THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE

THE BOOK OF REMBRANCE

                “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and the Lord gave attention and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. ”And they will be Mine”, says the Lord of Hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and they wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. Mal. 3:16-18

                “Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life that the day come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may be worthy to escape all these things that are about to take place and to stand before the son of Man.” Luke 21:34-26.

                “And all who dwell on the earth will worship him (the Antichrist) every one whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” Rev. 13:8

                “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds.” Rev. 20:12

                “He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life and I will confess his name before My father and before His angels.” Rev. 3:5

                I don’t think we know all there is to know about the judgment, or what the books really are, or how to make sure our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

                The typical answer is that we are saved apart from our works by what Jesus did for us and that is true, but there are elements to our faith that require a response. There are elements to our relationship with Jesus that require our cooperation, our obedience, our faith and our steadfastness. For instance as it says above in Rev. 3:5: He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his mane from the book of life…” What does it mean to overcome and why is it said here that we must overcome in order to be clothed in white garments?

                For a long time now I have seen parallels between Philadelphia and Laodicea and the wise and foolish virgins. Like the wise virgins, Philadelphia has an open door. But like the foolish virgins who are counselled to buy oil from those who sell, Laodicea is counselled to buy gold tried in the fire. In my way of thinking neither the foolish virgins nor the Laodiceans are eternally lost. There would be no point in counselling them to buy gold tried in the fire if there was no hope for them… likewise for those who are counselled to buy oil.

                Those who believe in a pre-trib rapture tend to put all Christians into one grouping and they all get zapped up into heaven before the tribulation comes. There is no distinction between Philadelphia and Laodicea… no distinction between wise or foolish virgins. Keep in mind that all of the ten virgins are believers who start out with lamps filled with oil, but as the Lord delays His coming, the foolish virgins run out of oil just as we see Christians falling away from the faith right now. Likewise the people of Laodicea are also believers who have become lukewarm and about to be spit out. They will have to be purified by fire.

                This brings me to the three harvests celebrated in Israel during the year:

BARLEY HARVEST: The first harvest in the spring was the Barley harvest and it was the grain used as a wave sheaf offering before the Lord. It was this Barley harvest wave sheaf that took place at Christ’s resurrection at the exact time that Jesus was presenting Himself to the Father as first fruits of the harvest, the priest was waving the wave sheaf before the Lord in the temple.

WHEAT HARVEST: This was the second harvest of the year and took place at the time of Pentecost. This harvest was celebrated with leavened bread rather than unleavened bread and indicated that there was a mixture. There was still leaven in the life that must be baked out. There were both wheat and tares in this group.

Now the difference between the Barley harvest and the Wheat harvest is that Barley is easily removed from its chaff. It is winnowed and a gentle breeze can blow the chaff away. This would correspond to the person who has surrendered his life completely to the Lord. He has been living in close relationship with the Lord and is preparing for the marriage. He is easily separated from his flesh and the gentle wind of the Holy Spirit is enough to remove the chaff. These would take part in the first resurrection and be taken to the marriage supper of the Lamb just like the wise virgins.

                Wheat, on the other hand, must be threshed. This is a more violent thrashing action to force the wheat out from the chaff. These would correspond to those who must buy gold tired in the fire. They must go through at least the first half of the tribulation and they must be tested by the Mark of the Beast. If they remain faithful, they will be saved. They may be killed for their faith, but they will be saved.

                There is a third harvest in the fall known as the grape harvest. We see these in Revelation 14 and Rev.20:4. Every one of them has been beheaded for his faith and they are not caught up to meet the Lord in the air.   Instead, they come to life at around the same time as Jesus is returning to earth with His saints in Revelation 19. They are included in the first resurrection even though they are raised later at the end of the tribulation. They have been purified through suffering and the offering of their lives rather than to worship the Beast.

                We have not well understood what Jesus meant when He said that He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, or that what He has begun in us He will finish. We have never stopped to realize that He will take us through whatever it takes in order to make us sanctified and holy. No one can enter His kingdom as long as he has blemishes, sport or wrinkles. We are talking eternity here and Jesus cannot afford to allow seeds of evil to enter into that eternity. One way or the other we must become like Him.

                Now if we will be pliable in the Lord’s hands… if we will surrender to the Holy Spirit and to the Word and to walk by faith in Him, we will be part of the Barley harvest. IF we are stubborn and want our own way and if we walk after the flesh rather than after the Spirit, we will have to be threshed and forced from the chaff in our lives. And when it says that He is able to save to the uttermost… He is perhaps talking about the grape harvest in which the juice must be literally stomped out and the grapes and crushed to bring forth the wine.

                I don’t know for sure if this is the way it is, but it sure looks like it to me. All of the elements are there in the Bible and in the Feasts of the Lord. It is up to us just which part of the harvest we will be a part of and how hard it is to remove the chaff from us.

                 The good news is that Jesus was literally crushed, bruised and broken for our transgressions and that means He paid the price for the hardest cases that will ever come to Him. Meanwhile it would be to our advantage to surrender to Him now…to come to know and love Him as one who is anticipating marriage… to follow after Him and to have eyes only for Him.

                “And a voice came from the throne saying, “Give praise to our God all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him the small and the great.” And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And He said to me, “Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Rev. 19:5-9. This crowd is from the Barley harvest, the wise virgins at the marriage feast in heaven.

                There is another group mentioned as well in Revelation 7:13 – 17. They are a huge crowd that no one can number and the angel said: These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” These are the huge crowd of those who have come out of the second harvest, the wheat harvest. They have come through great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. These are spoken of in Daniel 12:10 as the ones who will be purged, purified and refined.

                This is an incomplete study, but there is a definite picture painted here. It is a picture that tells us that the marriage supper of the Lamb is not for Casual Christians. It is not for those who just get saved and then do their own thing for the rest of their lives. The Bride is one that has courted the Lord and Loved Him and known Him. She has plenty of oil in her lamp and she has surrendered to the Lord’s work in her life. She is waiting for Him and longing for His appearing.

                Which group you fit into is up to you. Just like a marriage here on earth, you can either make it heaven or hell. You can be faithful and grow in your relationship or you can let the oil run out and end up in divorce. We live in a covenant relationship with Jesus. In this covenant relationship He has done all of the important stuff and He continues to do all of the important stuff, but He can’t do it without us. He can’t be a faithful Bridegroom to us if we are out dating other suiters. We must commit. We must say yes and mean it. We must make sure our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

                Don’t let your oil run out. Keep it full. Keep it alive. Keep your lamp fed with the Word of God and lit by the fires of the Holy Spirit. Selah.