resurrected) and then the Judgement!” (Heb. 9:27).
 
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the believing communities. To the person who overcomes, I will give the right to eat of the Eiytz Chayim (tree of life) which is in Gan-Eyden (Paradise) of God.”
 
-Revelation 2:7 [Author’s translation]
 
Eiytz Chayim (Tree of life) is a powerful Hebrew symbol that connects the creation and the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:9; 3:22, 24) to the present Gan-Eyden (Paradise: the distinct part of Sheol set apart for the righteous, also known as the Bosom of Abraham. (Luke 16:19-31; Luke 23:43). It also connects the believer to the future unifying of Gan-Eyden (Paradise) and the Olam Haba (World to come), in that the Eiytz Chayim (Tree of life) seems to act as a conduit between the temporal Paradise Gan-Eyden of Sheol and the eternal city which is outside of the universe in the third heaven awaiting the time of the end when eternity will consume the sin affected creation and the New Jerusalem will come down to converge with the present city and engulf the righteous in the manifest presence of God.
 
In the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31) Yeshua describes Sheol as it was understood by His hearers in the first century CE, and more importantly based on His personal knowledge of it.
 
It’s important to note that this parable is the only parable Yeshua shares where He uses a proper noun “Lazarus,” a specific individual. The parables of the rabbis and those of Yeshua were most often teaching stories that used general nouns and morals to expound on a spiritual idea. They were not considered to reflect an actual set of events but were simply used as teaching tools. However, on certain occasions actual events were described using the names of specific individuals. These accounts/parables where then employed to teach a lesson but were also understood to be factual accounts. This is how we know that Yeshua’s parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man is describing Sheol as it actually exists and not simply as a figurative location.
 
The account of Lazarus and the Rich Man teaches us a number of things about the afterlife and in particular about the nature of Sheol/Hades:
 

• Sheol/Hades is the holding place of the departed, both righteous and wicked alike.

 

• Sheol contains two distinct places, the Bosom of Abraham (Paradise) and a place of tormenting fire (Gehenna/Gehinnom) which are divided by an uncrossable chasm.

 

• Both the righteous and the wicked are conscious in Sheol. The seat of Biblical Hebrew consciousness is not the brain/intellect but the centre of being the נְשָׁמָה neshamah (a direct convergence of God’s breath (רוּחַ ruach: spirit) and created matter. Therefore, a human being’s consciousness continues after death. According to the Biblical Hebrew worldview intellect and consciousness are not the same thing. The brain dies but the consciousness is transcendent. 

 
Heaven
 
Heaven/the Heavens, are not Paradise. Believers do not ascend into heaven when they die. How do we know this?
 
“It’s appointed to a human being to die once (a final time in the case of the temporarily resurrected) and then the Judgement!”
 
-Hebrews 9:27 [Author’s translation]
 
Not, “Once to die, then float up to heaven, then come back down to get judged, all so we can then reside down on the new earth where we started from…”
 
“Once to die and then the Judgement!”
 
We are held in Sheol until the resurrection, at which time all are judged, the righteous unto eternal life and the wicked unto perpetual fire.
 
Nor does the Bible teach a so called “Rapture,” we are taken away in the clouds of the presence in the open air (the Greek word describes low altitude air breathed at ground level) to the New Jerusalem, and not up to the heavens as some misinterpret.
 
*[Please read the Appendix at the end of this article titled “Rapture?”]
 
Some say, “But Elijah was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire”
 
Yes, into the first heaven, the earth’s atmosphere but not into the third heaven (which is what Christians are alluding to when they speak of “Heaven” as a destination for departed souls).
 
We know this because Elijah lived and was taken away in a chariot of fire approximately 850 BCE and Yeshua, speaking in approximately 30 CE some 880 years later says, “No one has ascended into heaven (the third heaven) except He who came down from heaven, the Son of Man" (John 3:13).
 
Some say, “But our names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20)
 
Yes, our names are written in heaven in the Lamb’s book of living which will descend with Him.
 
Some say, “But we are told to store up treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-21)
 
Yes, we store up treasures in heaven that will descend with Yeshua at His return.
 
Some say, “But the deceased saints praise God from beneath the throne in heaven” (Revelation 6:9-11).
 
Yes, “beneath” the throne which is in heaven, however the martyred saints are well beneath it in Paradise, in Sheol, according to Scripture, and not in heaven directly beneath the throne, because “It’s appointed to a human being to die once (a final time in the case of the temporarily resurrected) and then the Judgement!” (Heb. 9:27) You and I are currently beneath the throne of God and yet are not in heaven.
 
Some say, “But our citizenship is in heaven”
 
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”
 
-Philippians 3:20-21
 
Yes, our names and subsequently our citizenship are presently recorded in the heavens (as members of the Heavenly Kingdom which will descend). However, the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven and our residence will be on the new earth in the presence of God the Father and the King Messiah Yeshua. In fact the Scripture itself says “We eagerly await a Saviour from there” and not “We eagerly await our floating up into the clouds to sit up there with the Saviour.”
 
