Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

Israel and the Book of Life

The scriptures indicate two different things regarding an individual person and the Book of Life. One one hand, they indicate that every Israelite person begins life with his name in the Book of Life. But on the other hand, two scriptures indicate that the names of individual non-Israelite people of the earth are not recorded. The important thing is to know is that those of us of Israel have our names in the Book of Life from birth -- from "the foundations of the world." All of our names are there!

by John D. Keyser

The Bible reveals that YEHOVAH God keeps a record of the activities of every person of Israel. The most important record is called the Book of Life. Moses, David, Daniel, Paul, and John all bore witness of the Book of Life. The most important factor in this life is to determine and know one’s name is in the Book of Life. The following article examines the scriptures which concern this book.

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)

It is not entirely clear how or when the Jews tied together the "Book of Life" and the Feast of Trumpets, but they did. The Jewish Talmud 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.

Moses and the Book of Life

Several biblical texts speak of the Book of Life. The first mention of it is in Exodus 32. This passage is the account of how Israel made and worshiped the golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Decalogue. It seems almost beyond belief that Israel could have fallen so far so fast. YEHOVAH God had demonstrated His superiority and power over all the gods of the Egyptians and freed the Israelites from the power of the pharaoh -- who headed the most powerful nation in the world. Instead of following YEHOVAH God who had freed them from slavery, they chose to return to slavery by worshiping a false god.

YEHOVAH God told Moses that because of this sin He would destroy them and start a new people with Moses as the head (Exodus 32.9-10). But Moses argued with YEHOVAH and asked Him to change His mind. Moses recorded:

Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. (Exodus 32.11-14)

Notice that Moses called Israel “your” people when he appealed to YEHOVAH God and reminded Him of His promises. His case was that YEHOVAH’s honor was greater than the nation’s sin (Exodus 32.11-14). This must have delighted YEHOVAH God for Moses' argument revealed how much he had matured in his understanding and appreciation of YEHOVAH God. When Moses came down from the mountain to see for himself what his people had done he was furious but asked YEHOVAH to forgive their sin. He offered himself as a substitute for YEHOVAH’s wrath. Moses recorded:

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. (Exodus 32:32-34)

Moses asked YEHOVAH God to blot him from His Book of Life if the LORD would not forgive Israel’s sin. In effect, what Moses’ offered was that he would be sent to an eternal death if YEHOVAH would forgive the people. YEHOVAH refused Moses’ sacrificial offer and responded that He would blot out from the Book of Life those who had sinned against Him.

Moses knew that he was mentioned in this book. It also appears from the above passage that YEHOVAH God is speaking both about a book and a day of punishment.

In Deuteronomy, Moses warned the people of Israel about the fate of those who turned away from YEHOVAH God to follow other gods and idols. Moses declared:

The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. (Deuteronomy 29:20)

The Psalms of David

The apparently same book is mentioned in Psalm 69:27-28 where both concepts are also discussed. Psalm 69 is an imprecatory psalm. David revealed his innermost thoughts about his sufferings from his enemies as a result of his faithfulness to YEHOVAH God. He prayed that YEHOVAH would judge them. Part of the Psalm is clearly prophetic about the Messiah. David wrote in verse 26:

For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself have smitten, and they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded.

As a result of such persecution the decree is:

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)

The “Book of Life” in this passage is מִסֵּפֶר חַיִּים and is formed by סֵפֶר, “book,” “document,” “decree,” etc. and חַי, the normal word for “life,” “living.” Since the word is plural, it literally means “living,” or “lives.” So it is the “Book of the Living” or the “Book of Lives.”

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)

Psalm 139

There is a passage in Psalm 139 that is well known, but a word and grammar analysis brings out more about what has been said above. In this, some of the word-meanings below come from The Theological Word Book Of The Old Testament (Harris-Archer-Waltke).

For you have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame [bones] was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book [2] they were written [1], the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:13-17, NKJV)

Even without detailed study from this passage, one can get a feel that a person’s genetic nature, and hence what he “is”, is determined before he is born. A word-study of some of the individual words in this passage will add to this conviction.

