This elementary Hebrew word is found in many places in the Bible, such as Numbers 15:27-30, which says,

"And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

"But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people."

Obviously, there is not the remotest implication here that the word Nephesh, which is rendered "soul" in the English language, means anything other than a PERSON, or an individual. The phrase would be more understandable if it had read, "...the priest shall make an atonement for the person who sins ignorantly..."

The same Hebrew word, Nephesh, is translated "person" (Genesis 14:21; 36:6; Exodus 16:6; Lev. 27:2; Numbers 31:40; Deuteronomy 10:22; Jeremiah 43:6; 52:29, 30, and Ezekiel 16:5, and 27:13. Nephesh is translated as "persons" ( Numbers 31:35), "any" (meaning anyone; any person), ( Deuteronomy 24:7), "man" ( II Kings 12:4), "men" ( I Chronicles 5:21), and "he" ( Psalms 105:18).

Thus, the IDENTICAL word in Hebrew which is the word rendered "soul" in the Old Testament, is used in many, many different ways to connote human or animal LIFE; life which is sustained by food, air and water; life which can cease, can perish, die, be destroyed. Nephesh is translated as "man, any, anyone, yourselves, person, themselves, himself, he, herself, and himself."

NEVER is the word "immortal" attached to Nephesh, or the word rendered in English as "soul."

For more than 42 years, I have offered a certified cashier's check to anyone who can find the following phrases or sentences in the King James Bible: "Immortal soul," "immortality of the soul," "I have an immortal soul," "You have an immortal soul," "Our souls go to heaven when we die," or "I will see you in heaven." No one has ever collected that check, for no such phrases are found anywhere in the Bible. But your Bible DOES say that "souls" DIE! Why? How? How can this be? Simply because the word "soul," as amply proven above, does not mean anything other than physical life; the life of animals or men!

The Bible says,

" Behold, all souls [lives; beings; persons] are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, IT SHALL DIE!" ( Ezekiel 18:4).

The identical phrase is repeated in verse 20:

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

Obviously, the thrust of this chapter is that God will require an accounting from each INDIVIDUAL; that no one will either bear the iniquity of another, or come under the righteousness of another; that each individual person shall give account of himself! The point is, that your Bible says SOULS DIE! The word "soul" has absolutely NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER with anything immortal or immaterial!

Now, let's see the TRUTH about the resurrections prophesied in God's word.

All your life, you have heard the saying, "You can't take it with you." Obviously, as this old saying goes, we leave everything we thought was important; loved ones, home, car, money and jewelry; even collections like bric-a-brac or paintings.

But, believe it or not, even though we eventually return to the ground from which we came, we can take with us our most precious possessions of all! In this encouraging, inspiring booklet, you will find answers to perplexing questions: "What if my spouse was not saved when he died?" "What about my father, who, though not a church-going man, was a good man, honest, and a good husband?" "What about our little girl, who was only two when she died?" "What about our son who was killed in Vietnam? He wasn't religious, but he was a good boy. Is he in hell? What happened to him when he died?"

"There is nothing surer than death and taxes," they say. We've all heard it. But, since the Bible speaks plainly about a resurrection of the body from the grave, do we take anything with us besides our best dress or suit to the grave? Do we bring anything back with us in the resurrection? Will we recognize our loved ones? If so, will we have our memories intact? And what about the bad memories? What about character, integrity, and knowledge?

When Job learned of the tragedies that had destroyed his family, his herds, and his home, he said:

" Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Eternal gave, and the Eternal hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Eternal " ( Job 1:21).

Like families of whom we hear in the news who have lost everything to hurricane, fire, flood, mudslide, or tornado, Job was devastated. His children were dead. His cattle were dead. His home was destroyed.

Faced with this monumental tragedy, he could only contemplate the somber fact that all physical and material things are left behind when we die. He had nothing left. But then, he couldn't take it with him when it was his turn to be buried.

We've all heard it. We have all said it at one time or another. "You can't take it with you."

Solomon knew that merely piling up material goods; hoarding money was wrong. He said:

"There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that labored for the wind?" (Ecclesiastes 5:13-16).

The word wind in the book of Ecclesiastes is nearly always rendered "vanity." It is a book about vanity; about empty, useless agendas; about false hopes, wrong goals, and a "pursuit after wind." Solomon, too, knew we take nothing material with us to the grave.

Anciently, pagan kings and pharaohs were unwilling to believe these biblical philosophies. They not only thought they could take everything with them into the next life, they struggled all their lives, making life insufferable for thousands around them, to amass a gigantic fortune to accompany them in death, and, presumably, to provide them comforts in their expected life beyond the grave.

