A). Having our name in the Lamb’s Book of Life…

The most important thing for you to be sure of is whether your name is in “The Book of Life”.

It needs to have your name in it for you to be included in God’s family. So, how does that happen?   

i). REPENT, BE IMMERSED and RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT...

Peter answered the question in Acts 2:37, ‘What shall we do?’. He says in v. 38 “Repent and be immersed, (or in Greek, ‘baptizo’), every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” 

ii). FORGIVING OTHERS...

Jesus told this parable to help us understand forgiveness… A King forgave an official who owed him a huge amount of money. Later on, the King re-imposed the debt, after the official refused to forgive a fellow servant a tiny sum of money. In other words, we must change after we are forgiven, to include forgiving others. 

iii). STOP SINNING...

Jesus also told the parable of a religious person who had even cast out demons in His name, but who was still thrown out of the marriage feast into outer darkness, because he had not changed his dirty clothes, (meaning, ‘behaviour’). He also told the woman caught in adultery, who He forgave, to stop sinning. 

iv). KEEP ON KEEPING ON...

An angel said in Rev. 22:9, the ones considered to be servants of God, are “Those who keep the words of this book”. It is not enough to be religious and call Jesus ‘Lord’, and say all the right religious words. We must stop sinning against God. He gives us His righteousness, (called, “changing your clothes”). 

v). BE WATCHFUL - BE ON OUR GUARD...

If we don’t, the King will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you”. 

So there is even a warning to those who join empty words together for their religious job. (ie like “Mr Talkative” in “Pilgrim’s Progress” who might be called a “wordsmith” today). And it’s not enough to have once been converted IF we permanently go back to our old ways. Paul said that if we return to our former life of sin, it is like a dog going back to its vomit. We must practice what we preach. (Jesus said in Rev. 22:19 that He can take our name out of His Book of Life - so that is speaking to those whose names are currently in it! So don’t go back! Be careful - or as Jesus said in Matthew 24: 42 ‘Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come’.) 

B). The reward for having our names in the ‘Book of Life’…

Finally, in Rev. 21:1-2 there is to be a re-creation whereby we get a new heaven and new earth, with a huge new city of God, (about the size of the moon, but cube-shaped), named ‘Jerusalem’, (or ‘city of peace’), (Rev. 20). This is when we are told that the angels will be lost in wonder, that God moves to earth to live with the redeemed. (God wants to reign amongst His creation. After all, God once walked in the garden of Eden.) At that time, there will be no more tears.

Also notice that in Revelation, Jesus is called the Alpha and the Omega, “The beginning and the end” -  just as God the Father had also been. Jesus is the King who is returning to fix the mess made by His old enemy. God’s re-creation came at a terrible personal cost, and it is all leading up to Jesus coming back.

C). Proof of the divinely inspired nature of Revelation…

There is hidden proof in Revelation that it is inspired by God. John mentions in Rev. 4:3 that he saw a rainbow in heaven. In chapter 21 he mentions the stones chosen for the building of the new Jerusalem. Those stones turn all the colours of the rainbow in pure light. As man only discovered pure light in the last century, John could only have known about that 2,000 years ago by divine revelation. Our picture shows those stones displaying all the colours of the rainbow.  

Epilogue…

In these blogs, we keep showing what Jesus taught, on how to join God’s family, as it’s so important. A summary is provided by Peter in Acts 2:38 as well. “Repent, be immersed, (in water), and receive the Holy Spirit”. Notice that order.

The main thing you need to be sure of, is that your name is written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life”. Don’t rely on second-hand information. Read what Jesus said, as it’s Jesus Christ who gets to decide whose names go into His “Book of Life”, to be in His family, not religious leaders. Build your life on the Rock, who is our Messiah, not on the shifting sand of man-made religious ideas. Be ready to say as John did, “Even so, come Lord Jesus”. He is the One who died to save us.

In these blogs, we keep showing what Jesus taught, on how to join God’s family, as it’s so important. 

A summary is provided by Peter in Acts 2:38 as well. 

Why not start a home Bible study with your mates using the videos and Bible study notes, as way to start a discussion? Either way, read the Bible book of the week we are studying to maximise the benefit of our Bible studies.

You can always catch previous episodes on the ‘Trust’ website listed above. In the meantime, this is John Dunning signing off from yet another “Thoughtful Thoughts” blog, for yet another week.