[1] WRITTEN [“...in YOUR book they were written”] -- (Strong's 3789 "kathab")

This word is used of something that is recorded in a permanent sense, but it is in the Imperfect Mood. This Mood describes a single action in the past in a pictorial way, and suggests there is some process before its full development.

The word is much used in the Old Testament as referring to the keeping of records. The Ten Commandments were “written” by the finger of YEHOVAH God. The idea is that that which is written is not designed to be extinguished. Thus we have the idea of something being engraved or inscribed. We do not find any reference to “write” or “written” in the Book of Genesis itself, but in Genesis 5:1 we find reference to the word “book”, so we will move onto that word.

[2] BOOK [“...in Your book they were written”] -- (Strong's 5612, "cepher")

In this section we will look at Exodus 32 which is the story about when Moses went up the Mount of YEHOVAH God and received the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from the Mount, he found the people worshipping the golden calves Aaron had made. Here God tells Moses that He would blot the names of those who did this out of “His Book”. We must note that this was not expressly for sexual intercourse with foreigners; rather it was for worshipping the “gods of gold” as being foreigners’ gods.

This word "Book” is used in many general ways, such as mathematical activity, scribal traditions, legal documents, and official letters. It is also found as being records, such as, “The book of the wars of the LORD”, “The book of Jasher”, “The book of the generations of Adam” and “The Book of the Covenant”. It is also used of genealogical records. But there is one special “Book”. In the KJV of the Old Testament, there is only one passage with reference to “My Book” and three to “Thy Book”, besides that which we have seen in Psalm 139.

Exodus 32:32-33 is in the form of a conversation between YEHOVAH God and Moses: “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin --; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of THY BOOK which thou hast written”. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of MY BOOK."

The context of Exodus 32 is about those who were sinning against YEHOVAH God in a particular way. The “Book” refers to one particular “Book” among other books. From Psalm 139 we have studied so far, we see this “Book” contains information about each person before they are born. Today we have discovered that this is found to be each person’s individual DNA. The offspring of Israel inherit their genetic code from their parents.

The Unforgivable Sin?

Since an Israelite can be blotted out of YEHOVAH’s Book, we need to be sure whether or not it is just for miscegenation, or that plus idolatry, or just for idolatry. The latter comes under, “Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image”.

At first glance it might appear that any sin would cause Israelites to be blotted out in the sentence, “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of MY BOOK”. Here we need to look at the context to see if any one particular sin is being referred to, because it is clear that there are other sins that can be forgiven. We will see the blotting out is for the idolatry that follows from race mixing.

In Exodus 32, where this passage comes from, we have seen that the particular sin is one of idolatry. Thus we need to see what led to this idolatry. We read earlier in this passage, “a mixed multitude went up also with them”, and in this passage that Israel started to worship the gods of these foreigners. And then, “the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play”. We are told, “Moses saw that the people were naked”. What does the word “play” mean here? In the Piel-stem form used here this is the same as that used about Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, that is, it is sexual. It is used elsewhere as in the phrase, “make love to us”. We can read a number of passages where the phrase, “play the harlot” are found. It is used of that sexual activity which went on in Sodom, and about Isaac “sporting” with Rebecca his wife. So it is not hard to find the sexual connection of, “rose up to play”, especially when done naked!

The indications are then that some Israelites had sexual relationships with the non-Israelite or part-Israelite mixed multitude who were traveling with them. Why say this? We read in Numbers 11:4, “And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting”. The Hebrew word used here (‘avah) is about bodily lusts and appetites. The passage goes on to tell us that what the Children of Israel (as opposed to the mixed multitude) wanted was just about food to eat. When YEHOVAH God told Moses, “for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves”, it is about the people as a whole inclusive of both groups. We are told how they did this in, “they have made them a molten image” (Deuteronomy 9:12).

What does “corrupted” mean? Strong's Concordance lists a number of translations such as, “to be marred, be spoiled, be corrupted, be corrupt, be injured, be ruined, be rotted”. The number of Israelites who sinned this way is given as being “about three thousand” -- “And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men”. The Levites literally blotted these three thousand out physically by the sword!

