Perhaps the saddest of all facts to face up to in this life is that sooner or later one's physical and mental health will give way to decay, disease and death. This inescapable sequence comes to all of us irrespective of color, class or creed. Decay, disease and death may also be seen operating in the natural world all about us, from the lowest rock, plant or metal to the most complex of living creatures. All creation is subject to this dreaded process and everything about us is dying by degrees - wearing out before our very eyes.

Yet at the same time, there is another phenomenon at work in the universe. It is the miracle of life, abundant life, triumphant life; life that in a million different ways is the antithesis of death; life that overwhelmingly triumphs over the very worst that death can do.

In short, there exists throughout this universe two diametrically opposed processes, decay and death on the one hand and triumphant life on the other. "Cycles of Mother Nature" they are often called; but that is a sad understatement of a great truth, that all the miracles of nature are in reality the handiwork of YaHuWaH the Elohim of Israel, the Creator of the mighty universe.

Yes, it is a fundamental fact that all creation owes its existence to Him; and nothing throughout the limitless expanses of the cosmos can continue to function without His authority and power. He can give life and He can take it away. He can build up, and He can break down. He can open and He can close. If you accept His mercy and live in accordance with His will, you will pass through the portals of the tomb and rise to live for all time. Ignore Him, resist Him, reject His offer of mercy and salvation and in the final Judgement you will be condemned. This, in truth, is the essence of Bible teaching.

Let us now turn to the Word of YaHuWaH, the Bible, to find out what He has to say about death. What is death anyway? How did it come about in the first place? What happens to a person when he/she dies? Where do they go? Can the living communicate with the dead? Are the dead in heaven or hell or in some other place? Is death the end of existence, or is there an afterlife? And to address an immediate problem - How can we conquer our inherent fear of death?

According to the Scriptures, the penalty for sin is death - eternal death. And the only way for sinners to escape that penalty is to accept the Almighty's offer of mercy through His Son YAHUSHUA the Messiah. The reader should beware of treating this oft-repeated truth with a contempt born of familiarity. Yes, "the wages (reward) of sin is death" and "the soul that sinneth it shall surely die." No matter what people may say to the contrary, that is what the Scriptures teach concerning the end result of sin. It is folly to ignore these facts.
(Ezekiel 33:1-20)

The Bible speaks of two deaths and it is important to know the difference between them.

• The First Death is experienced by the whole human race, with the exception of those believers who will be alive when the Messiah returns to earth.
• The Second Death, the REAL DEATH, will be experienced only by the rejecters of ;YaHuWaH 's mercy.

The First Death is compared in the Scriptures to a 'deep sleep;' a sleep from which everyone who has ever died will arise at the resurrection, just as a sleeping child awakes in the morning when called by its parent. The first death, tragic though it obviously is, need not to be greatly feared.

The Second Death, however, is a very different matter. It is death in the fullest sense of the word - the real thing! It is the final, irreversible annihilation of the soul; the death from which there is no resurrection - no return. The second death is the 'absolute end of existence.' It is, therefore, greatly to be feared.
(John 11:11-14&24-26, Psalm 13:3, Revelation 20:12-15)

The physical elements which once composed the body return to the earth, and the 'spark of life', the 'breath' or 'Spirit of YaHuWaH ' returns to YaHuWaH who gave it. The dead are incapable of communicating with the living.

4. Spiritism

Who then, are the beings who speak through mediums at the many spiritist seances held around the world? They are the "spirits of devils" masquerading as departed loved ones. They are evil angels (evil spirits, lying demons, satanic agencies) posing as dead human beings. And all with the diabolic purpose of deceiving mankind into thinking that death is really not death at all - not even a sleep - but a higher form of spiritual existence which the Almighty is unwilling to tell us about.

Beware of that subtle and dangerous deception. The Bible plainly states that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" and that "the dead know not anything," nor can they communicate with the living. Any person or spirit, therefore, that teaches otherwise is most certainly not of YaHuWaH. See Lesson 17 on Spiritism.
(Revelation 16:13-14, Isaiah 8:19-20)

If the First Death is likened in the Bible to a sleep, then where are the dead sleeping? Are they in heaven or hell or in some other place?

