Blog #300: What Is The Meaning Of Life?

Friends are beginning to ask me why I’ve stopped blogging. My feeling is that we’re either in the midst of the Fourth Seal of Revelation, or we’re experiencing another timeframe. Therefore, if I’m correct, then wait, and time will prove or disprove my theories. It’s not my call, because the timing of Jesus’ return belongs to the Father. In my estimation, nothing prophetic needs to be stated right now.

Either we're entering a phase where war, famine, disease, and animal/Zombie attacks will kill 25% of the world’s population, or I am wrong with my eschatological theories. There is no need to cite that the DOW isn’t worth 8,000, let alone 18,000. Why should I remind you that the USA and Saudi Arabia are pushing Putin the Bear toward war? You can read about Ebola and all the other diseases, and you know about increasing food prices, and Zombie attacks, so why should I scream like Chicken Little to you? Instead, if something needs to be stated, I’ll know, and I’ll tell you…from a Hebraic point of view.  

Like a cold shower, I can tell when a headline grabs my attention. Over the years, I’ve discovered and catalogued all the prophetic signs that offer you enough reasons to believe that God created us, He loves us, and that Jesus is returning soon. Nothing else needs to be stated by me, and very little has grabbed my attention lately. Until we see WWIII, famine, disease, and Zombies, I will only blog when something needs to be stated.

In honor of Blog #300, I would like to present an alternative view of what “Life” is.

In the beginning was the Word [Torah], and the Word was with God. and the Word [Torah] was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being. In him was life [what is life?], and the life was the light of mankind [what is life and light?]. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it. There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan.  He came to be a testimony, to bear witness concerning the light; so that through him, everyone might put his trust in God and be faithful to him. He himself was not that light; no, he came to bear witness concerning the light. This was the true light, which gives light to everyone entering the world. He was in the world — the world came to be through him — yet the world did not know him.

He came to his own homeland, yet his own people did not receive him. But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God. The Word [Torah] became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh’khinah, the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-14 (CJB)

So what kind of life and light was (is) in Jesus?

Spirit and Soul: by D. Thomas Lancaster

Then the LORD God formed man from the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

God made Adam as a hybrid of spirit and flesh. Man possesses two souls—a “divine” soul and an animal soul. 30 The divine soul is that pre-existent aspect of the soul, the “breath” of God which He breathes into human beings. It is a portion of His own essence, and it survives after death.

The animal soul is the human life-force which animates the flesh. The animal soul provides our mortal vitality, our sense of self and sentience. The common word for soul is nephesh, but nephesh is seldom used to refer to the immortal, spiritual element of the divine soul. Instead, nephesh refers to a person’s psyche, the “self” and the “personality.” The mystics describe the nephesh as a man’s thought, speech, and action. Even animals have a nephesh. It’s inclination and appetites are carnal, material, and selfish, its influence over man leads us to selfishness, lust, greed, and sin. Despite this, the animal soul is not evil, for it comes from God. The animal soul can be harnessed and brought under the influence of the divine soul and into the service of God.

The Hebrew word for “breath” in Genesis 2:7 is neshamah. The same word is commonly used in Judaism to refer to the divine soul. The neshamah entered Adam as the “breath of life” God breathed into him.31 The divine soul is the source of our innate thirst for God. The apostles refer to it as the “spirit” (not to be confused with the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit). According to apostolic theology, this spirit within man is dead until it is quickened by salvation and brought to life and communion with the Holy Spirit.

To enter a human being, the neshamah must leave its abode in the heavens and inhabit an earthly body. Then the nephesh (personality) and neshamah (divine soul) bind together, but remain distinct. At death, perishes within the body, but the neshamah returns to its source: “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7)

Both the nephesh and the neshamah are mentioned in Genesis 2:7:

Then the LORD God formed man from the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath [neshamah] of life; and man became a living being [nephesh]. (Genesis 2:7)  See more at - “Torah Club Volume 5” p.15-16

It is my contention that God scoops up dust (adamah), breathes neshamah into it to give us life (chi-ee) to become a living being (nephesh); and then at some point in time we die, where the various jello-like components separate until the resurrection. Humans seem to have a ruach (spirit), as opposed to God's Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh-both words are feminine), which is like a mantle that is offered, and may be taken back for certain reasons or seasons.

The word nephesh occurs 754 times in the Hebrew Bible. The first four times nephesh is used in the Bible, it is used exclusively to describe animals: Gen 1:20 (sea life), Gen 1:21 (great sea life), Gen 1:24 (land creatures), Gen 1:30 (birds and land creatures). At Gen 2:7 nephesh is used as description of man.
Job 12:7-10 offers a distinct similarity between רוח (ruah) and נפׁש (nephesh): “In His hand is the life (nephesh) of every living thing and the spirit (ruah) of every human being.” (Wikipedia)

Let's test my theory against the scriptures.

Life: Who can live and not see death? Who can save himself [his nephesh] from the power of the grave? Psalm 89:48 (OJB)

[Judah speaking:] Now therefore when I come to thy eved Avi, and the na’ar [Benjamin] be not with us; seeing that his nefesh [Judah’s soul] is bound up in the nefesh of the na’ar [Benjamin’s soul]; Genesis 44:30 (OJB) [Our souls may become intertwined with kids, spouses and pets; but our neshamah remains separate and intact.]

I said in mine lev [heart], As for bnei haAdam [sons of Adam], HaElohim tests them, that they might see that they themselves are like beheimah [animals]. For bnei haAdam and beheimah share one and same mikreh (fortune); as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [ruach echad]; so that the adam hath no advantage above the beheimah; for all is hevel [meaningless]. All go unto mekom echad; all are of the afahr (dust), and all return to the afahr again. Who hath da’as of the ruach bnei haAdam that goeth upward, and the ruach habeheimah that goeth downward to ha’aretz [see 12:7]? Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 (OJB)

My son, obey your father’s command [Torah], and don’t abandon your mother’s teaching [Torah]. For the mitzvah [loving/living the Torah, which is Jesus] is a lamp, Torah is light, and reproofs that discipline are the way to life. Proverbs 6:20, 23 (CJB)

The neshamah of adam is the ner (light) of Hashem, searching all the innermost beten [your second brain near your internal organs]. Proverbs 20:27 (OJB)

Death: The nephesh that sinneth, it shall die Ezekiel 18:20 (OJB) Or ever the silver cord be loosed [our DNA seems to be like a silver cord. Does it loosen when we die?], or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the bor (cistern). Then shall the aphar [dust] return to ha’aretz [earth] as it was; and the ruach shall return unto HaElohim who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 (OJB)

So Moses, servant of HASHEM, died there, in the land of Moab, by the mouth of God [God kissed Moses to death by taking away his neshamah]. Deuteronomy 34:5 (Chumash: The Stone Edition)

My final opinions:  Life is the Revelation of God to the world, whereby some of the primordial light is [veiled] under the throne of glory for a time and a season until it is time to completely shine forth. Jesus is the Torah, which is a light veiled from Christianity. Likewise, the Torah is Jesus, which is a light veiled from Judaism. He was fully God and fully man. Humans and animals are not God. All we know about life is what has been described in the Bible. Life for humans is Jesus! And, as for animals…

As my wonderful dog Jack (he was the best ever!) died just prior to dawn on Av 9, 2014, I prayed and God allowed me to watch light sparkles/particles go up from him, and not down. Although the Bible isn’t definitive on where deceased animals abide, I believe that I’ll see some form of Jack again someday.

Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvoth [commandments]; this is what being human is all about. For God will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad.

[Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about.] Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (CJB)

Shalom!