Check Out the Books
“I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books” (Rev. 20: 12 CSB)
At the judgment, books will be opened to determine everyone’s individual verdict. Not all of the books are given names and their content identified. Because of that, there has been a lot of speculation as to what the content is.
- Morrell identified the books that are opened as the books of memory. No, God didn’t forget anything that has happened. I see this more as an official record of what happened.
- Morrell also felt we each will have our own individual books of what happened in our lives.
- Talmage broke those down into several different books. One was a book of tears. Otherwise, how would “they that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Ps. 126: 5 KJV) be fulfilled?
- Others were books of good deeds and unforgiven sins.
- If there is no book of good deeds, there would be no documentation for the “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat …” (Mt. 25: 35 CSB), etc. list.
- We sin daily. We would have to be constantly praying asking for forgiveness to get to heaven all forgiven.
- Talmage wrote that the book of privileges will contain “… so many strivings of the spirit, so many sicknesses when we vowed return, so many sacraments, so many death-beds, so many accidents, so many escapes, so many warnings, so many glorious invitations of a crucified Jesus.”
- We really want our names to be written in the book of life. Wells wrote, “And if our names be written in this book of life, then the law of life is written vitally in our souls.”