The Book of Life

Book of Life

The book of life is one of the books that will be opened at the day of judgment (Revelation 20:12). What is this book? How do we have our name added to it? How important is it that our name is found there? Let us notice a few things the Scriptures teach about this book.
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Who Will Be Lost? Who Will Be Saved?

Thinking young man

Anyone who has even a mild interest in spiritual things wants to go to heaven. Do you just want to go, or are you really going? How can we know if we are going to heaven or not?

Many times when one tries to explain who is and who is not going to heaven, charges are made that such a one is judging others. It is of prime importance that we understand who it is that is the Judge, for there is only one (James 4:12). Paul said, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

It does not matter what you or I think. What matters is what He thinks. Judgment will be made according to His word (John 12:48). So what does the word of God say? First of all, it says that many will be lost while only a few will be saved (Matthew 7:13-14). If we want to be among the saved, we ought to find out what His word says about who will be saved and who will be lost.
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Having a Zeal for God

Bonfire

After Paul obeyed the gospel and went about preaching to the Gentiles, he was viewed by many of his Jewish brethren as a traitor. When he came back to Jerusalem, a group of Jews stirred up the crowds against him, intending to kill him. He had to be rescued by the Roman cohort that was present in the city. Before being led away, he was given opportunity to make a brief defense for himself before the Jews. As he began, he started by highlighting what they had in common.

I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today” (Acts 22:3).

Zeal for God – the eager and intense interest in pursuing Him – was a characteristic that Paul had in common with the Jews. It is important that we, as Christians, also have a zeal for God and the things of God. But zeal alone is not enough. That is plainly seen in this passage. Both Paul and the Jews were zealous, even sharing the same object of their zeal – God. But the Jews viewed Paul as an enemy. So intense was the division between them that the Jews were beating Paul, intending to kill him, when the Roman soldiers arrived (Acts 21:31-32). When Paul reached the point in his defense where he talked about his work in preaching to the Gentiles, they cried out, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!” (Acts 22:22). Both were zealous for God, yet they were on opposite sides of this conflict. How?
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The Death of Eli

Ark of the Covenant

Eli, a man who judged Israel for forty years, died on a day of great conflict between the children of Israel and the Philistines. He did not die in battle, nor was he killed by the sword of his enemy. Instead, he died a sad death upon hearing news of the battle.

The man said to Eli, ‘I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today.’ And he said, ‘How did things go, my son?’ Then the one who brought the news replied, ‘Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken.’

When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. Thus he judged Israel forty years” (1 Samuel 4:16-18).

There were four troubling pieces of news that Eli received before he died.
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The Hand of God was Upon Ezra

Ezra Reads the Law

Following the Babylonian captivity, the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland and, with the blessing of the king of Persia, rebuild the temple. Ezra, a priest and scribe, was sent back to the land after the temple was completed. During this time God was with him. The Scriptures also explain why He was with Ezra.

For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:9-10).

This passage contains four reasons why Ezra found favor with God. We would do well to learn from Ezra’s example here. These are the same things we must do today to find favor with God.
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Seeking God

Man at Night

When Paul was in Athens, a city full of idolatry, he found opportunity to teach them about the one true God. He was to them “an Unknown God” (Acts 17:23). God does not want to be unknown to His creation, but has instilled in us the desire to seek after Him. Paul explained this to the Athenians:

He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:26-27).

God wants us to seek for Him and He is not far off. But does this mean we can seek after God in whatever way we wish, doing what seems good to us and expecting that God will be pleased? There are many who think this way, but it is not what God wants from those who would seek after Him.
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Choose Life

Life

Shortly before Moses’ death and the Israelites journey into the promised land, Moses spoke to them about the choice they had before them. This choice was so important that it was literally a matter of life or death.
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