Some say, “But the Kingdom of God is called the Kingdom of heaven” (Mark 5:10)
 
Yes, and is also within us (Luke 17:21), and is now come upon us (Luke 11:20), and is yet fully manifest (2 Peter 3:13), and the Kingdom will come down. After all, a king is king over all that belongs to him. Therefore, God is King of all.
 
Some say, “But when Jesus (Yeshua) ascended on high He led captives with Him” (Eph. 4:8)
 
Ephesians 4 concerns Messiah’s redemptive work and the fruit of it. The text reads:
 
“Therefore He says [Psa. 68:18], ‘When He ascended upon high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto humanity.”
 
- Ephesians 4:8
 
We note that it is captivity that is taken captive, and not “captives.” We further see that the next verse (Eph. 4:9) explains that Messiah’s ascent in verse 8 follows Messiah’s descent and leads to His personal ascending to fill all things in verse 10. This passage does not refer to Messiah taking captives with Him into heaven.
 
All these and many more queries are easily refuted by the same texts that inspire them, simply  by reading them in context and in conjunction with the meta-narrative of the whole of Scripture.
 
We are not taught by Scripture that we ascend but that God comes down. We are told of a new heaven and a new earth, an earth where we will dwell forever in the presence of God (Rev. 21). We are told that Yeshua will return from heaven to establish His throne on earth (Rev. 11:15). We are told that the new Jerusalem will descend to the new earth and that we will see the manifestation of God with us in the city devoid of a temple (Rev. 21). We are not once told in Scripture that we will go up into heaven to dwell there.
 
Lake of Fire
 
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that performed miracles before him, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those that worshipped his image. All these were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with sulphur.”
 
-Revelation 19:20 [Author’s translation]
 
“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and will be tormented day and night into world without end, alt. forever perpetually.”
 
-Revelation 20:10 [Author’s translation]
 
The Greek text αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων literally “in worlds everlasting,” reflects the Hebrew עדי עד adiy ad or לעלם ועד l’olam vayid. This is a multiplication of forever and takes place contextually post Judgement and therefore after the dissolution of the sin affected world (limited time and space). Meaning, it can only refer to something that continues forever and ever. This refutes outright the satanic lies of both Universalism and Annihilationism.
 
“And death and Hades/Sheol were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not found written in the book of living was cast into the lake of fire.”
 
-Revelation 20:14-15 [Author’s translation]
 
We cannot say, as some do, that because it is a second death it is a ceasing or annihilation. We cannot place this physical implication on the text because were we to do so we would also have to place the same limitation on the life that the righteous receive. It would therefore not be everlasting life but temporal life. Thank God, Scripture clearly says otherwise!
 
Concerning the wicked and their eternal punishment Yeshua says:
 
“And these (the wicked) shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into living eternal.”
 
-Matthew 25:46 [Author’s translation]
 
The Greek αἰώνιος aiōnios translated here as “everlasting,” is the same word used in John 3:16 to describe the life a believer receives by trusting in the Son of God.
 
The phrases “everlasting life” and “everlasting punishment” share the same qualifying word “αἰώνιος aiōnios, everlasting.”
 
If, as some foolishly suggest, the word αἰώνιος aiōnios simply means “an extended length of time,” then they must concede that there is neither eternal punishment nor eternal life. A curse on that nonsense! In fact, as previously alluded to, given that eternal punishment, the Lake of Fire follows the Judgement and  exists outside of the limited time and space of the sin affected created order, it’s redundant to claim that αἰώνιος aiōnios simply means “an extended length of time,” because in the context of eternity an extended length of time is impossible to measure to a point of ending. After all, if there is time in eternity there is no end to it.
 
“9And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any person worships the beast and his image, and receives its mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10The same person will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11And the smoke of their torment will rise up forever and ever: and they will have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and those who receive the mark of his name.”
 
-Revelation 14:9-11 [Author’s translation]
 
In the context of eternity, “forever and ever… day and night” means, forever and ever. The nouns day and night are simply used to convey to the limited time trapped reader an everlasting reality.
 
The lake of fire will exist in God for eternity, because nothing can exist outside of God. It will exist distinct from the Olam Haba World to Come but nonetheless, God will endure the suffering of the tormented by nature of His holiness and insurmountable love, forever grieved at the torment of those who have wilfully and perpetually resisted His sacrificial offer of loving reconciliation.
 
The existence of the lake of fire within God will not affect the righteous in the Olam Haba (World to come) because like the distinction in Sheol, the Lake of Fire will be divided by and uncrossable chasm.
 
An Everlasting Solution to an Unrelenting, Perpetual Problem
 
God the Creator, knowing the end from the beginning, saw the problem of rebellion and sin before anything was created. Therefore, He established the solution before the problem existed.
 
