Book of Life
Today is the Feast of Trumpets. And although the news media tends to emphasize a different aspect of it, the Feast of Trumpets (often referred to as Rosh Hoshanah) is associated with the Book of Life by the Jews.
According to current Jewish tradition,
After Rosh Hashanah services, as the congregants leave the synagogue they say to each other… “May you be inscribed in the Book of Life“” (The Jewish Holiday of Rosh Hashanah. High Holy Days on the Net. http://www.holidays.net/highholydays/rosh.htm verified 9/12/07).
Is there any relevance between the Feast of Trumpets, the Book of Life, and Christianity?
The seventh month is called Tishri in Hebrew and the Feast of Trumpets is referred to as the first of Tishri in some Jewish literature. Although the Jews now call it Rosh Hoshana, that was probably not its original name:
“Rosh Hashana, which literally means head of the year” {it was} “not called Rosh Hashanah until Talmudic times” (Kramer, Amy J. Rosh Hashana Origins. Copyright © 1998-1999 Everything Jewish, Inc. http://www.everythingjewish.com/RoshH/RH_origins.htm 9/16/04).
Since the terms ‘head’ and ‘year’ are not in the Old Testament passages about it, it appears that the COG term for it (Feast of Trumpets) appears to be more biblically-based that the relatively-new Jewish term ‘Rosh Hashanah’ (which has numerous spellings).
It is not totally clear how or when the Jews tied together the “Book of Life” and the Feast of Trumpets (a Talmud quote later in this article shows that they did some time ago), but they did.
From my reading in the Talmud, it appears that since many Jewish leaders believed that God created the world on the Feast of Trumpets (certain Jewish teachers taught that the creation was most likely in the Fall, rather than in the Spring because in Genesis 1:11 when God states, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit”, this would be the Fall, for that is when there is both grass and fruit on trees), that the Feast of Trumpets symbolized the beginning of creation, and hence by, inference, life.
The Talmud itself essentially concludes that the fact of the three different trumpet blasts in Numbers 10:1-10, represents three books, one of them being the Book of Life.
The first biblical allusion to the Book of Life appears to be Exodus 32:32-34,
“Yet now, if You will forgive their sin–but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
And the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”
Moses knew that he was mentioned in this book. It also appears from the above passage that God is speaking both about a book and a day of punishment.
The apparently same book is mentioned in Psalm 69:27-28 where both concepts are also discussed,
Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous (NIV).
Furthermore, the same book may be mentioned in two other Psalms:
You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? (Psalm 56:8, NKJV).
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them (Psalm 139:16, NKJV).
In Malachi 3:16 it states,
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.
These verses show that those that fear the LORD are mentioned in a book, but those that are not righteous are not in it.
In Isaiah 27:13 it is written:
So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, And shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
These passages appear to be referring to the last trumpet-the one signalling the return of Christ and the establishing of the Kingdom of God.
Perhaps it should be mentioned that the type of trumpet involved with the Feast of Trumpets in the Old Testament, as well as with most alarms for battle and judgments is usually the Hebrew term, showphar, more commonly spelled shofar. This type of trumpet is some type of animal horn (normally some type of ram).
The New Testament frequently mentions the blowing of trumpets (though it does not clearly appear to distinguish between shofar trumpets and other trumpets)–though shofars are probably the type most likely being referred to when prophetic matters of judgment are involved.
Jesus taught,
…and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24:30-31).
This is similar to what Paul taught,
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
So both Jesus and Paul taught that the saints would be gathered when a particular trumpet sound goes forth. And that Jesus will come with a trumpet blast.
Which trumpet?
The last trumpet,
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
Because this is referring to the last trumpet, scripture clearly does not support the concept of a pre-tribulation rapture, like many evangelicals believe in.
Although his writings are not part of the New Testament, Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John and looked forward to the fulfillment of this trumpet as he wrote:
Wherefore, girding up your loins,” “serve the Lord in fear” and truth, as those who have forsaken the vain, empty talk and error of the multitude, and “believed in Him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory,” and a throne at His right hand. To Him all things” in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead. His blood will God require of those who do not believe in Him. But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved (Polycarp. Letter to the Philippians, chapter II. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1 as edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885.)
This last trumpet is in 1 Corinthians 15 is apparently the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11:15,
Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
Whose names are in the Book of Life?
Paul writes,
And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3).
John recorded,
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels (Revelation 3:5).
Thus it appears that the saints are the ones who are written in the Book of Life. And the saints are those that are resurrected at the last trumpet.
Other passages in the Book of Revelation mention that those that worship the beast (13:1,8;17:8), those that are involved with abominations (21:27), and those who take away words from Revelation (22:19), will not be among those whose names are written in the Book of Life.
The Jewish Talmud teaches,
R. Kruspedai said in the name of R. Johanan: Three books are opened [in heaven] on New Year, one for the thoroughly wicked, one for the thoroughly righteous, and one for the intermediate. The thoroughly righteous are forthwith inscribed definitively in the book of life; the thoroughly wicked are forthwith inscribed definitively in the book of death; the doom of the intermediate is suspended from New Year till the Day of Atonement; if they deserve well, they are inscribed in the book of life; if they do not deserve well, they are inscribed in the book of death.
