Messianic Perspectives

-Liz Aiello-: Have you ever wondered what God was doing before He created the world? We'll talk about it today right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the Scriptures from a distinctively first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today we turn our attention to an interesting question: what was God doing before He created this world? According to our Bible teacher, Dr. Gary Hedrick, there are at least seven things God was doing before Genesis 1:1.

I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. And now with today's installment, here is Gary Hedrick.

-Dr. Gary Hedrick-: Thank you and welcome listening friend to another edition of the program. It's good to have you with us today as we continue our series of studies on what God was doing before Genesis 1:1. So far we've seen that the first thing God was doing before the creation was He was communing with Himself. Within the Godhead we said there is interaction and communication between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Then we said the second thing God did before Genesis 1:1 was He created the angels. We know the angels predate the creation because the Book of Job says the sons of God shouted for joy when God created the heavens and the earth. So God was engaged in creative activity prior to Genesis 1:1. In other words, our world and our universe are not the only things God has ever created.

Some Bible scholars, in fact, have speculated that God may have created other universes besides our own with worlds populated by other kinds of living beings. But because the Bible says nothing about the creation of other worlds or civilizations, we can't say one way or the other. What we do know is that whether or not God has created other worlds or other civilizations besides our own, the phenomena of sin and redemption are peculiar to our own world. Jesus died for us, not for someone else. The focus of God's plan of redemption is on this world, not some other world.

Now today we come to the third thing God was doing prior to Genesis 1:1. It's found in Revelation chapter 17 verse 8, where it says, "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." A little later in the same book we are told that the inhabitants of New Jerusalem will be they who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, Revelation 21:27. So the third thing God was doing before Genesis 1:1 was He was writing the names of His people in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Our names were written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. And this is something that's very difficult to comprehend unless you know something about the Jewish background of the Scriptures. The concept of the Book of Life goes back to Exodus chapter 32. So let's turn back there for just a moment. This is where Moses is interceding for his people Israel after they'd been found worshipping a golden calf.

It says in Exodus 32:31, "And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Oh this people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold, Elohim of gold." Verse 32: "Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me I pray thee out of thy book which thou hast written." Verse 33: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book."

Now what does this mean? In ancient Israel, they kept their census records in a book or a registry. That's why when you read through the historical books of the Old Testament, the writers always seem to know exactly how many people there were in Israel. They could even tell you how many people there were in each tribe in Israel and how many fighting men there were. They kept very detailed records. That census book came to be known as the Sefer Hayim, or the book of the living.

In other words, it was a listing of everyone who was alive in Israel. Now in ancient times, they didn't have paper like we have today. Books and scrolls were written on parchment that was made from the skin of a sheep or a goat. It was reusable and very valuable. And so when you were finished with a document, you wouldn't throw it away, you'd just wash off the ink with some water and let it dry, and you'd have a clean page to start over again.

So when someone died, they'd take a moist cloth and just blot out that name from the book of the living, from the census book in Israel. The Jews came to recognize that that census book was really God's book because God is the one who decides who lives and who dies. Our destinies are in His hands both in this world and in the world to come, both in the Olam Hazeh and in the Olam Haba, this world and the world to come. So what's happening here in Exodus 32 is that Moses is offering himself as an atonement for the sins of the people.

He says if God won't forgive their sin any other way, Moses will give his own life. He will give his own blood. He says, kill me, blot my name out of the book of the living. But God couldn't accept Moses' offer because Moses wasn't qualified to die for anyone else's sins. The blood of Moses couldn't redeem anyone because he was a sinner. You know, in traditional Judaism, they have something like ten levels of spirituality from one to ten. They say Moses was a ten, a real Tzadik, a real righteous person.

