Many people do not know a lot about the feasts that are associated with the Jews but even among these, the majority would have heard about Yom Kippur. They usually know that it is a day of fasting. Sometimes they will even share and laugh at some of the typical jokes about this day. Like the one about the orthodox guy who met his more liberal neighbour from next door in Jerusalem with a Big Mac Burger in his hand, around midday on Yom Kippur. At first no one said a word, realizing the situation was a bit awkward, but al last the orthodox guy said: “You DO know that FASTING and FAST FOOD is not the same thing, do you?”
If you live in Israel, it is customary on the day of Yom Kippur to greet one another with the words, “G’MAR CHATIMA TOVA”, which literally means something like “a good final sealing”. This is a wish that the name of the one you are greeting, will be included, or sealed up, in the Book of Life, or the Book of the Living, that will be opened on the final day. The BOOK OF THE LIVING is a genuinely Scriptural concept (among others, the phrase “Book of the Living” is one of the many seven-fold repetitions in the book of REVELATION) and this wish of Yom Kippur, when spoken out sincerely, is truly a wonderful wish! It is more or less the opposite of the wish that we hear in Ps 69:28: “Let the names of the crooked ones be blotted out of the Book of the Living, and not be written with the righteous.” In the Biblical Scriptures, those who will be saved in the end, are often referred to as “the REMNANT”, and Isaiah 4:3 tells us that “he who is left in Yerushalayim (or: the remnant) is called set-apart, everyone who is written among the living in Yerushalayim” (or: everyone whose name is written in the Book of the Living, that will one day be revealed from the City of Yerushalayim). Dan 12:1 and 2 declares: “And there shall be a time of distress, such as never was since there was a nation … and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the Book (meaning: the Book of the Living) and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall wake up, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches, everlasting abhorrence.” The idea of the Book of the Living is also wonderfully portrayed in Mal 3:16: “Then shall those who fear Yahweh speak to one another, and Yahweh shall listen and hear, and a book of remembrance be written before Him, of those who fear Yahweh, and those who think upon His Name.”
The Yom Kippur wish, “G’mar Chatima Tova”, is a wish for someone’s name to be SEALED UP in the Book of the Living (the word “chatima” or “chatam” means to close up or to seal). Last week we referred to the 5 last chapters of Devarim or Deuteronomy (Deut 30-34), which are the last chapters of the entire Torah Reading Cycle, before the cycle will start again with Genesis 1. We focused on the aspect of HEALING and mentioned Deut 32:39 “There is no Elohim besides Me. I put to death and I make alive. I wound, and I heal. And from My hand no one delivers!” Earlier on, in this very chapter, the mind-set and destiny of those who do not acknowledge the influence of Yahweh in their lives, is described: They are driven with fear from the inside (v 25); Yahweh will blot out their remembrance among men (v 26); they claim that their own hand, not Yahweh’s hand, is making them to prosper (v 27); they are like a nation who is lost to counsel and who has no understanding (v 28); they are not thinking about what will happen in the end (v 29); their rock is not like the ROCK who revealed Himself to the people of Israel (v 31); their vine is the vine of Sodom and their vineyards are the vineyards of Gomorrah (v 32). And then it is added in verse 34: What will eventually happen to all the people who are living in this manner, is SEALED UP (“chatam”) among the treasures of Yahweh.
So, it is quite clear from Scriptures that among the treasures of Yahweh that are not yet revealed to mankind, the names of all the sons and daughters of Adam are sealed up (“chatam”), in some way or other. A person’s name may be listed among the names that will be blotted out and no longer be remembered. Or someone’s name may be listed among the names recorded in the Book of the Living. There were times, especially in the wilderness period, when Yahweh’s very own people acted in such a way that He wanted to blot their names out of the Book of the Living. In Deut 9:13-14 Yahweh said to Mosheh: “I have seen this people, and look, they are a stiff-necked people. Leave Me alone, so that I destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens.” But because of his favour and compassion, He didn’t do it. He would rather blot out their transgressions, than blotting out their names! Ps 51:9 “Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my transgressions.” Isa 43:25 “I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and remember your sins no more.”
