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. 

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Features of New Jerusalem: Part 3

This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon. 

In the previous posts (Part 1; Part 2), we explored some key features of New Jerusalem. We continue this study now.

New Jerusalem lacks a temple, stellar lights, a closing time, and anything unclean (Rev. 21:22-27).

After a detailed description of New Jerusalem’s exterior, John turns his attention inside the city walls. He notes first of all the absence of a temple “because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (v. 22). 

Historical Jerusalem is known as the city of God because his presence resides there in the temple (1 Kings 8:10-13). The people of God approach him through a mediator, a high priest who offers atoning sacrifices for the peoples’ sins in the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement. 

The atoning blood is carried through a thick veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat, above which the Shekinahglory blazes. There, the wrath of God is satisfied and his mercy is extended to sinful creatures. All of this activity inside the cube-shaped holy of holies bears forward-looking significance. The day is coming when God himself provides a sacrifice – the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

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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). 

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Alien Encounters in Scripture?

This is the fifth in a series of articles on what the Bible says about UFOs and aliens.

Read part 1 … part 2 … part 3 … part 4

Erich von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods has sold more than 45 million copies since its release in the late 1960s. In his book and subsequent movies, von Daniken argues that the Ark of the Covenant was, in fact, a radio transmitter that enabled Moses to communicate with beings in a spaceship that guided the Israelites across the wilderness during the Exodus. 

No doubt, the ark is an object of curiosity throughout Scripture. It mystifyies – and even terrifies – some of the idolatrous enemies of Israel who come into possession of it. But is the ark, or any other biblical account of inexplicable phenomena, proof of alien encounters? 

The answer is no.

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Features of New Jerusalem: Part 2

This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon. 

In the previous post, we began to explore some key features of New Jerusalem. We continue this study now.

New Jerusalem is arrayed with God’s glory. 

John writes of New Jerusalem, “Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal” (21:11). The most significant quality of New Jerusalem is stated at the outset: it is the radiance of God, the sign of his visible presence. 

As in the burning bush, the pillar of cloud and fire, the Shekinah glory in the holy of holies, and the brilliance of Jesus’ presence on the mount of transfiguration, God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). Isaiah foretells the work of the divine warrior who penetrates the earth’s spiritual darkness (Isa. 59:17-21). As a result, Isaiah exults, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD shines over you” (Isa. 60:1). 

In a similar fashion, Ezekiel sees the glory of God returning through the eastern gate of the temple, from which the glory had earlier departed. He describes it in these terms: “I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice sounded like the roar of a huge torrent, and the earth shone with his glory” (Ezek. 43:2). 

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