The Book of Life
Are Names Added, or Blotted Out?
Chapter 38 Preview: Why is it that the Bible never mentions someone having their name ADDED to The Book of Life? Why is it that the Bible only mention people having their names BLOTTED OUT of that precious book? People ASSUME that the Bible says: “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will ADD his name to the Book of Life”! This chapter makes the arguments about “predestination” irrelevant since we can know that Elohim (God) has predestined that all of us would be winners in the “game of life” if we simply play by the rules! The later part of this chapter goes beyond just having your name recorded in heaven. It covers what is required to actually be present in the coming Everlasting Kingdom.
The following verse illustrates a key point concerning the Book of Life. This would be the ideal place to mention that your name could be added to the Book of Life—yet instead we see that it is already there!
Revelation 3:5 Anyone who is victorious will wear white clothes, and I WONT BLOT THEIR NAMES FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE. I’ll acknowledge their names before My Father and before His Messengers.
This passage adds an interesting perspective to all of those passages telling us to “confess” Yeshua (Jesus)! Yeshua will confess us!
Revelation 17:8 The ravenous beast that you saw who was, and is not, is ‘destined’ to reascend before long from the bottomless pit and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth will be amazed (everyone WHOSE NAMES ARE NOT WRITTEN IN THE SMALL BOOK OF LIFE that was written from the creation of the world), when they see the ravenous beast that was, and is not, and yet is to come [1].
[1] This verse is a close paraphrase of the Weymouth. Weymouth seems to be the only translator who understood the context—that it doesn’t contradict the other verses about the Book of Life. (Everyone’s name is in the Book of Life, unless or until it is ‘erased’.) The Weymouth was freshly translated from the Greek in the nineteenth century, without reference to previous versions. It wasn’t simply a revision of the Tyndale, as virtually every other Greek translation appears to be.—The Gabriel Bible
Their names have been removed:
Psalm 9:5 You’ve reprimand the nations. You have DESTROYED the wicked. You have BLOTTED OUT THEIR NAMES into the unending future!
There is little doubt that “the wicked” once had their names recorded, or their names could not be “blotted out”! The wicked “who dwell on the earth” at this time are separated from the merely unconverted, “the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left”. Father recorded everyone’s name in advance, because He doesn’t want any to perish, but the incorrigibly wicked will have their names deleted! But the sheep and the goats are not who they are being promoted as being. The sheep are not “converted” people! Need proof? Here it is: Are the “Unsaved” Lost?.
Exodus 32:31-33 So Moses returned to Yehovah, and said, “Oh, these people have committed a serious sin. They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will, remove their sin—and if not, then BLOT ME OUT OF THE BOOK that You have written”. 33 Yehovah said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me will be BLOTTED OUT of My book.
Again, the names of the incorrigibly wicked were formerly in the Book of Life, but are being removed daily. These were not converted people whose names were to be blotted out of Father’s book!
A few verses earlier it says:
Verse 22 Aaron said, “Master don’t allow your anger to get hot. You know the people, how they are set on being bad.
Interestingly, we are told exactly when these ancient people will be punished a few verses later. They will receive their reward “on the day when I visit for punishment”.
Verse 34 Now go, lead the people to the place that I told you about. Look, My Messenger will lead you. But on the day when I visit for punishment, I’ll punish them for their sin”.
This is explained fully in Judgment Day—The Last Day.
This timing of punishment is the same timing that Peter mentioned when he spoke of “the day of the Return”. However, Peter admonished the kadishea (saints) to set an “honorable” example, so that some of the “gentiles” who “speak against you as evildoers” may eventually “glorify Father”!
1 Peter 2:11-12 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and foreigners to separate yourselves from all lusts of the body, because they war against your inner selves [psuche (psyche)]. 12 Your behavior should be obviously commendable to everyone, so that those who slander you can see your good behavior and praise YHVH in the day of trial.
David, in a long lamentation about the worthlessness of the wicked said:
Psalm 69:28 Allow them be blotted out of the Book of Life, and not be recorded with the righteous.
The alternative to having your name written in the Book of Life is to have it written in the dust of the earth—“ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, so to speak:
Jeremiah 17:13 Yehovah is the hope of Israel. Everyone who forsakes You will be disappointed and ashamed. Those who abandon You will be recorded in the dirt, because they’ve abandoned Yehovah, the spring of living water.