They were blotted out of the “Book” as well! Those who had sinned had not sinned in ignorance, because the eternal Law of YEHOVAH God was known long before it was given through Moses as a covenant to Israel. We see this when Isaac and Rebecca were grieved that Esau had taken wives from foreign (nokriy) peoples. Esau no longer could repent! That paints a very strong picture indeed!

The prime mover that led to idolatry was the association of Israelite men with certain foreign women. The sin was idolatry! For any Israelite man married to such a foreign woman, it would be hard not to compromise with a woman who could not “hear” the Word of YEHOVAH God, and given time, the Israelite man would compromise.

Without digging deep into “The Scriptures” (that means the Old Testament) we could easily miss the reason why some will have their “part” taken from the Book of Life. The wrong attitude to “The Scriptures” is one reason why the churches miss the association between race mixing coupled with idolatry, as being the cause of names being taken out of the “Book”. What is the meaning of “His part” that is taken out of the book? Strong's 3313 “mer’os” as translated, shows something assigned to a person; that is his destiny. When was this destiny established? It was “from the foundation of the earth”. That was when the Book of Life was written!

The New Testament

The apostle Paul had many women assist him in his ministry. Contrary to what some maintain, Paul deeply appreciated women and acknowledged their contributions to furthering the gospel. In recognition of their faithfulness, Paul asked an unknown helper to assist these women. He recognized all of his Israelite co-laborers as being in YEHOVAH's Book of Life. Paul wrote:

Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. (βίβλῳ ζωῆς, Philippians 4:3)

The book of Revelation contains the most references to the subject of the Book of Life. This is logical since the Book of Life falls under the category of events to occur at the end of the age.

“Overcoming” is the great charge the risen Messiah gave to the Israelite congregations in Asia Minor (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21). The “overcoming” of which the Messiah spoke was refusing to worship the False Christ (a.k.a. the Antichrist, the Beast) by trusting in the true Messiah. Yeshua had taught the Twelve that during this period of Jacob's Trouble the one who endured until the end would be saved (Matthew 24:13). The “end” is either physical death (martyrdom) or the return of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah. During the time of Jacob's Trouble the gospel of the kingdom will once again be proclaimed (Matthew 24:14).

As noted above, the Messiah’s message to each of the Israelite assemblies in Revelation 2-3 was one which instructed them about “overcoming.” Each warning was coupled with a promise of eternal life as the result. To the assembly at Sardis, the Messiah described salvation with reference to the Book of Life. He said:

He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5)

In Revelation 13:8 John writes of how the vast majority of the world will worship Satan and the Beast, the False Messiah. Since the non-Israelite nations of the world have not been offered salvation by YEHOVAH God, their names will not be found in the Book of Life. Only the names of those descended from Israel are in the Book of Life "from the foundation of the world." This passage specifically identified the Book of Life as the Lamb’s Book of Life, i.e., the Messiah. Such designation is appropriate for the Messiah revealed that he is the one who will judge Israel as the agent of YEHOVAH God. (John 5:22-23) John wrote:

And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13.8)

Going now to Revelation 17 we find a passage that is confusing to many but is really quite straightforward. There are, in fact, two "Beasts" -- one from the sea and one from the land (see Revelation 13). The "Beast" from the sea represents the nations of the world controlled by Catholicism while the "Beast" from the land incorporates the hordes of Islam. The female Babylon is a great harlot or whore (Revelation 17:16) which governs the "Beast" Empire, which possesses "seven heads and ten horns" (Revelation 17:3). Satan is the great deceiver and counterfeiter who has replicated YEHOVAH's true church with a false religious system centered in Rome, that will deceive those whose names are not in the Book of Life. Notice!

So he [the angel] carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman [false church] sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman [great false church] was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication [false doctrines]. (Revelation 17:3-4)

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are NOT written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world [all non-Israelites], when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8)

The Bible disagrees with the Jewish position that others of Israel will be also have their names in it later, but indicates that their names were in the book from the beginning -- "from the foundation of the world." Notice 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 [of Israel], 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 [of Israel] not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Jewish tradition also teaches that those Israelites 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 for judgment.

