According to an understanding of the Scriptures by many people (e.g. C.S. Lewis) everyone’s name is in the Book of Life because of what Jesus did on the Cross.  But are you living in such a way that God will have to blot you out of it?

So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”  The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Exodus 32:31-33

May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. Psalm 69:28

The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Rev. 3:5

Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the Lake of Fire. Rev. 20:15.

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Rev. 21:27

According to the bible, Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection is not a partial means of salvation for the sins of the world.  Jesus is called the Lamb of God who was slain to take away the sins of the world – all its sins for all time, not just some of them:

But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Hebrews 10:12

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21

As a result, many theologians over the centuries have come to the conclusion that the default position of everyone born into the world is that they start off with a clean slate and are written into the Lamb’s book of life.  This means, for example, that every innocent aborted child is in heaven.

The consequence of this way of thinking is that God has to – reluctantly – blot people out of the Book of Life when they consistently choose the devil and his ways over God and His ways.  John mentions this possibility in 1 John 5:16-17.

So this understanding means everyone is saved (in the sense of not going to hell or the lake of fire when they die) but it is possible to lose that salvation by persistently sinning in destructive ways.  Sadly, many, people do persist in sinning in that way, they are children of Adam after all.

By contrast, other evangelical theologians would say that no one is in the Book of Life to start with and that you have to consciously believe in Jesus – have faith – to be written into it.  Since faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10 – read the whole chapter), the consequence of that way of thinking is that unless you preach the gospel to every creature they are all going to hell, innocent children included.

Taking this position explains the emphasis found in evangelical churches on simply telling as many people as possible the good news and not speaking a lot about the other things the bible says – because none of them are as important as this.  People who sincerely believe this position have to say that anyone who hasn’t heard the gospel and believed in Jesus is going to hell but it is possible to avoid that fate if we can only tell people the gospel soon enough and give them a chance to believe.

It is not an easy subject.

Personally, my position is that people have to make consistent choices to walk away from God before he, reluctantly, removes their names from the Book of Life –  I follow the reasoning of the first group above which includes people like C.S. Lewis.  Having studied the subject for many years I think it is more consistent with Scripture.

The reason we preach the gospel then is so that people will fall in love with the One who has saved them without them having to do anything (by grace you are saved), know why they should continue to persevere in doing right and, by having a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, receive the power to do so.  Otherwise we do have a tendency – inherited from Adam – to walk away,   the history of the human race as shown in the Scriptures makes this clear.

 

 

Can you be trusted?

A man of integrity engenders trust among those he works for, with and to.

His bosses trust him to deliver and let him get on with it. They don’t have to continually look over his shoulder and call him to account for they know that he will do a good job and work hard without having to be micro-managed. When they ask him to do something he delivers on time and on budget.  He doesn’t rob his employer, he does a good day’s work as unto Christ not man and is content with his pay.

Those he works with confide in him and call on him when they want something done for they know he will deliver.  When he needs them to do something for him they will re-prioritise their work schedule to help him if at all possible.  As the years go by and circumstances change he will be there for them and them for him.

Those who work for him are confident that he has their back.  They are motivated to work hard for him since they know that when he asks them to do something he isn’t just thinking about the boss and the share holders but he is thinking about their long term careers as well.  He retains their loyalty and they will leave other bosses to work for him.

One of the main reasons all these people trust him is because they know what he believes and his life is consistent with his beliefs.  He isn’t telling them about Jesus and eternal life on the one hand and acting deceitfully or with malice on the other.  Where there are inconsistencies – for no one is perfect – he is transparent about them and rectifies them even to his own cost.  For he sees the reward, his hope is in the next life, not this one.

Ungodly, unscrupulous men whose god is mammon and whose hope is in this world will exploit such a man but his God is on his side and no weapon formed against him will prosper.

He may not be rich in this life but he will have love, peace and joy and the hope of eternal rewards.  His family will be blessed.  His reputation with the church and outsiders is untarnished.

On that last day he will hear the words: “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master!”

When you were born you had no choice about it nor anything connected with it.  Your parents were not your choice.  Your skin colour, the colour of your eyes and hair, what kind of body frame you have have nothing to do with your free will.  When you were born and where were not your choice.  Most of the significant events of your early childhood were also outside your control.  You probably didn’t have any say in the kindergarten you went to nor your primary school and probably not even your secondary school.  Your relatives were not your choice.  Where you lived growing up and the places you moved to were also probably not your choice.  Whether your parents stayed together or divorced was also outside your control.

Likewise when you die what will happen to you will be completely outside your control.  You cannot prevent the dissolution of your body, soul and spirit into the dust and soul state that is coming at your death.  Whether, and how, you are resurrected is also totally outside your control.  What happens after you are resurrected is…… actually, according to the bible, you can have a say in that.

Jesus said: “Make peace with your adversary while you are on the way to the judge lest, when you arrive there, the judge throws you into jail.  You won’t get out until you have paid the last penny.”  (Matt. 5:25; Luke 12:58, 59).  He also says: “Do not fear those who, after they have destroyed your body, have nothing else they can do to you.  Fear Him, who after you have been destroyed can cast both your body and soul into Hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4,5).

Make peace with God through Jesus Christ by believing in His death for your failures on the cross.  He paid the price so you don’t have to (2 Cor. 5:21).  When you believe He will give you assurance in your heart that He loves you (Eph. 1:13, 14; 2 Cor. 1:22).

He will then take care of your body, soul and spirit on that day when you will have no control over your final destiny: the day after your death.

