And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. . . . and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21:23, 27.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
If you knew it was today that Jesus would come to take you with Him as He promised He would for each of you, are you ready? What I am asking you is this: Are you sure that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Is your name recorded in Heaven?
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 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 10:17-20.
There is a book I keep that whereby your names are recorded in the roll call of Heaven. You may never have thought about this Book, or at least not taken it seriously enough, though I tell you about it in the Bible more than once. It is, however, the one Book you want to make sure your name is in. It is more important than being in Who’s Who or on the list of the wealthiest people in the world. It is more important than being listed as a Nobel Prize winner or in the baseball hall of fame. It is more important than having yourself listed as the author of a book that makes the bestseller list. It is more important than being listed among the alumni of your school who are the most successful. It is more important than being mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records. Actually, it should be the one book that everyone in the world is the most interested in having a listing in and that everyone should be listed in if My Will is done.
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.
Let us consider the books (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; 17:8; 20:12; 20:15, 22:19, the book of remembrance, Malachi 3:16, the Lamb’s Book of Life, Revelation 13:8; Revelation 21:27, 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 and the roll call of Heaven.
When My Son died on the Cross, He bore every sin that was ever or will ever be committed from the beginning to the end of time. I took every sin that was, is, or is to come—past, present and future—and put them all on Him and then I judged, condemned and punished them on Him. It was your iniquities He bore. He was pierced for your transgressions, crushed for your iniquities, and the chastisement was upon Him that makes you whole (that gives you shalom). He was your sin and guilt offering. I made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him you become My very own righteousness.
In Him, you are holy and blameless in My eyes since the foundation of the world, for He is the lamb slain since the foundation of the world. Revelation 3:18. I know and speak the end from the beginning. I am, I was, and I am to come. The Almighty.
So sin is no longer an issue between us. My Son has made peace between us and reconciled us from your sins and disobedience by the blood of His Cross. You are forgiven. Your sins have been punished and cleansed away in the Body of My Son. Your sins and offenses I remember no more. Hebrews 10:17.
Sin is no longer the issue, but whether you accept My free gift of righteousness and take advantage of what I did for you in Christ is an issue. An issue of life and death. Choose life that you may live. A gift is not completed until it is accepted and received.
But, I want you to understand something. Everyone before they are born in time has their name written in My Book of Life. Does that surprise you? It should not– for all of your sins have been placed on Christ.
For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5-6.
That is why aborted babies or those who die before reaching the age of reason are all saved and go to the Kingdom. They names are in the book of life.
I tell you, however, that if, once you reach the age of reason, if you do not accept and receive the gift of your forgiveness in Christ by confessing Him as your Lord and believing in your heart that I raised Him from the dead with all your sins put away by Him, if instead you deny Him and live as the sons of disobedience, then your name is erased, blotted out, from My Book of Life and you cannot enter into My Kingdom on the last Day. This is what happened to Judas, Herod, and the like. Those who heard and knew the good news but rejected it and even betrayed or persecuted Christ.
If you have denied Christ, He will deny you before Me.
“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33.
My Son made this quite clear to the church in Sardis in the Book of Revelation. He said: “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:5.
So you all start saved in My eyes. In Jesus, you are all holy and blameless since the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4. But when you believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord, your name becomes sealed in Jesus with the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians 1:13. Your name cannot then be erased for you are alive in Christ and there is no snatching out of His hand.
That all names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life since the foundation of the world you will see again in the book of Exodus when Moses, after the people had committed idolatry with the golden calf, asked Me to forgive the sin of the people. And Moses told Me if I would not do so, then to blot his name out of My book. Exodus 32:32. Of course, I did not, but you see even he knew of My book wherein is written all your names.
You may want to stop Me here and ask, what about those who did not have the opportunity to know about Christ? Or in some countries, even about Me? I am a God of justice and I do no unjustice.
Let Me tell you more about judgment when you die of whether you will go to eternal life or eternal death. Look again at the passage about the final judgment of all mankind:
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.
