A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 72
Would God Really Blot Names Out of the Book of Life?
There are many pastors and teachers who assure the people in their congregations that all they have to do to ensure eternal salvation is to say a few words in a prayer. These people are led to believe that after they pray the “sinner’s prayer” and are baptized, then they can live their lives in any way they choose and still go to Heaven when they die.
Does the Bible really teach that?
When we read more carefully, the Bible seems to contradict that. There must be true repentance, turning away from sin permanently. Otherwise, our sins are not forgiven.
“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.”—Hebrews 10:26-27 (NLT)
And what about these conditions that Jesus gave us?
“But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”—Matthew 6:15 (NLT)
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day [when I judge them], ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many miracles in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me [you are banished from My presence], you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].’”—Matthew 7:21-23 (AMP)
Jude solemnly warns us not to take salvation for granted. God’s grace is not a license to sin.
“For certain people have crept in unnoticed [just as if they were sneaking in by a side door]. They are ungodly persons whose condemnation was predicted long ago, for they distort the grace of our God into decadence and immoral freedom [viewing it as an opportunity to do whatever they want], and deny and disown our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
“Now I want to remind you, although you are fully informed once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe [who refused to trust and obey and rely on Him]. And angels who did not keep their own designated place of power, but abandoned their proper dwelling place, [these] He has kept in eternal chains under [the thick gloom of utter] darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the adjacent cities, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in gross immoral freedom and unnatural vice and sensual perversity. They are exhibited [in plain sight] as an example in undergoing the punishment of everlasting fire.”—Jude 4-7 (AMP)
Similarly, we are exhorted by the writer of Hebrews:
“Since all this is true, we ought to pay much closer attention than ever to the truths that we have heard, lest in any way we drift past [them] and slip away.
“For if the message given through angels [the Law spoken by them to Moses] was authentic and proved sure, and every violation and disobedience received an appropriate (just and adequate) penalty,
“How shall we escape [appropriate retribution] if we neglect and refuse to pay attention to such a great salvation [as is now offered to us, letting it drift past us forever]?”—Hebrews 2:1-3 (AMPC)
Even the apostle Paul recognized that it would be a grave mistake to take what God had given him for granted.
“but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”—1 Corinthians 9:27 (NASB)
Many churches believe in a “once saved, always saved” doctrine, but a careful examination of the fruit of this doctrine should be enough to assure us that this is a false doctrine.
What fruit does this doctrine produce in those who believe it?
Many people who are led to believe in this “once saved, always saved” doctrine conclude that, after they say the “sinner’s prayer” and profess faith in Jesus Christ, then they can live their lives in any way they choose, and their salvation will still be secure.
This tends to produce a bunch of immature, carnal Christians who never grow to become true disciples of Christ. They tend to have no real interest in diligently keeping the commandments of Christ, proving that they have no sincere love for God.
“If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.”—John 14:15 (AMP)
These people become some of the “thorny ground” Christians whom Jesus accurately describes in His parable of the Sower.
“And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word; Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.”—Mark 4:18-19 (AMPC)
Jesus told us that we would be able to recognize false prophets by their fruit, and the fruit of this false doctrine is rotten.
Those who place their eternal security in the “once saved, always saved” doctrine might not be as secure as they believe.
We must remember the words of Jesus to the Laodicean Christians who are so disgusting to the Lord that, rather than welcoming them into Heaven with open arms, He vomits them out of His mouth.
“‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold (invigorating, refreshing) nor hot (healing, therapeutic); I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust].”—Revelation 3:15-16 (AMP)
We must also remember the words of Jesus telling us that there will be children of God who will be cast into outer darkness.
“And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”—Matthew 8:11-12 (NASB)
This was the fate of the man who came to the royal wedding without preparing himself by being clothed in a suitable wedding garment.
“So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”—Matthew 22:12-14 (NKJV)
This is the fate of the servant in the parable of the talents who did nothing with what His Lord gave him. He was called “lazy” and “wicked” by the Master, and then bound and cast into outer darkness.
“Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”—Matthew 25:30 (NLT)
This man was a servant of the Master, just like the other two servants who were promoted, and yet, this servant was cast into outer darkness.
Who Will be Blotted Out?
Outer Darkness does not seem to be clearly defined in Scripture. We’re not sure exactly what that means, but the fate of those whose names are blotted out of the Book of Life seems to be very clear.
“And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”—Revelation 20:15 (NKJV)
What would cause someone’s name to be blotted out of the Book of Life?
God first mentions blotting people’s names out of His book in Exodus chapter 32:
“So Moses returned to the Lord, and said, Oh, these people have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold!
“Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book which You have written!
“But the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him [not you] out of My book.”—Exodus 32:31-33 (AMPC)
Here God says that He will blot out of His book whoever has sinned against Him. But what had these people done? Every sin did not provoke this kind of response from the Lord. What sin was so grievous to the Lord that He would blot their names out of His book?
They had rejected Him and His commandments. They had denied the Lord who delivered them. They had betrayed Him and had given their love and devotion to other things, worshiping idols instead of the One True God.
“They’ve already abandoned the path that I commanded. They have made a metal bull calf for themselves. They’ve bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it and declared, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”— Exodus 32:8 (CEB)
This seems to be the sin that would cause someone to be in danger of having their name blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life.
