Think about the various places where your name is written and why it is recorded there ·
As a matter of historical record and identity, your name is written on a birth certificate.
To report the grades that you have earned while in school, your name is written on a report card.
As a means of identification and license to drive, your name is written on a driver’s license.
To show your commitment to your spouse for the rest of your life, your name is written on a marriage license.
To mortgage a home or finance a car, your name is written on a contract.
To note the beginning and the end of your earthly existence, your name will eventually be written on a tombstone!
But hopefully this is not the last place your name will appear!
There is another place in which you will want to make absolutely certain that your name is recorded. Having your name written in this particular document is the most important record of all. If your name is written in this book, you will be rewarded eternally!
The Book of which I speak is what the Bible calls the “book of life” (see Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12,15; 21:27; 22:19). This book will be opened on the day that Jesus Christ will judge every person of every nation (Matthew 25:31-46; Acts 17:31; Revelation 20:11-15). Those whose names are written in the Book of Life will inherit eternal bliss in the heavenly city where “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27).
How can I be sure that my name is written in the Book of Life?
The Apostle Paul informs us that only the names of “Christians” are recorded in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3), for Christians are those whose sins have been washed away by the blood of the “Lamb” - Jesus Christ! To become a Christian, one must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Acts 16:31), repent of sin (Acts 17:30), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized in the name of Christ for the forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:38). To those Christians who remain faithful throughout their lives, Jesus has promised: “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” (Revelation 3:5).
Throughout the course of life, your name will be recorded in many different places on this earth. But the most important question is: Is your name written in heaven — in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
This item originally appeared in Living Water, 11/21/02
