Category: book of life
Rosh Hashanah and the Book of Life
This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 12: Rosh Hashanah and the Book of Life.
Rosh Hashanah is one of the seven major feasts of Israel, occurring on the first day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish lunar calendar – September or October by Western reckoning. While the biblical and modern-day observances of Rosh Hashanah differ, the holiday plays a significant role for the book of life.
Let’s begin with some background. In Scripture, Rosh Hashanah is referred to as Zikhron Teruah (“Memorial of Blowing [of trumpets],” Lev. 23:24) and Yom Teruah (“Day of Blowing [of trumpets],” Num. 29:1). Because of these biblical descriptions, Rosh Hashanah often is called the “Feast of Trumpets.” It’s a day of sounding trumpets in the Temple and throughout Israel. Rosh Hashanah literally means “head of the year.”
This holiday marks the first day of the Jewish civil New Year. However, this designation only came to be after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Since there was no longer a central place of worship and an altar of sacrifice – that is, at the Temple in Jerusalem – the observance necessarily had to change. Today, the emphasis is on the Jewish New Year rather than the blowing of trumpets.
Continue reading Attitude: Those Who Truly Repent
This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 11: A Book of Remembrance: Malachi 3:16.
In the previous post, we began to examine Malachi’s reference to “a book of remembrance.” We complete our study of Malachi 3:16 in this post.
At that time those who feared the LORD spoke to one another. The LORD took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the LORD and had high regard for his name. “They will be mine,” says the LORD of Armies, “my own possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him (Mal. 3:16-18).
Attitude
Thankfully, there’s a second group of Israelites: those who truly repent, respond with reverent fear of the Lord, and highly regard his name. The primary difference between the first and second groups – the wicked and the righteous – is attitude. The wicked demand that God compensate them for their religious obligations. But the righteous understand that no external act merits God’s favor. Rather, the heart must first be tamed, and the will must be surrendered to divine commands.
Malachi describes the righteous as those who “feared the LORD” (3:16). Three main Hebrew words are translated “fear.” First, there’s pachad, which means “to dread or fear.” Isaiah describes sinners in Zion as “afraid; trembling seizes the ungodly” (Isa. 33:14).
Continue reading A Book of Remembrance: Malachi 3:16
This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 11: A Book of Remembrance: Malachi 3:16.
At that time those who feared the LORD spoke to one another. The LORD took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the LORD and had high regard for his name. “They will be mine,” says the LORD of Armies, “my own possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him (Mal. 3:16-18).
This is the only reference to “a book of remembrance” in Scripture. However, it bears some similarities to “the book of life” (Ps. 69:28; Isa. 4:3), “the book” (Dan. 12:1), “the book you have written” (Exod. 32:32); “your book” (Ps. 139:16), “my book” (Exod. 32:33), and other books we’ve examined so far in that it distinguishes the righteous from the wicked.
A heavenly scribe, in the presence of God, writes of those who fear the Lord and highly regard his name. A day is coming when this scroll is opened to show everyone “the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him” (Mal. 3:18).
Let’s begin with a summary of the book of Malachi. Then, we’ll break down Malachi 3:16 – 4:3 to better understand this “book of remembrance.”
Continue reading Some to Eternal Life …
This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 10: All Found Written in the Book Will Escape: Daniel 12:1-3.
In previous posts [Read #1; Read #2], we began to examine Daniel 12:1-3, breaking down the elements of these verses so we can better understand “the book” to which Daniel refers. We complete our observations here.
Daniel sees that people are resurrected one day. But what then?
… some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt.
Notice first that everyone’s resurrection results in “eternal” existence somewhere. The Hebrew phrase hayye olam (eternal life) appears here for the first time in the Old Testament. Its Greek counterpart (zoe aionios) occurs numerous times in the New Testament, perhaps most notably in John 3:16: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (emphasis added).
While followers of Jesus possess eternal life, those who reject him are neither annihilated nor sent to temporary punishment until their sin debt is paid. The wicked possess eternal existence in hell – Daniel depicts it as “eternal contempt” – but not eternal life. Jesus makes this clear in the parable of the sheep and goats, who symbolize the righteous and the wicked.
Continue reading There Will Be a Time of Distress
This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 10: All Found Written in the Book Will Escape: Daniel 12:1-3.
In the previous post, we began to examine Daniel 12:1-3, breaking down the elements of these verses so we can better understand “the book” to which Daniel refers. We continue our observations here.
There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time.
The focus of this “time of distress” is the nation of Israel, although the raging conflicts that mark this unparalleled period in history spill over her borders. This is a time many premillennialists refer to as “the great tribulation,” the final three and a half years of a seven-year tribulation that precedes the return of Christ (Dan. 12:7, 11-12; Rev. 12:6, 14). Others see this series of events as a natural descent into wickedness in the days leading up to the return of Jesus, but they don’t limit it to a specific period of time.
In any case, before this terrible time is revealed, the angel assures Daniel that Michael the archangel is dispatched to help God’s people. Michael’s aid is essential because Satan energizes the antichrist, resulting in the death of perhaps two thirds of the Israelites (Zech. 13:8; cf. 2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 13:2).
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