Dwight L. Moody once wrote: “The grand question of life is, Is my name written in heaven?”1 We know from Scripture that Jesus considered this an incredibly important question for on one occasion He called a crowd, along with His disciples, to Him, and said: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). Imagine that gaining the whole world can’t compare with knowing that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life!
In an article on heaven Dwight L. Moody shares this awesome thought: “Once the disciples had been out preaching and met with wonderful success. They had great power, had cast out devils, and worked many miracles. They came back greatly elated. Like workers in a great revival, they say to one another, ‘Is not this glorious?’ But Christ says, ‘Do not rejoice at that. I will tell you what to rejoice about. In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’ What a glorious thought is this? Our names are written in heaven. We may be sure of it.”2 (see Luke 10:17-20). Imagine again that we can have more joy in knowing that are names are written in heaven than in casting out demons and doing great miracles for Christ here on earth!
And as much as we should rejoice when we know our names are written in the book of life, the alternative is so profoundly horrible to contemplate, as we read in (Revelation 20:15): “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” The lake of fire is the second death where we find that Satan and his demons, and yes, all those who don’t know Jesus will spend eternity in this literal hell!
My friends if you believe in Jesus, and that He is God, as taught in the Scriptures, then we must believe in the glories of a literal heaven and the horrors of a literal hell, since Jesus spoke more on these two topics than anyone else in the Bible.
My sincere prayer is that all of us would get busy in sharing the gospel and fervently praying for the salvation of our family, friends, and yes even the strangers who the Lord places in our paths. The eternal destiny of souls are at stake and while eternity is very, very long, life here on earth, in comparison, is very, very short!