Many people say that because it is not in the Bible, reincarnation does not exist. This is nonsense. Biblical facts will be presented in this study in order to be clear to all that in some cases the term resurrection can be understood as reincarnation. Let us analyze both carefully so that there is no doubt regarding what we are saying. Let us see, however, whether we can find it indirectly. We will also study the text to verify the logic of reincarnation.

Let us analyze, therefore, without any kind of religious prejudice, if the idea of reincarnation can in some situations be seen in the Bible as one of the meanings of the term resurrection.

Fact 1 - JESUS ​​DOES NOT SAY EVERYTHING

In John 16:12, Jesus claims not to have said everything, for people who lived at that time would not understand Him if He spoke certain things to His followers. The word reincarnation is a typical example of this. Thus, we may deduce, with complete assurance from what we are saying, that even if the Divine Rabbi had not said anything about the plurality of existences, it does not mean that it does not exist. After all, Christ Himself said that He "had not taught us all things that He knew." If He said that He failed to mention "many things," it is because He omitted most of His teachings, ministering only what His disciples could understand at that moment.

Fact 2 - JESUS ​​TALKS INDIRECTLY ABOUT REINCARNATION AND THE IDENTITY OF ELIAS AND JOHN BATISTA

Let's read attentively Matthew 11: 7-15: first, let's go to verses 9 and 10 of that narrative, where Jesus refers to John as the one who came to fulfill Malachi's prophecy (Ml 3,1). In no way would this be mentioned if the Christ had not been based on the past lives of John the Baptist. Next, let's see the phrase found in Matthew, but that still seems to go unnoticed by a wide range of people. Here it is: "From the days of John the Baptist until now ..." (Matthew 11, 12). Considering this, we arrive to the conclusion that it would only make sense if John the Baptist had not lived at the same time as Jesus. As both were contemporaries, this verse could only be read like this: "From the days of Elijah until now...

"That way this biblical passage... would not be meaningless, because Elijah and John the Baptist were the incarnation of the same Spirit, fact this confirmed by Jesus: "And if thou wilt give credence, he is the Elijah that shall come". (Matthew 11, 14)

Some say that Jesus, in saying this phrase, was referring to the resemblance between the prophet Elijah and that young man, his cousin, who baptized people in the waters of the Jordan River. However, we say: let us not misinterpret the word "one", which may be a numeral, an indefinite article, an indefinite pronoun, or a masculine noun depending on where it is found, with the word "o" meaning a definite article , a demonstrative pronoun, a personal pronoun, a masculine noun and others, depending on the case in which they are employed.

We will give you two examples:

1. - The phrase: "Never again will a Rui Barbosa appear"; it does not mean the same thing as "Rui Barbosa will never appear again".

2. - "Ronaldinho Gaucho is a real Pele"; it is not the same as: "Ronaldinho Gaucho is the real Pele".

Therefore, we have no doubt in asserting with certainty that, indeed, John the Baptist was indeed the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah, which is narrated to us in the Bible itself, as we have shown previously. Now, reincarnation could be perfectly applicable in this case, for it means the return of the soul or Spirit to the corporeal life, but in another body specially formed for him, which has nothing to do with the old one.

Finally, we see Christ respecting each one's free will, ending this narrative by saying, "He, who has an ear, let him hear!" (Matthew 11:15). In other words: "let the one who wants to and can do it, believe this".

Fact 3 - QUESTION OF JESUS ​​TO HIS DISCIPLES

It seems clear to us that the people of that time believed in a life after death, for people thought that Jesus could be Elijah, Jeremiah, or some of the prophets (Matthew 16, 13-14, Mark 8, 27-28, and Luke 9:18- 19). This is due to the belief that it is possible for the soul of a person, who has lost the physical wrapping, to live again in a new body. To this, very judiciously, we call reincarnation. We make a note here: John the Baptist would not be able to reincarnate in the physique of Jesus because they were contemporaries.

As Aramaic, which was the language of the Nazarene Master, had great limitations in its vocabulary, we say that we can arrive to the conclusion, with total conviction, that in the biblical passages above, the disciples of the Beloved Rabbi referred specifically to reincarnation.

Fact 4 - HEROD'S DOUBT AS TO WHO REALLY WAS JESUS

In Mark 6: 14-16 and Luke 9: 7-9, we have similar passages to Matthew 16: 13-14; Mark 8: 27-28 and Luke 9: 18-19, which were quoted above, and it is of fundamental importance to refer to the detail found in the first two, in which King Herod would have heard that John the Baptist was resurrected from among the dead. Of course, the term resurrected, used in Mark 6: 14-16 and Luke 9: 7-9, undoubtedly meant reincarnation, because instead of John, the person of Christ would have appeared in Herod's conception.

FACT 5 - AFTER TRANSFIGURATION, JESUS ​​TALKS ABOUT REINCARNATION TO HIS DISCIPLES

In our view, Matthew 17, 10-13 and Mark 9, 11-13 are some of the biblical passages that tell us most clearly about reincarnation.

When they came down from Mount Tabor, Jesus, together with his Apostles Peter, James and John, witnessed the transfiguration of Christ, and in this one they saw Jesus talking to Elijah and Moses (Matthew 17,3 and Mark 9,4), a fact that left them confused about Malachi's prophecy that God would send Elijah the prophet (Ml 3,23). After all, they thought that this prediction could not happen, for they saw the prophet Elijah conspiring with the Rabbi moments before. (This prediction is, in fact, strong evidence that reincarnation is present in the Bible.)

The Master is then questioned by them as to the fact: "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must arrive first?" (Matthew 17:10 and Mark 9:11). In replying that "Elijah has already come, but they have not recognized him" (Matthew 17:12 and Mark 9:13), he affirms to his disciples categorically that John the Baptist is indeed the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah (Matthew 17:13).

For those who might argue, "But Jesus did not say this," we say that in Matthew 11:14, the Christ said, "And if you want to believe, he [John] is the Elijah to come." And knowing that there would be those who did not believe, he added, "He who has ears, let him hear" (Matthew 11:15).

We can check in the following biblical passages the law of "Cause and Effect" or "Action and Reaction," closely related to successive lives: Matthew 7: 1-2; 16.27; 26.52; John 8:34; 2 Corinthians 5, 10 and Galatians 6, 7. We mention this because in 1 Kings 18, 40 it is mentioned that Elijah had killed the prophets of Baal by beheading. Many years later, Elijah, like John the Baptist in new incarnation, died equally beheaded (Matthew 14: 6-11), that is, in the same way that he had exterminated the prophets of Baal. There is a popular saying: "Who plants reaps!"

Fact 6 - DIALOGUE OF JESUS ​​WITH NICHODES

The famous conversation between the Divine Rabbi and the Doctor of the Law in John 3: 1-12, without a doubt, is the best biblical passage in which the truth of reincarnation can be proved. Much of the third chapter of John's Gospel is devoted to this dialogue.

We think that Nicodemus perfectly understood the words of the Rabbi of Nazareth who spoke to him: "Who is not born again cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3). The only doubt left is how would this occur, because he could not imagine how could an old man, like him, possibly return to his mother’s womb (John 3: 4).

It is true that only the Spirit is born again, a fact which is confirmed by the Beloved Rabbi, who says, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the one who is not born from water and the Spirit cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” (John 3.5). In this Bible verse, many people raise the assumption that the word water refers to baptism. This hypothesis, however, does not proceed in any way, because:

1) At the time, ritual practice was circumcision, not baptism.

2) As for the latter, it had been created by John the Baptist, and not all Jews followed that ritual.

(3) Nicodemus was one of the main Pharisees, a lawyer in the Law of Moses and Pharisaic teachings, a member of the Sanhedrin, and most likely any subject related to baptism would not interest him.

The Sublime Nazarene distinctly separates the physical body from the spiritual element. He tells us, in other words, that the first cannot possess the attributes of the second (John 3:6). In John 3:8 Jesus tells us, in a figurative language, that the Spirit reincarnates where it wants, and does not know where it came from (i.e. his last incarnation), nor where he is going to (what will be the next incarnation). This verse clarifies Jesus’ thought. After all, it is not known where the Spirit came from (if it was created at the time of its conception, it would be known), or where it is going to (if our soul went to Heaven or Hell, Christ would not affirm the lack of knowledge of its whereabouts).

To distort this elucidative conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus (John 3:1-12), considering that it is a simple justification of baptism, it is a true insult to the human intelligence.

Fact 7 - REINCARNATION IN THE APOCALYPSE

In the Apocalypse, a work of John, considered prophetic, we also note the existence of reincarnation. Let us note this: "Then, I saw thrones and to those, who sat on them, were given power to judge. I also saw the lives of those who were beheaded because of the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God, and of those who had not worshiped the Beast, nor his image, nor received the mark upon the forehead or the hand: they returned to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Apocalypse 20:4).

If it is written "I also saw the lives" and not "I also saw the life"; this is because it is more than one, that is, they are multiple lives, in the same manner as reincarnation.

We can also add that if "they came back to life," as the biblical phrase tells us, it means that they reincarnated. For those who do not understand, we will explain: when we say that a person is "full of life," this "life" we are referring to is that of the physical body, not of the Spirit. There is another example of what we have just explained, which is in the verse itself, with the following words: "they came back to life." We will use this sentence, because in this case the physical life has always been considered, and not the spiritual life; after all, this sentence gives us a clear notion of the plurality of existences. Returning to the beginning of this step, we say that if in the Apocalypse 20:4 we mention "lives" (more than one), it means that a person incarnated and reincarnated several times, for many lives. Thus, again the Bible strongly mentions reincarnation.

Fact 8 – TO DIE ONLY ONCE

In Hebrews 9:27, there is one of the Bible verses most used to question our future lives. He reveals to us: "And as it is a fact that men should die once, after which comes a judgment", i. e., the judgment or "trial", according to some, concerns the Divine Judgment, which will be applied to all human beings, in order to separate the good from the bad.

It is very strange to mention the text of an unknown author, to contradict what Jesus said. This idea of ​​dying once is completely incoherent, for Lazarus, the son of the widow of Naim and the daughter of Jairus, according to the biblical accounts, rose again to die a second time (John 11:14; 7:11-12, 8:41-42:49 and Mark 5:,22-23:,35).

Anyway, how did it happen? And if these facts really happened, why should we not resurrect too? Are we not also, in relation to the above characters, "sons of God"? What do they have better than us? Only by living in the same period that Christ does not enable them to obtain a privilege of the Creator. If this is really true, what happens to the statement: "God does not discriminate against people" (Romans 2:11)?

And what can we say about the so-called Final Judgement, which, according to several opinions, we will have at the end? Considering all this, we shall ask you: how many deaths will we have? Therefore, we tell you that only in the path of evil do we see shades, which prevent us from admiring the glorious life that we possess.

Let us never forget that the Supreme Creator of the Universe is the God of the living immortals. In Luke 20:38, Jesus clarifies us in this regard, by telling us: "Now, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; all, in fact, live for him". With these words, the Sublime Messiah overturns the argument of some who claim that the Creator makes a distinction between material and immaterial beings, for they are all His children regardless of the condition in which they find themselves.

"God does not discriminate persons”, we repeat. And, in the final analysis of our argument, we reiterate: "we must only consider the death of conscience", i.e., when it is on the road of evil, we can say that it is dead. If there is no common sense, if we mistreat ourselves and our neighbor, if we turn to the ravings of crime, we will not be pleasing the Creator, a fact which is shown to us in Proverbs 12:2, which makes us see God's displeasure in the face of our evil intentions; and the Divine Gifts are only attained by men who are good. Our Great Father has created us so that we may always walk on the path of good. This knowledge is conveyed to us in Ephesians 2:10.

We saw that the word resurrection, found in the Scriptures, may very well, in some cases, be interpreted as reincarnation.

Thus, we say that: for one who has a more comprehensive understanding of the Bible, the fact that there is no specific reincarnation present in the Scriptures cannot in any way be an obstacle so that one does not see the reality of successive lives in the Bible.

Considering all this, we have no doubt that the plurality of existences is a biblical reality. In this way, the only conclusion we can come to is that reincarnation, together with its Infinite Justice, Sovereign Goodness, and Unmeasurable Love, are the greatest gifts that God could offer us.