Look at the Book
Exploring Key Words: The Book of Life
In this session of "Look at the Book," we're going to look at six passages of Scripture, all of them from the book of Revelation and all of them containing a reference to the book of life. So these are the six passages in the book of Revelation and the only six that refer to the book of life, because I want to know what it is or what it means to have our names written there and can you be erased or blotted out. Father, I pray that you would grant us to treat these six passages from this precious book of Revelation faithfully and truly and that we would have a right view of what it means to have our names written in the book of the life of the Lamb who was slain. I ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. I'm going to start in chapter 20 and I saw the dead, great and small standing before the throne. This is a picture of the last judgment and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. So you got the books that record the deeds of the world, all of us who are in the world and then you have another book and people are judged by the books according to what they had done. Well, what about this book, this other book, the book of life, verse 15? And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, then he was thrown into the lake of fire. So the meaning of having your name written in the book of life is that you get eternal life, right? You don't go to hell. You don't go to the lake of fire if your name is written in the book. And if you ask, how does being written in the book relate to being judged according to your deeds from the books, my short answer, we'd have to look at this another time, would be that what's in the books confirms that your name is in the book and that therefore your sins are covered and I say that because this book, the book of life is called the book of the life of the Lamb who was slain in 13, 8, the book of the life of the Lamb who was slain means those who are in the book have their deeds, their sins covered by the blood of the Lamb who was slain. My main point here is to point out that being written in the book of life is to have life eternal and not be sentenced to the lake of fire. Chapter 21 verse 27, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, the city, the city of God. One who does what is, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. So just another way of saying not only do you not go to the lake of fire, but you do enter the city of God. It means salvation, you turn a life to have your name written in the Lamb's book of life. Chapter 3 verse 5, the one who conquers, conquers, that phrase occurs over them, gets victory over unbelief and perseveres to the end, the one who conquers and doesn't capitulate to the pressures of unbelief will be clothed thus in white garments and will, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. Now the question is, when you read this, God says, or Jesus says, I will never blot his name out of the book of life because he conquers, when he conquers, the one who conquers, I will never blot his name out of the book of life. Does that imply that if you don't conquer, he will blot your name out of the book of life. Sure, sure could mean that. I mean, it would be logically permissible to infer that as a possibility, but it doesn't say that, and it doesn't necessarily follow, and so don't jump there quickly. Let's go and look at a couple of other crucial verses. Chapter 13 verse 8, "And all who dwell on earth will worship it," that is the beast here, the Antichrist, "will worship it. Anyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world, whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of the life of the lamb who was slain." So, if your name is not written in the book, you will worship. And if you do worship it, your name has not been written in the book. That's really, really crucial. Because it means that if you say, "Well, I guess if I wind up worshiping the beast, my name will be blotted out," no it won't, because it was never there. Because the only people who worshiped the beast whose names are not written there. And if your name is written there, you won't worship the beast. You can't get erased from the book by doing what being in the book keeps you from doing. Let's read it again, see if you see that. "All who dwell on the earth will worship it," all of them, everyone whose name has not been written. So, if your name has been written, you won't worship the beast. So, you can't say, "Well, I guess if I worship the beast, I'll be blotted out," no. If you're written, you won't worship the beast. Let's see it again in chapter 17. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottom of the spit and go to destruction and the dwellers on the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. So, there they are, whose names have not been written will marvel to whom marvels at the beast who's blown away and impressed and bowing and scraping and considering him amazing and wanting to be like him and follow him. Who are those people, people who have not had their names written in the book of the life from the foundation of the world. So, again, you can't say, "Well, I guess if I wind up marveling at the beast, I guess those who marvel at the beast get their names blotted out," no. If you marvel at the beast, you weren't written there because it says those whose names have not been written there marvel. And if your name is written there, you won't marvel at the beast. So, worshiping the beast does not get you blotted out. Being written in keeps you from worshiping the beast. This is just so crucial because there are a lot of people who take the doctrine of eternal security, which is what's being described here. And they say, "Well, if I'm eternally secure, then do whatever I want. I can worship the beast." And this text says, "Look, if you worship the beast, your name was not written in the book." But if your name is in the book, it has a profound effect on you, which goes back to the first text we looked at, those works written in the books are going to confirm that your name is written in the book, your sins are covered by the blood, which is then no surprise when we hear Jesus say in Luke 10, "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, don't rejoice that you can cast out demons, rejoice that your names are written in heaven, because therein lies your whole security." And security, not just from going to hell, but from doing the things that send you to hell like worship the beast. [music] You
When you come across an important word or phrase in your reading, stop to search for other uses of that same word or phrase. In this lab, John Piper briefly looks at six different verses to better understand the Book of Life.