What is The Book of Life? WQ&A with Pastor Josiah Shipley

Hello and welcome to Saturday question and answer session with Pastor Josiah Shipley of Witton Baptist Church. Today we have a pre-recorded response to a specific question asked on one of the live Q &A's from a brother at our church named Brother Rodney, and his question was on the book of life.

So today we're going to answer what is the book of life mentioned in the book of Revelation. It was one of those examples where we get a lot of questions in the live interactive question and answer through the comments and we have fun, we're going after it, and I wasn't able to answer this question fully for Brother Rodney before we signed off, so I figured I'd do a video here to try to answer it as succinctly as I can.

The Book of Life in Revelation and Other Biblical Passages

What is the book of life referred to in the book of Revelation? So first off, I do want to let you know, we got to be careful when we find a term in the Bible and then see it somewhere else in the Bible and assume it's talking about the same exact thing in a totally different context, okay?

For example, Psalm 69, 28, where David, talking about his enemies, says let them be blotted out of the book of the living, I do not believe that is the same book of life referred to in Revelation. I believe this is talking about those who are alive now.

Let them be killed, basically. This is called an imprecatory psalm. We can talk more about these later, but my point is only that I don't think Psalm 69, 28, or even Exodus 32, 33, and some of these other passages are referring to the same book of life in the book of Revelation.

Others may. You know, Daniel 12, you can make a strong argument for. Others like that. But since the question, because I always want to make sure that I don't go off on some tangent. I want to answer the question asked directly of me.

That's my job. The question Brother Rodney asked was the book of life referred to in Revelation, and he was specifically talking about chapter 20, but what I want to do is walk through the book of Revelation and show you what the book of life is, and thereby what it is not.

Okay? First, here we go. Remember the book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John. It is a later book, probably written in the 90s when he was exiled on the island of Patmos and he was the last living apostle.

So here we go. We're going to show some passages in Revelation and answer that question, and then show you one or two others from Luke and Philippians. So here we go. Let's start in Revelation chapter 3, verse 5.

This is in the letters to the churches. This is at the church of Sardis. Revelation 3, 5. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, Christ's righteousness by the way. But anyway, the one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.

I will confess his name before my Father and before angels. Amazingly, some people, and this is silly guys, I don't mean to be mean, but this is silly. Some people take this and say, see, you can lose your salvation.

Your name can be blotted out of the book of life. But it says the exact opposite of that. Listen again. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.

This is just like in the Gospel of John, which by the way, John wrote that too. No one will snatch them out of my hands. My sheep are in the Father's hands. They are in my hands. No one will ever snatch them out of my hands.

How can you be more clear than that? I will never blot his name out of the book of life. So for anyone that may want to use this as a verse for losing your salvation, I'm sorry, but it says the exact opposite.

I will never. What does never mean? Never. I'll never blot their name out of the book of life. Okay. There's the first one. Let's keep going. We're going to do these rapid fire, because these are fun.

Let's go over to Revelation 13 .8. And Brother Rodney, we're going to keep talking about the book of life. This is for you, Brother. Revelation 13 .8, starting in verse 7. Also it, that is the beast, was allowed to make war on the saints and conquer them, and authority was given to it over every tribe and people and language and nation.

And all who dwell on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of the life of the lamb who was slain. Let's do that again. And all who dwell on the earth will worship it, that is the beast, the antichrist.

All will worship it except everyone whose name, I'm sorry, everyone who worship everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life. So follow my logic here.

Look at this verse yourself. Everyone whose name is not written in the book of the life before the foundation world will worship the beast. Doesn't that imply that everyone's name who is written from the foundation of the world in the Lamb's book of life will not worship the beast?

You see that? So everyone who worships the beast, the antichrist, their names were never written in the book of life. It's not that they were blotted out. They were never written. Look when they were written.

They were written down before the foundation of the world. God wasn't surprised and won't be surprised when people worship the antichrist. He won't be surprised. The Holy Trinity has never been surprised.

All who dwell on the earth will worship it, that is the beast. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who was slain. The Bible says the whole world will worship it except those whose name was written before the foundation of the world in the book of life.

You want to talk about eternal security? Notice your name was written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. It's His book by the way. Well who's the Lamb? Jesus. And their names were recorded before the foundation of the world.

Isn't that completely consistent with Ephesians 1? He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. Remember we love Him because He first loved us while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

So what is the book of life? Well it is a recording of if you want to call it God's elect. It's a recording of all those who will come to faith. Remember God knows all who ever believe. So it is a recording and you can think of it a literal book if you want to but it is a roll call, a recording of all those who ever believe and it was written before the foundation of the world.

No one's names is getting erased or added to it. It was fixed before the foundation of the world. He said I will not blot out their names in chapter 3 verse 5. Continuing, chapter 17 verse 8. This is Revelation 17 8.

The Bible is consistent. It doesn't contradict itself. It's saying the same thing over and over. Revelation 17 8. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast.

Listen again. It said the exact same thing guys. The Bible is consistent. The people who live on earth, the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast.

Will marvel. Will worship. Will view in awe and majesty. So those whose names have been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will not marvel, worship, majesty, awe at the beast.

See how consistent that is? Guys anyone, anyone with the Holy Spirit inside of them can read this and understand. Just with a little effort, a little sanctification, a little work. So again, all the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the earth will marvel to see the beast, which means, implies all those whose names have not been written, I mean have been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, again from the foundation of the world.

No one's name is getting added or blotted out. It's fixed from the foundation of the world. God knows all who ever believe. He knows all who will persevere. God, God knows all. He doesn't get surprised.

