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Is My Name Written in the Book of Life?

What is the Book of Life? How do you get your name in that book and once your name is in it, what does that mean? What steps can you take to get to heaven?

TRANSCRIPT

Voiceover: Next on That’s in the Bible!

Brother Bob Pellien: Today, we’ll tackle various questions regarding getting to heaven which is of course something we all want. So to get us started, what does the Bible have to say about those that will enter heaven and those that will not? But you know some may still have that lingering doubt. Michael Bancod wrote to us this email [where] he asked this question: How do we know our names are truly written in the Book of Life in heaven?

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Brother Bob: Hello, I’m Brother Bob Pellien and thanks for joining us in this episode of That’s in the Bible, wherein today we’ll tackle various questions regarding getting to heaven which is of course something we all want. Our first two viewers asked this same question, a question that so many of us have asked ourselves. Let’s hear the first question. It’s from Athena Anastasi from Huntington Beach, California:

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Athena: How do you know if you’re going to go to heaven or not?

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Am I going to heaven?

Brother Bob: Thank you so very much and Ron from Sacramento, California wrote in the same thing when he asked, “How do I know I’m going to heaven?” Well, thank you both for asking that question. So to get us started, what does the Bible have to say about those that will enter heaven and those that will not? Let’s begin first in the writings of the prophet Daniel, in Daniel chapter 12, recorded here in verse 1:

There will be a time of terrible suffering. Things will be worse than at any time since nations began. But at that time of suffering your people will be saved. Their names are written in the Book of Life.

[Daniel 12:1b New International Reader’s Version]

Brother Bob: So to know whether or not we’ll be entering the kingdom of heaven, we need to be sure that our name is written in the Book of Life. The book where God’s people are listed and be among His people. What if your name is not listed there? We turn directly to Revelation chapter 20 of verse 15, it answers that like this:

And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

[Revelation 20:15 New King James Version]

Brother Bob: Very, very direct response from the Holy Bible, if you’re not listed there in the Book of Life—you would be cast—anyone would be cast into the lake of fire and of course nobody wants that so, we need, therefore, to become part of His nation, His people, God’s kingdom. So as to be sure that our name is listed in that book. And are we sure? How could we make sure that our name is actually in that book and that God would count us among His people? What has to transpire? In the book of Colossians chapter 1, verse 13 and 14. Here’s what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians there:

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

[Colossians 1:13-14 New King James Version]

Brother Bob: So dear friends, one needs to be brought into the kingdom of the Son. Why? Because it’s therein where forgiveness is found, redemption from sins committed, we’re brought out of the power of darkness but into the kingdom of the Son, that kingdom of the Son is also very identifiable.

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But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

[Matthew 24:13 New King James Version]

Brother Bob: It is identifiable because it is that which has been redeemed by Christ’s blood. And as we have read many times here in this program, Acts 20:28 identifies that which has been redeemed or purchased by the blood of Christ and as Acts 20:28 tells us that is none other than the Church of Christ. 

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Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the Church of Christ, which he has purchased with his blood.

[Acts 20:28 Lamsa]

Brother Bob: The Church of Christ, therefore, is the Kingdom into which one must be brought to ensure their name is listed in the Book of Life. And ensuring one’s name is listed in the Book of Life, they are sure of salvation on the Day of Judgment. So join the Church Of Christ, live a holy life in faithful service to the Lord as mentioned by, in Matthew 24-13, the instruction is clear to endure until the end. But you know, some may still have that lingering doubt. Michael Bancod wrote to us this email wherein he asked this question:

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How do we know our names are truly written in the Book of Life in heaven?

Brother Bob: Thank you for that question because…can we go there and actually look and physically see our own names there listed in that Book of Life in heaven? Can we go and double check that our name is there? Of course we cannot do that but is there a way that we can be equally confident that our name is listed there? In Matthew chapter 18 verse 18 our Lord Jesus Christ made a very important pronouncement, 18:18 reads this way:

”Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

[Matthew 18:18 New King James Version]

How can I make it to heaven?

Brother Bob: Well it may be so that we cannot go physically now to the kingdom of heaven and check and see, open up the pages of the Book of Life and look maybe alphabetically or whatever to see, “Is our name listed there?” We can’t do that. But we can be sure that we are listed or bound there in that book. How? Jesus said, “Be bound here on Earth and you will be bound in heaven.” But what did it mean when He said we need to be bound here on Earth so as to be bound there in heaven? What is that binding element? What would bind us? It’s not our personalities that binds us together, it’s not our nationalities that bind us together. Yet we need to be bound here on Earth? Proverbs chapter 3. The binding element is described here in Proverbs 3:

Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,

[Proverbs 3:1, 3 New King James Version]

Brother Bob: What binds us together is not our personalities or ethnicities, such things as that. No, we are bound by the laws of God, all of us following the same laws, following the same commands that will enable us to be bound here on earth but how can we be bound here by the laws and the commands of God? There’s a method by which we are bound by those laws and commands of God and it’s our Lord Jesus Christ who spoke of that method in these terms when he wrote in Mark 16 verse 15 and 16 He said:

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

[Mark 16:15-16 New King James Version]

Brother Bob: So this is the pronouncement of our Lord Jesus Christ. We received the commandments taught by those who have been sent to preach them, we hear them, we believe in them, and then we can be saved. One must be taught the words, believe in the words, be baptized, and once baptized, all of those who have undergone that process—that binding process—where can they be found? 1st Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13 tells us where they’re all gathered upon being baptized:

 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

[I Corinthians 12:13 New King James Version]

Brother Bob: So those that have been baptized have been baptized into one body. Colossians 1:18 tells us that one body is none other than the Church. Which Acts 20:28 tells us is none other than the Church Of Christ. 

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And He is the head of the body, the church,…

[Colossians 1:18 New King James Version]

Brother Bob: What else is needed to ensure then that our name remains listed in the Book of Life? Once we have heard the true gospel, believe the true gospel, been baptized into the Church Of Christ. We may not be able to physically go there and look to see is our name listed but we can be equally sure that it is by being here inside the Church Of Christ and what else is necessary? Revelation chapter 21, there is something else that one needs to consider when their sole desire is to have the certainty their name will be read from the Book of Life on the upcoming Day of Judgment and as recorded here in the book of Revelation chapter 21 let’s listen together:

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

[Revelation 21:27 New International Version]

Brother Bob: Dear friends, we need also to live a pure life as members of the Church Of Christ. We must strive to have our name listed in the Book of Life by being and remaining bound here on Earth and therefore bound in heaven as members, registered members of the Church Of Christ. And then live a life of purity, holiness, the best of our human capability. 

Thank you for your questions and please continue to write because that’s all we have time for today. And what you’ve heard is just an introduction to the teachings of the Bible taught in the Church Of Christ. Which is why we invite you to learn more and join with us. 

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Learn more: incmedia.org

Find a congregation near you: iglesianicristo.net/directory

Brother Bob: And if you have questions you’d like answered on this program, email them to us and we’ll use the guidance of the Holy Scriptures to help you find your answers.

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Email us: answers@incmedia.org

Brother Bob: The truth: That’s in the Bible. Thanks for watching. I’m Brother Bob Pellien and we’ll see you next time.

 

 

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Is My Name Written in the Book of Life?