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The Lamb's Book of Life


“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Rev. 21:23-27).

It’s very simple. Nothing unclean will be in heaven, and no one who practices abominations or lying, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. A person gets written in the Lamb’s book of life when he recognizes that he is a sinner by birth and a sinner by practice, and he receives the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for his sins, as his Savior and Lord. That is the means of gaining access to heaven. At that time, his name is written in the book of life.

When we die, it will be simple. If your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life, you will be in that holy city.

According to this passage, liars do not make it. Forgiven liars do make it. The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That’s not the same as saying all men are thieves or liars or murderers. But just being short of God’s glory is the definition of sin.

If you haven’t been written in the book of life, then you are still someone who sins by nature, very naturally—even if you are a very moral person, as I was before I was a Christian. I didn’t smoke, I didn’t drink, I wasn’t sexually immoral. I did lie. I lied a lot. In high school, I fabricated a lot of stories about myself. It didn’t bother my conscience. I didn’t even know how to exist without it. My identity was in lying. Then, in October 1947, I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

 

Written in 2019.

This post coordinates with today's reading in the Same Page Summer Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us. We will start a whole-Bible reading plan next week.

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