"the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world"
 
-Revelation 13:8
 
“ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,”
 
-Ephesians 1:4
 
Just as there is a foreordained solution for establishing redemption there is also a foreordained solution for the imprisonment of the wilfully and perpetually unrepentant, who might otherwise poison the Olam Haba World to Come in the same way they have poisoned the present sin affected created order.
 
Satan desires to be God. Having been created by God, Satan is now established forever from the decision of his rebellion forward, as the perpetual enemy of God and His creation. It appears that Satan believes, albeit under delusion, that in spite of Scripture it (he) can usurp God’s authority and reign in His place. He cannot, however the problem of its (his) determined and continuing goal must be met by an established and everlasting solution. That solution is the lake of fire, everlasting punishment.
 
Those who join Satan and its (his) angels in the lake of fire will be those who are determined to reject God’s sacrificial offer of reconciliation through the atoning blood of Yeshua.
 
Contrary to popular belief God doesn’t send people to everlasting punishment, they choose it out of wilful unrelenting hatred of Him. The sinful human being is headed toward the lake of fire based on his or her choice to sin and continue in it (Eccl. 7:28; Rom. 3:10, 23), but God Himself has intervened with the ultimate act of self-sacrifice in order to make a way for the sinner to be atoned for and reconciled to right relationship in Him. Thus by receiving God’s intervention the repentant human being is prevented from ending in torment.
 
God, being holy and defining love as a decision established through sacrifice and maintained in commitment, will not force His love on creation. Love cannot exist without freewill or predestination. Both are required. Freewill concerns the receipt of intimacy and justice. Predestination, the knowledge of security. Salvation and forgiveness are offered to all but only the repentant receive them in love.
 
Scripture doesn’t speak of names being added to the book of living (Lamb’s book of life) following the foundation of the world (Rev. 17:8; Dan 12:1) but does mention names being blotted out of the book of living (Ex. 32:32; Psa. 69:28; ). Therefore, it is wilful rejection of God that leaves a person vulnerable to everlasting fire. After all, it is God’s will that none should perish, but His emotional desire for the reconciliation of all creation does not eclipse His justice and the reality that some will reject His love and by their own pursuit of self-deification will end in the Lake of Fire.
 
“16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 
 
-John 3:16-18 NKJV
 
We note that those who trust in Messiah “will not perish but have everlasting life” whereas those who reject Him (meaning they have had an opportunity to receive Him but continually reject Him) are “condemned already.”
 
God is just, therefore every person from Adam to the last human being is afforded an opportunity to receive or reject the King Messiah.
 
We may not know how this works in exceptional circumstances but we trust God’s character and ability to make it work. Scripture requires that a human being come to God the Father through the Son (John 14:6) and that death is the cut-off point unto the judgement (Heb. 9:27). It does not say that God is unable to meet people in the womb or in a coma, or in any other space between conception and death. Salvation (Yeshua) Himself holds creation together. Yeshua is all existing, resurrected, trans-locational, God with us.
 
Eternal Security for the Redeemed
 
The follower of Yeshua the Messiah, having received redemption through Messiah’s saving work, need not be anxious or fearful of condemnation or everlasting punishment. Our salvation is secured in Salvation (Yeshua) Himself and is reliant not on our actions but on Him.
 
Many mistakenly conclude, based on the misappropriation of decontextualised Scripture passages, that a Messiah follower can loose salvation. This as ridiculous as saying that Yeshua can be lost. How? After all, in and through Him (Yeshua) all things are created, live, move, and have their existence (Colossians 1:16-17). In Messiah “the new is come, the old has gone” (2 Cor. 5:17). In Him we have already “passed from death into life” everlasting (John 5:24). “Whoever trusts in Him will have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
 
What Scripture Says About the Security of Our Salvation
 
““For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
 
-John 3:16 [Author’s translation]
 
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into living.”
 
-John 5:24 [Author’s translation]
 
“All those who the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out.”
 
-John 6:37 [Author’s translation]
 
“My sheep hear and comprehend My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never into an age unbroken, perish/be destroyed, and no one/nothing will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one/nothing is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.”
 
-John 10:27-29 [Author’s translation]
 
“There is therefore now (eternal present) no condemnation to those who are in Messiah Yeshua, who do not walk according to the flesh/evil inclination, but according to the Spirit.”
 
-Romans 8:1 [Author’s translation]
 
“And those whom He predestined He also called, and those who He called he also rendered righteous, and those who He rendered righteous He also glorified/honoured.”
 
-Romans 8:30 [Author’s translation]
 
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, not angels nor rulers, not things present nor things to come, not powers, not height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Messiah Yeshua our LORD.”
 
-Romans 8:38-39 [Author’s translation]
 
“And Who has also put His seal/mark on us and has given us His Spirit in our core being/hearts as a guarantee/pledge/down payment/assurance.”
 
-2 Corinthians 1:22 [Author’s translation]
 
“Therefore, if anyone is in Messiah, that one is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new is come.”
 
