There has been a sharp
controversy over the issue of Destiny. The word Destiny can be defined in
simple words as, what will necessarily happen to any person or thing; one’s
fate. The same meaning applies to the Biblical concept of Destiny, but it
suggests a broader and deeper sense. Most often people say that it is no use to
do good works; do whatever you like, what is written in your fate is bound to
happen. Do you also agree with this concept? If yes, let yourself remain with
me for a while so that we can discuss this in detail.
On numerous occasions The Holy Bible
announces that everything is written from the very first day. Paul, in 2
Timothy 1:9 proclaims: “who has saved us, and called us with a Holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” This clearly shows God’s
Master Plan for mankind. In addition to this, the happenings of The Holy Bible
were foretold many years before their accomplishments. So there remains no
confusion about the fact that the prophesies were accomplished as The Holy
Bible describes. Now there arises a question of individual importance. It is
about the individual providence after death. Will he receive eternal life or
not? To receive eternal life, it is compulsory that one’s name should be
registered in the Book of Life. Is our name registered in the Book of Life?
This is the main point of discussion. Now we will separate our discussion in
two parts—the first part is, if our name is not registered, then how can it be
registered in the Book of Life? The second part is if our name is registered,
then is it enough for us?
Coming towards our first point, if our name
is not registered in the Book of Life, then it is an extremely serious issue.
We have to register it; however, we cannot register it ourselves, it is God’s
will. But for the registration purpose, we first require true faith in Jesus
Christ, complete submission in His hands. This is the first step we have to
take now the rest of the work will be done by Jesus Christ Himself. Now link
this with our second point, which suggests that just registering our name in
the Book of Life is not enough. Now you must be surprised, but I am thinking it
in another way. The name registered in the Book of Life can also be moved—this
removal is done in case we have just nominal faith and not true faith, our
deeds are not according to what God desires. I will give you an example from
The Holy The Holy Bible (Exodus 32:32-33) where Moses says: “But now, if Thou
wilt, forgive their sin—and if not, blot me out from Thy book which thou hast
written! And the Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against Me, I will
blot him out of My book.” This clearly indicates that whoever will sin, his
name will be blotted from the Book of Life. Here arises a sense of
responsibility for us—we should walk by the paths explained in The Holy Gospel;
in short, perfection is required.
This was an overview of the issue; now let
us capture it in a deeper sense. There are two types of principles existing
with the universe—purpose or principle of creation, purpose or principle of
restoration. According to the principle of creation, to attain perfection, man
needs to fulfill his portion of responsibility. God is Almighty, He can save
man any way; but it will be expressed only when man can fulfill his portion of
responsibility. You can lift your one leg and still stand but you cannot lift
your second leg also while standing. The same is the case with Destiny. God
predestined to realize the purpose of creation, but, because of fall of man,
the purpose of creation was not realized and the mankind came under satanic
rule. Thus, the purpose of creation was lost to Satan and the Kingdom of God
The phenomenon of Salvation was laid from
the very beginning. Most of the theologians are confused in the regard that God
created light, and this was the very first work done by Him in the very first
day. You can agree with them, but I can’t. Read Genesis 1:1 which says: “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Did you get the point? Yes, I
think you are wise enough to capture it. God first created heavens and earth,
and after that anything else was done. So the very first work done by God was
the creation of heavens and earth. This was the commencement of the creation
process. Now read verse 2: “And the earth was formless and void, and darkness
was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the
surface of the waters.” This clearly shows that something tragic happened
between 1st and 2nd verse. Do you know what this was? It
was the first rebellion of Satan after which he was thrown on earth from heavens.
Isaiah 14:12-15 describes it as: “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of
the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth…”
Kindly, note this point that when God
created other things, Satan was on this earth. Satan’s second rebellion was his
conspiracy for Adam and Eve and this certainly worked for him. God knew that Satan
will beguile Adam and Eve; therefore, He gave three of them free hand. They
freely moved wherever they liked in the Garden of Eden. God could also have
restricted them well before as He did this after throwing them out of the
Garden of Eden with blazing sword. Thus, it was predestined. God gave man free
will that’s why He planted the Forbidden Tree and the Tree of Life in the same
Garden. He gave humans a choice of two ways—good and evil. It was predestined
that man will choose evil.
The Holy Bible has mentioned on several
occasions about the Book of Life. The most prominent of all these references is
Revelation 20:11-15, where the description is given as: “And I saw a great
white throne and Him who sat upon it,…and the books were opened; and another
book was opened, which is book of life; and the dead were judged from the
things which were written in the books, according to their deeds…and
they were judged, everyone of them according to their deeds…And if any one’s
name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of
fire.” Here, two types of books are mentioned—first type is other books of
deeds, the second type is the Book of Life. Of these types, the Book of Life is
of most reverence. However, the importance of other books of deeds cannot be
ignored as the judgment will be made according to these books.
The Book of Life is a single book
comprising lists of the saved people. On the other hand, other books of deeds
comprise of works done by mankind. The Book of Life lists the blessed people
and a double check is done with the help of other books so that there remains
no confusion about anyone’s entry into the Kingdom of God
Brother in Christ,
Jamshed Gill
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