Who is sitting on the great white throne and who are the dead that are standing before it that are judge according to their deeds? I will show you for My Son is very clear about it.
First, who is going to judge you? Jesus is the Judge.
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. John 5:21-23.
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. John 5:26-27.
Now I will show you the greatness of My mercy, My justice, and My love. Abraham knew that, even in Sodom and Gomorrah where they were not believers, except for Lot, Abraham stated:
Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” Genesis 18:23-25.
And He was right, I will judge justly.
So let us look at the great white throne judgment at the end of time.
First, the judge on the throne is My Son, and before Him come the dead and they are judged as worthy of eternal life or eternal death by their deeds as written in the book of deeds. And you will notice that dead are given up from the seas, death, and hell. These are not Covenant people, Old or New, and they are not born again believers. These are what are called “gentiles, the nations, and the seas.” In the Old Testament, the “nations” signify those who do not have Me as their God and that is everyone but the Jewish people. Under the New Testament the “nations” still refer to the gentiles and pagans who are strangers to My Covenants. It is the word “ethnos (ἔθνος), which is from ethō, meaning “forming a custom, culture”. It refers to people joined by practicing similar customs or common culture; nation(s), usually referring to unbelieving Gentiles (non-Jews): a race, a nation, the nations (as distinct from Israel.).
And remember these three facts (witnesses):
Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.” Acts 10:34-35.
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. Romans 2:14-16.
If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. 1 Corinthians 8:3.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7.
So what goes on in the judgment at the great white throne? It is to determine by their deeds whether those who are not Jews or members of the Church (the body of Christ) will make it into the Kingdom or not. This is a matter of eternal destiny, life and death, Heaven or hell.
Remember there is only one group before this throne judgment and it is those who do not believe in Me and Jesus. If you are a believer, you have already passed from death to life. You have received the gift of righteousness not based on works but grace, in that you have received Jesus so that He has taken your sins, taken your punishment, your sentence of eternal death, and given you His righteousness and eternal life. Your judgment is not a judgment of destiny but of reward and the level of glory in which you are established in the Kingdom. But you are sealed as going to eternal 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.
But to those who have died in their sins (the “dead”) without Christ they will be judged by their deeds as to their eternal destiny.
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. John 5:25-29.
So here is how that judgment goes, but remember this is the judgment of the gentiles and not of believers so do not apply this as to you who have taken Jesus as Lord as your standard to entrance into eternal life, this sometimes confuses people.
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations (ethnos (ἔθνος): gentiles, unbelievers, without the true God)(this word almost everywhere else in the New Testament is translated as gentiles, which is the correct translations for it) will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46.
Please understand what I am showing you here of the mysteries of the Kingdom. Not all are lost who have not received Jesus, though receiving Him as Lord and being born again from above is the far better way of total assurance of salvation, and those who knew of Him and have openly denied Him, even blasphemed Him and My Spirit, will be denied by Him. But those who have been raised in nations or homes where they never had the opportunity to know Me or My Word are judged by the justice and love of their actions, by their hearts. I am not unjust so as to forget your good works. As Abraham said, “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” Genesis 18:25.
Did you notice something else? The deeds they did were judged by what they did to believers. Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’“ Remember, when My Son appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, He asked Paul why He was persecuting Him. Yes, what you do to the Body, you do to Him.
And for those judged by their deeds that do not come into the Kingdom, I am still fair to consider you works for a lesser degree of punishment:
Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.” Matthew 11:20-24.
Today I have talked more about the judgment of those who do not know Me or Jesus, the pagans. But I had to do that because people get mixed up about the difference in the judgment for the various groups of people, for there are three groups—the Jews, the gentiles, and the Church. I want to talk more to you about the Lamb’s Book of Life and the Book of the Plan for your life so that you will get your full reward at the time of your passing from this life to the eternal weight of glory that awaits you!
I love you and that is FOREVER. And if you want a wonderful FOREVER the wisest decision you can make is to receive Jesus as Lord. Why would you not want so precious a treasure?