Another Book

Today in my Through-the-Bible reading, I was in Exodus 32, which recounts the story of the golden calf.  While Moses was up on the mountain talking to God, the Israelites got 'bored,' and had Aaron make a golden idol for them.  God was furious, and if not for Moses' intercession, He would have wiped them all out.  But even though He spared their lives, God still held their sin against them.  "But the LORD said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.'"

As soon as I read that, my mind jumped to Revelation 20, where we see God's book again: "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened... And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done."  This is a terrifying scene.  I know my heart, and I know that if I had been at Mt. Sinai, I probably would have been going right along with the idol worship.  Because I was once an idolater too, and even now, I am a saint who struggles with idolatry.  I know that if God kept a record of my sins, I could never stand.

But the scene in Revelation doesn't end there.  It continues: "Then another book was opened, which is the book of life."  Praise God, there is another book!  I will not be judged according to what I have done, because my name is in the book of life.  When I read that this morning, I was humbled and broken and awed.  Truly, it could only be amazing grace that would save a wretch like me and cover over my endless offenses in those other books.  My sins are stacked so high, ingrained so deeply in my soul, written so clearly in those books, that it took the death of the Son of God in my place to blot them out.  So instead of my name being blotted out of the book of life (which is what I deserve), I get my sins blotted out instead.

Praise God, there is another book!