Reader Questions/Comments

Will Jews who don't believe in Yeshua end up in heaven?

The Netzarim Response

That's a difficult thing to answer because only YHWH (Yahweh) Himself knows those who are truly His. As you know. YHWH took people "to heaven" (exactly where, no one can say!) BEFORE Messiah Yeshua arrived on the scene, as in the case of Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11). It has ALWAYS been up to HIM!

YHWH has always provided ways for Man to connect with Him, as evidenced throughout the entire Torah. Once Adam and Eve sinned and were expelled from the Garden of Eden, YHWH obviously got His Word (Torah = Divine Instructions) to Adam and Eve and their children, because we see, for instance, that Cain and Abel knew to bring "sacrifices" (see Genesis 4). We know that Noah "walked with God" (Genesis 6) and that he knew the difference between "clean and unclean" animals (Genesis 7).

We can see in Genesis 12 that our first Patriarch, Abraham, was a pagan Chaldean when God chose him, and that his son Isaac and grandson Jacob (the second and third Patriarchs) weren't "Jews" per se; they were known as Hebrews and, later, "Israelites." And we see in Torah how YHWH was constantly reaching out to them to show them how to be HOLY/set apart so that they could belong to Him...So, yes, before Y'shua died on our behalf, there were ways to find favor with YHWH - and those "ways" were through obedience to His Torah!

However, two thousand years ago Yeshua said, "No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). So, we have to believe that now, since YHWH's Son died as our Final SIN Substitution/Offering (he martyred Himself, and there's no law against that!), we MUST "believe" in him in order to get to the Father. This includes Jews, as well. It includes EVERYBODY.

(NOTE: Our use of the term "martyr" is intentional because Jewish "counter-missionaries" love to point out that "G-d never required human sacrifice!" Well, Yeshua wasn't a "human sacrifice" because nobody "sacrificed" him. He willingly went to the cross/stake.)

Those who aren't caught up/"raptured" at Yeshua's return (his return is at the END of the seven year period after the "Anti-Messiah" makes a peace treaty with Israel - see 1 Cor. 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:49-58), will get to see him with their own eyes, and then they will believe. Those who become "believers" during the Millennium will be "caught up into the air" at the END of the Millenium when Yeshua has ruled and reigned for a thousand years (Revelation 20:11-15)! And so will all the UNBELIEVERS who have ever lived, who will finally be raised to stand before their Maker. For more, please see our article on the end times.

The fact that the "dead in Messiah rise first" (1 Thess 4:16) indicates that none except for those He has already "take up" (Yeshua, Enoch and Elijah and the dead believers who came out of their graves and rose the second Yeshua died - Matthew 27:51-53) have "gone to heaven" - wherever that may be.

By the way, the scripture "to be absent from the body is to be present with YHWH" (2 Cor. 5:8) is not talking about immediate transformation where believers will be immediately next to Him. This is evidenced by Revelation 6:9 which tells us there will be souls "under the altar waiting"....It means no matter how long we've been dead, when we wake up it will seem like no time has passed.

From what we can tell in Scripture, whoever misses the "rapture" because of their unbelief will continue living (if they're lucky enough to survive what's ahead); and they will be marrying and having babies and dying during the Millennium - and then all will be raised at the end of the thousand year reign of Yeshua on Judgment Day.

At that point everyone will be judged, and those who were unbelievers will end up dead and separated from YHWH throughout eternity; and those who became believers during the Millennium will end up "in heaven." So yes, to answer your question - Jews DO have a chance to "go to Heaven" - BUT THEY WILL FIRST have to accept the fact that Yeshua IS the long-awaited Jewish Messiah...

These things are all outlined in Carmen Welker's book, And There was War in Heaven!