According to the Scriptures, God has something on which the names of his people, the redeemed, are inscribed. That upon which the names of the saved are written is called a "book" in many places through the Scriptures. There are various passages which allude to it as "Book of Life," "Lambs book of Life," "My Book" and "The Book which I have written."

It is very solemn and striking to know that God, the great Being that now ruleth over us, and who hears everything we say, knows everything we do, and even reads the thoughts we think, is keeping our record.

All those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, freed from sin and are true followers of Christ have their names written in this wonderful book that is kept by the God who watches over us. For in Phil 4:8, where Paul is commending some godly women who had helped him in his labors of the Gospel, says: "Help those women which labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life."

There could be no greater joy and consolation than to know that our names were inscribed upon the eternal pages of God's "book of rememberance." The Apostle John, when penning the prophetic message dictated by the divine Spirit of God, wrote: "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." Here we have the blessed assurance of knowing that, if our name is once enrolled upon the pages of this wonderful book, it matters not how much tribulation, pain or persecution we may suffer for the name of Christ, if we are faithful to the extent that we will "overcome," we have the assurance that our name will never be "blotted out of the book.

The world may ruthlessly cast us aside and "count us as the offscourings of all men"; yes, they may even hate us for the name of Christ, yet we may sing:

"Let the world have it's honor, ambition and fame,

In the Lamb's book of life is written my name;

When the world is on fire, still my name will endure,

And my kingdom and palace will then be secure."

It is not only a very great and important privilege to have our name in this great book of God; but only those whose names are found therein will be permitted to gladly sweep through the beautiful gates into that land of glory. We read: "And there shall in no wise enter in anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they that are writtcn in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev 21:27).

Since we may clearly conclude from the above passage that only those whose names are in the book of life will be permitted to go into rest; the question of paramount value is this: "What must I do to have my name written upon the pages of this book?" We shall answer this question by asking another one. When is a child's name written on the family record? After he is born, or before? We are all aware that the parents write the name of the child in the family record after he is born into the family - not before.

So it is with God. Our names are written upon the "Lamb's book of Life" (family record) after we are born into the family of God. It would be foolish to reason otherwise. Jesus said, "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). Thus in order to have our names in God's family record, we must get into His family. We see that in order to get into the family we must be born into it. It is also seen that baptism is that birth, for that is the step that puts us into Christ (Gal 3:27).

Someone might say, "Is baptism the only thing that is included in the birth? I would not think so. There are some very essential prerequisites to baptism. We are commanded to believe, or have faith (Heb 11:6); repent (Luke 13:3); confess, (Matt 10:32). These are the steps that must precede baptism. When one is obeying these steps we might say that he is in the embryo state. After he has obeyed these commands and then obeys the command of baptism, he is born again (John 3:5). At that point he enters the family of God and his name is enrolled upon the pages of the Book of God, which is but his family record. In Heb 12:23, we read: "Unto the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven." From this we see that when we become a member of "the church of the firstborn," then our names are written in heaven" on the "Lamb's hook of life." And, if we remain in the favor of God, we have an inheritance with the saints in light. For we are now on the family record and we are an heir to the possessions that the Father has laid up for his family.

Now, someone might argue that since one is born into the family, it is not possible for him to be "unborn." In fact, they are arguing that he "cannot fall from grace," or no matter what he might do, there is nothing to cause his name to be taken from the book on which it was or ice w4t-ten. It is true that he is a son, and cannot be "unborn." He will always be a son of God; but the son might so conduct himself that the Father would disinherit him, remove his name from the family record, and he would be denied the inheritance.

But to prove conclusively that one may so sin as to have his name taken from God's book, we may look to Ex 32:32, 33. Here Moses was pleading for God to forgive Israel. He even tells God if he will not forgive Israel, to blot out his name also from his book. "Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sins and if not; blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." Also, see Rev 22:18,19.

The apostle John, while enthralled in a prophetic ecstasy, beheld the Judgment scene. He declares that the books were opened, and also says "Another book was opened, which was the book of life." After the sea and the grave and hell had delivered up the dead that were in them, then they were all judged out of the books. The apostle closes by saying, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev 20:12-15).

How heartbreaking it will be to come up in that day and our names not be found in the "Book of Life." Our concern all through life should be:

"Is my name written there,

On the page white and fair?

In the book of thy kingdom,

Is my name written there?"