Is Your Name Written in the Book of Life?
“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).
This verse talks about YOU, as do many other passages in the Bible. God has written these verses in the Scriptures using the words “all” and “whosoever.” These verses leave no one out. These verses talk about YOU.
This interactive exercise reveals six of these verses and tells you what God has to say about YOU. If you’re not sure if your name is written in the book of life, we urge you to take a few minutes to work through this exercise. Your eternity is at stake!
(Your name will only be used for this exercise. It is not stored.)
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For YOUR NAME has sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
Is there sin? God says there is. Who has the authority to set standards and to demand that we keep them? God does. When God delivered His commandments, He said, “Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left” (Deuteronomy 5:32). “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Why did God give us laws that He knew we could never keep? He gave the law so we can see just how often we really do sin. “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound” (Romans 5:20).
Have you sinned? God says that you have. Romans 3:19 says: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Ecclesiastes 7:20 adds: “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” He has also said in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
To claim that you have never sinned is to attempt to make God a liar! Maybe we have become so used to sinning that we have lost sight of God’s holy standard. Not only is it sin to commit murder and adultery, but it is sin to tell a lie. James 4:17 tells us that, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Proverbs 24:9 adds: “The thought of foolishness is sin.” Yes, we all have sinned.
Can’t God just excuse a few sins? No, because of God’s absolute holiness, He cannot just overlook or excuse sin. Psalm 5:4 declares: “For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with Thee.” Revelation 21:27 adds: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Our sins must be paid for; they must be dealt with; they must be taken away.
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Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except YOUR NAME be born again, YOUR NAME cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)
Born Again? The man that Jesus spoke these words to, Nicodemus, was a teacher and ruler of the Jews. He was a very religious man, but Jesus told him that he must be “born again” to see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus replied, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” But Jesus made it clear that He wasn’t speaking of another physical birth, but a NEW birth--a spiritual birth. He went on to say, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
Why do we need to be born again? As the Apostle Paul said, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). We are all born as sinners. Our nature is to sin, to disobey God. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus taught that, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19).
Can’t we just “fan the flame”? Some people think that in every person there is a “divine spark” of goodness that just needs to grow. But when we look at ourselves through God’s eyes, we see that “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Even the things we do that seem to be good to us are like filthy rags to God.
We can’t clean up our OUTSIDE in order to be pleasing to God. We must be made clean from the INSIDE. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). We must come to God, confessing our sins, and trusting Jesus Christ as our Savior: “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). When we realize that we are lost sinners and come to Jesus for salvation we are born again: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
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For the Son of man is come to seek and to save YOUR NAME which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
Didn’t Jesus come to judge? No He didn’t. “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). “And if any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47).
But there is a day appointed in which He WILL judge the world. Jesus said, “He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day (John 12:48). We are responsible to God for how we respond to Jesus Christ. “God ... now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30,31).
What if Jesus never came? Some people think that they would be better off if Jesus never came. Nothing could be farther from the truth! If Jesus had never come, there would be no hope for us at all! We would be lost in darkness with no light. “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
Jesus came to seek and to save YOU We are all like lost sheep, turning away from the Shepherd. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus Christ came into this world to die on the cross of Calvary to save YOU from YOUR sins. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
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But God commendeth His love toward YOUR NAME, in that, while YOUR NAME was still a sinner, Christ died for YOUR NAME. (Romans 5:8)
Does God really love me? There is no greater expression of love than to give one’s life for another. Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). God giving His only Son, the Lord Jesus, to be mocked and tortured and to die for us is the greatest expression of love there could ever be. We weren’t even His friends, and He still laid down His life for us! “You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight” (Colossians 1:21,22). “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).
Why did Christ die? God has declared that there is only one way to cover sin. His Word says, “Without shedding of blood is no remission [of sins]” (Hebrews 9:22). Remission means forgiveness. A holy sacrifice must be offered to take away our sins. There is ony one Person who has ever been qualified to make that sacrifice: the Lord Jesus Christ. He was completely sinless--He was the only only sacrifice that God could ever accept. “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).
Why did Christ die for ME? This is beyond all comprehension--why would the Son of God, the Creator and Upholder of all things, suffer for my sins and taste death for me? There is no answer except for His great love. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10).
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But He was wounded for YOUR NAME’s transgressions, He was bruised for YOUR NAME’s iniquities: the chastisement of YOUR NAME’s peace was upon Him; and with His stripes YOUR NAME is healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
What did Jesus endure? We read in the Gospels what Jesus suffered at the hands of men--the cruel whipping that would sometimes kill its victims, the beating, the spitting, the pulling of His beard, the crown of thorns that pierced His brow. Then we read of the soldiers nailing Him to the cross with spikes through His hands and His feet.
But was that the worst of it? Not by any means. We read also how God poured the judgment for our sins upon Jesus for three hours, while the noonday sun ceased to give its light. Then we read that “Jesus cried with a loud voice ... My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). How dreadful it was for Him “who knew no sin” to have God the Father turn His back upon Him so that He might “be made sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Why did He do that? Because there was no other way. There is no other way for us to be saved, to be born again, to have eternal life, but through the blood of Jesus. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). The night before He was crucified, Jesus asked the Father if there was any other way, so that He might not have to endure what was before Him. But there was no other way, so He in His great love, and for “the joy that was set before Him, Endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
What is that joy? His joy was knowing that through His sacrifice we could be saved and be with Him eternally. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10).
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For God so loved YOUR NAME, that He gave His only begotten Son, that if YOUR NAME believeth in Him, YOUR NAME should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
What does it mean to believe? To believe in Jesus for salvation is more that just knowing facts about Him. To believe in Jesus for salvation is to believe that He is the Son of God and to completely trust Him as the Savior of your soul. John said that his Gospel was written “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name” (John 20:31). A man asked Philip if he could be baptized to show that he was a born-again Christian. Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8:37).
What does it mean to perish? Some people have the wrong idea about perishing. They think that if they go to hell they will be instantly consumed, and will no longer exist or have to suffer. But that’s not true! You have a never-dying soul, and if you reject God’s salvation you will be “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone ... and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). God’s righteous judgment for your sins will be everlasting.
What is everlasting life? On the other hand, if you, as a lost and helpless sinner, trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, He promises you “everlasting life.” This life is far more than just living forever. Eternal life is eternal fellowship with the Father and with the Son. Eternal life is beyond anything that we can comprehend: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). The Psalmist has said, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Have you heard God’s voice? Have you heard God speaking to YOU? Have you heard His voice calling YOU? Have you seen YOURSELF, in all your sins, standing in His holy presence? Have you realized that nothing YOU can do will take away even one sin? Have you seen the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ, suffering for YOUR sins on the cross of Calvary?
He calls you by name Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if YOUR NAME hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to YOUR NAME, and will sup with YOUR NAME, and YOUR NAME with Me (Revelation 3:20).
Answer His call “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9,10)
When you have trusted Christ, your name is written in the Book of Life, and you can rest in His salvation forever. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).