Although I have posted my commentaries on the Watchtower’s daily text on the forum for the past two and a half years, I decided to post this article here so it will be translated for non-English readers.
A book of remembrance was written before him for those fearing Jehovah.—Mal. 3:16.
For thousands of years, Jehovah has been writing a special book. This book consists of a list of names, beginning with the name of the first faithful witness, Abel. (Luke 11:50, 51) Down through the centuries, Jehovah has added names to the book, and today it contains millions of names. In the Bible, that book is called “a book of remembrance,” “the book of life,” and “the scroll of life.” (Mal. 3:16; Rev. 3:5; 17:8) This special book contains the names of all those who worship Jehovah with fear, or awe, and who treasure his name. They are in line to receive everlasting life. Today we can have our name written in that book if we develop a close, personal relationship with Jehovah based on the ransom sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. (John 3:16, 36) All of us want our name to be found in that book—whether we hope to live in heaven or on the earth. w22.09 14 ¶1-2
The Watchtower is changing in many ways. And not for the better. The light is getting dimmer and dimmer even as we are assured that it is getting brighter and brighter. This is what gaslighting is. (See article: Is the Watchtower Gaslighting Jehovah’s Witnesses?)
Malachi is speaking of a development in the future. The “book of remembrance” has not been opened. No one has their names written in it yet, not even in pencil. (Except those called to God’s Kingdom who have already been sealed before their deaths.)
We know that God remembers in detail every person who has ever lived and died, dating back to the first man and woman Jehovah created in the Garden of Eden. Because God has unlimited cloud storage, so to speak, He can remember the exact chromosomal makeup of every single soul, including every memory and emotional impression, and bring back and reanimate the precise person. Jesus said the day will come when all of those in the memorial tombs will hear the voice of the Son of man and come out.
Furthermore, the apostle Paul said there is to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. To be sure, Revelation informs us that after the Devil and his demons are put away, the sea and the Grave will give up all of the dead in them. Except for a relative few who have already received the sentence of the second death, virtually all of mankind will be brought back from nothingness during the 1,000-year-long reign of Christ and the 144,000. So, there is no need for a special book of remembrance to distinguish the righteous from the unrighteous. Needless to say, the vast majority of mankind who have come and gone knew nothing about Jehovah and so could not have possibly meditated upon his name or feared Him.
So what, exactly, is the “book of remembrance”? Details are important. Context is important too, especially when it comes to understanding the message contained in the Bible. Here is the 16th verse in its entirety: “At that time those who fear Jehovah spoke with one another, each one with his companion, and Jehovah kept paying attention and listening. And a book of remembrance was written before him for those fearing Jehovah and for those meditating on his name.”
Please take note of the expression “at that time.” Contrary to the Watchtower’s statement that the “book of remembrance” has always been open, the verse in question clearly indicates there will be a unique moment when a symbolic book of remembrance will be opened. The names of every individual who fears Jehovah will be recognized and written down, as it were, “at that time.”
The question then is when is “that time”? The third chapter explains it. Remember, context is important. Here is the context: “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will clear up a way before me. And suddenly the true Lord, whom you are seeking, will come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant will come, in whom you take delight. Look! He will certainly come,” says Jehovah of armies. “But who will endure the day of his coming, and who will be able to stand when he appears?”
Because the Watchtower wields a powerful deluding influence over Jehovah’s Witnesses, everyone who accepts the Watchtower as the only source of authentic truth is compelled to believe that the true Lord appeared in 1914, invisibly, of course. Essentially, the Watchtower has already answered the rhetorical question: “Who will be able to stand when he appears.” They answer that the Bible Students, who, subsequently, have all died off, were able to stand up in the judgment when Christ appeared over 100 years ago. No wonder the 4th chapter of Malachi opens with these words: “For look! the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the presumptuous ones and all those practicing wickedness will become like stubble. The coming day will certainly devour them,” says Jehovah of armies, “and it will leave them neither root nor branch. But on you who honor my name, the sun of righteousness will shine, with healing in its rays; and you will skip about like fattened calves.”
Is it not presumptuous to claim that a faithful slave passed the test back in 1918, or whenever, and that God has no issues or controversy with the captains of the spiritual temple?
The day burning like a furnace is when Christ sends forth his angels to remove the wicked from his Kingdom, his congregation, before the approved ones are sealed and given their crowns. Jesus likened the Devil’s seed to weeds planted in his wheat field. Jesus said they would be uprooted, bundled, and pitched into the fiery furnace. “There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be.”
By the way, not coincidentally, when discussing the fate of the evil slave who was appointed to feed Christ’s sheep but who becomes friends with the drunkards of Satan’s world, Jesus said: “But if ever that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying,’ and he starts to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, and he will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his place with the hypocrites. There is where his weeping and the gnashing of his teeth will be.”
Take note that both the weeds and the wicked slave are condemned and weep and gnash their teeth as a result of Christ’s condemnation. As regards the judgment of the evil slave, the Watchtower naturally claims this is merely a hypothetical “what if?” But at least now, since the publication of the first edition of Jehovah Himself Has Become King, the Governing Body recognizes that the master has not come and the faithful slave has not received the second appointment over all the master’s belongings. That being the case, why are Jehovah’s Witnesses still compelled to believe that the weeds were uprooted in 1918 and that the millions of parishioners of Christendom, who have long since passed away and been replenished by more false worshippers, were made to weep and gnash their teeth? Are the hundreds of millions of Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Lutherans, and every member of every “Christian” sect and cult weeping and gnashing their teeth presently? Or have they already been bundled up and pitched into the fiery furnace? Do you see the insurmountable difficulties that come with embracing an artfully contrived false story as if it were the truth?
On the other hand, have we experienced the shining forth of the sun of righteousness? No. Jesus spoke about that, too, in the illustration of the wheat and the weeds. After the Devil’s seed is removed, the chosen ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. What will be the source of their shining? Jesus, the bright morning star, will shine upon them. How? By appearing to them. That is why Malachi says, “When he appears.”
Did you know that the word the New World Translation renders as “manifestation” is drawn from the Greek word “epiphaneia,” which literally means an appearance, even a shining presence? Jesus was manifest in the flesh as a man. People saw him. He was also manifest to qualified believers after he was resurrected. And when the messenger of the (new) covenant “appears,” it will be in the spirit, not as a materialization.
Interestingly, the old King James translates “epiphaneia” as “the brightness of his coming.” I like that. For example, concerning the man of lawlessness, the KJV says: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”
Now, as regards the “book of remembrance: “At that time” is after the great tribulation is cut short. That is when the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth will be commanded to hold back the four winds of destruction. Why? So that the slaves of God might be sealed and the great crowd gathered. After the tribulation in those days, the scarlet-colored beast will arise from the abyss. Civilization will come back from the brink, from the ashes of nuclear war, which God Almighty will have cut short on account of the chosen ones. The revived beast will demand our allegiance. It will kill those who do not worship it. Those who do worship it will receive the 666 mark of doom. They will not have their names written in the “book of remembrance.”
Why can Jehovah’s Witnesses not understand these things? Because Jehovah has poured out a deep sleep upon the prophets and visionaries. It will take a nuclear blast to awaken them.