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 make out a name and the recording of a deed or a title or a transaction. Some appeared to be important and others hardly worth the mention. Some told of rich people, and others of the poor. But they were names of people, and those who possessed them 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” (Luke 10:2020Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20)). But how many of those recorded names were written above?
I once knew a scientist who had spent all his life in the hope of earning a line or two in “Who’s Who” and would call that the crowning point of his life! Of the gospel he knew nothing and cared less. But the poor man has since passed along into a Christless eternity, and he never did get his name on the desired record. “Written on earth” appears to be such a good thing to so many!
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)).
Striving after 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. 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; it may not mean much to the men of earth, but it 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 the 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 having your name written above and experiencing to the full all that the Lord Jesus has in store for those who believe. Your own name written free and clear through the blood of Calvary, each letter “pressed deep” by the infinite love of the Saviour and sealed by the Holy Spirit . . . there is nothing in all this world that can compare with the blessing of that!