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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2014 14:15:39 GMT
Compiled from The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Walvoord and Zuck); Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Psalm 56; www.lachrymatory.com/History.htm
Psalm 56:8 “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?”
Matthew Henry writes,
“When he (David) was wandering he was often weeping, and therefore prays, “Put thou my tears into Thy bottle, in Thy book.”
God has a bottle and a book for His people’s tears, both those for their sins and those for their afflictions.
God will not forget the sorrows of His people. The tears of God’s persecuted people are bottled up and sealed among God’s treasures; and, when these books come to be opened, they will be found vials of wrath, which will be poured out upon their persecutors, whom God will surely reckon with for all the tears they have forced from His people’s eyes; and they will be breasts of consolation to God’s mourners, whose sackcloth will be turned into garments of praise.
God will comfort His people according to the time wherein He has afflicted them, and give to those to reap in joy who sowed in tears. What was sown a tear will come up a pearl.”
Nothing we face is unknown to God. He allows, and He uses, the struggles we face to draw us nearer to Himself and to produce godly character in our lives.
This psalm of David’s is a song of trust to the LORD; even though his enemies waited to destroy him, he trusted confidently in the LORD who knew about his suffering and would protect him.
David was confident because God knew him intimately, even recording his tears. The image of his tears collected in a bottle means that God did not forget his suffering. He could say in full confidence, God is for me.
There was an ancient custom in some Eastern nations of bottling the tears of mourners as a memorial, and placing them in the tomb as a sign of respect. Tear bottles (lachrymatories) have been found in very large numbers upon opening ancient tombs. They were made of pottery, stone, or animal skins—skins such as those that were used for water or for wine, although the very poor sometimes had simple pottery bottles that were not even baked or glazed. They were all made with a slender body, broad at the base with a funnel shaped top.
Around 100 A.D., Romans saw the invention of glass blowing and this new technology, as crude as it was, allowed for thousands and thousands of tear bottles to be made available for even the lower and middle class citizens. The wide base and the narrow elongated neck became a common style.
Did God store Jesus’ tears when He wept as a man? When Jesus shed tears over Jerusalem because the city’s people were unfaithful and unresponsive to His message, are His tears in a bottle and in a ledger? When Jesus was moved to tears over the loss of Lazarus, are His tears in a bottle? In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus shed tears like drops of blood. Are those tears in a bottle and in a ledger?
God records your tears in a scroll or a ledger. Like an accountant, He records those tears. Not that He needs to be reminded of them Himself. Rather, it is a way of helping each of us to know that our tears are sacred to Him.
What a word of comfort this should be to each of us! Those tears are sacred and precious. They have significance to us in those thoughts, in those moments of our life. They are also vitally important to God, a God who loves us and cares for us in ways in which our current language cannot even begin to describe.
Rev. 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
In a future time, we believers, according to God’s purpose and His plan, might have an opportunity to empty those tear bottles ourselves. For there will be no need for tear bottles in our eternal life with God.
Sorrow will become a thing of the past. Agony will become a thing of the past. Crying will become a thing of the past. Lachrymatories will not be needed ever again.
prophecytracker.org/the-book-of-tears/
Fair use for discussion and education
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Post by Leeza on Sept 15, 2014 21:25:31 GMT
Thank you, Rieom, this really ministered to me....especially this part:
Just wondering about the part of the sentence that I underlined. What is your take on this?
Does that mean when we have cried in repentance over our sins, that God keeps a record of that, too?
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Post by shiloh on Sept 16, 2014 1:12:30 GMT
Good question, Leeza. Since this is related, I'll post it here: The Books
by Jack Kinsella
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Revelation 20:12)
Permit me to set the stage for the scene just described. We are being given an eyewitness account of the Great White Throne Judgment.
"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. " (Revelation 20:11)
The Great White Throne is the third of the three great judgments outlined by Scripture; the first two being the Believer's Judgment at the Bema Seat and the judgment of the sheep and goat nations.
The Judge is at all three of these judgments is Jesus Christ. The Great White Throne Judgment is not a New Testament doctrine -- the Prophet Daniel described it exactly as John did.
"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." (Daniel 7:9-10)
Notice another similarity between John's account and Daniel's. Both John and Daniel refer to the 'books' -- plural.
"And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15)
So the Book of Life is the ticket into heaven. Anyone whose name is not in there will join the antichrist and false prophet in the Lake of Fire.
What are the other books?
There is the Book of Tears. "Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?"
The Book of Tears records our pain and disappointments and sadness -- Who we trusted and how we dealt with the trials and tribulations of this life.
"In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. . . . For Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?" (Psalms 56:10-11,13)
God also keeps a Book of Remembrance:
"Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." (Malachi 3:16-17)
This is where God records that which sometimes man forgets. The Scriptures promise that:
"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:21)
My Dad fought with the Canadians during WWII. He once told me he fought in every major theatre of war. Dad was on the first Dieppe Raid in 1940 in which only a third of those who landed on the beach survived.
Dad was among the troops evacuated at Dunkirk at the fall of France. He landed in Sicily and was wounded at the Battle of Monte Casino during the Italian Campaign.
