The Eternal Home of the Saints

Is your name written there?

The Lamb has a book in which millions of names have been written. Call it a members' roster or an admission list, if you will. Some day, everyone's name will be checked against it. "Every one that shall be found written in the book" (Daniel 12:1) shall experience final deliverance and redemption. Entrance into "that holy city, new Jerusalem" shall be granted only to those "which are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Revelation 21:2, 27). Upon entering their eternal home, the saints shall begin to experience and understand that which Jesus spoke of in John 14:2,3 -- "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

But your name must be written in that book of life!

Make sure you believe on the Son. Make sure you have the Lord. Only through faith in Jesus will your name appear in that book. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). "He that hath the Son hath life" (1 John 5:12). There is no other way. Absolutely none.

Make sure you live in faithfulness to the Son. Be true to Him and He will leave your name in His book. "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life" (Revelation 3:5). Once you have begun in the Way with Jesus, don't turn back. Don't even look back! Remember that those who "shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Matthew 24:13).

So . . . is your name written there?

Follow Him all the way home!

For Jesus' earliest disciples, following Him meant a change in occupation and style of living. It meant a radical change in their purpose for living. It meant personal sacrifice. It meant learning and relearning priorities. It meant an almost complete change of values. It meant forsaking all.

Jesus didn't show any disposition to make it easy for anyone to follow Him. At least once He commented, "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord" (Matthew 10:24). In other words, His disciples could expect to live what He lived, how He lived, and why He lived. He set the highest standard for discipleship -- always deny yourself, always yield your will, always obey Him (Matthew 16:24). To try to get by with anything less declared a personal unworthiness of the Lord -- "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:38).

But what about you today? What preconditions have you set for being a disciple? Under what circumstances do you decide to indulge yourself instead of obeying His Word? How much have you given up as a disciple? How much are you willing to give up?