After Jesus had sent seventy-two of his disciples out in pairs to preach, and heal we read:
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” He said to them . . . do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17–20)
In the same vein the writer of Hebrews speaks about those “who are enrolled in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23) Think about that. Your name enrolled in heaven!
One of the highlights of my senior year in high school was the day that I got a notice in the mail from the University of Michigan confirming that my application had been accepted and that I was now officially enrolled their college of engineering! Happy and relieved! I knew when I showed up for freshman orientation they would call out my name.
Jesus also pictured an opposite outcome with regard to the judgment:
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:22–23)You know what that’s like. Remember the time that you showed up at a high-end restaurant for a special evening out, and the receptionist said, “I don’t see your name on the list. I’m sorry sir; we serve by reservation only.” Yipes! I’m sure you know that sinking, panicky feeling that you got in your stomach. Now multiply that by a thousand, or a million, and make it eternal.
So which is it? At the judgment will the Lord say, “I never knew you,” or will your name be found written in the book of life?
Many Christians live in the uneasy state of hoping for eternal life, but never really being quite sure about it. It’s clear that the Lord doesn’t want us to live that way. In his first epistle, John tells his Christian readers about the testimony that God Himself had born to Jesus. Then he continues:
And this is . . . [God’s own] testimony: that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11–13)
It’s very clear. God doesn’t want us to live in a state of merely thinking or hoping, but of confidently knowing that we do have eternal life; that our names have been written in heaven.
So what about you? If you have the Son of God; if you believe in His name, if you’re walking with Him, then, says John, “you have eternal life!” And Jesus tells us the only reasonable response to that realization: “. . .Rejoice that your names are written in heaven!”