The book of life
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary. Psalm 150:1
Read Revelation 20:11—15
There is a tree of life at the beginning of the Bible[1] and a book of life at the end. The tree of life is unattainable. The man and the woman are barred from it, lest they reach out and eat from it, sinners with no check to their life, lest sinners should be cut off from God yet live forever. Better to die than to live forever, cut off from God. But the great goal is to be inscribed in the Book of Life, there to find my name enrolled. There to be admitted to life forever with God. I only know one way to have my name inscribed there, and that involved another tree where my sins were inscribed so that they need not be inked into the book of death.
God of grace and mercy, I approach you tonight in the name of Jesus. And at the end of all things I will approach you only in his name. Left to myself I cannot be separated from the deeds that judge me and spell my death. But he has made the separation by bearing my sins in his body on the tree.[2] Without him I have no confidence before you. In him I have the promise of eternal life. This is, surely, the joy set before him.[3] Without him I should dread eternity. In him I can anticipate it as the joyful outcome of all that he has done for me. It is his work that will be my record.
[1] Genesis 2:9; 3:22
[2] 1 Peter 2:24
[3] Hebrews 12:2