The Ancient and Eternal Books

About two months ago I shifted my daily Bible reading to a chronological Bible1.  I counted the weeks from Jan. 1 and began reading with week 31, so that I'd finish the Bible by Dec. 31st.  On Jan. 1st, I'll just go back to week 1 and finish back to where I started.  Just seemed how the Lord was leading me.  At any rate, I noticed with some bemusement and wonder that this morning's reading was from Nehemiah 8-10, which fits beautifully with this blog post, being written on the cusp of Rosh HaShanah, which begins for us in the West tomorrow at sundown.  Praise God!

Looking briefly at Nehemiah 8-10, the prophet Ezra on Tishri 1 (Rosh HaShanah) began to read to the people the Torah.  He read it aloud, in the public square in front of the Water Gate.  The people stood up when he began reading, and stood for hours as he read.  They then began weeping in repentance, because they realized how far from God they had strayed as a people.  Nehemiah 8:17 says that the Fall Festivals had not been celebrated in such a way as this since the days of Joshua, several hundred years earlier.
This was no false repentance.  The people repented and changed their ways.  They covenanted together to follow the LORD their God, and they took action to align their lives with God's ways.  All of this is a gorgeous picture of the meaning behind the month of Elul, which ends tomorrow at sundown, and the Jewish new year, which begins tomorrow at sundown.

With that rather lengthy introduction, I'm going to begin sharing what Judaism says about judgment occurring on Rosh haShanah.  Bear with me, Christian, because some of it is going to sound very different from Christian theology.  But, there are lessons to be learned.

The belief in the resurrection and Messiah go hand-in-hand in Judaism.  If you go to Jerusalem today, between the Eastern Gate and the summit of the Mount of Olives, you will find a huge Jewish cemetery.  Many of the gravestones have a shofar (called a "trumpet" in the Bible) inscribed on the stone.  I've been told this is the most costly burial space in the area, because the Jews believe Messiah will start the resurrection of the dead from that geographical point.
In Jesus' day, there was a lot of theological contention between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  Both got some things right.  However, the Sadducees did not believe in a physical resurrection; they were wrong about that.  Score one point for the Pharisees.  According to Jewish rabbinical writings (The Talmud)2, there is a pervasive belief that the resurrection of the dead will occur on Rosh Hashanah, at the sound of the shofar (trumpet).  The apostle Paul, an extremely learned Pharisee prior to his conversion, wrote the following:

51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must be clothedf with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (BSB)

Hmmmm....sort of makes my arm hair stand on end.  Let me return to the topic of resurrections later.  I am supposed to be blogging about books today....

The typical Rosh HaShanah greeting those who keep this mo'ed* speak to one another is:  "May your name be inscribed in the Book of Life."  On Rosh HaShanah, according to Judaism, all who worship Yahweh are judged, every year.  The Teshuvah (season of repentance) goes on for 9 more days after Rosh haShanah (Tishri 1) until Yom Kippur (Tishri 10), for a total of 40 days.

On Rosh haShanah, orthodox modern-day Jews believe that God opens 3 books:

• The Book of the Righteous (Sefer Tzaddikim)
• The Book of the Wicked (Sefer Rashim)
• The Book of the Bainonim (Sefer Bainonim)

The goal of every Jew is to have his or her name written into the first book on Rosh HaShanah (Yom haDin), this Day of Judgment and, if not by that day, then certainly by Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the religious calendar.
Those who do not worship Yahweh and obey His ways will have their names written into the other two books.  The Sefer Rashim is self-explanatory.  The Bainonim are those people who are neither righteous or wicked, but are sort of spiritually "middle of the road", with the capacity to become either.  And, adherents to Judaism do this every year.  It is sort of like "qualifying for salvation" or being judged, annually.

Christians, and this includes Hebraic or Messianic Christians, believe that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the LIFE (emphasis mine)", as found in John 14:6, which records His own words on the matter.  Believers in Jesus Christ can rest secure in their personal salvation.  There is no need for us to "qualify" for God's approval annually, because our salvation is not based on our own deeds, but rather on the finished work of our Savior.  Hallelujah!
However, if we Christians, as an act of reverence and worship, choose to submit ourselves to self-examination as to how we are "living for the Lord" each Elul/Teshuvah, we are rehearsing and preparing for the BEMA judgment, where all Christ-followers will be "judged".  I did write about that judgment a while back, and you can read about it here:  https://resplendentdaughter.blogspot.com/2016/08/risin-to-bema.html

There are scriptural references to the Book of Life, and they are found in Psalm 69:28 and Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 20:15, among others.  Psalm 69:28 and Revelation 3:5 are very similar in wording.  Revelation 20:15 indicates that "books" will be opened in Heaven, but none others are named except for the Lamb's Book of Life.  Revelation 13:8 is very instructive here; keep in mind that the Lamb referred to is Jesus Christ, our Messiah; and, the time period for this event is the seven years of Tribulation at the end of the age, commencing immediately after the Bride has been caught up to be with the Bridegroom for the BEMA and other heavenly activities.

