Having spent time as a Database Administrator, I understand the importance of storing data to gather facts for future decision-making and application. This understanding got me thinking about God’s database. How His database spans generations, and how it will dictate our eternal destinies.
What is a Database?
A database is a collection of related data organised and stored in a certain way on a computer. It can be looked at and used in various ways. In the business world, data is essentially the plain facts and statistics collected using a database management system during the operations of a business.
Databases can record and measure a wide range of business activities – both internal and external. Any recorded data seen in isolation may not be very informative. But it forms the basis for all reporting and is crucial in business.
Before the era of computers, data or events were recorded in written form and preserved for generations. For example, the Bible, Acts of Parliament or medical records.
Business Databases
For a business, customer data are the metrics related to customer interaction. It can be; the number of jobs, the number of enquiries, the income received, the expenses incurred, etc. They need data to know about a company’s interactions with the customer.
Data is one of the most vital aspects of any research study. Research conducted in fields of study can be different in methodology, but research always depends on data analysed and interpreted to get information.
Companies, organisations, banks and government departments spend millions annually, ensuring that the data they keep on; individuals, parties, businesses, etc., are safeguarded against internal and external intruders.
Data in the wrong hands can spell doom for the individual or the company whose data gets leaked. Imagine what backlash a bank would receive if your details fell into the wrong hands; such a bank could go bust as customer confidence is lost.
Our Databases
We all carry a database of some sort in our pockets, hands or bags. That database system is called a mobile phone. On that device, we store a collection of data in the form of names, addresses and phone numbers of loved ones, bank details, hospitals, opticians, barbers, hairdressers, work colleagues – the list goes on. When such information is needed, we know exactly where to retrieve it.
Apart from mobile phones, every human being is a walking computer system with an inbuilt database called the brain. The human brain can store an impressive amount of data as memories. That’s why the brain compares to a processor. A processor is a complex computing machine that takes raw data and turns it into; thoughts, memories, and cognition.
The human brain is a wondrous thing. It transforms letters, numbers, images, and smells into meaningful data that governs every aspect of our lives. Ask anyone about their childhood events; I’m sure many incidents come to mind, some funny, others not so good. Experiences that they’d rather forget about, but it is impossible to do so because every human brain stores long-term memory.
To remember and remind
The Bible uses two words to bring back certain events or jog our memories and thoughts (sensory, short-term or long-term memories).
The words ‘remember’ and ‘remind’ are used to recollect events and take appropriate action. For example, the Bible says, “remember your creator in the days of your youth…….” Ecclesiastes 12:1. In times of prosperity, or where there’s a temptation to feel we’ve achieved our wealth by our means, the Bible says, “But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is he that gives you the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” Deuteronomy 8:18. In other places, the Bible talks about remembering the poor and how they are dear to God’s heart (Galatians 2:10).
What about the word remind? The Bible has a lot to say about that too. For example, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything I have said to you”. John 14:26; Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 1 Corinthians 15:1 (2 Peter 3:3, 2 Timothy 2:14, Titus 3:1) In each Bible verse, they were written as reminders to stimulate us into wholesome thinking (2 Peter 3:1).
Why keep records?
Why do we keep records? So that we don’t forget things. We tend to quickly forget things hence the phrase, “out of sight is out of mind”. We also keep records for posterity so that we or those after us can call things to mind, recall events and take appropriate action.
Tracing genealogies is big business nowadays, all in the event of knowing one’s identity. The Bible contains chapters devoted to record:
- numbers of people
- a king’s reign
- births and deaths
- and even the human ancestry of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Take, for example, the good deed recorded in the book of Esther (Esther 6:1-3). It reveals how Mordecai foiled a plot to assassinate a reigning king and how he hadn’t received a reward. But imagine what would have happened if that incident wasn’t in the Book of the Chronicles?
God’s Database
This good deed recorded reminds me of God’s database of records. His database spans generations upon generations. God has a history of every human being that has ever lived on the face of the earth. God says to the Prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5). The God of the Bible is no stranger to every human act or deed. The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, observing the wicked and the good (Proverbs 15:3).
For example, the kindness of a centurion soldier in the Italian Regiment, Cornelius, is recorded in Acts 10. His prayers and alms to the poor had come up as a memorial before God (Acts 10:4). The record of this extraordinary continuous deed set in motion events that led to this man, his family and friends experiencing what every human being needs – the salvation of the human heart. This account, as recorded, also led to the gospel reaching non-Jewish communities.
All this leads to the heart of this article. As recorded in the Bible, one moment in history is yet to occur. The outcome is so sad and beyond comprehension but can be reversed at this moment, based on the choice one makes today – especially for you, the reader of this article.
God’s Database of deeds
In Revelation 20:11–15, we read of a future event in time where a very sophisticated accounting system – or say, a super database management system, recalls a record of deeds. These are deeds done by every person on earth who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour during their lifetime.
Man has not made this system; it is God’s database – “books were opened”, or “as recorded in the books”. “The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books”. This scripture, my friend, references the most sophisticated recording system ever.
God’s database records every act done since the world’s creation, by “great and small”. There is no hiding here. Every opportunity presented to us to hear or read the gospel and our response to it is recorded here in the books.
The Book of Life
But there is another book beyond these books, called the “Book of Life”. Recorded in all databases are names of people, great and small alike, who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour in their lifetime. We read that if one’s name isn’t in the ‘Book of Life’, one’s eternal destination will end up in the lake of fire.
There’s no place, book, magazine, honours list or hall of fame where I would rather have my name listed, apart from the Book of Life – God’s database of saved saints.
An invitation
While we are alive, we have an opportunity to ensure that our names are in the Book of Life.
How and by whom? Names are not added at birth or in a birth register’s office; a person’s name is only ever written in the Book of Life because they ask God to place it there.
Jesus Christ offers us eternal life if we receive Him (John 3:16) and invite Him into our hearts; this is done by knowing Jesus and accepting Him as your personal Lord and Saviour. On how you can do this, go to the Knowing Jesus section of this website.
As you do so, I pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten your heart so you will come to know and accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord. Amen.
God bless,
Kunle