-2 Corinthians 5:17 [Author’s translation]
 
“For by grace you are (eternal present) saved through faith/trust/believing receipt. And this is not your own doing; it is (eternal present) the gift of God,”
 
-Ephesians 2:8 [Author’s translation]
 
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify/purify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our LORD Yeshua the Messiah. He who calls you is faithful/trustworthy; He will certainly do it.”
 
-1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 [Author’s translation]
 
“But this One (Yeshua the High Priest), because He continues forever, has an unchangeable Priesthood. Consequently, He is able to save entirely (without end or limitation) those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
 
-Hebrews 7:25 [Author’s translation]
 
“For by a one sacrifice He has (already) made perfect/holy/complete/whole for all time (without limitation) those who are being sanctified/purified/made holy (within sin affected time and space).”
 
-Hebrews 10:14 [Author’s translation]
 
"25 Yeshua said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the living. Whoever believes/trusts in Me, though that one die (temporal), even so that one shall live! 26 And whoever lives and believes/trusts in Me will never die (perpetually) Do you believe/trust this (Truth)?’" 
 
-John 11:25-26 [Author’s translation]
 
Ref. Jude 1:1, 24-25; 1 John 5:10-13, 6:39, 40 ; Philippians 1:6, 3:20-21; Ephesians 1:13, 2:8-10, 4:30; Romans 6:23, 8:28-34, 11:6; Hebrews 5:9, 13:5; 2 Timothy 4:18; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Peter 1:4-5…
 
Final Thoughts
 
In God the Father and in Messiah we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28; Colossians 1:16-17). Messiah Yeshua is God with us, everlasting. Therefore, being alive in Him we are assured that we have already passed from death into living (John 5:24; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Having received Yeshua we are approved by God through atonement (Hebrews 10:14). We no longer seek to live for God as those trying to earn His approval, rather we live out of His approval in Messiah (Acts 10:34-35; Romans 8:31-34, 35, 38-39, 15:7; Eph. 3:17-19). We live this way according to the guarantee of His Spirit Who indwells us and with the certain hope of the resurrection and everlasting life (John 11:25-26; Ephesians 1:13-14 and 2 Corinthians 1:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Hebrews 6:19-20). 
 
Appendix: Rapture?*
 
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is advantageous when teaching sound doctrine, convicting, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the person who is of God may be proved fit for every good work.”
 
-2 Timothy 3:16-17* [Author’s translation of the Greek text]
 
*NB: In the context of this passage, written approximately 64 C.E. “Scripture” refers to the Torah, Prophets and Writings, what Christians call the Old Testament.
 
“By day Adonay went ahead of them in a column of cloud to lead them on their way and by night in a column of fire to give them light, to travel by day or night. He did not take away the column of cloud by day nor the column of fire by night from before the face of the people.”
 
-Shemot (Exodus) 13:21-22 [Author’s translation of the Hebrew text]
 
“Then the Messenger of Elohim, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The column of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud cast darkness to the one side and light to the other; so neither went near the other all night long.
 
-Shemot (Exodus) 14:19-20 [Author’s translation of the Hebrew text]
 
“Behold, now, pay attention, I send a Messenger before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place that I have prepared. Pay heed, guard, beware of Him, and obey His voice, do not provoke Him; for He will not pardon your transgressions: for My Name is in Him.”
 
-Shemot (Exodus) 23:20-21 [Author’s translation of the Hebrew text]
 
Introduction to Refuting the Rapture
 
For many followers of Messiah (Christ) the theological construct known as “The Rapture” is presumed rather than considered. In fact, in speaking to most Messiah followers I find that few if any contest the idea of the Rapture. For the most part the only issue that arises from discussing the Rapture with other believers is whether or not they are pre-tribulation or post-tribulation believers. When I’m asked my thoughts on the so called “Rapture” I often respond, “Rapture? What Rapture?” This is because as both a follower of Messiah and a Jew, I’m unable to find evidence for the so-called Rapture in either the TaNaKh (OT) or the Ha-Brit Ha-Chadashah (NT).
 
Before I address the concept (conceived, not self-evident) itself by testing it against Scripture, I will give a brief history of this relatively recent theological phenomenon.
 
A Brief History of the Rapture Construct
 
Proponents of the theological construct called “The Rapture” often sight the writings of early Church fathers* as evidence that the Rapture Theology dates back to the earliest days of Gentile Christianity. They interpret the writings of these early fathers of the Gentile Church in a revisionist fashion in order to read into them their preconceived view. In this respect their interpretation of the early Church fathers’ writings is no different from their interpretation of Scripture.
 
*NB: The actual fathers of the Church were all Jews who were the disciples of Yeshua (Jesus), who lived and ministered from 33 CE to 80 CE well before the first recorded writings of the so called “Church Fathers” of Gentile Christianity. Therefore, the so called “Church Fathers” cited by Christians today are not the fathers of the Church.
 

• From the writings of Ephraim the Syrian (306 CE – 373 CE) they read “gathered” as “raptured” or “taken up”, and thus conclude a rapturing of believers.