He fought his way across France after the Normandy landing and took great pride in his part in liberating Holland from the Nazis and liberating the Jews from the Vught concentration camp at Westerbork.
My father was raised a Catholic but he was not a religious man. I cling to the hope that at some point during one of those battles, Dad cried out: "Jesus, save me!" If so, then God recorded his plea in the Book of Remembrance and I will see him at the Bema Seat.
The fourth book in which our names are recorded is the Book of Births.
"Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy Book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalms 139:16)
The Scriptures tell us that our names were written in these books before the foundation of the world.
"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: " (Ephesians 1:4)
"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." (Revelation 17:8)
God foreordained my birth and my name was therefore recorded in the Book of Births before the foundation of the world. The Book of Tears contains the record of my trials and tribulations and disappointments.
My name was recorded in the Book of Life as well, even before I came to Christ. And my plea for salvation was recorded in the Book of Remembrance.
Those that teach temporal security point to the following verse as a proof text because it refers to blotting one's name out of the Book of Life:
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out His name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels." (Revelation 3:5)
I believe the Bible teaches that everybody is recorded in all four books; births, remembrance, tears and life.
Babies who die as babies go to heaven, so their names must also be recorded in the Book of Life. Paul says that,
"For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." (Romans 7:9)
If that sin is not covered by the Blood of Christ by the time we leave this earth, then we have not overcome -- since we are overcomers only through the imputed righteousness of Christ and not our own righteousness, holiness or ability.
If we are not overcomers through Christ, then are our names blotted out of the Book of Life.
"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." (Revelation 20:5)
This is a lot to take in at once, so I will try to summarize. The Bible outlines four different books in which our names are recorded and against which we are judged, either at the Bema Seat or the Great White Throne.
The books record our births and our trials in this life. We are judged according to what is written in those books, and we are saved according to what is written in the other two.
God records the day we called out to Him in His Book of Remembrance or He blots our name from the Book of Life if we fail to do so in this life. If our names are still recorded in the Book of Life then we will appear before Christ at the Bema Seat for the believer's judgment.
We will still be judged based on what is written in those books, but our judgment is to determine our rewards rather than our punishment. Stop with me here for one second. Note again the criteria for appearing before the Bema Seat.
Those who stand before it trusted Jesus rather than themselves. The small and great in Christ will both be there.
Some will receive great rewards, others will receive no reward whatever apart from being permitted entry into the kingdom.
"If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (1st Corinthians 3:15)
Then there is the Great White Throne. Those who appear before it will be judged for all their works, but they will be sentenced based on just one criteria.
Where their name should appear in the Book of Life -- there is an ink blot.
Salvation isn't difficult. It is what God created us for. Every person who ever lived is (or was once) recorded in all four books.
Whether or not one's name remains in the Book of Life depends on Who one trusts to keep it there.
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)
It seems a no-brainer to me.
www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=6601
Then, there's this Q&A by Jack Kelley~
Book Of Life, Follow Up
Q. First, I want to thank for for your daily articles and teachings. I go to your website every day and I have learned so much. You are truly blessed in the Lord for your teachings in the Word. I recently read an article about four Lord’s Books. I thought there were only 2, The Book of Life and the Lambs Book of Life. This article made reference to: The book of Births, (Psalms 139:16), The Book of Tears ( Psalms 56: 8), The Book of Remembrance (Malachi 3:16-17), and of course, the Book of Life (Rev 20:15). It did not mention the Lamb’s Book of Life. Is this article correct?
A. Not exactly. What the article called the book of births in Psalm 139:16 is really a reference to the Book of Life. So is the one to a book of tears in Psalm 56:8 which speaks of the Lord preserving our tears in a bottle and recording them in His book (the Book of Life). Of all the English translations I researched, only the NIV renders the Hebrew word for bottle as a scroll. The literal meaning of the word is a bottle made of animal skin, like a wineskin. It’s never used to describe a scroll.
The Scroll of Remembrance from Malachi 3:16-17 pertains to the record the Lord kept of a specific event in Israel’s past and should not be seen as a general reference. The Lamb’s Book of Life is basically the membership list of the Church and is specifically mentioned in Rev. 13:8 and Rev. 21:27.
gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/book-of-life-follow-up/#more-22249 |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2014 1:16:46 GMT
I found it comforting too Leeza. A good reminder that God does see all. I tend to take the Bible literally. God said it so it must be type thing. We know that we will be accountable to God for our sins and written in a book is keeping them until the BEMA seat. I think of the tears as any sorrow we go through simply because not everyone cries when they are upset. I never even thought of it as when we cry in repentance for our sins but it certainly could be.
As far as the first paragraph, I am not sure if it is Israel He is talking about or the church or both.
I hope someone else posts on your questions too. If not, I will have to look further into this as I need to know just what God meant by this.
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Post by shiloh on Sept 16, 2014 1:37:21 GMT
It is my understanding that the church will be at the Bema seat of Christ judgement. Not for punishment but for rewards or loss of them, even though we may be saved by fire (works/motives) burnt up. Jesus is our covering and He paid a heavy price for us. Anyone who has called upon the Lord and accepted His blood bought payment for us in full is an overcomer.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2014 12:21:59 GMT
Thanks Shiloh for posting that article it does enlighten.
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