Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, March 28th, 2024
Maundy Thursday
There are 3 days til Easter!
Attention!
We are taking food to Ukrainians still living near the front lines. You can help by getting your church involved.
Click to donate today!

Daily Devotionals
Music For the Soul
Devotional: August 16th

Resource Toolbox

"IS MY NAME WRITTEN THERE?"

Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, - Revelation 20:12

We read, in the highly imaginative picture of the final judgment, that when the thrones are set, two books are opened, one the Book of Life, the other the book in which are written the deeds of men, and that by these two books men are judged. There is a judgment by conduct. There is also a judgment by the Book of Life, That is to say, the question at last comes to be, " Is this man’s name written in that book? " Is he a citizen of the kingdom, and therefore capable of entering into it? Has he the life from Christ in his heart? Or, in other words, the question is, first, Has the man who stands at the bar faith in Jesus Christ? and, second, Has he proved that his faith is genuine and real by the course of his earthly conduct? These are the books from which the judgment is made. We read further in that blessed vision - the vision of the City of God " that came down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband " - that only they enter in there who are "written in the Lamb’s Book of Life." Only citizens are capable of entrance into the city; aliens are necessarily shut out. The Lord, when He writeth up His people, shall count that this man was born there, though he never trod its streets while on earth, and therefore can enter into his native home. What need we care what other people may think about us, or whether the "hollow wraith of dying fame" that comes like a nimbus round some men may fade wholly or no, so long as we may be sure of acknowledgment and praise from Him from whom acknowledgment and praise are precious indeed.

Remember that names can be blotted out of the book. The metaphor has often been pressed into the service of a doctrine of unconditional and irreversible predestination. But, rightly looked at, it points in the opposite direction. Remember Moses’s agonized cry, "Blot me out of Thy book," and the Divine answer, " Him that sinneth against Me, his name will I blot out of My book." And remember that it is only to " him that overcometh " that the promise is made, " I will not blot him out." We are made partakers of Christ if we "hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end."

Remember that it depends upon ourselves whether our names are there or not. John Bunyan describes the armed man who came up to the table where the man with the book and the inkhorn was seated, and said, " Set down my name." And you and I may do that. If we cast ourselves on Jesus Christ, and yield our wills to be guided by Him, and give our lives for His service, then He will write our names in His book. If we trust Him we shall be citizens of the City of God, shall be filled with the life of Christ, shall be objects of an individualizing love and care, shall be accepted in that day, and shall enter in through the gates into the city. "They that forsake Me shall be written on the earth," and there wiped out as are the children’s scribbles on the sand when the ocean comes up. They that trust in Jesus Christ shall have their names written in the Book of Life, graven on the High Priest’s breastplate, and inscribed on His mighty hand and His faithful heart.

Subscribe …
Get the latest devotional delivered straight to your inbox every week by signing up for the "Music For the Soul" subscription list. Simply provide your email address below, click on "Subscribe!", and you'll receive a confirmation email from us. Follow the instructions in the email to confirm your subscription to this list.
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile