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.