The Book of Life
Notes
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Theme Song Intro
Theme Song Intro
Never Ending Story
Never Ending Story
Like all childhood movies, I have to give a disclaimer.
A story where we are actual characters in the story isn’t too far from the truth.
As we have studied heaven, you will find that there is a book in heaven called the Book of Life.
The Book of Life
The Book of Life
The book was written at the beginning of creation
The book was written at the beginning of creation
and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
Explains why we are connected to books
Explains why we are connected to books
The book apparently contains our stories.
The book apparently contains our stories.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
I can’t imagine the complexity required of a story with billions of characters with fully fleshed out stories of their own that all work together to tell the whole story. I wonder if it would be like one of those things where you can’t tell what it is because you are too zoomed in but things become clear when you step back.
I can’t imagine the complexity required of a story with billions of characters with fully fleshed out stories of their own that all work together to tell the whole story. I wonder if it would be like one of those things where you can’t tell what it is because you are too zoomed in but things become clear when you step back.
At this point, we can’t appreciate a story with more than a few main characters. However, I do believe there will be a day when we will read the story of this world in a way that is more riveting than any story we have every read before.
The book belongs to Jesus
The book belongs to Jesus
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
I am not
I am not sure how ownership works between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but the book of life clearly seems to be kept and read by Jesus.
We will come back to that later.
The book has the names of the redeemed
The book has the names of the redeemed
Yet, probably most significant to us is the idea that the book of life is a roster, a roll, a register of all the names of people who belong in heaven. Like a guest list, you get in, if your name is on the list.
Now, the idea of there being a book of life is interesting, but is it important. And my answer would be yes. It is important, and there is a very good reason God tells us about it in His word. Unfortunately, the point it is supposed to make for us is not often the first point we take from it existence.
Missing the Point
Missing the Point
The Problem with Predestination - IS God fair?
The Problem with Predestination - IS God fair?
Like any list like this, I think our first thought is if our name is on list. Our second thought, which comes quickly after, is how does one get on this list.
Yet, when you go back to the first point I made about the book of life, you see where many people struggle. If this book was written before I ever existed; meaning that my name was either in it or not, before I was born, how is that fair?
While I don’t want to oversimplify or dismiss the question, I have to say that it misses the point entirely.
There are some great resources regarding this question. J.I. Packer wrote one of my favorites.
The book of Romans (speicifically chapters 6 through 9)
Predestination isn’t The Issue - God Is
Predestination isn’t The Issue - God Is
The truth is that our issue isn’t with our fate but the fact that God’s thoughts, God’s knowledge is so much higher than our own. We struggle with the reality that there is a being who exists outside of space and time, who sees the entirety of our existence as a story that has been written, rather than one in which we are the authors of our own fate.
That said, in a way that we can’t fully comprehend, God both knows everything about us but doesn’t determine it. The Bible affirms both God’s sovereign work, that He is the author of our lives, and that we are responsible for our choices.
The Bible affirms both God’s Sovereignty and Human Choice
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
As challenging as that is for us to understand, it is an essential reality to the very nature of God. God wouldn’t be God if He was limited to time and space.
Understanding God Brings Peace
Understanding God Brings Peace
As we understand and trust God, these issues kind of begin to fade away
The Actual Point - Our Security
The Actual Point - Our Security
Now, it would have been easier for God to just not mention that there is a book of life written before the foundation of the world. Well, the reason God mentions the book of life, is because every person at some point worries if their name isn’t in it.
Now, it would have been easier for God to just not mention that there is a book of life written before the foundation of the world. Well, the reason God mentions the book of life, is because every person at some point worries if their name isn’t in it.
Moses:
But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
The reality is that we sometimes wonder if heaven is for us. In the midst of suffering or chaos, we can wonder if God has abandoned us. It has been in those times when God has reminded His children that their names are written from before they every were.
If we struggle with the church or within the church, we wonder if maybe they or we don’t belong there.
Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Philippians 4:3
Yet, the book of life teaches us that it isn’t our deeds or merits that get us into heaven. It is our relationship with the one who possess the book.
Jesus is the Keeper
Jesus is the Keeper
The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
This takes us back to the truth that Jesus is the keeper of this book. Some of the passages mentions books (plural).
Book of Merit vs. Book of Life
Book of Merit vs. Book of Life
I don’t know for sure, but in my mind, one of the books is the book of merit, listing the deeds of all people, whether they merited heaven or not. And when we all stand before the judgment seat of God, we will find that none are righteous, not one has merited heaven except Jesus himself.
The reality of that will hit all of us; that we don’t deserve to be in heaven. For reasons we cannot deny and cannot excuse, we will have all fallen short of heaven’s righteous standard.
Yet, Jesus will be there, holding a book, and before the father start announcing the names of those who belong to Him. Not because of their deeds, but because of the faith they put in Christ.
I get emotional thinking about it.
The Other Point - Those We Love
The Other Point - Those We Love
If you are burdened for loved ones… GOOD! So is God. That heart is the heart of God.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The other thing that is emotional is the knowledge that some names will not be in Jesus’ book of life. I think this is the second reason God tells us about the book of life, or (specifically) doesn’t tell us whose names are not in the book of life.
We don’t know the end of their story.
The other thing that is emotional is the knowledge that some names will not be in Jesus’ book of life. I think this is the second reason God tells us about the book of life, or (specifically) doesn’t tell us whose names are not in the book of life.
God never tells us who isn’t in the book of life and for good reason. For I believe he wants us to treat everyone as if they can and will be.
There are people like Manasseh, the prodigal son, and even the apostle Paul himself, who no one thought had a chance of being in heaven, but regardless of their mistakes, their names are in the book of like
As we have talked about heaven these last few weeks, this is the one thing that tarnishes my desire to be there. I know many of you are in the same boat.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Conclusion
Conclusion
People of Hope
People of Hope
When we began this series, my hope was that we would be people who lived our earthly lives with the hope
People who give hope
People who give hope
When we began this series, my hope was that we would be people who lived our earthly lives with the hope
The greatest challenge for us is to be ambassadors for heaven now; to make sure that everyone we know and love has been invited.
Pray
Pray