The Hasidic Jews believe that a Tzadik, a righteous man, has supernatural powers. The Lubavitcher Jews believe their Rebbe is a Tzadik. They believe he lays hands on people and heals them. They say he can look into your eyes and instantly know all about you. They believe he has supernatural powers and supernatural knowledge. And listen, there's no question Moses was a great man. He loved the Lord and he loved his people Israel. He had a great heart. But as great as Moses was, listen, as great as he was, he was still just a man.

And he was a sinner. He wasn't allowed to enter the Promised Land because of the sin of disobedience; he struck the rock more than once. So Moses wasn't qualified to die for the sins of the people. The only one who could die for the sins of the people, listen, the only one who could die for their sins would be the Messiah, the Son of God. That's what the blood of all those bulls and goats and lambs signified in the Old Testament. Those sacrifices in the temple pointed forward to the time when the perfect, spotless, innocent, sinless Lamb of God would give His life and shed His sacrificial blood for the sins of His people.

Listen, it's Jesus and only Jesus. Jesus or Yeshua was the perfect sacrifice, the lamb without blemish and without spot, lived for over 30 years on this earth and never said or did anything wrong. Even the Jewish establishment of his day, those members of the Sanhedrin who watched him like hawks, following his every move, listening to his every word, even they could find no fault in him. They even set him up and asked him trick questions trying to get him to make just one mistake, just one little thing they could use against him.

But in the end, the only charge they could file against him was that he had claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And to them that was blasphemy. And by the way, it would have been blasphemy if it hadn't been true. So that's the Jewish concept of the book of the living. It was based on the census books of ancient Israel. And in Judaism it became a tradition on Rosh Hashanah to bless someone by saying that his name should be written in the Book of Life for the new year.

For example, the final blessing of the Amidah says this: "May we and all your people, the house of Israel, be remembered and inscribed in the Book of Life, blessing, peace, and prosperity, so that we will have a life of goodness and peace. Blessed are you, Adonai, the maker of peace." In Judaism one of the customary greetings for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is Shana Tova Tikatevu, which means may you be inscribed for a good year. The idea is: may your name be inscribed in the book of the living for a Shana Tova, for a good year.

Another customary Jewish greeting on Rosh Hashanah is Chatima Tova, which literally means good sealing. Not a ceiling like over your head, but sealing, S-E-A-L-I-N-G. It comes from the Jewish idea that when a person's name is sealed in the book of the living, his destiny is fixed for the coming year. That's what the seal means in Judaism. It signifies an irreversible transaction. Your destiny is fixed. They believe the sealing takes place on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Of course, in the New Testament we're told that we don't have to be sealed over and over again from one year to the next. Ephesians 1:13 says we are sealed permanently at the moment of salvation: "Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise," it says. Once we are sealed into Christ, our destiny is fixed not only for the coming year, but for all eternity. But that's where this whole idea of a Book of Life started: with the census books from ancient Israel, where the census-takers actually inscribed the names of every living person.

And when someone died, his name was blotted out of the book of the living. So later God wanted His people to know that He keeps records, too. And He seals our destinies not only in this life, not only in the Olam Hazeh, but also in the Olam Haba, in the world to come. If we had time, we'd read Psalm 69 verses 27 and 28, where God talks about blotting the unrighteous out of the book of the living. God tells us in Malachi 3:16 that He has a book of remembrance which contains the names of those who fear Him and that think upon His name.

So God has a book. How can you know that your name is in the book? By placing your trust in the Messiah who died, was buried, and rose again for you. You could do it right now. Well, that's all for today. Next time we'll talk about the fourth thing God was doing before Genesis 1:1. Until then, this is Gary Hedrick saying God bless you, take care, bye-bye.

-Liz Aiello-: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. It's always good to have you with us, whether you're listening from home, at work, or in your car. If you found today's program especially helpful and insightful, you'll be glad to know that we have placed the entire series of programs on one compact disc. The title is "Seven Things God Was Doing Before Genesis 1:1."

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I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on "Seven Things God Was Doing Before Genesis 1:1," right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the free-will contributions of our listeners in this area.