What is the book of life?

                              
                          "And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book
                           of Life was thrown into the lake of fire."   (Rev. 20:15 NLT)
You know, we haven’t heard or seen much lately about the Titanic, have we? For awhile there it seemed like there was something newsworthy about that great ship and her tragic end quite often in the news, but it’s been pretty quiet in that regard lately. To an editorial writer, the Titanic serves as a lesson illustration in a lot of ways and I’ve used the ship in several lessons in the past. I’m going to use another little facet of her story for a lead-in to our lesson and hopefully, if I can adequately present my thoughts, I think we can derive a good lesson from them.
Today our general topic word is - "lists." Something that I’m sure all of us are very familiar with. We make "grocery lists," we make "laundry lists," we make "travel lists," you know, so that we don’t forget something important.
We’re on lists. We’re on "work lists" and "non-work lists." In many church bulletins, we’re on "sick lists." The one list that I, and probably most of us, detest are "waiting lists" for one thing or another. We’re probably on all kinds of "government lists." So far I’ve managed to avoid being on the "No-Fly list."
We know "lists," don’t we? Let me see if I’m able to tie something I recently read about the Titanic with our knowledge and usage of lists and come up with a spiritually-oriented lesson. First the story and then the application.
There is an exhibit that travels about the country and appears at mostly museums that’s referred to as the "Titanic Exhibition." Some of you may have even seen it. It consists of a recreation of the ship’s Grand Staircase and the recreation of one of the staterooms. There are various artifacts that have actually been recovered from the wreckage placed throughout the exhibit.
What I found interesting about this exhibit and fits with this lesson today is something you see when you enter the exhibit on your tour. You’re given a ticket that has the name of one of the passengers or crew members inscribed on it. You go through the tour and when you come to the end of the tour you find a large wall.

On this wall is two lists of names. One list is short and the other one long. Next to each name on either of the two lists is one of four designations. It’ll indicate whether that name was (1) 1st Class, (2) 2^nd Class, (3) 3^rd Class or (4) Crew. As far as the name on your ticket is concerned, it really doesn’t matter what their accommodations were or whether they were a member of the ship’s crew. Each name ultimately appears on one of the aforementioned "two lists."
Now here’s where those two lists tie into our spiritual lesson. The headings of the two lists are: "SAVED" and "LOST." I’m not rightly sure of how I’d feel or what emotions I’d experience when I checked the name on my ticket against the two lists and found out on which list that name was inscribed. How would you feel? Interesting to consider, isn’t it?

And, you do realize that some of the names on the lists had no choice as to which list their name appears on, but many did. Now let’s make the application.
Our names are going to be found on one of two similar lists when our Judgment Day arrives. It will either be on the "SAVED" list or on the "LOST" list. And, just for your information, Judgment Day arrives the moment we cease to breathe the air of this earth because, once that occurs, there is no changing of our status. There’s no way of moving from one list to another. Here’s the point of this paragraph - a lot of the souls on the Titanic had no choice regarding which list their name appeared on - BUT WE DO!
Now I’m aware that the word "list" or "lists" doesn’t appear in the Bible as such, however, there’s another word that does appear that serves to the same application. That word is - BOOK. As in the "Lamb’s Book of Life" (Rev. 21:27) or as more often just cited as the "Book of Life." (Rev. 20:12, 20:15 & 22:18). Be good for you to read those verses.

Back to the thought about us having a choice of lists - which list do you want your name to be on? The "SHORT" list or the "LONG" list, remembering which one is which. Let me just amplify a moment on these two lists and provide you with some facts about why there is a different length to those lists.
The total number of souls who survived the ship’s sinking, according to the encyclopedia, was 706. The total number of souls that perished was 1,517. Hence the difference in the lists. Seen another way, about 70% of the souls on board were lost, thus had their names inscribed on the "LONG" list. Almost a 2 to 1 ratio. Do these figures seem to jive with the words of Jesus in Matt. 7:13-14 where He talked about the "wide gate" versus the "narrow gate?" And the "many" versus the "few?" Does to me.

Are you aware that the lifeboats of the Titanic were no where near filled with people? Many perished because of one reason: they refused to get in a lifeboat. They chose to stay on a sinking ship. Makes you wonder why, doesn’t it?

The only reasonable answer that I see is - they believed the propaganda about the ship being "unsinkable." It was a lie and they believed it and made their choice based upon it. Because of that false belief, their names appear on the "LONG" list.

The widow of the ship’s Captain, Mrs. Eleanor Smith, wrote this message to the families of those lost in the tragedy: "To my fellow-sufferers: my heart overflows with grief for you and is laden with sorrow that you are weighed down with the terrible burden that has been thrust upon us. May God be with us and comfort us all."

I sort of see her message as something we should also be concerned with, IE: the "terrible burden" of seeing so many souls perish because of choosing "to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin" (Heb. 11:25 ESV) (staying on a sinking ship) rather than obedience to Christ (getting in the lifeboat) and being saved. Shouldn’t it concern us that the "LOST" list is so long? I think so but, it should concern us more about which list WE are on.
Do you ever wonder how God feels about this "saved to lost" ratio? I don’t pretend to speak for God here, but I can provide you with something He said in His Word that can give us a clue. Read with me His words quoted below:
                 "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God:
                  wherefore turn yourselves and live ye."    Ezekiel 18: 32

Ron Covey