The largest monuments on earth are mute testimony to the attempt by the rulers of Egypt to "take it with them" when they died. The pyramids are tombs. With carefully concealed entryways, and mazes of passages, and with myths, lies, and curses, the pharaohs hoped to thwart would-be grave robbers.

Of course, they failed.

Today, like the touring display of King Tutakamen's golden treasures, their former wealth either ended up in national museums or were sold in bits and pieces on the black market. Their mummified bodies are, like their fabulous wealth, on display to the public.

In ancient China, rulers were sometimes buried in huge crypts, accompanied by dozens of wooden carved warriors on wooden horses, with gold, silver, jewelry, silks, arms, and exquisite works of art alongside them. Sometimes, loyal servants, wives, and bodyguards were either required to commit suicide or were put to death to accompany their ruler into the underworld. Not only did they think they could take material wealth with them, they thought they could take their friends, guards, and family.

But people in the modern Christian-professing world know better, so they are buried in their best (or favorite) suit, or dress. No wallet. No money, no personal possessions. For many, it is the only time they will ever ride in a limousine, and a very rare occasion, indeed, to wear their best suit and tie.

Every Human Dies, But Will be Resurrected

The Bible insists there is coming a time when God will raise the dead. When the dead are raised, what will they be like? Will they appear as they did in life?

God says He will raise all of the dead, no matter into which category, spiritually, they may have belonged.

Your Bible says:

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

As God told Adam:

"Dust thou art, and unto dust [soil, the elements of this physical earth; the ground, from which we came] shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19).

God had warned Adam that in the day he rebelled against God's commandment, he would surely incur the punishment for sin, which is death.

Notice:

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23 ).

Here are two opposites. Death, and eternal life. Man has no inherent eternal life. We are mortal, physical, temporal. God says:

"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them [their memory, their consciousness] is forgotten." (Ecclesiastes 9:5 ).

The opposite of death is eternal life.

Your Bible says eternal life is only available "through Jesus Christ our Lord." We do not have a so-called "immortal soul" dwelling within us from conception, or birth.

Eternal life is only possible by the process of spiritual salvation; through repentance of sin, baptism, and the receiving of God's Holy Spirit, which begets us as His children, called "new creatures in Christ."

We do not have eternal life by virtue of human birth. We are not immortal. Paul wrote:

"Thou shalt keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ ... who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach..," (I Timothy 6:14-16 ).

Yet, all your life, you have been taught the myth that man has an immortal soul from birth. You have been taught that the unsaved immediately go to an "ever-burning hellfire," there to shriek, scream, and writhe in unimaginable agony of fire day after day, month after month, year after year—thousands of lifetimes with never a respite!

All this, so goes the myth, simply because they were born in China, or India, or Bangladesh, or Pakistan, and never heard the name of Jesus Christ!

Is this true? Will God torture for countless billions of years human beings who never had a chance to be saved?

No, a loving God does not torture human beings who never had a chance for salvation. The billions who have lived and died without having heard the name of Jesus Christ are not shrieking in hell. God is love, not hate. He is merciful, not vindictive. He desires to save, not destroy.

So remember, every human being who has ever lived, and who has died, or is yet to die, will be RESURRECTED at some point in time. The first death that occurs to all humans is "natural," because of the human aging process of our short, human life spans. That first death, no matter how it comes, whether in a murder, or tragic accident, or peacefully, under sedation at age 90, is not the "wages of sin."

Now, let's understand. Believe it or not, your Bible shows there will ultimately be three different resurrections!

The First Resurrection

Christ said:

"Verily, verily I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek, "judgment"] " (John 5:25-29 ).

Here, Jesus speaks of two categories of people; those who have done good, and those who have done evil. Two different resurrections, for different purposes. One, a resurrection "of life," and the other, a resurrection "of judgment."

The resurrection of life is spoken of in great detail in the New Testament. Notice how Paul puts it:

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept" (I Corinthians 15:19, 20 ).

The foundational bedrock of the Christian faith is the fact of Christ's resurrection.

The disciples were, at first, unwilling witnesses. They did not at first believe Jesus had truly been resurrected, that He was alive again! Only after many miraculous occurrences—materializing among them in a closed room, appearing to them along a lonely roadway, appearing to them on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, forcing Thomas to put his hand into the nail and spear wounds—did they finally come to know that "He is risen."

The fact of Christ's resurrection was the pivotal centerpiece of the testimony of the disciples. And why not? It was the most astounding, mind-boggling, stupendous event of their lives!

Peter said:

" Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on His throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul [Greek: psuche, meaning "life"] was not left in hell [Greek: hades, meaning "the grave"], neither His flesh did see corruption.

"This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

"For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:29-36 .