While this time of judgment is mentioned in Revelation 20:11-15, we believe that those of Israel who have not rejected YEHOVAH God (blasphemed the holy spirit), will have an opportunity for salvation later, the period of which may last 100 years (Isaiah 65:20, and that this is shown by the last Holy Day, the Last Great Day, which happens on the twenty-second day of Tishri.

Only by having the righteousness of YEHOVAH God can one escape this punishment. The way of escape is to believe the gospel Paul preached (1 Corinthians 15.1-4), that the Messiah died for our sins and rose from the dead. When we trust the Messiah’s work on the tree, and his resurrection, rather than relying upon our own righteousness, YEHOVAH God will give us His own righteousness (Romans 3.21-22). On this basis, we of Israel can be assured that our names will remain in the Book of Life and that we will never experience this judgment.

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 [of Israel] did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Because of this, it is apparent that there are at least 1,000 years between the time when the righteous of Israel are resurrected and all whose names are written in the Book of Life. 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).

And, one of the most significant ways that we differ from the Protestant world is that we believe that nearly all those of Israelite descent will be saved and that the biblical holy days (which Protestants tend to teach are done away) picture this. Those who do not observe YEHOVAH's Holy Days simply do not fully understand YEHOVAH's plan of salvation.

The last New Testament reference to the Book of Life is found in Revelation 21:27, which describes a new heavens and a new earth (see also Isaiah 65:17, 66:22-24; 2 Peter 3:13). The new heavens and new earth are eternal. This new state of being will require an entirely different physics. In our present universe time is integral to space and matter. In the new heavens and earth time will not exist. Hence, this future, new universe will consist of entirely new properties.

The Book of Revelation concludes by describing that in the new heavens and new earth there will be no Temple, no sun, no moon. YEHOVAH God Himself will fill all in all with His presence and Shekinah Glory. Those who will participate in this New Jerusalem are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life -- those of Israel.

I saw no temple in it, for the LORD God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it [New Jerusalem], but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21.27)

“Book of Life” and "My Book" Are the Same

As there are different word forms for the word “book” we can go back to the Greek Septuagint to see if the form used in Exodus 32 is the same as that used in the “Book of Life” in the New Testament. In this way we can have an indication that we are not comparing apples with oranges. They are the same; so it is likely that “My book” and “The Book of Life” are one and the same. We can look at this probability by comparing the phraseology found in both Testaments. In both we find the similar connection between the words “book” and “the foundation of the earth (and world)”.

And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 17:8)

As found in the Old Testament, we find the same New Testament reference to the certainty of people being taken out of the Book of Life. When taken out, it is for all time.

Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book. (Exodus 32:33)

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:19)

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 Israelites that fear the LORD are mentioned in a book, but those that are not righteous will be blotted out of it. Both the Bible and Jewish tradition state that the righteous of Israel have their names written in the Book of Life and that they will be rewarded on Tishri 1.

Predestination

Now we can give more shape to the doctrine of predestination and get a glimpse of what it is based upon:

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)

This verse carries on from the words, “according to his purpose” and the tenses of the verbs are all aorist. The word “predestinate” has to do with destiny being determined beforehand and, as we see and have seen, this was decided before “the foundation of the earth”.

Understanding more about the “Book” gives more shape to the prophecy about the resurrection:

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written IN THE BOOK. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:1)

Here is “the Book” again. Who are those resurrected? It is, “The children of thy people”. That is, it is Israelites ONLY who have not had their names taken out of the Book of Life! Those blotted out inherit “shame and everlasting contempt”!

Things to Come

In his letter to the believers at Collosae, Paul states that all of the Biblical Festivals are "shadows of things to come, the substance is of Messiah." (Colossians 2:16,17). It is obvious that the Feast of Trumpets speaks of things to come. The list of remembrances reads like a synopsis of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic expectation: The warning of impending judgment, the call to repentance, the fear of the Day of the LORD, the Ingathering of Israel, the rebuilding of the Temple, the final judgment, the resurrection of the dead and the coronation of YEHOVAH God. These are all familiar eschatological themes which both Jewish and Christian communities associate with the coming of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah. It is clear that the Festival is ripe with end-times implications!

