The Journal Of God

"The Journal of God"

Dan. 7:10, Rev. 20:12

Dan. 7:10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.

Mal. 3:16. Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A (book) scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. 17. "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. 18. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

Rev.20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

Intro:

Historians have discovered interesting entries in the journals of men. For instance, Christopher Columbus faced the very real threat of mutiny almost every day of his journey to the new world. Yet every night when things settled down, he went into his cabin and wrote at least one line in his log; "Today we sailed West." It is said that on July 4th, 1776 King George wrote in his diary, "Nothing happened today." (Oh - if he had a fax machine! Or e-mail.) Fifty years later, to the day, Thomas Jefferson lay dying and said, "It feels like the fourth of July."

God also keeps a journal. Each day entries are made which He will one day disclose. Meanwhile, there are entries available to us which indicate the sort of thing we can expect. As we familiarize ourselves with His word we sometimes get the sense He is journaling rather than legislating. I mean some of the things you read give you the feeling God wanted them written in His word not just for their historical value, nor just for their doctrinal content, but because they struck Him as significant. You sense that there are feelings attached to those entries. As if they are events worthy of mention. They bear all the features you would expect of things written in a diary; significance, sentiment and substance.

The verses we’ve read, and many we haven’t, make it abundantly clear that God is keeping record. He makes daily entries.

Let’s look at a few examples and consider the implications.

"THEN BEGAN MEN" Gen. 4:26c

There was a day early in the history of man that God made note of. Adam had lived 235 years when his grandson Enosh, Seth’s son, was born. By this time several births have taken place, uneventfully no doubt. But God wrote something special about the day Enosh was born. "At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD." -NIV

(KJV - "...then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.")

Man! Can you feel it? All those elements that I said make a good diary notation are here; significance, sentiment and substance. It was an important note. It is obvious God felt something in putting it down on paper. And it would be worth reading in the future. There is something about that line in God’s writing which causes the reader to pause.

The name Enosh means "mortal" or "man." One Bible dictionary says, "Attached to his birth is an implication of godly fear."

I won’t get into all the speculations of what this means. I’ll offer just two ideas. Some have suggested it means men began to call themselves by the name of the LORD by way of identifying themselves with Him as opposed to the idol worshipers around them who must have called themselves by the names of their gods (ie, Baalites). But I believe it simply means on that day, for whatever reason, men turned to the Lord and began to call on Him. It does seem they were already practicing idolatry at this time. Maybe their idol failed. Maybe Enosh’s birth was a sign to them, or an answer to prayer. Whatever the case, it seems a revival of calling on God began on the day he was born - and God took note.

(Many times we read of men turning to idols and calling out to things their own hands have made as though they were God.)We may not be idolaters as such, but too many times we lean on our own inventions and contraptions and abilities and understanding when we could call out to God instead. Don’t you suppose God would make note of it if we too would learn to call on Him as we know we should?