He Knows Your Name!

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

-John 20:16

Have you ever wondered who will remember you once you go home to be with the Lord? I was speaking to a member of our church family on the phone when I was sitting at my desk   wondering what I would write about in this week’s Pastor’s Pen.  He said that he had read in the Gospel of John about the resurrection of Jesus this morning when he came upon John 20:16. He said he was overcome with emotion with the thought that when he sees Jesus for the first time, He will   know His name. Glory!

My father, Sidney Wells, died when he was 95 years old, and his father, Thomas Wells, died in 1921 at the age of 22. No one will remember who Thomas, Sidney, and Mark Wells were in just a generation or two. However, because I am a child of God and co-heir with Christ, it does not matter if anyone remembers me once I’m gone. I, along with every other believer, will be in the presence of our Savior forever, and He knows my name. All   believer’s names were written in the Book of Life before the foundation of the World (Eph. 1:3-6,  Rev. 3:5, Rev. 20:15). One day Jesus will call each of us by name. What a glorious day that will be.                                                      Do you look forward to that day when you will finally be with your Savior forever? I was visiting with brother Chuck, and I read part of John MacArthur’s book, The Glory of Heaven.  John MacArthur writes the following about Heaven:

In reality, Everything that is truly precious to us as Christians is in Heaven. The Father is there, and that’s why Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Matt. 6:9). Jesus      Himself is at the Father’s right hand. Hebrews 9:24 says, “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into    heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God   for us.” So our Savior is also in Heaven, where He        intercedes on our behalf (Heb. 7:25). Many brothers and sisters in Christ are there, too. Hebrews 12:23 says that in turning to God we have come “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are        written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” Our departed loved ones in the faith are there. Every Old and New Testament believer who has died is now in Heaven.

Our names are recorded there. In Luke 10:20 Christ tells His disciples, who were casting out demons, “Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in    heaven.” And by saying that our names are written in Heaven, Christ assures us that we have a title deed to property there. This is our inheritance. First Peter 1:4 says we are begotten in Christ “to an inheritance  incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.”

“Our citizenship is in heaven,” according to Philippians 3:20 (NASB). In other words, Heaven is where we      belong. We’re just “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). Our goals therefore should not    include the accumulation of possessions here. Our real wealth—our eternal reward—is in Heaven (Matt. 5:12). In Matthew 6:19–21, Jesus says that the only treasure we will possess throughout eternity is there.

In other words, Everything we should love everlastingly, Everything we rightly value, Everything of any eternal worth is in Heaven.

One day each of us who have made Jesus Lord and Savior of our life will hear Jesus call us by name just as He called out Mary’s name and say, “Well done, my good and faithful  servant.”

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark