So, how many lives have you lived?

If reincarnation is so, I would have a very strong question to be asked which I strongly would doubt if it ever would be able to be answered from someone who does believe in reincarnation. The question that would be asked, which is simply one question, is that “if reincarnation is true, what do we do about the very high count  of people who are within the world today compared to how many there once was over 4,000 years ago?”

It was said to me, the other day, that this one guy claims to be one of the people who lived long ago back in the Bible times just because he was able to find his name within the N.T. scriptures. If just finding your name within the N.T. scriptures would verify for one person that they were once living once before in that time then what would we do it you found your name more then once like John which can be shown listed many times or how about Joshua which we know was listed a few times and even better yet what about Jesus for when they pronounce His name in Hebrew it even stands for “Joshua” so could Christ Himself be the Joshua who once lived. I do not see how Christ could have been the “Joshua” who once lived when Christ Himself has said “before Abraham was ‘I Am.’”

One of the strongest supports that a reincarnation person might use, if the listener is not well educated in his understanding of the scriptures, would be the passage in Malachi 4:5:

Mal 4:5 (KJV) “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:”

Even commentators would proclaim that the passage is referring to “John the Baptizer:”

• John Gill — (A) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet,.... Not the Tishbite, as the Septuagint version wrongly inserts instead of prophet; not Elijah in person, who lived in the times of Ahab; but John the Baptist, who was to come in the power and spirit of Elijah, Luk_1:17 between whom there was a great likeness in their temper and disposition; in their manner of clothing, and austere way of living; in their courage and integrity in reproving vice; and in their zeal and usefulness in the cause of God and true religion; and in their famous piety and holiness of life; and in being both prophets; see Mat_11:11 and that he is intended is clear from Mat_17:10. It is a notion of the Jews, as Kimchi and others, that the very Elijah, the same that lived in the days of Ahab, shall come in person before the coming of their Messiah they vainly expect, and often speak of difficult things to be left till Elijah comes and solves them; but for such a notion there is no foundation, either in this text or elsewhere. And as groundless is that of some of the ancient Christian fathers, and of the Papists, as Lyra and others, that Elijah with Enoch will come before the day of judgment, and restore the church of God ruined by antichrist, which they suppose is meant in the next clause. (B) Before the coming of the great and, dreadful day of the Lord; that is, before the coming of Christ the son of David, as the Jews (r) themselves own; and which is to be understood, not of the second coming of Christ to judgment, though that is sometimes called the great day, and will be dreadful to Christless sinners; but of the first coming of Christ, reaching to the destruction of Jerusalem: John the Baptist, his forerunner, the Elijah here spoken of, came proclaiming wrath and terror to impenitent sinners; Christ foretold and denounced ruin and destruction to the Jewish nation, city, and temple; and the time of Jerusalem's destruction was a dreadful day indeed, such a time of affliction as had not been from the creation, Mat_24:21 and the Talmud interprets (s) this of the sorrows of the Messiah, or which shall be in the days of the Messiah.

• Adam Clarke — “this is meant alone of John the Baptist, as we learn from Luk_1:17 (note), in whose spirit and power he came.”

• Matthew Henry — “…they were not to expect any more sayings nor writing by divine inspiration, any more of the dictates of the Spirit of prophecy, till the beginning of the gospel of the Messiah, which sets aside the Apocrypha as no part of holy writ, and which therefore the Jews never received.” Although the scriptures were sealed, no more were being written at the time, until Matthew, the first book of the N.T., came on the seen. “Elijah was a man of great austerity and mortification, zealous for God, bold in reproving sin, and active to reduce an apostate people to God and their duty; John Baptist was animated by the same spirit and power, and preached repentance and reformation, as Elias had done; and all held him for a prophet, as they did Elijah in his day, When God has such work to do as was formerly to be done he can raise up such men to do it as he formerly raised up, and can put into a John Baptist the spirit of an Elias.”

• K & D — The New Testament gives us a sufficient explanation of the historical allusion or fulfilment of our prophecy. The prophet Elijah, whom the Lord would send before His own coming, was sent in the person of John the Baptist. Even before his birth he was announced to his father by the angel Gabriel as the promised Elijah, by the declaration that he would turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the unbelieving to the wisdom of the just (Luk_1:16-17). This address of the angel gives at the same time an authentic explanation of Mal_4:5 and Mal_4:6 of our prophecy: the words “and the heart of the children to their fathers” being omitted, as implied in the turning of the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the explanatory words “and the unbelieving to the wisdom of the just” being introduced in their place; and the whole of the work of John, who was to go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, being described as “making ready a prepared people for the Lord.” The appearance and ministry of John the Baptist answered to this announcement of the angel, and is so described in Mat_3:1-12, Mar_1:2-8; Luke 3:2-18, that the allusion to our prophecy and the original passage (Isa_40:3) is obvious at once. Even by his outward appearance and his dress John announced himself as the promised prophet Elijah, who by the preaching of repentance and baptism was preparing the way for the Lord, who would come after him with the winnowing shovel to winnow His floor, and gather the wheat into His granary, but who would burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Christ Himself also not only assured the people (in Mat_11:10., Luk_7:27.) that John was the messenger announced by Malachi and the Elijah who was to come, but also told His disciples (Mat_17:1.; Mar_9:1.) that Elijah, who was to come first and restore all things, had already come, though the people had not acknowledged him. And even Joh_1:21 is not at variance with these statements. When the messengers of the Sanhedrim came to John the Baptist to ask whether he was Elias, and he answered, “I am not,” he simply gave a negative reply to their question, interpreted in the sense of a personal reappearance of Elijah the Tishbite, which was the sense in which they meant it, but he also declared himself to be the promised forerunner of the Lord by applying to his own labours the prophecy contained in Isa_40:3.

Although most of the comments, from the few commentators I chose to use, proclaims that John the Baptist was the Elijah who was to come they even admit that he is not a reincarnation of the Elijah who once was when they say:

• John Gill — “…not Elijah in person, who lived in the times of Ahab; but John the Baptist, who was to come in the power and spirit of Elijah, Luk_1:17”

• Matthew Henry — “When God has such work to do as was formerly to be done he can raise up such men to do it as he formerly raised up, and can put into a John Baptist the spirit of an Elias.”

But, really, what if it was to be the Elijah who once was? If it was to be the Elijah who once was then why did he need to be reborn because is it not so that most church goers today, who hold to the Premillennial view of eschatology, proclaim that Elijah left the earth in a whirlwind on a chariot and went to heaven?

If Elijah really left the earth and went to heaven as most interpret it to mean when they read 2^nd Kings 2:1 & 11, why, as we read through 2^nd Kings 3:1, where we notice that Jehoram, the son of Ahab, began his reign over Israel, and then we read in 2^nd Chronicles 21:1 of Jehoram who is still reigning that as we then approach verse 12 we find out how Jehoram forsook God and did wrong that he then received a letter by Elijah himself which is confirmed when we read the first pasrt of 2^nd Chronicles 21:12 that reads:

“And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying,…”

If we will only recall, Jehoram never began his reign until after Elijah was caught up in the whirlwind; surely we all are wise enough to know that Elijah did not write his letter from Heaven. I can onluy imagine how high the postage might have been if he did send forth his letter from heaven.

So still, even though I have proven that Elijah never has gone to heaven, as most premillennial writers proclaim, how would Elijah himself have been able to be reborn if he never even died from the last life he once had if he was to of gone to heaven, as those in the premillennila camp proclaim he did, and then to been reincarnated in John the Baptist which as you know their names are even different so how would Elijah even be able to be John the Baptist if John was not given the name Elijah because as this one guy has said to me that he was this one guy, in the bible, since his name was the same as his.

This can be really mind boggling as you ponder over this issue when it comes to the belief of reincarnation. I can only see so many out there claiming to be this one person especially since the population is more in count then it was 1,000 years ago.

I personally would rather hold to the scriptures which proclaim that:

• Hebrews 9:27 (KJV) “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,”

• 1 Corinthians 15:42-49 (KJV) “42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.”

Thank God reincarnation is not true because it is hard enough just living once in this world. I would rather stay with the Lord in heaven then to be given another chance to live within this world. Now, do not get me wrong because I am all for this world being here for a mighty long time and we should do what we can to make it better but what I am saying is what Paul one time said himself “…to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

Phil. 1: 21-24 (KJV) - "For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me, 24 but it is better for you that I live."