Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Luke 10: 19-20.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
You have an inheritance, but it is even more assured than that, your name is recorded in Heaven.
Where is it recorded? In the scroll known as the Lamb’s Book of Life. It is the New Testament. It is My Last Will and Testament, for a new Testament replaces an older one, and becomes the controlling document to determine beneficiaries upon the death of the testator. Jesus has died and He has been raised, but at the death of the testator the Will cannot be altered. And you are named as a beneficiary therein. Your inheritance is assured. My gifts and My calling are irrevocable. I know those who are Mine from the foundation of the world, and, actually, even before.
For those whom He foreknew, He also preordained to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He preordained, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. Romans 8:29-30.
Let us consider the scrolls I keep. The word in Greek for these is “biblion (βιβλίον),” meaning a paper, book, a papyrus roll. The word in Hebrew is “sepher (סֵפֶר),” which means a scroll, a missive, document, writing, book. I speak of the book (sepher) of the generations of Adam, Genesis 5:1, the book of life, Psalm 69:28; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 20:15, 21:27; 22:19, the book of remembrance, Malachi 3:16, and the book in which I have written down the story of your life, Psalm 139:16. I have many recordings and legal papers concerning you, but the most important is your name recorded in the scroll of life, the testament of the beneficiaries of the Kingdom.
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15.
Do you see that the ones at the great white throne judgment are the “dead.” It is for those whose names are not in the book of life. They have not been born again by the imperishable seed of My Word and their spirits are dead to Me and alive to sin. My Spirit cannot dwell in a dead spirit for I am the living God. Those in Christ have passed from death to life, their spirits are alive to Me and dead to sin and My Spirit dwells in them. Thus, the one scroll that makes all the difference is the scroll of life. Which I also refer to as the Lamb’s scroll of life. All who receive Jesus as Lord, their names are recorded in that scroll of life. Eternal life. For in Him is eternal life. And in that scroll all My many magnificent promises and benefits are yours, even now.
The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 1 John 5:10-12.
For Jesus has died and has been raised and you, who have received Him as Lord, I raised up with Him. You have already passed from death to life.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24.
You who are in Christ died with Him to sin when He died having taken all your sins on Himself and accepted the punishment due them in your place. And when I raised Him, I raised you who are in Him by being baptized into Him with Him and seated you on His throne with Him in Heaven. And He sits with Me on My throne so you are in Him and He is in Me and you are thus in Me and in the center of My throne with Him, in My very bosom. And filled with My Spirit you cannot go to hell. My Holy Spirit in you makes you holy. Be mindful of who is in you and receive grace to live pure.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become [a]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:1-11.
This is huge. Your entire eternity, your entire destiny, the judgment as to whether you will be given My Kingdom with Me now and forever or go to the lake of fire as far removed from Me as you can be in the continuum of life, depends on your choice of whether to believe or not believe in My gift of eternal life in Jesus. And Jesus is My Word. So your entire life now and forever, depends on what you do with My Word.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:14-18.
Because unless you believe that He is God and Man and in Him I have reconciled you to Myself, by accounting all your sins onto his sinless flesh and accounting His righteousness to you, unless you receive this abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, you will die in your sins. And the wages of sin is death, eternal death in the lake of fire.
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24.
Under the Old Testament, faith in Me as the One true God and in My Word would put you in the book of life, along with the blood of the unblemished Passover lamb along with the sacrificial offerings, that is, the burnt offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering.
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. John 8:48-58.
