Gemar chatima tova literally means "a good final sealing." It is used on Rosh Hashanah to say, “May your name be inscribed in the Book of Life.”
The Days of Awe, the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are the high holy days on the Jewish calendar. It is a time of repentance and self-reflection, a solemn time. A tradition taught in the Talmud is that it is during this time that God judges humanity and inscribes their names into eternity. On Rosh Hashanah, the righteous are written in one book and the evil are written in the other book. And then God reflects for the next ten days. On Yom Kippur it is sealed for another year. It is during this period that repentance and reconciliation are made, not just with God but also with each other, so that their name will be put in the Book of Life.
Time spent in reflection, confession and repentance are profitable and it moves us toward reconciliation with God and with each other. But as followers of Christ, we don’t have to weigh our sins and hope God finds us righteous enough to include our names on the eternal list. I can give you my result now – my sins are too many and my so-called righteousness is found lacking. But the Lamb paid the price and has written my name in His book. As a follower of Jesus, I have received a good final sealing. Bless God.
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14
1 Response