The Book of Life may be the most critical book, as it relates to our ultimate judgment because, as God’s Word declares, anyone whose name is not written in this Book of Life will be forever lost—cast into a lake of fire. Whether our names are written in this book or not will be the primary decisive factor in determining our eternal destiny.
Jesus referred to this in Luke 10:19-20 (NIV):
“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Throughout the Bible, the Book of Life seems to have a role in determining whether people are aligned with God or with evil.
Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life seem to be susceptible to deception and being led astray to follow a destructive path. In the book of Revelation, we are told that those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will be deceived into following a false Christ at the end of the age:
“And all the inhabitants of the earth will fall down in adoration and pay him homage, everyone whose name has not been recorded in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain [in sacrifice] from the foundation of the world.”—Revelation 13:8 (AMP)
We are also told that those who will be deceived by this Antichrist “beast” also “belong to this world.” Since their names are not written in the Book of Life, they have no access to the wonderful heavenly realms of God.
“The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died.”—Revelation 17:8 (NLT)
Those whose names are written in the book of life are often characterized as being dedicated to God and to His work, as the Apostle Paul described in Philippians 4:3 (AMP):
“My true companion, here is what I ask you to do. Help these women, because they have served at my side. They have worked with me to spread the good news. So have Clement and the rest of those who have worked together with me. Their names are all written in the book of life.”
If our names are written in the Book of Life, we are also given access to heavenly places where others are not allowed:
“The angel carried me away by the Spirit to a very large and high mountain. The angel showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. The city was coming down out of heaven from God.
“The city was shining with the glory of God. It was shining bright like a very expensive jewel, like a jasper. It was clear as crystal.
…
“Nothing unclean will ever enter the city. No one who does shameful things or tells lies will ever enter the city. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter the city.”— Revelation 21:10-27 (ERV)
So how do we get our names written in the Book of Life? We’ll look at that in the next message.
