03/22/2022
What do we want to be written about us, to be recorded in the book of remembrance? Will what is found there speak of our faith, Jesus Christ, our righteousness, and our fear of God? Will these words recall our obedience, and the spiritual events which have made us holy, and worthy of eternity? Will what is detailed there speak of how our name is also recorded in the Lamb’s book of life?
“Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.”
Malachi 3:3, 16 ESV
There are many books mentioned in the Bible. We read in Genesis about the book of the generations of Adam where we read the story of man’s creation, and find the names of all who are, and have been. Yes, God knows our name, and we too are listed in the generations… each of us made in His likeness.
“This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.”
Genesis 5:1-2 ESV
Then there are other books… the book of laws that was dictated by God and written by Moses. The book of cities that was written by Joshua, the Book of the wars of the Lord which is mentioned in Numbers,
“Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord, “Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon, and the slope of the valleys that extends to the seat of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab.””
Numbers 21:14-15 ESV
and the book in which Samuel recorded the rights and duties of kingship when God relented, and gave Israel its kings. He not only wrote these things down, but then placed the finished volume before the Lord.
“Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home.”
1 Samuel 10:25 ESV
There are many books mentioned in the Bible, but none more important than the Book of Remembrance, and the Lamb’s book of Life. The first, which contains what God chooses to remember about our lives after He has washed us in the blood of Jesus, and the later in which is recorded the names of those who are worthy of life everlasting… of being resurrected, and who will remain with Him in Heaven forevermore.
“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.””
Hebrews 8:12 ESV
None of us is born, or travels through life unnoticed. We are all listed in a lineage, the details of our lives are remembered, and what is to transpire at the moment of judgement is recorded as well. No one should consider themselves insignificant, or their life meaningless because God Himself has written a book about us, and we are remembered there.
“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”
Psalm 56:8 ESV
The question then is this; how do we wish to be remembered, and when our life on earth is done do we want to be cast down, and to simply become a forgotten page in the Book of Remembrance, or do we want to be eternal like Jesus, and worship God in peace and joy forevermore? Is the story of our life going to have an end, or will it be read eternally from God’s book?
“My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalm 139:15-16 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for seeing me, knowing me, and finding me worth writing about. Thank you for making the story of my life a love story that will never end. I pray Father that every soul realizes its importance to you, and that every person is worthy of your remembrance… if only they will choose to love and remember you through Jesus Christ. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God, and the author of creation. Praised be your name for all that you write concerning me, and praised be your name for those sinful things that you have chosen to blot from the pages which will be read on the day of my judgment. Merciful are you as your grace flows down over me through Jesus, and my sins are erased by His blood; comforting is my faith in Him. Father, read my name from the Lamb’s Book of Life, and welcome me home. Read your remembrances of me Lord as I sit before you mesmerized, hanging on your every word, and enthralled like a child.
Rich Forbes