In view of Paul's statement that the festivals are "shadows of things to come," and in view of the ways in which the Spring Festivals of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost received a Messianic fulfillment within the events of the first appearance of the Messiah, one can hardly be surprised to find that the Fall Festivals speak to the Messiah's future appearance as well as, of course, of that of YEHOVAH God. Paul himself invokes Feast of Trumpets imagery when he says, "For the LORD [YEHOVAH God] 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" (I Thessalonians 4:16).

The Riddle is Solved

Perhaps the Sages have solved the riddle of the first day of the seventh month for us. The shofar of the Feast of Trumpets is a remembrance of things yet to come. It is a memorial of things that have not happened yet. Only with YEHOVAH God can something be remembered before it has occurred! The Feast of Trumpets remembers the future work of YEHOVAH God.

Perhaps it is the obscurity of the future which accounts for the Bible's silence regarding the festival's meaning. The Feast of Trumpet's final fulfillment is still shrouded in the future. If so, then the sound of the shofar on the Feast of Trumpets reminds us to listen for the sound of YEHOVAH's shofar.

When we hear the voice of the shofar this year we must let it speak to our souls and penetrate our hearts. The voice of the shofar is the voice of YEHOVAH God our Father.

Conclusion

The scriptures examined in this article indicate two different things regarding an individual person and the Book of Life. One one hand, they indicate that every Israelite person begins life with his name in the Book of Life (Exodus 32.33; Deuteronomy 29.20; Psalm 69.28; Revelation 3.5). But on the other hand, two scriptures indicate that the names of individual non-Israelite people of the earth are not recorded (Revelation 13.8, 17.8). The important thing is to know is that those of us of Israel have our names in the Book of Life from birth -- from "the foundations of the world." All of our names are there. One can know that his name is in the Book of Life by trusting in the true gospel (1 Corinthians 15.1-4). Those who have chosen not to believe the gospel will stand before the Messiah with their works and their own righteousness to commend themselves to YEHOVAH God rather than on the Messiah’s work and his righteousness -- and risk having their names removed from the Book of Life.

The Feast of Trumpets is important and should be considered to be highly relevant for those of us who are descended from Israel, and who profess the Messiah. The Bible clearly teaches that YEHOVAH God will come with the sound of a trumpet blast (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), and calls that the "last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Those that do not observe the biblical holy days, simply cannot properly understand biblical prophecy, and many who call themselves evangelicals have accepted a pre-tribulation rapture theory that cannot occur, as 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 cannot occur until the last trumpet is blown! (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

The Bible does support the view that those Israelites currently listed in the Book of Life will be resurrected at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-52), which is pictured by the Feast of Trumpets (that occurs on Tishri 1).

And, although it differs from certain Jewish traditions in that the Book of Life is also mentioned as being related to the Last Great Day (Tishri 22), the Bible does agree with those traditions that say that at least a type of physical judgment (the trumpet plagues of Revelation) will be upon those Israelites that have their names written in the Book of Life but have disobeyed and thumbed their noses at YEHOVAH God.

It is interesting that, even without having the benefit of relying on the New Testament, those Jewish teachers who all kept the biblical Holy Days listed in Leviticus 23, do seem to have a better picture (though blurred in major ways) of YEHOVAH's plan of salvation than those who allegedly believe in the New Testament, but who fail to observe those days.

Those of us of Israel in the Ecclesia are blessed as we have both the New Testament and observe the biblical Holy Days outlined in the Old, and thus have a more accurate (cf. Acts 18:26) understanding of what YEHOVAH's plan truly is.

 

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Preparing the Way for the Return of YEHOVAH God and His Messiah!

Hope of Israel Ministries
P.O. Box 853
Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A.
www.hope-of-israel.org

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