The answers to this question is best understood if one considers a simple box, made of wood and nails. Arrange the wood in a certain way and nail it together and lo! you will have a box. Remove the nails and separate the pieces of wood and of course you will cease to have a box. When dismantled the box didn't go anywhere, did it? It simply ceased to exist as a box. In its place remain a few nails and pieces of wood. Its maker could quite easily reassemble the box and bring it back into existence.

It is the same with the make-up of a human being. The Bible states that, "YaHuWaH Elohim formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living soul."

Please note that man was not given a "soul," a separate ethereal something which was immortal. Oh no! Man "became a living soul." A soul, then is a being composed of two basic elements, the dust of the ground and the breath of life.

At death this process of creation is reversed; a person is dismantled, taken to pieces, as it were. The breath (the Spirit of YaHuWaH) leaves the body and the body returns to the dust of the earth. Like the box, that person, that soul, ceases to exist. The soul, another term for 'living being,' could just as easily be reassembled by its Maker as could that box - and that is what will take place at the Lesson 6 - but it is important to remember that souls do not go anywhere at death: neither to heaven, hell or Purgatory. They simply cease to exist. This is the Bible teaching on this matter. (Genesis 2:7, Ezekiel 37:11-14, John 5:25-29)

And now we come to a vital question:
How does one overcome the fear of death?
The answer is simple. Become acquainted with the One who has already conquered death. Yes, accept salvation from "death's conqueror" - YAHUSHUA the Messiah. Put your trust in him, follow him, verbally acknowledge before some third party that you believe in the risen Messiah, and then take positive steps to obey the commandments of YaHuWaH.

If you do these things, then slowly the sweetest of miracles will overtake your mind. Unshakeable confidence will replace fear in your life; joy will replace sadness and peace will replace turmoil. In short, you will no longer fear death.

Why?

Because deep within your being you will know that you are a child of the Almighty YaHuWaH, a new person, a living person; one who may sleep the "deep sleep" of the first death, but certainly not one who will ever taste of the REAL DEATH, the second death, that soul-annihilating event from which no one will ever return. (Matthew 10:28, Psalm 33:18-19, John 3:16, Lesson 6 on The Resurrection)

There cases where people have not died, but have been taken alive by YaHuWaH. Enoch is one example we read about:

Genesis 5:24 "And Enoch walked with Elohim: and he was not; for Elohim took him."

Here we find that Enoch, as far as we know, has up to this current era 2012 A.D., never died.

Elijah is another case where a man has been taken by YaHuWaH :

2 Kings 2:11 "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."

Where are Enoch and Elijah?

Elijah makes an appearance:

Mark 9:2 "And after six days YAHUSHUA taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them.
3 And His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moshe: and they were talking with YAHUSHUA."

The Elias referred to in Mark 9:4 is the prophet Elijah who was seen taken alive (translated) into heaven, as described in 2 Kings 2:11, by a whirlwind in 897 B.C., about 930 years earlier.

Of special note on the above scripture verses is that fact that Moshe was not allowed by YaHuWaH to enter the Promised Land and did die a natural death in 1451 B.C. Moshe is seen here by three witnesses. Moshe is alive and in the Promised Land speaking with YAHUSHUA approximately 1481 years after his death. YaHuWaH does what He wants with His own. He is compassionate and merciful, with abilities beyond human comprehension!

One important question remains to be answered. Will death ever come to an end; or will it continue to alternate with life throughout the endless cycles of eternity? YaHuWaH 's Word assures us that one day death will come to an end. It will become obsolete - a thing of the past. Together with sickness, sorrow and pain, it will be debarred from human experience by the power of YaHuWaH the Almighty Elohim of Israel, and will not even come to mind. In its place, the ransomed of YaHuWaH, those who have placed their faith in the Almighty and His Son YAHUSHUA, will have Life, abundant life, eternal life, life in the fullest sense of the term. What's more, the entire universe is going to be remade; and the heartbreaking process of "decay and death," which is painfully apparent in this present world, will end.

Revelation 21:

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto YaHuWaH our Elohim: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Torah.