book of life

(While on the mount with the LORD, Moses knew that he was in the book, and that people can be blotted out of the book.

The LORD told Moses that any blotting out of the book is only according to the LORD’s requirement, and it is related to sin.)

Exodus 32:32 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.

(Because:)

Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death;

(Clearly it is not as simple as saying, that as soon as someone sins, they are blotted out of the book:)

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

(Because, then no one, including Moses would be still written in the book.

Also, it would not be correct to say that there are multiple books:

the LORD’s book that Moses referred to

the book of the living

the book

the book of life

the Lamb’s book of life

No, there is not a different book of life for people before the law, then another for those under the law

then another for the church age, and finally another covering the tribulation and millennial kingdom.

No, it’s the same book.)

(Again, David is referring to some being blotted out and some remaining written in the book:)

Psalms 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

(Who are some of those remaining written in the book, that David referred to as the righteous?)

Matthew 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

Genesis 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

II Peter 2:7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

(Like everyone else, Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Lot, all sinned, but they remained written in the book of life.)

(Daniel is told that at the end of the tribulation, that there will be a number of the children of Israel,

which will be found still written in the book, and they will be delivered, in contrast to the others who are not:)

Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

(Paul referred to some women and men whose names were in the book of life:)

Philippians 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

(Some believe that the names were written in the book before the foundation of the world.

Some believe that the names are written in the book only when someone is born.

Some believe that names are written in the book only when someone is saved.)

Obviously all three cases cannot be true.)

(What about someone, now, in the church age, who is saved?)

Revelation 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.

(The saved end up with the LORD and their name not blotted out, in contrast to the lost whose names are blotted out.

Some believe like Calvinists, that the elect are eternally written in the book and the non-elect are never written in the book.

Some believe that people can lose their salvation, and that their name is then blotted out.

Some believe that if someone dies lost, without Christ, that their name is then blotted out.)

(Those that worship the antichrist, are those whose names are not written in the book of life, in contrast to those who are written:)

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.

(So, besides dying lost, without Christ, what about worshipping the antichrist? Is it another way to have the name blotted out of the book?

Then, is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, also another way to have the name blotted out of the book?)

(Then there is this description:)

Revelation 17:8 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.

(Up to this point, the previous scriptures looked at names in the book from our perspective, in our existence in the dimension of time.

There is also the need to look at this from the LORD’s perspective, who exists in the dimension of eternity, outside of time.

When Jesus was speaking to the Jews, in their present tense, he said to them:)

John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

(While Jesus spoke to them in the present tense, he indicated that he currently was before Abraham, yet in the present tense, then, also.

The LORD is omnipresent in time, as much as he is omnipresent in space.

Jesus more than knew in advance who would be saved, he is currently with the saved in the New Jerusalem, already.

From our perspective, many of those people may not have even been born yet.

Jesus not only knows the end from the beginning, but he is the beginning, and he is the ending:)

Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

(So, we could say from our perspective, that even before Jesus created everything, he knew who would be saved and who would not.

Yet, in his mercy and grace, he died on the cross for everyone, and for whosoever will believe on him, he saves.

It is not how the Calvinists see it, Jesus did not choose some to salvation and choose the others to damnation.

But what about how the Arminians see it, that Jesus only chooses those whom he foresaw from the beginning, accepting him?

Wouldn’t that be just as exclusive as the Calvinists, but from the flipside, with Jesus only choosing some?

It is always whosoever will, and the gospel goes to anyone, and the Spirit woos those who hear it.

Even though Jesus knows all things, Jesus in his compassion, still treats everyone equal with the gospel.

He does not use his foreknowledge to force, or to change the outcome of our freewill choice! Jesus lets us choose.

To many, that seems like a complete contradiction, or at least an impossibility.

However, they are not considering that there are two different, mutually exclusive dimensions, existing simultaneously.

The one dimension is that of time, which Jesus created for us to exist in.

The other dimension is that of eternity, where the LORD exists, and from eternity, he created time and space for us.

They don’t consider that in time, there is a day when someone is saved and has everlasting life, but before that they weren’t.

While simultaneously, the LORD in eternity, is already having fellowship with the saved, even from the beginning.

To us, when we only consider things from the perspective of time, we look at, or hear, the following phrase,

“written in the book of life from the foundation of the world”,

and think of it as something that happened a long, long time ago.

Yet to the LORD, “from the foundation of the world”, is as right now, present tense to him, as the New Jerusalem is.

So, to us, in our dimension, we consider that there must be a time when the name is written, or when the name is blotted out.

However, in eternity, a name written, or a name blotted out, is all at once, not a “before” or “after” scenario, like in time.)

(The LORD doesn’t choose who gets saved and who goes to hell, he leaves that choice up to us.

That choice is not made in eternity, but it is made in the dimension of time, by us.

If a person ends up in the lake of fire, without with their name the book of life, they chose that outcome for themselves.

The person who ends up in the New Jerusalem, with their names in the book of life, chose that outcome for themselves:)

Revelation 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.

(The dead are the lost, those not saved, including those who blasphemed the Holy Ghost, and those who worshipped the antichrist.

So, only the saved end up in the new Jerusalem:)

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.

(The final warning is to not mess with the word of God, missing out on all the wonderful things, i.e. blotted out of the book.)

Revelation 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.