We mentioned before that the phrase “Book of Life” or “Book of the Living” is one of the many combinations of seven found in the Book of Revelation (like the seven assemblies, the seven spirits of Yahweh, the seven lampstands, seven stars, seven messengers, seven trumpets, seven bowls, seven thunders, seven plagues, the dragon with seven heads and seven crowns, etc). Of course, mention is also made of seven SEALS and, no doubt, these seals are related to the understanding that the names of people are sealed or preserved, up to a certain point in the final days, when it will be revealed. The opening of the FIFTH SEAL, for example, revealed the identities of those who have been slain for the Word of Elohim and for the witness which they held (Rev 6:9-11). And when the SIXTH SEAL was opened, it is written that some of the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and the slaves, and the free men, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Rev 6:15-17).
So, it once again becomes clear that the Book of Revelation is firmly connected with the Pre-Messianic Scriptures (Old Testament) and with concepts like “SEALING” (from the word “chatam”) that plays such a prominent role – both in the Torah and the Prophets, and within a feast like Yom Kippur. We have always said that the meaning of “kippur” is “covering” in the sense of “atonement” or the “covering” of one’s SINS AND TRANSGRESSIONS, following repentance and forgiveness, based upon a sacrifice being made. The importance of this aspect cannot be emphasized enough. Although repentance and forgiveness are needed continuously within our walk as believers from day to day (because sin has a way of becoming an impenetrable WALL, shutting down our communion with Yahweh), our Heavenly Father, in his wisdom, has set aside ONE DAY, each year, and even the ten days leading up to that Day, beginning with Yom Teruah, for us to focus upon the areas of our lives where reconciliation and restoration and forgiveness and healing are needed. But the “covering” of Yom Kippur is also the “SEALING UP” of the names of those who have found forgiveness for their sins and have put their trust in Yahweh. This is what is portrayed in Ephesians 4:30 where the believers in Y’shua were told that they had been sealed for the Day of Redemption by the Spirit of Yahweh. The Day of redemption is often called the DAY OF YAHWEH in Scriptures and it is our understanding that Yom Kippur is the special REHEARSAL FEAST for this Day of Yahweh. Against this background Shaúl (Paul) wrote to the Thessalonians that they should always live in ANTICIPATION of the Day of Yahweh, knowing that “Elohim did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain deliverance through our Master, Y’shua Messiah” (1 Tess 5:2-9).
The fact that Shaúl says here that we have an EXPECTATION of deliverance on that day, brings an important perspective on a WISH like “G’mar Chatima Tova”. This is not a mere wish that things may turn out okay for the person you are talking to – in the sense that nothing that he or she does, will change the outcome of the wish. In the book of Revelation “the Book of the Life” is sometimes called “THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE” and in Rev 5 it is written that there was a Scroll or a Book, that was sealed with seven seals and the question was asked: “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loosen its seals?” And in all of heaven or the earth or under the earth, there was no one who was worthy to open the Book, except the Lion of the tribe of Yehudah, the Lamb standing in the midst of the 24 elders. And then we see this chapter (Rev 5) building up to an unparalleled climax and a song in which the 24 elders and thousands of thousands of living creatures took part, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals, because You were slain, and have redeemed us to Elohim by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” It is Yom Kippur, and our dire need for reconciliation and forgiveness and redemption, that has made us to reach out for Y’shua, the Lamb that was slain, on our behalf. And it is Y’shua, and our unification with Him, through belief, that has made us to realize that the desire for our own names, and the names of our brothers and our sisters, to be sealed up among the living, is MORE than just a wish. It is a strong CONVICTION. And this conviction is not built on our own qualities and our own abilities. It is built upon our connection with the One who was found worthy and who redeemed us to Elohim by the sacrifice of his own blood. Based upon this conviction, as we approach this year’s Yom Kippur, we can freely say to one another “G’mar Chatima Tova”, or if the Hebrew turns out to be too much to remember, MAY YOUR NAME BE SEALED UP WITH THE LIVING!
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