The Book of Life.
Are you in the book of life?
The Book of Life.
You CAN be listed among it's pages!
There is a book called the 'Book of Life', in which the names of the righteous are written. This Book was probably "created" after the fall of Adam and Eve, when they no longer continually walked in righteousness before the Face of the Almighty. After Eve and then Adam ate of the tree of the "Knowledge of Good and Evil", the ETERNAL drove them out of the garden of Eden, to prevent them from eating of the "Tree of Life"!
(Genesis 3:19-22)[1] (NET) 19By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return. 20The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21The ETERNAL CREATOR made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 22And the ETERNAL CREATOR said, Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.
There is a distinction between LIFE and DEATH. When one eats from the tree of life they will live FOREVER. The opposite would be that if one does not eat from the "Tree of Life" they will be dead for eternity. "The Tree of Life" has existed since the creation of earth. Let us now explore Scripture, to find the route we must take to that tree, the Tree of Life.
The first reference in Scripture to the ETERNAL's Book, is in Exodus after the children of Israel sinned against the ETERNAL at Mount Sinai. They were waiting for Moses to come down from the Mountain; to hear the Words which YHWH (Yahweh) spoke to him. They were very impatient and molded themselves an image of gold, a false idol to worship (Exodus 32:1-8). When Moses came down from the mountain, and saw these horrible deeds of Israel, he pleaded with the Almighty, and said:
(Exodus 32:32-33) (AMP) 32Yet now, if You will forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book which You have written! 33But the ETERNAL said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him [not you] out of My book.
Since all sin is against the ETERNAL (Psalms 51:4), any person who sins and does not repent, it is his or her name, that will be blotted out of the 'Book of Life'. (Psalm 69:28). The ETERNAL reserves for HIMSELF, the exclusive right to add or remove names from His 'Book of Life'. He is telling Moses, that no one can intercede for, or pay the penelty for, the sins of another!
The great Psalmist, King David, asks the Almighty to blot out of His 'Book of the Living', the names of the unrighteous so that their names may not be written with those of the righteous.
(Psalms 69:16-28) (NKJV) 16Hear me, O ETERNAL, for Your loving kindness is good. Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. 17And do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily. 18Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies. 19You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; my adversaries are all before You. 20Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink[2]. 22Let their table become a snare before them, and their well-being a trap. 23Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; and make their loins shake continually. 24Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let Your wrathful anger take hold of them. 25Let their dwelling place be desolate; let no one live in their tents. 26For they persecute the ones You have struck, and talk of the grief of those You have wounded. 27Add iniquity to their iniquity, And let them not come into Your righteousness. 28Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
David knew that YHWH, with HIS total righteousness, is not going to reward the wicked with the righteous.
The content of the 'Book of Life', shall be revealed with the Advent of the Mashiach [Messiah in English], at the time when YHWH, Himself will stand upon the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:1-4). Daniel states in prophesying about the end-time, that those who will be delivered, are those whose names are written in the Book:
(Daniel 12:1) (NKJV) At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of Your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time Your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book.
In Isaiah, we read about 'everyone who is recorded among the living', at the time of the end, after the establishment of the Davadic Kingdom, which ushers in "The Wonderful World Of Tomorrow":
(Isaiah 4:1-5) (NKJV) 1And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, 'We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel; Only let us be called by your name, To take away our reproach.' 2In that day the Branch of the 'Lord' [YHWH] shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped. 3And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4When the 'Lord' [YHWH] has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, 5then the 'Lord' [YHWH] will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering.
Thus, 'everyone who is recorded among the living', are the righteous ones whose names are written in the 'Book of Life'. Moreover, those whose names are written in the 'Book of Life', are special in the eyes of our Father, because they are the righteous ones who 'keep His Commandments', for this is the whole duty of man. Note that this is the polar opposite, of what so-called 'christianity' teaches. Also, the righteous ones, do not heed the words of other books; because 'of making many books there is no end' [i.e. Talmud, Mishnah, Kabbalah, Qur'an, New Testament, Book Of Mormon etc.], which preachers, rabbis, mullahs, and others, say supersede and override The Hebrew Scriptures. We read about these righteous ones in the book of Malachi, as their names are being recorded in the 'book of remembrance':
(Malachi 3:16-18) (ESV) 16Then those who feared the ETERNAL spoke with one another. The ETERNAL paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the ETERNAL and esteemed his name. 17They shall be mine, says the ETERNAL of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves YHWH and one who does not serve him.
(Ecclesiastes 12:10-14) (KJ21) 10The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth! 11The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the master builders, which are given from one Shepherd. 12And further, my son, by these words be admonished: of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness to the flesh. 13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear YHWH and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14For YHWH shall bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.
(Ezekiel 13:9) (NLT) I will raise my fist against all the prophets who see false visions and make lying predictions, and they will be banished from the community of Israel. I will blot their names from Israel's record books, and they will never again set foot in their own land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign CREATOR.
The ETERNAL, is keeping a record book. Our names will not be entered into it, until we make every effort to Honor Him, and keep His commandments with all our heart and with all our soul. If we do:
(Deuteronomy 30:6) (NIV) The ETERNAL your CREATOR will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
Question: How and when does the ETERNAL CREATOR circumcise our hearts?