Our lives are hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, appears, we also will appear with Him in glory.  (Col. 3:3-4)

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens (Beatitude 1: Matt. 5:3)

Blessed are those who mourn now for they will be comforted (Beatitude 2: Matt. 5:4)

We are barking up the wrong tree if we are looking for fame or recognition as a follower of Jesus in this life.  The beatitudes can only be understood in this context.  We mourn now because we do not have the glory, honour and immortality we look for in this life even though we persist in doing good (Romans 2:7).  Jesus is quite happy that it should be this way.  He Himself lived a life of obscurity in the back end of the Roman Empire.  His followers should expect to do the same.

Place your hope fully on the grace to be given to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:19)

Rejoice in this hope for why would we hope for something we can already see?

...we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:23-25)

The hope in this case is the redemption of our bodies.

It is a curious paradox of the Christian faith that the God we worship is one who simultaneously reveals Himself very clearly to those who are born again and hides in a dark cloud from those who are not.  Paul says that God has transferred Christians from a kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of light which I guess explains that.

When God was speaking to Moses before the Exodus He said that Moses would appear to be God to Pharaoh.  It seems that in the subsequent catastrophic and dramatic judgments and events Pharaoh and most of the Egyptians ascribed them to Moses rather than God – which seems astonishing.

Many people do that to church leaders as well.  Rather than understanding that God is the one who is enabling things to happen they see the natural abilities of man.  The blindness can go so far as to deny anything supernatural at all about the works of God in the world.  Despite the miracle of a Church that has persisted for over 2000 years and was started by a man who claimed to be God in the backside of the Roman Empire, who wrote nothing and lived and died in obscurity and despite the claims of billions since to have encountered Him in their lives because they have believed He rose again and is still alive….  Despite countless miracles of healing and changed lives that continue to the present day…. according to what Jesus said (and Paul says the same thing) you still won’t believe or see any of it unless you are born again.

According to the bible, you must be born from above to enter into the realm where Jesus – God – reigns (John 3:5). If you are not it will all appear to be nonsense (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Fix your hope fully on the grace that is to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)

In the beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-12), all the rewards promised are exclusively related to the next life, not this one.  The parallel passage in Luke 6:20-26 makes this even more clear.

One of the interesting expressions Jesus uses (in verses 3, 10 & 12) is the plural word “heavens” when speaking about the rewards that the poor in spirit and the persecuted will receive.

The Scripture is clear that there is more than just one heaven.  Paul talks about having gone into the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12:2 and we know there is a new heaven coming (Revelation 21:1).  There are also several places in the Old Testament where the phrase “Heaven of Heavens” is used (Genesis 28:12, Deuteronomy 10:14 and 1 Kings 8:27). For more details on the heavens in Scripture look up an earlier blog I wrote on the subject.

What excites me about this is the endless possibilities it raises.

Keep going, the rewards are great for those who are faithful to the end.

Jesus words on forgiveness are stark:  Unless you forgive others you cannot be forgiven.  He makes that very clear in the Lord’s prayer (Matt. 6:15), in the parable of the indebted servant in Matthew 18:21-35 and elsewhere.

However forgiveness and pardon are not the same thing.  To pardon someone is to let them off, to not enforce a judgement that is against them.  If you have the authority to pardon someone, that means you have some authority over them.  Kings, Queens, Presidents, some politicians and judges have this kind of authority.  Prison governours, members of tribunals, parole boards, military leaders and policemen also have this power at times.

As a Christian, whoever you are, you are called to forgive.  But if you are a Christian in a place of authority over someone then you need to be careful before you extend that forgiveness into pardon.  If the person who you have the authority to pardon is unrepentant then the pardon will just lead to more opportunity for that person to cause the same type of trouble again.

I am really enjoying the Netflix series “The Crown” mainly because of its historical accuracy and attention to detail.  In Series 2 episode 6, the Queen is strongly impressed by Billy Graham who is holding a crusade in the UK at the time.  She invites him to the palace on two occasions.  Interwoven with these visits is an attempt by her uncle (formerly Edward VIII who abdicated before the war to marry a divorcee) to return to the UK.  Through powerful contacts he manages to convince the government to offer him some high profile ambassadorial roles.  Only the Queen is between him and a happy homecoming.  She has to decide whether to give him a royal pardon and let him in the country or to refuse and to leave him in exile.

The trouble is her uncle is unrepentant.  He is still as treasonous in his heart as he has ever been.

The Queen is confused between forgiveness and pardon.  The Netflix portrayal makes it clear that she hasn’t distinguished between the two.  She asks Billy Graham should she forgive her uncle, to which Billy rightly responds that she should.  In the end she tells her uncle that she can never forgive him – but when she said that she used the wrong word.  To protect her family and her country she could never pardon him.  In her heart she could and did forgive him but he was unrepentant.  She used the wrong word but made the right decision.  But she ended up confused.

We need to know the difference between forgiveness and pardon because all of us have either been a parent or a child.  Parents need to always be able to have an attitude of forgiveness towards their children but they would be foolish to pardon them and let them avoid the consequences of their wrongdoing – especially if they are unrepentant.  Children need to understand this distinction.

This is a most remarkable psalm.  It seems impossible but as I look back over my life and my family’s this has certainly been true.

I recorded this on my PC reading from the New Living Translation.

The word antichrist has two parts to it. Anti means “in place of” and christ in this context means “anointing”. John wrote to disciples of Jesus, those who are born again, and says about this anointing that you have no need for anyone to teach you since you have the anointing and know the truth (1 John 2:20,27). The writer of the letter to the Hebrews quotes Jeremiah and says that no one will need to teach his neighbour to know the Lord for He shall write His laws on their hearts and on their minds (Jer. 31:33, Heb. 8:10; 10:16). A primary feature of being a Christian according to the New Testament is that you don’t need an intermediary between you and God, there is only One and He is in you.  Don’t let any man, no matter how exalted, take the place of God in your life.