The apostles of Christ had not "studied," or "proved" to themselves out of a set of "proof texts" that Christ was alive. They had seen Him. They didn't merely "believe," they KNEW. There is a difference.

Because they knew, they preached, powerfully, of the resurrection.

When they were being examined by the rulers, elders, and the scribes because of an astounding healing of a well-known crippled beggar at one of the city gates, Peter spoke up:

"Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole: Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:8-12 ).

Salvation is only through Jesus Christ of Nazareth; only through repentance ( Acts 2:38), baptism ( Romans 6), and the receiving of the Holy Spirit ( Acts 5:32; I Corinthians 12:13). Then, when a person who is saved dies, he awaits the first resurrection from the dead, which takes place at the moment of Christ's return.

Notice that Jesus spoke only of two categories of people, those who were being saved, and those who had not yet been judged, who were unsaved. But Christ Himself, and the Scriptures, speak of another category of people—those who have had an opportunity for salvation, and have consciously rejected it. They are called the "incorrigibly wicked," and are characterized by the rich man of Luke 16, in the parable about Lazarus and the rich man.

Notice the clear statements of Paul concerning the first resurrection:

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order [there is a sequence of events, a chronological order of events concerning the resurrections]: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" ( I Corinthians 15:22, 23).

Many details are given concerning this first great resurrection of the "dead in Christ." Jesus said:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars [meteorites] shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds [these are living human beings, Christians who are engaged in accomplishing the work of God on this earth], from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:29-31 ).

Notice a corroborating scripture:

"For I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [dead], that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which also sleep in Jesus [the dead in Christ] will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain [the "elect," who shall be gathered from all over the world by His angels] unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" ( I Thessalonians 4:13-17).

He is coming "with clouds," and the dead in Christ are to meet Him "in the air." Look up air in any encyclopedia. You will find it is the material mantle of gaseous substances, such as hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, ozone, and many other gases which make up our earth's atmosphere.

By way of comparison, if you have a small desk-sized globe of the world, the transparent lacquer finish on your globe is thicker than the actual mantle of air that surrounds our world.

Jesus is coming back to this earth.

The living saints are not taken to heaven at His coming, nor are the "dead in Christ" taken to heaven at His coming. He is coming again, not awaiting, in heaven, the arrival of souls, or of saints.

Notice:

"Behold the Day of the Lord cometh...I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle...Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations [see Revelation 19:11-21], as when He fought in the day of battle: And His feet shall stand IN THAT DAY upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east...And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one" ( Zechariah 14:1-9).

Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth to rule it with a rod of iron ( Isaiah 2:2-4; Isaiah 11:4-16; Revelation 2:26, 3:21; Micah 4). When His startled disciples watched Him depart this earth, as He was literally being taken up into the air, and disappearing into the clouds overhead, the very first message to ever come down to this earth after Jesus went to heaven was:

"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall SO COME IN LIKE MANNER AS YE HAVE SEEN HIM GO into heaven" (Acts 1:11).

He is coming with clouds, into the lower atmosphere of this earth, and will continue His descent until He stands upon the Mount of Olives. Not only are the "dead in Christ" resurrected at the moment of Christ's return, but the living saints are miraculously changed.

Notice how Paul, in the famous "resurrection chapter" of the Bible, puts it:

"Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep [die] but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump [at the exact moment of Christ's return], for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (I Corinthians 15:50-52 ).

So at the very moment Jesus Christ arrives on this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, the "dead in Christ" are resurrected, caught up into the clouds, and are transported by Christ's angels to meet the returning Christ in the air.

At the very same moment, those living saints in whom the Spirit of God dwells will be changed from mortal to immortal; from flesh to spirit; from human to divine, and will likewise be caught up into the air, to meet the descending Christ over the Mount of Olives.

His feet will stand in that very day on the Mount of Olives, a short walk from Jerusalem! With Him will be all the great men and women of the Bible, from Seth to Noah; from Moses to Elijah; from John the Baptist to Paul. Also with Him will be millions of people you and I have never known—people who lived their Christian lives in the valleys of Europe during the Middle Ages; people who were persecuted, perhaps put to death, for their faith in Christ.

Such is the Bible description of the first great resurrection. Now, we know who is resurrected when Christ returns. We know the living saints will be changed in the batting of an eyelash, and that they will not precede the dead in Christ, but that all will be caught up at the same time, the time of the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, and the Second Coming of Christ.

But what of the second resurrection of which Christ spoke. What of those who have never had an opportunity for salvation, who have never heard the gospel, never had a chance to either believe it, or reject it?

After all, the vast bulk of the world's population falls into this category. Christ said there would come a resurrection of "judgment."

Written by: Garner Ted Armstrong