Mat\n19:16 And, behold, one came and said\nunto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal\nlife?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nseems like a very important question and one that requires a serious answer.\nOur lord is approached and given an opportunity to resolve, once and for all,\nthe all-important question that man should be asking. Forget John 3:16 for a\nmoment. Here in Matthew 19 the Lord can put to rest, once and for all, the\ndebate on whether or not eternal life is by faith or by works. Whether the\nBaptist are right concerning “Faith alone” or whether the Catholics\nare correct with keeping the commandments. And this opportunity is given by\nnone other than a “rich young ruler”. Oh that many more would ask\nJesus the same question! That people would take opportunities in this life to\nbe concerned with their eternal state. Most are just concerned with their\npresent life; on whether or not they should tear down their barns to build\nbigger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nman who dared to ask Jesus the most important question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\ncall him the Rich Young Ruler, and we do so by comparing both accounts of Matt\nand Luke. This is an example of comparing scripture with scripture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will use the same\nconcept of comparing various passages to show that the \u201cRich Young Ruler\u201d\nunless he repented, will miss the 1000 yr Kingdom of God and will have his name\nblotted out of the book of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus refers to the\n1000 yr kingdom of God as \u201centering life\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mat 19:17 And\nhe said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that\nis, God: but if thou wilt enter into life<\/strong>,\nkeep the commandments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether or not\nthe young man understood that eternal life was freely given to all that\n“called upon the Lord” makes no difference to us at this point. The\nLord’s answer to him gives us the understanding of what God wants us to come\naway with. The fact that the young man was told; “but if thou wilt enter\ninto life, keep the commandments<\/strong>”\nsuggests that this was not the initial salvation that accompanies belief apart\nand separate of works. The scripture is so clear on the topic of salvation from\nGod’s eternal wrath. So clear, in fact, that this has to be a different\nsalvation. A salvation that requires keeping commandments. If you don’t slow\ndown and listen carefully to our Lord’s words, you will stumble and get tripped\nup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus does\nindeed connect \u201clife\u201d with the 1000 year kingdom in verse 23,24. Verse 17 and\n23 are parallel verses. You will find many instances, in the scripture, where\nthe Spirit of God will teach a new concept by using two different phrases to\nstate the same. You can exchange the two phrases and the concept is the same.\nAnother example would be the word of God , truth and Jesus. These three titles\nare given throughout the Gospel of John and yet are the same; John\n1:1,14,17;17:17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mat 19:23 Then\nsaid Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. <\/strong>[Or\nenter life; verse 17]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mat 19:24 And\nagain I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a\nneedle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, not only is\n“entering in life” the same as the “kingdom of heaven”, but\n“kingdom of God” is referenced with “kingdom of heaven”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This warning is not\njust directed at a Jewish man two thousand years ago; but unto New Testament\nbelievers as well. Paul warns rich believers against trusting in their riches\n1Tim.6:17. (Those who trust in their riches cannot enter the kingdom of God).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now concerning the\n\u201cLambs book of Life\u201d and \u201cThe book of Life\u201d[or Kingdom], lets look at a few\npassages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know there is\nmore than 1 book at the final judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev 20:12 And\nI saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books<\/strong> were opened: and another book was opened, which is the\nbook of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written\nin the books, according to their works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is where you\nhave to rightly divide the word using the context. It is true that in verse 12\nthe \u201cBook of life\u201d is mentioned instead of the \u201cLambs book of life\u201d, but the\ncontext is referring to final judgment and Lake of Fire. And besides that in\nthe very next Chapter 21, the saved that are written in the \u201cLamb\u2019s book of\nlife\u201d walk the streets of New Jerusalem. Once again context is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some other\nbooks that the Scripture mentions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psa_69:28 Let\nthem be blotted out of the book of the living<\/strong>,\nand not be written with the righteous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A book where all the\nliving of the earth are written, possibly the moment they are conceived. David\ntalked about his members being written down while God created him in the womb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ps 139:16 \nThine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book<\/strong> all my members were written, which in\ncontinuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But yet, David talks about the wicked being removed from one book (possibly when they die) and not even written in the same book the righteous are written in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ps 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written<\/strong> with the righteous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev_13:8 And\nall that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in\nthe book of life of the Lamb<\/strong> slain from\nthe foundation of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev_17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;\nand shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they\nthat dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world<\/strong>,\nwhen they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The wicked are not\nwritten with the righteous. I believe the moment you believe in Christ as your\nSaviour, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13) and your name is\nwritten in the \u201cLamb\u2019s Book of Life\u201d as well as the book of kingdom life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revelation 17 is the\nparallel verse to chapter 13 that explains in more detail the absence from the\n“book of life” from the beginning. This corresponds to Psalms\n69:28..”Let them not be written with the righteous”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luk_10:20 \nNotwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but\nrather rejoice, because your names are written<\/strong>\nin heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All Christians are\nwritten down in at least three books, and possibly more. The three that the\nscripture makes a point to emphasis are; the “book of the living”\nwhich is a book that all people are in;Psa_69:28, Psa_139:16; The Lambs book of\nlife, or just “book of life”; Rev 21:27; and then there is the \u201cbook\nof the First Born\u201d Which I take to be the \u201cbook of life[kingdom]\u201d (Remember\nthat the Kingdom of God is called life<\/strong> in\nMatt 19:17). There is also a “book of remembrance” wherein those that\nfear God and think upon him are written; Malachi 3:16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The “First\nBorn” in scripture were those of the household who would receive a double\nportion of the inheritance from the father. The firstborn can be disinherited\nif he provoked the father who gave the blessing. Esau is an example of the\nfirstborn losing his blessing because of sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heb 12:16 Lest\nthere be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat\nsold his birthright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Heb 12:17 For\nye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was\nrejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully\nwith tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Php_4:3 And I\nintreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in\nthe gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names\nare in the book of life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul could either be\nreferring to the \u201cLambs book of life\u201d or the kingdom \u201cBook of life\u201d. In the\ncontext, these people that Paul mentioned were fellow laborers in the ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev_3:5 He that overcometh<\/strong>, the same shall be clothed\nin white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life<\/strong>, but I will confess his name\nbefore my Father, and before his angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eight times Jesus,\nglorified in heaven, mentions \u201covercoming\u201d for the Christians and the\npossibility of not overcoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One who overcomes\nthis world\u2019s system by the Spirit of God can only do so by the word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Jn_2:14 I\nhave written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the\nbeginning. I have written unto you, young men, because\nye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the\nwicked one. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Jn 2:15 Love not the world<\/strong>, neither the things that are\nin the world<\/strong>. If any man love the world,\nthe love of the Father is not in him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Jn 2:16 For\nall that is in the world, the lust of the flesh<\/strong>,\nand the lust of the eyes<\/strong>, and the pride of life<\/strong>, is not of the Father, but is of\nthe world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Jn 2:17 And\nthe world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God\nabideth for ever<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rich young ruler\ndidn\u2019t overcome the world with its lust of the eyes. He walked away from the\nvery One who cared for his soul. Therefore he was in danger of missing the\nkingdom and having his name removed from the list of the Firstborn written in\nheaven. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mat 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? This seems like a very important question and one that requires a serious answer. Our lord is approached and given an opportunity to resolve, once and for all, the all-important question … Continue reading “The Book[s] of Life”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[34,35,36],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-doctrine","category-prophecy","tag-book-of-life","tag-lambs-book-of-life","tag-rich-young-ruler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":388,"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions\/388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themastersgoods.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}