He goes, oh let me erase that one. Hey Michael, can I have some white out? I didn't know he was going to worship the beast. Let me white his name out. No. God has never been surprised. Continuing. Revelation 20.

I believe this is the passage Brother Rodney asked specifically about, but it says the same thing. Revelation 20. Let's do 11 through 15. 11 through 15. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.

From his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. It's after the resurrection, right? And books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.

Here we go. The book of life. And the dead were judged according to what was written in the books. According to what they had done. And the sea gave up their dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up their dead who were in them, and they were judged, each of them according to what they had done.

Excuse me. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown in the lake of fire.

Guys. Same thing. Anyone whose name is not in the book of life was thrown in the lake of fire. Now, of course, we all will be judged. There is a judgment of our works. That is what the reward system in heaven is, and the severe punishment of hell is.

And the Bible's not super clear about what those different punishments in hell will look like. We just know they're there. That's what Jesus said to Teresa and Capernaum. If the works that had been done among you had been done in Sodom, for example, they would have repented.

So on that day, your judgment, your condemnation will be greater than theirs. And we know that there are certain rewards, certain crowns, things like that for rewards in heaven, but we're not talking about for eternal life itself.

So we'll be judged for what, yes, we will be judged for what we did with the time God gave us and the gifts, skills, and talents He gave us and what we did with that, but not our eternal judgment, not our eternal destiny.

That is fixed from the foundation of the world. This is talking about the rewards and punishment systems in heaven and hell. Anyone's name who is not found written in the book of life, for stone in the lake of fire.

Guys, it's real simple. There's no purgatory. There's no soul sleep. There's no lost in space. There's no middle ground trapped. It's heaven and hell. Those will be eternal destinies. Heaven and hell.

If your name is in the book of life, by God's grace, it's heaven. If your name is not in the book of life, by God's righteous judgment, it's hell. Remember, every one of us deserve hell, and guys, this is something some people don't like to hear, but it's true.

Every one of us, including myself, deserve hell. We have all turned away, every one of us. Every one of us, given the choice between God and sin, every human being on this planet chose sin. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his unfailing love he had for us, made us alive even though we were dead in sin.

For all who call on the name of the Lord, Lord shall be saved. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. For the wages of sin is death, but the gifted God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

He saved us, not through works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the washing and renewal and regeneration of the Holy Spirit. I know there's a lot of verses there, but my point is this, the Bible is completely consistent all the way through, through a bunch of different writers, thousands of years, the Bible is consistent.

Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. He showed that belief through obedience. That's why faith without works is dead, it's not real, it's a fake faith, it's a false faith.

But Abraham believed God, it was shown through his obedience, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Paul believed God, it was shown, his works showed his real faith, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

All down the line, I am no super Christian, I am just a dude, just like anyone else. The same Spirit of God that's in me is the same Spirit of God that's in everyone else. But I believe God, not because I'm super humble, not because I'm super obedient, I believe God because of God's grace.

He's revealed him to me, and I call him in the name of the Lord just like everyone else who's a true believer. That's why I know I'm saved, because I trust and I know who I have believed, and I am persuaded that he's able, not me, he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.

The book of life is a roll call of God's elect, of God's people, of all who will ever believe, of all Christians, of all who are ever going to be saved, let me say it a million different ways, written before the foundation of the world, guys.

Nothing is added or taken away. Revelation 21, 27, but nothing unclean will enter it, talking about heaven, the city, New Jerusalem, nor anyone who does what is the testable false, anyone who practices what is the testable false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Guys, it is his book. It's his book. It's Jesus' book. This is what Titus says, Titus chapter 2, 11 through 14, he purchased with his own blood a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Guys, if you're a Christian, your name is written in the book of life. It wasn't added when you were converted. Let me say that again. Your name, and sometimes preachers say this and it's not true, your name was not written down in the book of life the day you got saved, because you were saved before the foundation of the world.

Your conversion, when you were regenerated, your conversion was your realization of who the real Lord is, and the Holy Spirit coming on you and changing your life, but your name was written before the foundation of the world.

How beautiful is that? A couple more texts to prove that will be done. So there is the book of life in Revelation, so I hope I answered that clearly. It is a roll call, it is a collection of all the names of all those who ever believed, God's elect, God's chosen people.

Names Written in Heaven and the Book of Life

Philippians 4, 3, Paul is correcting two ladies at the church of Philippi who are arguing and causing division, and even though they're arguing and causing division, and yes, sinning, and sinning publicly, Paul still says this in verse 3.

Yes, I ask you, true companion, loyal, zizigous, fellow yokemen, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

You know why their names are in the book of life? Not because they're perfect, they're sinning right now, because they're believers. And Paul realized their names were in the book of life because they were believers.

Their names weren't added when they believed, their names were written before the foundation of the world. Finally, Luke 10, 20. I'll leave you with this. Luke chapter 10, verse 20. Some of the disciples, when I say disciples, I don't mean the 12, I mean followers of Jesus.

The 72, returned and were praising and happy because even demons had to obey them because they were speaking in the name of Jesus. And Jesus said, nevertheless, don't rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Guys, you can know, not think, know your name is written in heaven. It has been written since before the foundation of the world because God said, I will never blot your name out.

I will never cast you out. I hope this answered your question. I hope this helps. I love you all. Continue to pray for our ministry. Like and subscribe on YouTube and Facebook. Always send more questions through the inbox on Facebook or text them directly to me.

When we do these pre-recorded videos, the idea is to give a more expounded, slower, more in-depth answer to individual questions. That's the idea. So if you like this and you want more of this, ask a specific question, we can get to it in this way.

Again, this is Pastor Josiah with Wynton Baptist Church on Saturday Question Answer. I hope you enjoyed this. Love you all. God bless.