Some time ago, I spent an afternoon looking through old court records in a small New England township. The pages were yellow and faded, but here and there one could discern a name and the recording of a deed, a title, or a transaction. Some appeared to be important and others hardly worth mentioning. Some told of rich folk and others told of the common townspeople. But they were names of people who had once lived and loved and labored in the township.
As I leafed through the pages of these long-forgotten names "written on earth", my thoughts went back to this word of the Lord Jesus, "Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." But how many of those old recorded names were written above?
I knew a scientist who spent all his life in the hope of reaching a line or two in "Who's Who", and who would have called that the crowning point of his life! Of the writing in heaven he neither knew nor cared at all. But the poor man has since passed into a Christless eternity, and he never did get his name in the desired record. "Written on earth" appears to be such a good thing to so many!
But after all, what is written and done on the earth will soon be over and finished, and the soul will leave the body to depart into eternity. The uncertainty of life is the only thing in life one can be certain of. "For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:1414Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14). All this striving for importance on earth adds nothing to the welfare of the soul, nor does it supply the answer to the questions which constantly arise and perplex us. The busiest men are not always the happiest, nor does rest come with riches. That which is "written on earth" may often be written with the acid of grief and despair.
I rejoice, because my name is written on the heavenly record. My name may not mean much to others on earth, but the fact that it is written in heaven means everything to me. It speaks of forgiven sins and a heavenly hope and a blissful eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of peace, and brings rest to my soul, and the value of that can never be computed by earthly measurements.
I invite you here and now to share in the blessedness of this, to know the pure joy of a name written above, and to experience to the full all that the Lord Jesus Christ has in store for those who believe. Your own name may be written free and clear in heaven through the blood shed on Calvary, each letter "pressed deep" by the infinite love of the Savior and sealed by the Holy Spirit—there is nothing in all this world that can compare with the blessing of that!