 

• In the writings of Cyprian (200 CE-258CE) they read “delivered” as “raptured”.

 

• In the writings of Irenaeus (130 CE – 202 CE) they read “tribulation” and presume a “rapture”.

 
In every case they are not quoting explicit evidence for the Rapture but instead are misinterpreting the writings of the Church fathers* in the same way they have misinterpreted the Scriptures that they misuse to support the concept of a Rapture.
 
The truth is that there is no explicit evidence of the teaching of a Rapture in any of the writings of the early Church fathers* (1st to 3rd Centuries CE). Even more importantly, a Rapture of believers was not taught by Yeshua (Jesus) or the apostles, and further, has never been a theological concept within ancient Biblical Judaism.
 
While there’s evidence that Rapture Theology was present in the Church for some time prior to the 19th century (Though not as early as the 3rd Century), Pre-tribulation Rapture Theology became popular in the late eighteenth century with the Puritan preachers, and was popularised extensively in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby. Darby’s assertions were picked up by Scofield and distributed further in the United States in the annotations of the Scofield Reference Bible in the early 20th century. Thus, the popular presumptions regarding the Rapture are largely premised on its recent revival in modern Anglo-American Church history.
 
Regardless of how early one sees evidence of a Rapture Theology within Church writings, the deciding of this issue must rest on the inspired Word of God and what’s written in it. Therefore, what follows will be an examination of the Scriptures that are supposed to prove the Rapture construct (a doctrine of men).
 
Scriptures that Prove the Rapture?
 
1. The most famous of the Rapture passages is found in 1 Thessalonians 4.15-17 and reads:
 
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left until the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the shofar of God: and the dead in Messiah will rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be taken away ἁρπαγησόμεθα (harpagēsometha[G]: snatched away, caught up, gathered) in the clouds (of the presence) νεφέλαις (nephelais [G] Ex. 13:21), to meet the Lord in the (open) air ἀέρα (aera [G] specifically breathable air): and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
 
-1 Thessalonians 4.15-17 [Author’s Translation from Greek text]
 
I’ve placed in brackets the full meaning of the Greek words used, for the purpose of exposing some of the primary misunderstandings that are concluded from the text. First, the Greek word ἁρπάζω (harpazo) translated “caught up” in many English versions, rarely means “caught up.” In fact, out of its eighteen uses in the Ha-Brit Ha-Chadashah (NT), there are only three that explicitly mean “caught up” (2 Co. 12:2, 12:4; Rev. 12:5). You will notice that 1 Thess. 4:17 is not among them. In all other cases (15) ἁρπάζω (harpazo) harpazo means “to gather, take away, catch, pluck, seize,” none of which explicitly refer to being lifted into the sky. Further, ἁρπάζω (harpazo) is related to the word αἱρέομαι (aihreomai) meaning to take for oneself, that is, to prefer, and is used exclusively in the Ha-Brit Ha-Chadashah (NT) to refer to the act of choosing and or those who are chosen (Php. 1:22; Heb. 11:25; 2 Th 2:13).
 
Neither does the mention of νεφέλη (nephele)[G] “clouds” denote the sky. In fact, unless otherwise qualified i.e. “the clouds of the sky” (Matt. 26:64), the word νεφέλη (nephele) (clouds) can refer to clouds or a cloud appearing on earth, like the cloud of the presence that led Israel through the desert (Exodus 13:21). In fact this same Greek word νεφέλη (nephele) is used by the Septuagint (Greek translation of OT dating to approximately 280 BCE) to translate the Hebrew ענן (anan)[H] (cloudy mass, covering) in Exodus 13:21 and refers not to the clouds of the sky but to the cloud of the presence in which the מלאך יהוה Malakh HaShem, Messenger of the LORD Himself manifest (Many understand this to be a manifestation of the Messiah). This bears much greater continuity within the context of 1 Thessalonians 4.15-17.
 
Nor does the use of the Greek word ἀέρα (aer) “air” denote the sky. In fact this Greek word refers specifically to the breathable air of the lower atmosphere. The Greek lexicon states that ἀέρα (aer) is “particularly the lower and dense air as distinguished from the higher and rarer air,” so neither the air of the sky nor the thin air of the highest mountain but the breathable air close to the earth. Therefore, the more accurate translation would be “open air” i.e. “I’m going outside into the open air.” In common 1st century Greek speech this would not have been confused with the upper atmosphere of the sky or the thin air of the highest mountain peak. Thus, the Greek recipient of this first century letter to the Church would not have understood this to be describing a Rapture (lifting up into the sky, levitation), but a taking away by a cloud, much like the events recorded in Exodus 13:21-22 which describe Israel being lead to safety by the cloud νεφέλη (nephele)[G] of God’s presence.
 
