The Lord records as He registers the peoples, "This one was born there." (Verse 6)
At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of Your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time Your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. Daniel 12
Then I saw a great white throne and Him Who was seated on it. From His presence fled earth and sky, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Than another book was opened, which is the book of life. And he dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
Revelation 20
And of the New Jerusalem, Zion, it is written: Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Revelation 21
(Italics mine)
When I was a student at the University of Texas at Austin, I briefly dated a young man who was from New Jersey. He used to crack me up because of the way he talked. This from a girl from Texas who drawled y'all and said she was tawred (translation - tired). It seems people from Jersey have trouble with er and oi. My friend always wanted to go to the terlet (toilet) and would point toward toitles (turtles) at the zoo. He went for an erl change and talked about his mom's goidle (girdle). See how crazy he was to listen to?
Another boyfriend was from New York where life is lived in the fast lane. We went on a date to a local restaurant in Austin and had the usual greasy fare: chicken fried steak, gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans, followed of course with some kind of pie with homemade crust to cut the grease. Lol. Because the diner wasn't fancy, he paid up front when we left. My date dutifully handed the aproned waitress his money, took the change and began escorting me out when we heard the slow drawl of the waitress as she said, "Y'all come back now!" My date immediately turned and started walking back to the register. "Where are you going?" I asked. "She told us to come back," he replied, worried. I laughed so hard. Couldn't help it. I'd heard that so many times growing up that I didn't even hear it any more. "Oh, my gosh," I said. "She's just bein' nice."
Ways to know "You're not from around here, are you?" Some things just stick out all over us when we get out of our familiar environments. Tall blonds in China, for instance. Bill and I were celebrities when we visited there in 1983. Just because we were so different from the cultural norm. So, how would someone know we are from Zion? One who was born there? What does it mean that God registers His people? Does He keep a list of those who are going to live in Zion one day?
Seems the answer to the last question is absolutely yes. It is in the Lamb's book of life. Because it is the Lamb Who purchased our ability to be registered there. The lack of our name on a line in the text means Zion is not our eternal home. We didn't measure up, so we live forever out of the presence of God. Hmm. Does that seem unfair? How about these words of Jesus: "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Him is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3
Wow! That sounds too easy, doesn't it. It doesn't sound like we are judged by a mean old God Who can't wait for us to do a wrong thing so He can waterboard and beat us. If we want our names written forever in the book of life, we believe in Jesus as the Only Son of God. We trust in Him for the salvation we can never gain through our own puny self-righteousness. God wants this for the whole world! We only fall short by resisting the provision God gave us freely and free. No working for it. Only accepting the gift of it.
So, what's the problem? Sin, really. We want to rule our own lives without the parameters God might put on us because we embrace Jesus. The heart that wants to know Him is the heart God registers in His book. Born not of the womb of woman, but of the new birth given by the Holy Spirit when a sinner sees her need of a life not bound by flesh. And that makes us talk differently. Gives us priorities different from the culture we live in, usually. As we grow up in Christ, we won't be sounding like many of those around us because we are new...different. Our minds have been changed by the mind of Christ. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him/her, and he/she is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned...for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2
I'm feeling more and more like a stranger here. My heart and mind out of sync with the society. But that shouldn't surprise me, because I'm not from around here. I've been registered in Zion. That doesn't make me brag. Quite the opposite. I know I'm saved...from my own folly and self-righteousness. When the Lamb looks at me one day, He will see my sin covered with His own dear blood. And when the book of life is opened and the Lamb of God reads the names, it will be only because of Jesus that I will be able to say, "Here!"
"Behold (Look!) I have engraved you on the palms of My hands." God, Isaiah 49
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