Said R. Abin, What text tells us this? — Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. ‘Let them be blotted out from the book — this refers to the book of the wicked. ‘Of life — this is the book of the righteous. ‘And not be written with the righteous’ — this is the book of the intermediate.
R. Nahman b. Isaac derives it from here: And if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written, ‘Blot me, I pray thee’ — this is the book of the wicked. ‘Out of thy book’ — this is the book of the righteous. ‘Which thou has written’ — this is the book of the intermediate. It has been taught: Beth Shammai say, There will be three groups at the Day of Judgment — one of thoroughly righteous, one of thoroughly wicked, and one of intermediate. The thoroughly righteous will forthwith be inscribed definitively as entitled to everlasting life; the thoroughly wicked will forthwith be inscribed definitively as doomed to Gehinnom, as it says. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence. The intermediate will go down to Gehinnom 17b and squeal and rise again, as it says, And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name and I will answer them.
Of them, too, Hannah said, The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. Beth Hillel, however, say: He that abounds in grace inclines [the scales] towards grace, and of them David said, I love that the Lord should hear my voice and my supplication, and on their behalf David composed the whole of the passage, I was brought low and he saved me. Wrongdoers of Israel who sin with their body and wrongdoers of the Gentiles who sin with their body go down to Gehinnom and are punished there for twelve months. After twelve months their body is consumed and their soul is burnt and the wind scatters them under the soles of the feet of the righteous as it says, And ye shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet. But as for the minim and the informers and the scoffers, who rejected the Torah and denied the resurrection of the dead, and those who abandoned the ways of the community, and those who ‘spread their terror in the land of the living’, and who sinned and made the masses sin, like Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his fellows — these will go down to Gehinnom and be punished there for all generations, as it says, And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have rebelled against me etc. Gehinnom will be consumed but they will not be consumed, as it says, and their form shall wear away the nether world. Why all this? Because they laid hands on the habitation [zebul], as it says, that there be no habitation [zebul] for Him, and zebul signifies the Temple, as it says, I have surely built thee a house of habitation [zebul].
Of them Hannah said, They that strive with the Lord shall be broken to pieces. R. Isaac b. Abin said: And their faces shall be black like the sides of a pot. Raba added: Among them are the most handsome of the inhabitants of Mahuza, and they shall be called ‘sons of Gehinnom’” (Talmud – Mas. Rosh HaShana 16b, 17a). Note: ‘R.” stands for “rabbi”.
Both the Bible (the Living Church of God position) and Jewish tradition state that the righteous have their names written in the Book of Life and that they will be rewarded on Tishri 1.
The Bible (and the Living Church of God) also agree with the Jewish position that others will be also have their names in it later: Revelation 20:11-15,
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Jewish tradition also teaches that those that are not truly wicked (the intermediate) will not be saved or destroyed at that time, but that they will have a ten day period until the Day of Atonement (which they call Yom Kippur) for judgment.
While this time of judgment is mentioned in Revelation 20:11-15, the COG (Church of God) position has tended to be that those who have not rejected God (blasphemed the Holy Spirit), will have an opportunity for salvation later, the period of which may last 100 years (Isaiah 65:20, and is discussed more in the article Hope of Salvation), and that this is shown by the last Holy Day, the Last Great Day, which happens on the twenty-second day of Tishri.
Revelation 20:4-5 states,
“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”
Because of this, the COG position is (and has been) that there is at least 1,000 years between when the righteous (those whose names are now written in the Book of Life) and the others being resurrected, thus the New Testament disagrees with the Jewish idea that the wicked are handled on the same Feast of Trumpets that the righteous are (it also disagrees with the 10 day position for those the Jews called ‘intermediate’–not righteous, not wicked).
Actually, one of the most significant ways that the COGs differ from the Protestant world is that the COG’s believe that nearly all will be saved and that the biblical holy days (which Protestants tend to teach are done away) picture this. (More information is found in the article, Hope of Salvation: How the COGs Differ From Protestantism.) Those who do not observe God’s Holy Days simply do not fully understand God’s plan of salvation.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Universal Offer of Salvation: There Are Hundreds of Verses in the Bible Supporting the Doctrine of True Apocatastasis Do you believe what the Bible actually teaches on this? Will all good things be restored? Will God call everyone? Will everyone have an opportunity for salvation? Does God’s plan of salvation take rebellion and spiritual blindness into account?
Hope of Salvation: How the Living Church of God differ from most Protestants How the Living Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants, is perhaps the question I am asked most by those without a Church of God background.
Did Early Christians Observe the Fall Holy Days? Did they? Did Jesus? Should you?
The Book of Life and the Feast of Trumpets? Are they related? Is so how? If not, where not?
The Day of Atonement–Its Christian Significance The Jews call it Yom Kippur, Christians “The Day of Atonement”. Does it have any relevance for Christians today?
The Feast of Tabernacles: A Time for Christians? Is this pilgrimage holy day still valid? Does it teach anything relevant for today’s Christians? What is the Last Great Day? What do these days teach?
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2012, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 
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