One of the prayers I came across for Rosh HaShanah goes like this: “Remember us for life, O King Who desires life, and inscribe us in the Book of Life for Your sake, O Living G-d”
I find this intriguing in light of the New Testament teaching on the Book of Life and those whose names will be found therein. For example, in Revelation 3:5, we read “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.” This is Jesus who is speaking here. He is making it clear that He, Jesus, is the one who determines whose name is in the Book of Life.
In Revelation 20:12, John tells us “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.”
Revelation 20:15 confirms the importance of the Book of Life stating that “anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
In speaking of the new Jerusalem, in Revelation 21:27, John tells us “there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
The interesting thing about the Book of Life in the New Testament is that it is linked to Jesus. Jesus is the judge and only those whose names are listed in the Book of Life with be with Jesus in the new Jerusalem.
Father God, maker of heaven and earth. Hear the prayers of our Jewish brethren this Rosh HaShanah and cause their names to be forever written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. May they come to know Jesus, the Christ and enter into the atonement provided by His shed blood on the cross of Calvary.