Answer: When He allows us, to see and understand His word, written down for us by Moses, in the Hebrew Scriptures [OT], and only when we make every effort to follow His ways, and obey His commandments.
(Deuteronomy 30:10) (NIV) If you obey the ETERNAL your CREATOR and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the ETERNAL your CREATOR with all your heart and with all your soul.
WE have a choice to make. The ETERNAL has placed before us, life and death, and asks us to choose life:
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20) (NIV) 19This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. 20and that you may love the ETERNAL your CREATOR, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the ETERNAL is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Our loving CREATOR, wants us to choose life; to be with Him. Thus His Commandments are not so difficult, that we cannot obey them to the fullest:
(Deuteronomy 30:11-16) (NIV) 11Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it"? 13Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it"? 14No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 15See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16For I command you today to love the ETERNAL your CREATOR, to walk in his ways, and to keep His Commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the ETERNAL your CREATOR will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
YHWH, does not SUGGEST that we LOVE Him, He has COMMANDED that we LOVE Him!!! We can show Him our love, only when we Honor Him and walk in His ways, by being obedient to His commands, decrees, ordinances, and statutes:
(Deuteronomy 8:3) (AMP) He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry and fed you with manna, [a substance] which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that He might make you understand [by personal experience] that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the 'Lord' [YHWH].
(Deuteronomy 30:17-18) (NIV) 17But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other 'gods' and worship them, 18I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
However, our hearts have always been drawn away to follow false 'gods'. The greatest majority of all Israelites throughout time, have failed their Test[3] and followed other 'gods'. (Deuteronomy 4:23-40). Even today, our hearts are drawn away to another 'god'; a self-proclaimed 'son of god', namely a man from Galilee, one called 'jesus'. So, who told us to follow this false idol? We got this ludicrous false teaching, from the Council of Nicea's ridiculously hallucinatory Creed of Nicaea, with it's canons of nonsense; while the counterfit 'man-god' saviour mythology, comes from their equally counterfit [New Testament]™ book of deception. Notice that no being even exits, that is equal to the ETERNAL:
HE IS THE FIRST AND THE LAST
HE IS THE ONLY CREATOR WHO EXISTS
HE IS THE ONLY REDEEMER OF MANKIND
HE IS THE ONE WHO CREATED YOU
HE ALONE MADE THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH
There is only ONE ETERNAL CREATER and SOVEREIGN of the universe (not 3, not 2):
(Isaiah 44:6) (CEB) The ETERNAL, Israel's king and redeemer, the SOVEREIGN of heavenly forces, says: I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there are NO 'gods'.
(Isaiah 44:24) (AMPC) Thus says the ETERNAL, your Redeemer, and He Who formed you from the womb: I am the CREATOR, Who made all things, Who ALONE stretched out the heavens, Who spread out the earth by Myself.
Thus we see that the ETERNAL CREATOR, HE alone, is the only SOVEREIGN. Yahweh even went so far as to prove it, in the most spectacular way possible, to King Ahab, the false prophets of 'baal', and to all the people, through His true prophet Elijah at Mount Carmel. You can read this awe-inspiring account here: (1 Kings 18:1-46) (WEB)
The ETERNAL has a warning and a blessing. HE extended it to the ancient Israelites, and HE extends it to you today:
(Deuteronomy 30:15-16) (NIV) 15See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16For I command you today to love the ETERNAL your CREATOR, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the ETERNAL your CREATOR will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
(Deuteronomy 30:17-18) (NIV) 17But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other 'gods' and worship them, 18I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20) (NIV) 19This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20and that you may love the ETERNAL your CREATOR, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the ETERNAL is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Dear friend, now is the time to consider the ETERNAL's 'Book Of Life', and your place in it. The ETERNAL CREATOR earnestly desires, that your name be forever written in the "Book Of Remembrance". Certainly it can be, if you will choose Life over death. But you must first strive to love, honor, and obey the ETERNAL CREATOR your loving Father, as He loves you, and walk in His Ways with all your heart and with all your soul. If you will do that, He assures you, that your name will be written in His 'Book Of The Living', and that you 'will be called holy'. (Malachi 3:16-18, Isaiah 4:3-6).
Footnotes:
[1] [a]All scriptural links point to the Bible Gateway, A Searchable Online Bible In Over 100 Versions And 50 Languages, located at "BibleGateway.Com", a vast biblical resource containing all the major texts and reference materials useful for in-depth bible studies. Most scriptual quotations are from the (KJV) of the Bible, however versions noted in (parentheses) should also be consulted. [b]All Strong's scriptural references point to the Blue Letter Bible Lexicon, located at "BlueLetterBible.Org", another vast biblical resource which has over 4,000,000 links available, pointing to more than 165,000 pages of concordances, lexicons, dictionaries, commentaries, images, and several Bible versions.
[2] This is not referring to a man from Galilee, to see who is the real Messiah please refer to the article Quest For The Messiah.
[3] To determine if you have passed the ETERNAL's Test, refer to the article The Eternal's Test.