We have a difficult time thinking of this life as being “brief.” We value the days of our lives greatly and pray for peace, abundance and blessings. But consider this. Eternity is time without measure. It has no end. If you could envision this life as a “single page” of paper and then envision billions and billions of pages, without an ending number, then you might sense how little can be written on the single page called “life.” Yet the scriptures tell us that what we “write,” the “record” that we create, on this single page, determines our eternal circumstance. If so, the countless numbers of pages in eternity are yet to be experienced. If you are reading this, your life is not over and the record you are developing is still “in progress.”
If you now possess eternal life, your name is in the Book of Life. If, in the end, it turns out that you have sentenced your soul to banishment from the presence of God, your name is in “other books.” Understand, that if your record is now being recorded in “other books,” it is a record that can be expunged, wiped away, forgotten and cleansed by the Grace of God as a result of the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah, the One that God promised would come. The record in the “other books” is not indelibly written. That record can be made invisible.
Consider this very important concept. The page of “this life” is a two-sided page. On one side is the part that precedes your moment of salvation, that moment in which you confess your sins, repent and turn to your Savior whose atoning sacrifice provides for your redemption. You are not held accountable for the side of the page that precedes salvation. Your sins are forgiven. Listen to this very important truth.
Psalm 103:8-12 (NKJ)
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
The reverse side of the single page, the eternal salvation side, is only available to those whose sins have been forgiven and removed. Again, the record on side one, the record established before salvation, which can be expunged and forgotten, will never be remembered against you again. Please grasp this fact. When you repent and are forgiven, your sins have been washed by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. I will give you many references that explain that sentence, in detail, but here we are focusing on the fact that it would be more than useful to understand the following point. Prior to your acceptance of the plan of salvation, provided by God, when He sent His only begotten Son to provide for the remission of your sins, prior to that moment, you are creating a record on one side of the single page of life.
When you repent and are reborn, when you have that stony heart of flesh replaced by the Spirit of God, in you, you begin to create a record on the flip side of page one. You are assured of your place in eternity. You will not experience the wrath of God, Satan will have no more absolute, unobstructed power over you, due to the presence of the power of the Holy Spirit in you, and you will be “born again.” You will have crossed over and you will never be a slave to the flesh again. You will have chosen eternal life.
As to what you do with the flip side of the single page of life, that is, everything you do after you choose to respond to God’s love, the record does remain. Every thought, every thing that you do with the remainder of your life is recorded. You will be establishing a “permanent record.” Listen.
Isaiah 30:8 (NKJ)
8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it on a scroll, that it may be for time to come, forever and ever:
What is written is recorded for a time to come, forever and ever. Every thought you have is known to God and His thoughts toward you exceed number. Listen.
Psalm 139:1-18 (NKJ)
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; you understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.
Job, when he was being tested by Satan, did not know that his words would be permanently recorded and read by men for centuries. Here he states a prayer that God fulfilled. Your words and mine are inscribed as well.
Job 19:23-27 (NKJ)
23 “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth;
26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
We know that the Lord, the Messiah has been given the power to separate the saints from the sinners, the sheep from goats. Did you know that once you are among the Lord’s flock that God Himself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep (Ezekiel 34:20)?
Ezekiel 34:11-22 (NKJ)
11 ‘For thus says the Lord GOD: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.
12 “As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.
13 “And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 “I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
15 “I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord GOD.
16 “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”
17 ‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats.
18 “Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture– and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet?
19 “And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”
20 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep.
21 “Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad,
22 “therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
The point you may want to consider is that judgment between the sheep, the fat and the lean, will occur. It appears that there are different levels of rewards, even within the Kingdom. As you live life, after your salvation is assured, you are creating a record. That record is important and will determine your status in the Kingdom and in eternity, as ordained by God.
The primary challenge, and the choice is yours, is to become one of the sheep, one of the followers of the Lamb of God, the Messiah. That done, your sins are forgiven and you are starting a new life with a new heart. Thereafter, every thought and action count, forever. We Christians, who misbehave, by God’s standards, are doing so at our own peril.