But, just to ease any anxiety that we may be feeling about this, our names would not be blotted out of the Book of Life for just having thoughts that question God, or having curiosity about other religions, or interests in other things in life.
This sin is a deliberate, conscious choice with determination to abandon faith in Jesus Christ and to give our love and devotion to other things, making them our gods.
The Tragedy of Judas
When Jesus said to his disciples, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20 NKJV), Judas was there with them. He evidently ministered healing and deliverance with the other disciples. He participated with them in everything they did. None of the other disciples suspected that he would betray Jesus. And he seems to be included with those whom Jesus said had their names written in Heaven.
But then Judas abandoned Jesus. He turned against Jesus, rejecting Him and betraying Him.
In Acts chapter 1, Peter stood up and spoke about replacing Judas among the twelve apostles. In his speech, he quoted from Psalm 109. He quoted verse 8, which says, “May his days be few; may another take his office!” As we read further in that Psalm, verse 13 says, “May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation!”
If Judas’ name was one of those written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, then his name will surely be one of those blotted out. As Jesus said:
“For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”—Mark 14:21 (NLT)
Betrayal, denial, rejection, and abandonment. These seem to be the sins against the Lord which would put Christians in danger of having their names blotted out of the Book of Life.
Even in His promise to the Overcomer, Jesus seems to give us a clue about this.
“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”—Revelation 3:5 (NKJV)
Not having his name blotted out of the Book of Life is connected here with Jesus confessing his name before His Father. This seems to be a reference to Matthew 10:32-33, in which Jesus tells us:
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” (NKJV)
So, if Jesus confesses their name, then their names will not be blotted out of the Book of Life. But, if Jesus denies them, then *they may have their names blotted out. *
And what causes Jesus to deny them? Jesus will deny them if they deny Him.
That seems to be key.
If a person denies Christ, abandons the faith, and turns to other loves or other interests, elevating them to the status of gods in their lives, then that person may be in danger of having his name blotted out of the Book of Life. (Remember that we can make anything an idol by giving it a place of devotion and importance in our lives that should be reserved for God alone.)
But this would not be a casual, momentary emotional act to reject Jesus. This would have to be a deliberate, conscious lifestyle decision. This would be a permanent abandonment of Jesus and the Christian faith.
Peter denied Jesus three times, but he was forgiven and restored to his position as an apostle of the faith.
Why was his name not blotted out?
Peter was forgiven and restored because his denials were made in a highly emotional moment in which he felt intense pressure and probably feared for his life.
But after the moment passed, he deeply regretted what he had done. He repented for his actions with deep sorrow, and he was forgiven.
Rejecting Jesus and His Commands
Those who are in danger of having their names blotted out of the Book of Life are those who have received the Truth of the Gospel but later abandon the Truth and fall away from the faith, having no intention of returning to Jesus or of following His commands.
These are the “stony ground” Christians that Jesus described in His parable of the Sower.
“And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy; And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away.”—Mark 4:16-17 (AMPC)
Those who fall away from the faith, ultimately rejecting Jesus and Christianity, are in danger of possibly having their names blotted out of the Book of Life.
These people are represented by Orpah, Ruth’s sister-in-law, who abandoned her journey with the people of God and turned back to her old lifestyle and turned to other gods.
“Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [goodbye], but Ruth clung to her.
“Then Naomi said, ‘Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods’”—Ruth 1:14-15 (AMP)
The writer of Hebrews tells us this:
“For [it is impossible to restore to repentance] those who have once been enlightened [spiritually] and who have tasted and consciously experienced the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted and consciously experienced the good word of God and the powers of the age (world) to come, and then have fallen away—it is impossible to bring them back again to repentance, since they again nail the Son of God on the cross [for as far as they are concerned, they are treating the death of Christ as if they were not saved by it], and are holding Him up again to public disgrace.”—Hebrews 6:4-6 (AMP)
Psalm 69 prophetically speaks of those people of God who rejected Jesus and finally murdered Him on the cross at Calvary:
“They also gave me a bitter herb in my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. May their table before them become a snare; And when they are at peace, may it become a trap. May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, And make their hips shake continually. Pour out Your indignation on them, And may Your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be desolated; May there be none living in their tents. For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself struck, And they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded. Add guilt to their guilt, And may they not come into Your righteousness. May they be wiped out of the book of life, And may they not be recorded with the righteous.” —Psalm 69:21-28 (NASB)
**Taking Away from the Book **
There is one other sin in particular that can cause someone’s name to be blotted out of the Book of Life. That is to deliberately remove or distort the words of the book of Revelation with the intent to deceive people or to change the message that God intended.
“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”—Revelation 22:18-19 (NKJV)
In conclusion, there are many verses that describe God’s willingness to blot out our sins and forgive us when we repent and turn to Him. If we do not have our sins blotted out, we may be in danger of having our names blotted out forever.
“I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”—Isaiah 44:22 (NKJV)
“Therefore, repent and turn to him to have your sins blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and so that he may send you Jesus, whom he appointed long ago to be the Messiah.”—Acts 3:19-20 (ISV)
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