Book of Life

The Book of Life – How can names be written in and also be blotted out?

Rev. 3:5 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.

It is evident from the holy writ that only the saved are written in the book of life

Rev. 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Philip. 4:3 …my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

The Lamb’s book of life seems somewhat but we will get to that in due course.

This gives us a question of how someone’s name can be blotted out of the book if they have been saved. Can a person lose their salvation?

The Bible makes it clear that names CAN be removed from the Book of Life so how does this happen?

Exodus 32:32-33 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. [33] And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Psalm 69:25-28 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents. [26] For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. [27] Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. [28] Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

There is no mention that the time where God writes the names is at the point of Salvation. We actually find that names are written already and have been since the foundation of the world.

Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 17:8 …whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world…

So now we have another issue, does that mean that God only writes in the ones who will be saved? But then if that is the case why are some then blotted out?

Let us quickly look at what is saved.
Now we understand from the scriptures that we are all made of body, soul and spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So is every part saved? No, the body is clearly not saved as it is corruptible and when we reach heaven we will have a new glorified body. What about the soul? Well, let’s leave that for a moment and look at the spirit.

John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. [8] The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

This passage shows that there are two births one of water (the flesh which is the body) and one of the Spirit (the spirit). So that means that our spirit is what is born again.

1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

Now this means that our spirit does not sin because it is born of God. But you say, we still sin! Yes, we do but not in our spirit. We also find that our spirit is sealed

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

So that means that once we are born again our spirit is saved and sealed until the day of redemption. There is no way to sin in it to lose salvation! You may still have some questions regarding this, perhaps about falling away and such. Please read the whole study and I will address those later.

Now in our soul, that is a different matter. Many times in the Psalms David speaks of the affliction of his soul. In Ps 23 he says “He restoreth my soul” so we see that our soul is where the majority of sin occurs. It is clearly not born again but it will be saved from Hell when we die. Our soul consists mind, will and emotions and we should work to renew our mind (Rom 12:2) and have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16; 1 Pet 4:1; 1 Pet 1:13); our will should be that of the Father and not of ourselves; and our emotions should show forth the fruit of the Spirit. However, that is not always the case because we often allow the flesh to control our soul whereas we should allow the Spirit to control our soul and the soul to control the flesh

Galatians 5:16-17 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. [17] For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

So to sum up, our bodies will never be saved but will be changed; our souls will be saved from hell when we die but whilst we live there will be affliction but we are shown how to conquer this; and our spirits are now born again and are saved and sealed by the Spirit of God!

Now we know from Scripture that once a person is saved they can never go to Hell so how can a name be blotted out?

Rev. 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book

Is it possible that as David calls it “The book of the living” that all names are written in it? Every person in God’s foreknowledge is written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.
Is there a point where a person’s fate is sealed in that they have rejected Christ and God removes their name? Is it the case that at the point of salvation the name is not written down but simply kept?

2 Thes. 2:10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. [11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Within this verse we see that God desires no one to go to Hell so it would seem appropriate that God has given each person a space in the book of life but they are removed if they reject the gospel. Is this why it is opened at the Great White Throne judgment? To show people where their name was written but upon their rejection or death without Christ it was removed?

Rev. 20:12 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…15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

There is no other reason why the book of life is opened but to show where they’re name was.

Now regarding, the Lamb’s book of Life:

Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Now in the previous chapter we find

Revelation 20:14-15 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [15] And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So those not written in the book of life have been cast into the lake of fire, there is no more mention of the lost. We understand then that the Lamb’s book of life differs somewhat because those written in it are given the right to the New Jerusalem BUT there are some who do not have that right

Revelation 22:14-15 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. [15] For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Those outside the city are not in Hell because this is far away from the Holy City! Outside the city is darkness because the Lamb is the light of the city and so we find this darkness outside the city mentioned in the scripture is for the unfaithful servants of God. Notice please that those that enter into the city are those that “Do His Commandments” thus those that do not have no part in the city but are in outer darkness. (see Matt 22 & 25)
Notice that all were servants and all given portions of the Lord’s money and all were judged at the SAME judgment. This means all three servants were saved. In Matt 25 we see that the man is at the wedding feasts but was not prepared, again saved but not prepared for the bride which is the church. Those that have not been placed in the body of Christ by proper baptism will not be eligible. Then also in Matt 8:12 we find the “children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness”, again showing that these are saved people that are unfaithful. They will not inherit the Holy City! The last point in verses Matt 8:12; 22:13 & 25:30 is that all three say WEEPING and gnashing of teeth but all verses concerning Hell say WAILING and gnashing of teeth. Wailing is due to pain and torment but weeping is due to sorrow!

People talk of falling from grace but this is simply falling out of favour with the Lord and an unfaithful servant has lost favour with God because he has not spoken of and kept the Lord’s commandments!

In summary:
Everyone’s name has been written in the book of life. Those that have rejected or will reject Christ have been and will be blotted out of the book of life. Those that are saved are sealed both in the book and by the Spirit and can never be blotted out. We sin in our bodies and in our souls so it is important that we strive for righteousness by keeping the commandments of God that we may be found faithful and have a right to the tree of life and the city of God.

God Bless you all!
Dr Bob Strachan – Pastor Jedburgh Baptist Church – www.ScotlandBaptist.com