30. The Lamb’s book of life

From the sermon on September 25, 1988

God gave us his prophecies through his many servants in the Bible, but the 144,000 were not mentioned anywhere except in the Revelation of John. Therefore, the 144,000 are very special and mysterious to us. None of the prophets knew about them. They are recorded in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev. 13:8). Jesus Christ is the only one who received ‘the Lamb’ as his name. Therefore, the Lamb’s book of life refers to what Jesus has now.

But the book was called ‘a scroll of remembrance’ in God’s presence in the Old Testament when God announced to his servants that their names were written in the scroll (Mal.3:16).

After the Messiah accomplished everything he had to do, he went back to heaven and received the authority that God promised. He received many things, but the most important was the book which was in the right hand of God (Rev. 5:7).

The book was the scroll of remembrance of God in the Old Testament era. But when Jesus the Lamb became eligible to receive and open it, the book was called the Lamb’s book of life (Rev. 21:27).

After the book became the Lamb’s book of life, he was able to talk about the 144,000 as mentioned in Revelations. If Jesus had not been able to open the book, he could not have announced the 144,000 and nobody would have heard about it.

John the apostle was the first one who received the announcement about the secret of the book from Jesus. He was such a lucky man to receive this message from Jesus. He was a humble man, so he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown it to him. Then the angel said, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words