THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - August 27, 2014 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19). Heaven is a real place and has a real citizenship. Paul referred to this elsewhere when he said to the Philippian believers:our citizenship is in heaven.(Philippians 3:20, ESV) . One of the most glorious facts of the Christian life is that that the salvation of Jesus Christ takes us from being strangers and foreigners with regard to the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 3:12) and makes us citizens. Though the Bible often speaks of heavenly things in metaphorical language, there is every reason to believe that this divine status is a real thing - and a very important one. Jesus, for example, told His disciples when they came back from an exciting missionary adventure in which they were able to cast out demons through the power of His name: Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20, ESV). In this uncertain life where we never know what may happen next, isnt it wonderful to know that, if we have accepted Christ as our Savior, our names have been written in heaven and we are full citizens there! And, not only that, but Heaven is our real and permanent home! In this world, we are strangers and foreigners - temporary residents. We have a visa here, but in Heaven, we are citizens! GOING DEEPER: The word written in Luke 10:20 (Greek:engrapho) is a stronger word than the usual grapho and means something firmly laid down in a written compact. From this word, obviously, we get the word engraved which refers to a permanent marking. It appears in a perfect tense which indicates something which was definitively done in the past and remains in effect. This would seem to indicate an actual process of recording the names of those who belong to Gods kingdom and this concept is backed up by a dozen or more other Scriptures which mention books which God keeps in Heaven. Giving added weight to this idea is the fact that it was Jesus who said this. Heavenly books are spoken about twenty-eight times in the Book of Revelation including the Lambs Book of life (Revelation 21:27) in which ones name must be written in order to be accepted in heaven. This is such a solemn and serious matter that it is unlikely that Jesus, who revealed these things to the Apostle John during his visit to heaven, was only speaking figuratively. Paul, in Hebrews 12:23 also spoke of the names of believers being written in heaven and used the word apographo which which means enrolled as in a census and, again, this is in a perfect tense. Revelation 20:12 which describes Gods final white throne judgment also refers to books five times And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the books were opened: and another book was opened: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Revelation 20:15 continues: And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. It is difficult to assess how many different books are being spoken of here and which categories of people are listed in which books, but this, being something that John saw, is, most likely, a real thing which should make us all thankful to have our names written in heaven and conscious of the fact that Heaven is very aware of how we live our lives on earth! Gods records are undoubtedly perfectly secure in heaven (no hard-drive crashes there), hence it should be a subject of rejoicing to us that our names are inscribed there - and also that, through the blood of Christ, our sins have been blotted out! I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins (Isaiah 43:25). See also: Isaiah 44:22 and Acts 3:19.
Posted on: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 11:59:51 +0000
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