You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your Book? (Psalm 56.8 NKJV)
God is represented as having records of men, of their works, and of God’s dealings with them.
The infinite and eternal God is a personal God and He relates to everyone individually. He knows all things, and has a record of all human conduct, including thoughts, words, acts, and motives. In the above passage, David referenced a book belonging to God: Book of Remembrance meant for every believer. Malachi informs us that “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. (Malachi 3:16 NKJV). This book holds every act of faithful service done for the Lord. This book is directly connected with another very important book called the Book of Life (Revelation 3:5; 20:15). If a name is removed from the Book of Life, that person’s good deeds will also be removed from the Book of Remembrance.
These two books will become handy during the time of the judgment, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Satan will stand to accuse us before God that we are not worthy of eternal life. He will point to all of our sins and lay our faults in the worst possible light, declaring that we don’t deserve any more than he does to be saved. Revelation 12:10 calls Satan the “accuser of the brethren…which accused them before our God day and night.” Jesus does not excuse our sins, but rather points to the immortalized record of our lives and shows Satan that every one of those sins have been confessed and forgiven by Him, that His blood covers them and only our good deeds remain. This is very good news for us! “……… but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20b).
But as we rejoice, we must also remember not to take the mercy of God and His grace for granted by trying to cover up or ignore our sins. They must be confessed and forsaken. John emphasised that “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Rev. 21:27)
Sins that have not been repented of and forsaken will not be pardoned and blotted out of the record, but will stand as a witness against us in the judgment.
May we search our hearts sincerely and make things right with God so that our life’s story may be shared throughout the endless ages.