I was reading Jeremiah when I came across this verse:
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who
forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written
in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water. Jeremiah 7:13
I didn’t remember reading it before, but
the thought came, “That is like the story of the woman caught in adultery.
Jesus bend down and wrote something in the dirt. What he wrote convicted the
men who wanted to stone her and they walked away from doing so.” John Chapter 8.
Many think Jesus wrote the men’s names
down and also the sins they committed. I think that is right because these men were
the hypocrites of Jerusalem who were always trying to trip Jesus up so they
could kill him. They were self-righteous men and yet men who did great evil. I
think when Jesus wrote, the men saw how evil they were and also did not want
their sins to be made public.
If our names are written on the earth it
means earth is the place we consider our home. We belong to the world and want
to belong here. All our thoughts are on this world and our role in it.
Jesus talked about people who consider
this earth their home. He said they are like good seed planted by the thorns. He
said, “The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the
worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it
becomes unfruitful.”
We can have our name written in heaven,
in the Book of Life, if we so choose. It means heaven is our true home. Instead
of constantly thinking about jobs, houses, movies, family, romantic love, sex
etc. we will choose to make time to talk with God, ask him to be in us each day
and study about him in the Bible.
There is a verse in Revelation that always
makes me smile. It is about a new name that God will give us. That name will
only be known between us and God,
“To the one who conquers I
will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a
new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’ Revelation 2:17
Here are some verses about the Book of
Life:
Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the
spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:20
And all who dwell on earth will worship the
beast, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the
world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. Revelation 13:8
And I saw the dead, great and small,
standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the
Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in
the books. Revelation 20:12
And of course, there is the Name Above
All Names: Jesus Christ.
Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name above all names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the
earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippeans 2:9-11