Therefore, a correct reading of the Greek text, even out of context (which is how proponents of the Rapture have taken this text) would be:
 
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left until the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the shofar of God: and the dead in Messiah will rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be gathered in the clouds of the presence, to meet the Lord in the open air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
 
-1 Thessalonians 4.15-17 [Author’s translation from Greek text]
 
This is in keeping with the fact that God will make His dwelling with us on the new earth and not aloft in the heavens (Rev. 21:3). Rapture proponents must ask themselves, “Why would God rapture up believers only to drop them down again so that they can dwell with Him forever?” Where will God dwell manifestly forever? On the new earth, in the new Jerusalem. Therefore, the cloud that will take us away is not taking us into the sky toward the heavens but toward this goal: “So shall we ever be with the Lord.”
 
These things aside, proponents of the Rapture take the 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 Scripture entirely out of context.
 
In the context of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Rav Shaul HaShaliach (Paul the Apostle [Sent One]) answers questions that believers in Thessalonica had concerning death. “What has happened to our loved ones who have died before the return of the Messiah to earth?” they ask, and “In the end, what will happen to us? What will happen to them?” Rav Shaul’s (Paul’s) answer explains the bodily resurrection at the return of Messiah to earth, and not an escape into the sky (Rapture, mass levitation) but an exodus from sin affected creation toward the New Jerusalem on the New Earth, as Scripture teaches.
​
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:15-17, Shaul (Paul) is making a דְּרַשׁ d’rash[H] (comparative teaching) using three specific images from the TaNaKh (OT) that were familiar to Jewish believers and God fearing Gentile converts who were familiarising themselves with the Hebrew tradition.
 
The first comparison has to do with God Himself in the form of His Angel manifest as a column of cloud, leading Israel out of captivity in Egypt toward the land of Israel.
 
The second has to do with Moses coming down from Mount Sinai, from out of the cloud of the Lord’s presence, carrying the Torah (Tablets) accompanied by the great blast of the shofar [Ram’s Horn] (Exodus 24).
 
The third image is taken from Daniel chapter 7 where the “One like the Son of Man”  (or “human being” or “The Human One”) and the community He represents is vindicated over the enemies of the people of God. Clouds here symbolise the power and authoritative judgement of God in rescuing, delivering, protecting His people Israel (Ethnic, religious, chosen, empirical). Shaul (Paul) now applies this idea to Gentile Christians as well as to Jewish believers, who were facing various forms of persecution in the first century C.E.
 
Rapture, as it is popularly understood, is nowhere to be found in this so called “Rapture” passage.  Scripture clearly teaches that the Messiah will return to resurrect, to cleanse, to heal, restore and to establish the eternal Kingdom of God on the new earth. Heaven and earth will be united forever as a result of the sacrificial death and resurrection of the King Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).
 
Concerning the Messiah’s return, the Bible teaches:
 
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”
 
-Revelation 21:3-4
 
The renewed world will be our eternal home with God and His King Messiah Yeshua, and we have the opportunity in the present world to reflect that hope. Rapture on the other hand invites us to escape this world, which is the opposite of the truth seen in the life and ministry of Yeshua. We pray “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” according to His instruction, and not “Your will be done in heaven that I might escape to dwell there!”
 
2. Some claim that Matthew 24 proves the Rapture.
 
“And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left: two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left. Watch therefore: for you know not on what day your Lord comes. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through.”
 
-Matthew 24:37-43
 
When reading this teaching of Yeshua we should understand it according to its proper context. The flood destroyed the earth, taking away the wicked and leaving behind God's people (Noah's family). Thus, It was the wicked who were taken and the righteous, Noah and his family who were left behind. Therefore, these verses cannot and do not support a rapture of believers. It is the wicked who will be taken away in the last days and the righteous that will remain.
 
3. There are those who claim that Luke 17:20-37 proves the Rapture.
 
“‘Two women shall be grinding wheat together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.’ And they answered and said to Him, Where, Lord? And He said unto them, ‘Where ever the body is, there will the eagles (Vultures) be gathered together.’”
 
- Luke 17:35-37 (context v.20-37)
 
As in the case of the previous Scripture, the context relates to the days of Noah and those taken are the wicked while those left are the righteous. In the text of Luke 17:35-37 the disciples ask for clarification saying, “Where Lord?” They were not wondering where the one left behind would be? That one had gone nowhere. The disciples were asking “Where will the one who was taken be?” Yeshua answers, "Where ever the body is, there will the birds of prey be gathered together." The Greek ἀετοὶ (aetoi) translated eagle is also used to translate carrion, thus “birds of prey” is perhaps a better rendering. Carrion (Vultures) gather over dead bodies, therefore, we read “carcass.” Even if we read “eagle” the result is the same, the dead body is the subject.
 
“Does the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwells and abides in the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. From thence she seeks the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there she is.”
 
- Job 39:27-30
 
In the Matthew 24 account, Yeshua makes it clearer by saying that the body is a “carcass.” Thus, those taken away cannot have been raptured, rather, they are the wicked dead.
 
