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The LORD replied to Moses: "Whoever has sinned against Me I will erase from My book. Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, My angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin." - Exodus 32:33-34 HCSB

[1]When a person rebels against God, the Lord may pronounce a curse upon them and write calamity into their particular chapter of the Book of Life.[2] Thus, false prophets or false teachers, who not only personally rebel but also lead others astray, will not be recorded in the register.[3]

God does not want to do this. He does not want anyone to die.[4] The fact that everyone is automatically written into the Book of Life at conception and is only blotted out after a lifetime of rebellion proves this. Hashem wants everyone to be saved and has provided a way to ensure that we are in the Book of Life. There is only one way, however, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.[5]

Peter also understood God’s great patience and associated the Day of the Lord with the Day of Accounting. He taught that understanding this particular doctrine should result in holy conduct and godliness as we wait and earnestly desire the coming of the Day of God. He said that the doctrine of the Book of Life would allow us to live without fear, dwelling on His promise of redemption.[6]

There is a sense in which we may consider the Book of Life is a will and testament of the Lord Jesus, validated through His death on the Cross.[7] In other words, His death made it possible to have one’s name permanently in the Book and for us to know it now – well before the Day of Accounting.

Those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Master and submitted their lives to His rule are written in the Book of Life.[8] They are called the “assembly of the firstborn”, or the “righteous”.[9] Our primary source of joy and relief should therefore not be in the particular gifts that Yahweh has granted us, but in the fact that our names our written in the Book of Life. Every other consideration should be secondary to that one great fact.[10]

Daniel predicted that in the end terrible trials will occur. Only those who are found written in the book will escape.[11] John continued this thought, saying that those who are “dressed in white clothes” would never have their names erased from the book of life and that their place in the Book of Life would be confessed before the Father.[12] Only they will be allowed to enter the New Jerusalem.[13] On the other hand, those who are not found in the Book of Life will be slaughtered.[14] They will be subject to a spirit of delusion and will be deceived by the Antichrist.[15]

As to when the Book of Life will be brought out and used, John said that it would not take place until after the Millennium. There are apparently other books also opened at this time but they remain unnamed. I do not believe them to be “volumes” of the Book of Life because of the use of the word “another” as though the Book of Life is somehow intrinsically different from them. However, the most critical one is evidently the Book of Life.[16]

[1] The Day of Judgment; from the center panel of the Memling Tryptich in Gdansk

[2] Jeremiah 22:28-30

[3] Ezekiel 13:9; Matthew 23:15 cp vv35-36

[4] Ezekiel 18:30-32

[5] 1 Timothy 2:3-6

[6] 2 Peter 3:9-13

[7] Hebrews 9:16-17

[8] Philippians 4:3

[9] Hebrews 12:23

[10] Luke 10:20

[11] Daniel 12:1

[12] Revelation 3:5 cp Matthew 10:32-33

[13] Revelation 21:27

[14] Revelation 13:7-8

[15] Revelation 17:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

[16] Revelation 20:7-15

"Inspiration For You" from Randy Mitchell

Honoring A Father