And we’re on it. Psalm 87.6
Established by God (5)
Opening Prayer: Psalm 87.6
The LORD will record,
When He registers the peoples:
“This one was born there.”
Selah
Sing Psalm 87.6, 7
(St. Anne: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past)
The Lord will count and tally all in Jesus born again;
Then let them sing, who on Him call, “We joy in God, Amen!”
Read Psalm 87.1-6
Preparation
1. What do the psalmists see the LORD doing in verse 6?
2. What does this indicate?
Meditation
Here is one of at least three references to God having written in a book the names of those who have been born again into His City. The image is delightfully beautiful: God going about among His people, writing their names down and affirming that each one written belongs there.
In the larger view, it seems God had previously written all the names down into His Book of Life (cf. Ps. 139.15, 16; Rev. 6.1-7, 13.8, 20.15). Now, the Book of Life in hand, He is checking to make sure all His citizen/ambassadors are safely in His dwelling place.
God Himself decrees the salvation of His people, accomplishes their salvation through Jesus Christ, applies it to them by His Spirit, keeps them in it by His strong grace, and ultimately delivers them to Himself in the City which Jesus is even now constructing for us (Jn. 14.1-3). Here He is checking to make sure that every last sheep arrives safely into the fold.
One final thought: The Hebrew word translated selah comes from a verb which means “to lift up.” Inserted here and elsewhere, it’s like a call to the congregation: “Lift up your voice! Say hallelujah!”
Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Say hallelujah!
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Jesus goes before us into all situations; even in the registering and recording of persons.
“And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered…Joseph…with Mary…who was with Child. And she brought forth her firstborn Son…JESUS.” (Lk. 2.1-21). There He is. Getting registered with His earthly mom and dad. The beginning of His going before us into all of life and death. And life.
Then Jesus tells us how to view this citizenship in Luke 10.20. He informed His disciples that they would be given power through the Holy Spirit, but that that was not what should bring them joy, “rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven”. Being able to live in His property with Him, not any earthly gift, should be what we strive and long for.
John writes of the beautiful and majestic City of God that is to come, and about those who are registered and recorded to enter there. He tells us, “And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Rev. 21.24-27). What a place!
God, the Righteous Judge, the Creator of everything, records and registers us to live there (Ps. 87.6).
And He attends to and remembers us. From the beginning, now, and forever.
We are the registered, recorded, and cared for citizens of God’s city.
“You number my wanderings;
put my tears into Your bottle;
are they not in Your book?” (Ps. 56.8)
Who has a God like ours?
We are a people most blessed!
Reflection
1. How should it encourage us to believe that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
2. How would you advise a new believer to make his “calling and election” sure – to nail down the fact that his name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (2 Pet. 1.5-11)?
3. Why is this Book called the Book of Life? Of what does that Life consist? When does it begin? How should you experience it?
God, it is true, wrote the names of his children in the Book of Life before the creation of the world; but he enrolls them in the catalogue of his saints, only when, having regenerated them by the Spirit of adoption, he impresses his own mark upon them. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Psalm 87.6
Closing Prayer: Psalm 87.3-5
Pray for the Church’s work of evangelism. Pray for the people in your Personal Mission Field, and for all those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Sing Psalm 87.3-5
(St. Anne: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past)
For glorious things are spoken of the City of our God;
the nations know His matchless love wher’er His feet have trod.
From south and north, from east and west they come, called by His grace;
thus Zion stands, full strong and blessed, before the Savior’s face.
T. M. and Susie Moore
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.