And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Revelation 13:8

12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne.

And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.

Revelation 20:12

Both Jews and Christians believe this Book of Life will be opened at the last judgment, often called Judgment Day or, more accurately, the Great White Throne Judgment.  I'm not going to go off on a tangent in this post to exegete about each of the three future judgment seats of God or the future resurrections, but I did discover from looking over my 900 or so posts that I've not written much about God's judgments.  I've never posted specifically about the Day of the Lord.
Yet......
the term, Day of the Lord, or a similar designation, is mentioned more than 300 times in scripture.3  I guess it is just not a popular topic in this day and age.  I would venture to say it should be preached on or taught on more often.

The Day of the Lord is complex, because there are several initiatives of God happening simultaneously.  So, we will camp out here on this topic for a few posts, because there is a lot to examine regarding the judgments and events of the end times, as well as their connections to the Fall Festivals.

*mo'ed - - a time appointed by God, a holy observance keyed to a specific calendar date, Jewish religious festivals which foreshadow and serve as rehearsals for the work of Messiah.

Sources:

1     https://www.amazon.com/Day-Chronological-Bible-Brown-Leathertouch/dp/1535925604/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Holman+Christian+Standard+Chronological+Bible&qid=1569704521&s=books&sr=1-1

2     https://www.gotquestions.org/Talmud.html

3     Good, J. (1998). Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to come: an interpretation of the Feast of Trumpets based upon ancient sources. Nederland, TX: Hatikva 

Image Inexplicable

Most Bible commentators I've read believe that Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians because that little church was being unduly influenced by Gnostics.  (Sounds like a group of aliens from Star Trek, doesn't it?)  We'll look more deeply into the beliefs of Gnosticism later, but let's start by confronting a couple of their false beliefs.  The first is that Jesus Christ was merely one of God's manifestations (appearances, emanations) to an evil, material world.  Gnostics also believe that all physical matter is evil and that God could have no contact with it.1

Because of this alarming incursion of Gnosticism into the Colossian church, Paul launches into a series of verses in which he describes who Jesus Christ actually was and is.

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,

16for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

17He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.

18He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son

20and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Paul begins with establishing the deity of Christ by detailing His various interactions with mankind, as you see in the verses above.

Today, we are going to focus on verses 15-16:  incarnation versus emanation.

I do not fully understand the mystery that happened between God the Father and God the Son, when the decision was made to give the Father "form" - - material, physical form.  This is not fully explained in the Bible, perhaps because we don't have the capacity to understand.  Most certainly, this occurred before any other created thing was created, because both verses 15 and 16 state that it occurred prior to creation AND that Christ WAS the creator of ALL things.  So, in a move that runs totally counter to Gnosticism, we see the Creator God the Son making the material and constructing the spiritual realms.  The apostle Peter also confirms this in 1 Peter 1:20.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for your sake. 
(NET)

A little bit ago, I was musing...does God the Father or Son or Holy Spirit EVER in the Bible manifest as any created thing?  Oh, He inhabits created spaces, such as when "His glory filled the Temple".  In other scriptures He is referred to (in his Christ form) as "the angel of the Lord".  But, He never manifests as an eagle or a bear or a serpent (as Satan did).  He is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and C.S. Lewis portrayed Him as the lion, Aslan, in his fictitious allegory series, The Chronicles of Narnia.  But....He always takes the form of a man, the God-Man, whom we learned at his birth to call, Jesus.

Man was created by Jesus Christ, the God-Man, in His image.  Jesus is the image of God the Father, who Himself is Spirit, invisible. And we are created in His (Jesus') image.

"Through him and for him" - - -

Having expounded upon the first, let's consider the last.  We, mankind, were created FOR God, for Jesus Christ, who knew what the future held for Him, who knew that, even in creating us we would fall into sin; we would need a Redeemer, and that He was the only One who could save us.

"Slain, from the foundation of the world".... 

(Revelation 13:8 KJV)

Not only did He create all things, He became us, became a human, ultimately the human named Jesus Christ, fully God and fully Man.  The incarnation (the "en-fleshing", encasing in human flesh) of the invisible God.  The human body is not evil, as Gnostics claim.  If it were, Jesus would never have incarnated Himself into one!

As a result of The Fall, all human love, all of it, is tainted by self-interest.  I am unable to conceive of a love like Jesus Christ's, a love so pure and holy.   A love that could not bear to see us forever lost, forever separated from Him, a perfect love which constrained Him to snatch us back from the pit of Hell at an incalculable personal cost.

This is not an aloof, removed God, afraid to get His hands dirty.  This is a God who not only plunged right into the fallen world, to abide with us, but who also longs to be with each of us in every way, every day, even now.  This is a God who finished redemption's work so that all of Gnosticism's rule-following is rendered void, and replaced those heresies with grace, pure grace alone.

Hallelujah for that!

https://youtu.be/YnM3lc-LyzY


Source:

1   Wiersbe, Warren W., and Warren W. Wiersbe. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete New Testament in One Volume. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007. Print, p. 659.