4. There are many Christians who use the phrase "coming as a thief" as proof of a rapture.
 
By separating it from the context and believing that Yeshua is coming as a thief for the body of believers, they establish a false theology on a flawed premise. Here’s what the Shaliach (Apostle) Shaul (Paul) says regarding the phrase “comes as a thief”:
 
“But of the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need that I write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, ‘peace and safety’; then sudden destruction will come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”
 
-1 Thessalonians 5:1-5
 
First, followers of Messiah understand that there are times and seasons in the outworking of God’s redemptive plan, and Shaul sees no reason here to write to them regarding the certainty of their hope in Messiah’s return (v.1).
 
Second, Shaul clarifies what the believers already know, that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” Note that it is the day of the Lord and not the Messiah that is referred to.
 
Third, “they” (not believers but unbelievers), “shall say, ‘peace and safety’; then sudden destruction will come upon them…” This cannot refer to believers because v2 already clarifies that believers know that the day of the Lord will come like a thief upon those who are unprepared.
 
Fourth, Shaul reaffirms that the believers will not be taken or surprised by the Day of the Lord (v.4) because they are not in darkness (night).
 
Therefore, the Day of the Lord will come “as a thief” for the world. It will “come suddenly,” on those who are unaware of Messiah? Shaul (Paul) reminds the community of believers that followers of Messiah Yeshua are not overtaken “as by a thief,” because we will be watching and waiting for the Lord, expecting His return (v.4).
 
“The thief comes for no other reason, than to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.'”
 
- John 10:10
 
The Messiah is not a thief, nor should we understand Him figuratively as one who steals. What does a thief come to do? To steal and destroy! Yeshua is not coming to steal and destroy His bride (Body of believers)! Rather, the Day of the Lord will bring about the destruction of the wicked.
 
The Day of the Lord will not come like a thief for the body of faith. Rather, the Day of the Lord will come as a great surprise to the wicked, just as a sleeping man is surprised by a thief at night.
 
Therefore, this scripture is also devoid of any evidence supporting a Rapture.
 
5. Some misuse the following in a vain attempt at proving the Rapture construct:

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
 
-John 14:3
 
Where will Yeshua be? He will be with the Father in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth (Rev. 21). In short, the place prepared descends as the New Jerusalem. This is described in Revelation 21. Therefore, what need is there for Him to rapture those who He will gather to Himself? There is no need, nor does this Scripture support this false idea.
 
6. Some misuse the following in a vain attempt at proving the Rapture construct:

“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
 
-Luke 10:20
 
Yes, our names are written in the book of life which is presently held in the heavens. However, Revelation clearly teaches that the New Jerusalem will come down from heaven and that God will dwell with us on the New earth (Rev. 21). Therefore, our names being presently written in heaven does not qualify the Rapture construct. In fact, this verse is identifying believers as B’nai Elohim (Sons of God: God fearers), as set apart from Banot Adam (Daughters of humanity: idolaters).
 
7. Some misuse the appearing of the Son of Man to support the Rapture
 
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud shofar call, and they will gather His elect (Jews) from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
 
-Matthew 24:30-31 [Ref. Mark 13:24-27]
 
Notice that it is Yeshua Who will come “in the clouds of heaven,” and not the elect (Jews). Notice also that He will gather the elect (Jews) from the four points of the compass. He does not lift up the elect, He gathers them. The phrase “From one end of the heavens to the other” is an ancient Hebrew idiom meaning “all of the earth.” Therefore, this verse does not support the Rapture construct.
 
8. Some use the fact that our citizenship is in heaven in order to support the Rapture
 
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”
 
-Philippians 3:20-21
 
As alluded to previously, our names and subsequently our citizenship are presently recorded in the heavens (as members of the Heavenly Kingdom which will descend). However, as also stated previously, the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven and our residence will be on the new earth in the presence of God the Father and the King Messiah Yeshua. In fact the Scripture itself says “We eagerly await a Saviour from there” and not “We eagerly await our floating up into the clouds to sit up there with the Saviour”.
 
Conclusion
 
Not one of the Scriptures proposed as proof by “Rapture” proponents, when read in context using the original languages, support the Rapture construct. In fact, to the contrary, they refute it and in addition, when coupled with the text of Revelation and the wider body of Scripture, they instead properly illuminate the truth that God intends to come down and dwell with us rather than steal us away up into the heavens.
 
With this in mind, and the fact that neither the books of Daniel or Revelation (the ultimate prophetic descriptions of the latter days) mention a rapture, not once, nor do they imply any kind of rapture, not once; we must conclude that there is no Rapture. Scripture demands it. The reality is that the Rapture theological construct has more in common with the levitation of false esoteric eastern religions than it does with Biblical Judeo-Christianity. In short, the Rapture is a foolish exercise in spiritual escapism.
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov (Brown) Ben Yehoshua

Some say, "Paleo-Hebrew" is the only true text of Scripture." Is that true? Answering this question is important because many in the body of believers rest on an intellectual pride of position based on unproven assertions regarding the revelation and transmission of Scripture.
 
