An Englishman was visiting some friends in Wales. The son of his host took him to see a museum there, a very fine one. Before they left, one of the attendants asked the Englishman to sign what he called the “Distinguished Visitors Book.” He did so, noticing that the attendant took care to turn the pages of the book back to show the names of others written in it.
As the two men were leaving the museum, the younger one asked, “Did you ask the attendant if his name was written in the Lamb’s book of life?”
“No,” said the Englishman, “I did not!”
He went back and said to the attendant, “Did you see that young fellow who was with me in the museum?”
“Yes,” he answered, “I did.”
The Englishman said, “As we were going down the steps outside, he asked a very strange question. He inquired if I had asked you if your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. And so I have come back to ask you. Is it written there?”
“No, sir, it is not.”
“What age are you?”
“Sixty-five.”
“And you have been collecting names for some time in this museum, and your own name has not been put in a far greater Book! Sixty-five! Why, I have known that my name was written in that Book for sixty years, almost the length of your life! Now, everything in this museum has been made by man for a purpose. It stands to reason that God has not made and placed you and me in this world without a purpose! You and I are nearing eternity; is it not time that you had your name written in the Lamb’s book of life?”
Then he went on to tell the attendant of the love of God and of His Son, Christ Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit, all so vitally interested in our salvation. In a few words he told him WHY these divine Persons are so interested in sinners such as we. He said, “God Himself gives the only and sufficient answer: ‘God so loved...that He gave.’”
THIS IS IMPORTANT! That Book which he spoke of is the Lamb’s book of life. He who is the creator of heaven and earth was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Because He shed His own precious blood and died for sinners, He has the right to put down the name of everyone who comes to Him for forgiveness of sins. He has promised, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)). In His Book our Savior who died for us writes our names; once written there by an eternal pen, they can never be erased.
But it must be your name, my friend, not someone else’s. You have to do with God for yourself. He who died to save dying sinners wants to inscribe every name He can in that glorious Book. If your name is not there, it is not the fault of the Lamb of God. He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)).