Beth-El Baptist Church

09/02/2007

Greg Tomlinson


What is the Book of Life?


The book of life and its usage in the scriptures is often used by people to claim that you can lose your salvation. In order to see if that hold true, it is important to know what the book of life really is.


  1. Where do we find the purpose of the book of life?

Philippians 4:3 Revelation 17:7-8; 20:12-15


The book of life contains the identities of all people who belong to God through Jesus Christ. It is this book of life that is used to condemn the eternally damned to hell because of their rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior (John 3:36). Notice that the book was written before the foundation of the world. This means that what is written in the book is written and will never be modified. If the book were to be modified, then a new edition would be made which would effective eliminate the idea around its having been written since the foundation of the world. The book is actually written at the time that it is completed and not at the time at which it began to be written.


  1. Is this any different than the Lamb's book of life?

Revelation 13:1-8; 21:23-27


There are only two verses that indicate the existence of the Lamb's book of life. Based upon their use in identifying true believers from unbelievers, the book of life and the lamb's book of life are the same book. They both contain the identities of the eternally saved.


  1. What about the idea of being blotted out of the book of life?

Exodus 32:31-33


In response Israel's grave sin concerning Aaron's making of the golden calf, Moses states that it would be better for him to be rejected from God's eternal salvation plan than for God to refuse to forgive Israel for their transgression. This is an obvious hyperbole request for Moses that expresses his deep sorrow, pain and anguish over the just judgment that is due to them. God replies that it is the sinning individual that will be rejected from eternal salvation. Note that this is concerning Israel under the Sinai covenant which associates blessings with obedience to God's commands and curses for disobedience. Under this covenant the blessings of God could be removed. Although the blessings could be removed, the reference being made is a reference to the God's “book” which as was noted before was written before the foundation of the world thus even Israelites would be in the book but they are still in the book.


Deuteronomy 29:19-21


As a summary verse of the Sinai covenant with Israel, God states that failure to obey the commands of God will result in his name being removed from under heaven. This carries both the reality of physical death (under heaven) but it can equally be applied to being rejected by God.


Psalm 69:25-29


The Psalmist is referring to God's just and righteous judgment by which he is to judge the wicked. Their acts of wickedness only add to their iniquity and to their deserved rejection by God. The wicked are justly and rightly rejected from God's gracious plan of forgiveness. Remember this is poetry and the Psalmist is accurately talking about the rejection of the wicked by God.




Revelation 3:2-5


Jesus is talking about those who are trusting him and are rightly “clothed in white raiment” which is a poetic way of stating that they are pure in the eyes of God because of their faith. Those who are faithful and overcomes will not have their name blotted out. All this means is that their name will not be removed. It does not say nor indicate that it is possible for their names to be removed since he does not discuss how and why their names were written their in the first place.


Revelation 22:18-19


This passage discusses the need to protect and obey what God says in his word. He stresses that anyone that alters the written word of God and states that God says something other than what God has actually said that the curses of the scriptures, total rejection by God, will be poured out upon the individual. The alterer of God's word will never be able to receive any of the benefits that is due to him. This passage cannot be used to indicate that his name was in the book and then removed, but that the person will not receive any benefits associated with being written in the book.


  1. How does someone get their name written into the book of life?

John 10:16-18, 26-29 Luke 8:11-15

Acts 15:10-11; 16:30-31 Romans 10:9-11, 17; 11:29-31

Malachi 3:16-18 Ephesians 1:3-6


The only way to have your name placed into the book of life is to commit all of your trust for eternal life in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The only way to be found in the book of life is to trust Jesus Christ for your salvation.



Summary:


By evaluating the scriptures associated with the 'book of life' and especially those dealing with the 'blotting out' of names it should be clear about the purpose of the book of life. The book of life identifies those who were chosen in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the World. Those passages that deal with the blotting out can be also understood as a poetic way of indicating the total rejection by God from salvation and their future eternal rejection by God. There is not scripture that mentions that someone was actually ever removed from the book of life but it does talk about God being justified to remove them.