This article seeks to address the question of Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew use in the Bronze Age and the likelihood of its use in recording the Torah/Ten Words at Sinai.
 
For the purposes of this article I have qualified the term Paleo with its predecessor Proto, which has less baggage attached to it regarding the misuse of terms and the pseudo-learned approach of many modern “Messianic” and “Hebrew Roots” proponents.

Evidence* for the Order of Proto-Levantine Scripts of the Bronze & Iron Ages:

*The following dates are an approximate (Scholars and archaeologists differ on precise dating)
The following list is from oldest to youngest and is based on archaeological discoveries of inscriptions, artifacts and manuscripts.

1900 BCE Proto-Sinaitic (Ancient Sinai Peninsula)
1700 BCE Proto-Canaanite
1100 BCE Proto-Phoenician
1000 BCE Ugaritic
840 BCE Moabite
700-538 BCE Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew [some evidence suggests the possibility of earlier dating to1000 BCE]
400 BCE – 100 CE Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll Manuscripts

The traditional (and most likely) estimate for the receipt of the Torah at Sinai is 1300 BCE.

Therefore, based on the archaeological evidence, and the dating of the Exodus, the Torah (inclusive of the tablets/Ten Words) could not have been written in Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew as many suggest.
 
Paleo-Hebrew is at a stretch, dated to 1000 BCE, 300 years later than the Exodus.

The Torah was most likely written in an earlier form of Hebrew that more closely resembled the Proto-Canaanite/Phoenician alphabets.

This puts to rest the false assertions of the endless parade of pseudo-learned, so called, "Messianic" teachers who claim that the only true text of Scripture is the Paleo-Hebrew text of Sinai (which we have established is highly unlikely).
 
The ancient manuscripts (not inscriptions but scrolls) we do have in the Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew script are found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and date between 400 BCE and 100 CE. We do not have a complete Torah text in Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew.

It's equally erroneous to claim, as some do, that a hieroglyphic interpretation of Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew Scripture is necessary for a true understanding.

Proto-Phoenician, Proto-Canaanite, and Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew character alphabets are just that, character alphabets using letters to create words that have meaning based on the combining of letters and not based on the individual pictographic meanings of individual letters within a word.
 
In the case of Scripture, to interpret the sum of a word as a collection of ambiguous pictographic ideas that contradict the meaning of the word itself, is to breed confusion.

Had God intended to convey His Word in hieroglyphics He had an Egyptian set of hieroglyphics to work with which were adjacent to (Though originated centuries earlier), but not the same as the Proto-Canaanite/Proto-Phoenician/Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew of the descendants of Jacob, who had brought the Proto-Canaanite/Proto-Phoenician alphabet with them into Egypt and had carried it in their own dialect (An earlier version of Proto-Hebrew) as a spoken and written language throughout their 400 year sojourn as slaves.

The ancient Scriptural texts we have today, written in both Proto(Paleo)-Hebrew, Post Exilic Hebrew/Aramaic and Ancient Greek are fully reliable.

They're not fully reliable because human scribes are fully reliable but because the Creator of the universe is fully reliable and ultimately responsible for the revelation, impartation, and transmission of Scripture.

Do not be fooled by those who promote teachings using theories that have no factual basis.

Likewise, do not entertain teachers who claim that Scripture in its transmitted languages can't be relied upon “because humans wrote it,” or because some “undiscovered more accurate version (A full Paleo-Hebrew Torah) exists.”

Those who make the aforementioned claims only serve to seed confusion, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation. Have nothing to do with them.

Being pedantic concerning alphabet preference is unnecessary when it comes to the transmission and communication of Scripture. YHVH is the Creator of alphabets. The Mashiach is the Word Who establishes all language, spoken and written. During the first century while Yeshua taught in the Roman occupied land of Judea, both Hebrew and Greek were considered kosher languages for writing Torah Scrolls. This is evidenced in the manuscripts of Qumran (Dead sea Scrolls), and in the quotes from Torah presented in New Testament Scripture (texts dating approximately between 40 and 110 CE).
 
Yeshua may well have quoted Scripture from both the Hebrew and Greek language versions of Torah Scrolls (and sometimes an Aramaic translation) depending on the mix of Jews present listening to Him on any given occasion. Evidence suggests that Jews of first century Judea and surrounding areas spoke Hebrew, Greek, and at least three dialects of Post-Exilic Aramaic.
 
Don’t be beguiled by arrogant self-promoting people who claim a unique knowledge of Scripture that only initiates of their teachings have access to. The redemptive revealed message of God is available to all. It’s no secret.

God can be trusted, so trust Him for the inerrancy of Scripture.

In Messiah our King Redeemer and Intimate Friend

-Yaakov Ben Yehoshua 
 
For additional content on this subject please read my brief article titled “A Warning Regarding The Misinterpretation of Pictographic Paleo Hebrew”:
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary/a-warning-regarding-the-misinterpretation-of-pictographic-paleo-hebrew
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov (Brown) Ben Yehoshua