Written in Heaven

A compilation Feb 09, 2016

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.—Revelation 3:51

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The wonderful thing about the Christian message is that because salvation is a gift of God, it is possible for us to know that our name is written in the book. On one occasion, Jesus spoke to a group of his disciples on their return from a mission:

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”—Luke 10:17–202

Jesus saw the danger of them placing their confidence (rejoicing) in the abilities he had given them, so he told them that their confidence should not be in what they could do, but rather in the knowledge that their names were written in heaven.

And how could they know that? Only by trusting in Jesus’ word. Here, once more, is the crucial issue. We humans have a tendency to put our trust in anything other than God: our deeds, our merits, or even our spiritual gifts, as in this case. Like Abraham, we have to learn to trust what God says. Everything will ultimately depend on it—including our quality of life and works. God is deeply interested in our works, but the secret of being able to do them does not lie in those works themselves but in placing our trust in God. I repeat, salvation is from God—it is his gift apart from any merit we have. And God has given us the wonderful capacity and freedom to receive the gift of salvation by faith.—John Lennox

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“Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” What does Jesus mean by that? The concept or image of people’s names being written in heaven, written in a book of life—this is not unique to this passage in Luke. It’s all over the Bible. Let’s look at a few examples.

In Exodus 32, Moses intercedes for the people of Israel, asking the Lord to forgive their sin, and then adding, “But if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” In Psalm 69, the psalmist talks about the righteous being enrolled in “the book of the living.” In Daniel 12, there is the prophecy that God’s people would be delivered, that is, “everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.” Then in the New Testament, in Philippians 4, Paul mentions the names of several individuals who have worked with him in the cause of the gospel—Euodia, Syntyche, Clement—“whose names,” Paul adds, “are in the book of life.”

Finally, when we come to Revelation, we see this “book of life” and “names written in heaven” business all over the place. In Revelation 3, Jesus’ promise to the Christian who overcomes is that “I will never blot his name out of the book of life.”… In chapter 20, at the final judgment, anyone whose name is “not found written in the book of life” is thrown into the lake of fire. To be sure, it will be a fearful thing if your name is not written in that book.

“The Lamb’s book of life.” “Names written in heaven.” This is where our great joy is to be found. In Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” This is not something that you did. This is something God did. He did this for you, by his grace, as a gift.
—Charles Henrickson

1 ESV.
2 ESV.
3 Luke 10:20 KJV.
4 Philippians 4:3 KJV.





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