BOOKS ARE OPENED: THE LAST DAY
God keeps records--of everything. Nothing is too small to escape his notice. Every hair on our heads is numbered (Mt. 10:30), so too, every star (Psalm 147:4). Nothing is too big or too small. God keeps track of all he has created--especially the most important of his creation, the human soul:
"The Lord knows those who are his" (2 Tim. 2:19).
But how does God know this? How can God tell whether or not a person really believes in him and his Son in his heart? He can tell because God can see what is in a person's heart:
"I am he who searches mind and heart" (Rev. 2:23).
There is a barrier between human beings. One person cannot see into another's heart, and, being sinful beings, we should be glad that this is so. Nevertheless, often we sigh at our inability to share at least part of our heart with others because of this barrier between us.
"Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy" (Prov. 14:10).
This is both a blessing and a curse: a blessing when we would rather not have someone else see the sin and human weakness in our heart, but a curse when we ache to have someone else help relieve our sorrow or share our joy but are unable to communicate our heart's condition to them fully. All this because no human being can see the human heart the way God does. He knows and sees the deepest depths of every human heart.
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Heb. 4:13).
God does this through his Holy Spirit.
"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him?" (1 Cor. 2:10,11).
This answers the how of God's ability to know what is in a person's heart" He knows it by the Spirit's searching ability of each human heart. What the Spirit sees there tells Him who is his and who is not.
Now, to a degree, those who belong to God can see at least something of this same thing, and even worldly people have to a greater or lesser degree this same ability, for we are all made in the image of God and all human beings are made for relationships with each other and with God, and these relationships function through our spirit's ability to discern what the other person is like. This is what makes human relationships so dynamic and alive.
"The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out" (Prov. 20:5).
"A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him" (Prov. 28:11).
Nevertheless, no matter how adept a person may become at reading another person's character and heart, such skill is still limited and faulty:
"We see but a poor reflection as in a mirror" (1 Cor. 13:12).
Among all human beings who have ever lived, only Jesus was able to use this gift from God without limitation, for he is God in his fullness (Col. 1:19).
"Jesus . . . knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man" (Jn. 2:24,25).
We do not yet have the fullness of this gift. But we shall. In fact, every person, every human being, will one day see what is in every person's heart, completely and totally. There will be no more barrier between human hearts, no more hidden secrets. All will be exposed; every hidden thing of every human heart will be revealed for all to see:
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Cor. 13:12).
"There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known" (Mt. 10:26).
Nothing will be hidden in heaven or hell. The true nature of every being, his work and his life and being, will be revealed for all to see; that work "will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames" (1 Cor. 3:13-15).
Fire is a painful purifier. How horrible for a person to have to have his heart's true nature be revealed by fire at the Last Judgment, when God has provided a much better way to have purification of the heart performed before that great day: through the gentle washing of the sinful heart through the water of baptism and regeneration in Jesus Christ and his Spirit:
"He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:5,6).
Fire or water. The choice is ours. Either way, all will have their hearts revealed. The book that is the person's heart will be opened:
"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books" (Rev. 20:12).
"If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:15).
God keeps track of everything. All that we do is recorded in his books, and at the end, those books are opened, the book of our heart, where all is recorded, is revealed.
In his suffering, Job cried out for a record of that suffering:
"Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!" (Job 19:2).
That heartfelt prayer of Job's has been answered. It has been answered for all of us. Not a single word we ever speak passes unnoticed by God.
"Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned" (Mt. 12:36,37).
Where does all this recording of our words and deeds and even thoughts take place? Where is this book of God wherein are recorded all that we ever think, say, and do? It is the heart. That is where the real person we are resides; that is where the book of our lives is being written:
"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Cor. 3:2,3).
In the Last Judgment, all God has to do to open the record book of each person's life is to remove the barrier that previously hid each person's heart from every other person's view. This will be done, as has already been noted here from Scripture passages about this great revealing. What an awesome thought and reality this is! So awesome that it is worth repeating that sobering Scripture passage again here:
""And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books" (Rev. 20:12).
"If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:15).
This last verse in particular is frightening and sobering. For just as we are writing a book with our lives, each day penning a new chapter as we go about our daily activities, so too is God writing a book, a huge book containing a narrative of all the lives of all the people who have ever lived or ever will. But he writes that book differently than we do. We write our own book, the book of our lives, by living out what is in our heart each day, doing good or evil deeds and honoring or dishonoring our Father and Creator. God writes his book by incorporating our lives/books into his. But God is holy and only those who have cleansed their lives of sin through belief in his Son and whose hearts have been cleansed by his blood shed for them on the cross are worthy of being added to this book. Those who refuse the cleansing possible only through the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, are deemed unworthy to be added to that book of life and are discarded:
"Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book" (Exodus 32:33).
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats" (Mt. 25:31,32).
This is the Great Judgment of all souls. As evidence in that judgment, books will be opened that have indelibly recorded each person's life and heart. This is without a doubt the most awesome event in each person's life, the final dispensation of one's soul for all eternity. So serious and awesome is it that it behooves every person reading this to consider the following question with all honesty and with all his or her heart. I ask you, concerning God's great book of life:
Friend--is your name in that book?
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