But all those who lived before Jesus were waiting for the fullness of redemption when the true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world would shed His eternal blood and atone for all sin and make payment in full for what they had on credit. I credited their faith in My Word to them as righteousness. And you know that Abraham, whom I call a prophet, foretold this when he was willing to offer up his son of the promise, Isaac, on Mt. Moriah as a burnt offering. As they climbed the mountain carrying the wood and the fire, Isaac questioned Abraham as to where the lamb for the sacrifice was. Abraham replied that I Myself would provide the Lamb for the burnt offering. The burnt offering carried the sin of the one offering it and was totally consumed by fire, giving beauty to the sinner for the ashes of his sin as a covering on credit of the good things to come in Christ. And Abraham gave Me the Name there on that mountain of the LORD who looks ahead and provides. And John the Baptist pointed out Jesus as the fulfillment of Abraham’s prophecy. “There goes the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9:11-15.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Me and was one with Me, and all that exists was made by My Word and sustained by My Word. And My Word became flesh and dwelt among you revealing My glory, that is, My goodness, My presence, and My power. And I was in Him reconciling you to Myself not counting your sins and trespasses against you but imputing them all to Him, for He alone had an eternal life in the flesh to offer for the one Adam lost for himself and all his seed, all generations, down to this very day.
But in Jesus I reversed all that for you who will come under His lordship and jurisdiction for He took away your sins and bore your diseases. He became a curse for you so that you are redeemed from the curse. You are beloved, forgiven, blessed, and favored and I have proved this to you in Him. Now, for those who believe, it is by faith from beginning to end, the Kingdom of Heaven is yours. All by faith, faith in My Word.
The Word and what you do with it is the dividing line on that last day of time at the great white throne judgment that is coming when all are faced with the decision they have made for their eternity.
And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” John 12:44-50.
And that day will come when you will all be in the valley of decision.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. Joel 3:14.
All that matters that day about your life is one decision, what you did with My Word, what you did about Jesus, who is My Word among you. That decision determines your destiny as to Kingdom of Heaven or to the lake of fire that is hell, and for those of you in Jesus, what you did once you made that decision determines your reward and position in the Kingdom. If only people would understand what is truly important in their lives so much time wasted in arguments, vengeance, bitterness, abuse, addictions, sexual immorality, jealousies, strife, and the other deeds of the flesh would be redeemed and avoided. Instead, you would be serious about attaching to the Vine and producing the fruit that endures unto life eternal, the fruit of the Spirit in your spirit.
Moses received My written Word and the Covenant that went with that Word for the nation that would keep, guard, and protect that Word and thus become a light to the nations. And he understood the choice of life and death had to do with My Word.
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it . . . I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your seed, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days. Deuteronomy 30:11-14; 19-20.
And like My servant Moses, My servant Paul understood the importance of My Word in your heart and in your mouth to take you from death to life, and he gave you exactly how to be in the Lamb’s book of life, the Last Will and Testament read on Judgment Day, make sure you name is in that Will:
But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 8:6-13.
Even the prophet Joel offers you this way to the Kingdom as well:
“The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered (malat (מָלַט): to slip away, to escape, to be rescued, saved).” Joel 2:31-32.
It is that simple to avoid hell and take Heaven. Call on My Name in truth and love. For no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.” Psalm 91:14-16.
And now I want to talk to you about the book of remembrance. I take care of My own. You are surrounded by the shield of My good will. I have shielded you in Christ from the wrath to come—just as Noah in the ark and Moses in the cleft of the rock.
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in His wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:16-4:3.
I know those who are Mine and I fight for them and I protect them. I favor them. They are My own special treasure, the little flock to whom I have been well pleased to give the Kingdom.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust! . . . A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. Psalm 91:1-2; 7-9.
My eyes roam to and fro across the earth looking for those whose hearts are toward Me to show Myself strong on their behalf. If your heart is towards Me you have nothing to fear. We have united in love. Whoever loves is born of Me and will go with Me.
I Myself gave the Lamb for the burnt offering and He has given all for you so that you can have all. He is the seed of the woman that I promised would crush the devil’s authority over your life and He has come and it is done. Your debt has been paid in full and the certificate cancelled. And that is another legal paper in Heaven I hold in your account. All you who have received Him as Lord. You have been redeemed by the priceless blood of the Lamb.
“I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:22.
I love you. Your sins and your offenses I remember no more. You are Mine.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. John 5:21-30.