Philipptians 4:3 I also urge you, my true colleague, to help the women who worked hard with me in proclaiming the Good News, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are [presently] recorded in the BOOK OF LIFE.
As in every age, some of our “fellow workers” will drop out of the race, but as long as they remain faithful, their “names are in the Book of Life”.
Luke 10:20 But don’t be elated because the demons yield to you, rather be elated because your names are recorded in Heaven.
Revelation 20:15 If, after a thoro search, anyone’s name wasn’t found written in the Book of Life, they were thrown into the lake of fire.
The following passage is translated into many translations in a way that implies that some names were never recorded in the Book of Life to begin with. The actual transliteration of the words from Green’s Interlinear Bible are: “And will worship it all those dwelling on the earth of whom not was written the names in the scroll of life ....” Those names “not was written” because they had been removed—as every other account explains—not because they were never there! The KJV correctly says: “ARE not written in the Book of Life”, present tense, as does this:
Revelation 13:7-8 He was given authority over the twelve tribes and every other people, language and nation, and he was ‘allowed’ to wage war with the kadishea, and to ‘conquer’ them. 8 Everyone who lives on earth, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world will worship Him.
The implication is that Father will demand that everyone bow to Him and acknowledge His fairness even if He must break their knees first. The point is not to indicate that Father failed to “give them a chance”, rather, the focus in on the tragedy that many are no longer in the Book.
Revelation 21:27 Nothing Levitically unclean will ever enter it or anyone who performs idolatrous abominations or a liar, only those whose names are registered in the Lamb’s small Book of Life.
You want nothing to do with adding or taking away from the Bible!
Revelation 22:18-19 I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this small book: if anyone adds to them, YHVH will ADD to them the catastrophes [plagues] that are described in this small book [biblion] [4]. 19 If anyone takes words out of the entire book [biblos] of [containing] this prophecy, YHVH will TAKE AWAY their destiny from the Tree of Life, and from the dedicated city described in this small book.
[4] They’ll actually experience the Day of Yehovah, (the Day of the Lord)!
This penalty apparently applies not only to the translators who deliberately changed some of Father’s word, but also to those who deliberately misrepresent Father’s thoughts in their sermons and conversations.
A careful reading of Psalm 139 indicates that every part of our bodies has been recorded in Father’s book, before we were even conceived! This is a bit awkwardly written, but upon examination we can understand that in addition to our names being written in a book in heaven, and the number of hairs on our heads counted—Father has even recorded information about our genetic profiles before we were conceived! Apparently He then plays an active part in our conception and birth. Father obviously “booked” us prior to our conversion—right? Certainly He can determine who the goats are, with foreknowledge as amazing as that, especially after He has witnessed our “works” for years.
Psalm 139:13-16 You formed my inner being. You protected me in my mother’s womb. 14 I thank You because I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I have a great sense of self awareness. 15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you when I was made, hidden away, skillfully woven together here below on earth. 16 You saw my body developing. The days of my life were pre-recorded in Your book before any of them had taken place.
Nearing the time of the end, many sleeping Believers will blow the dust off of their Bibles and race “to and fro” thru the pages of “the Book” of Daniel. (Shoot implies “eagerly” and “quickly”.) As a result of this, Biblical “knowledge will increase.” This verse is not just about trains and planes and fast cars, nor is it just referring to scientific advancement, it also refers to “the words” and “the book” of Daniel itself being understood, if you consider ALL of verse four! (Dah’-ath can also mean “knowledge” can also mean “discernment, understanding, wisdom”). Contrast this “run to and fro” to the previous situation!
Daniel 12:1-4 AT THAT TIME, Michael will take a stand, the great prince who stands for your ‘countrymen’, and there will be a time of trouble [the great Tribulation], such as there has never been since the first nation up until that time, AND AT THAT TIME [during the “time of the end!”] your people will be rescued, everyone whose names are still found {niphal} recorded in the Book [of Life]. 2 The abundant number of people sleeping in the dust of the earth will awaken, some of them to everlasting life, and the others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 4 But Daniel, keep this message a secret, and put a seal on the book until the time of the end, many will travel around quickly, and knowledge will greatly increase [Hebrew: shoot!]
Amos 8:11-12 The days are coming”, says Adonay Yehovah, “that I’ll send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of Yehovah! 12 They’ll wander from sea to sea, and from the north clear to the east; they’ll quickly run back and forth [Hebrew: shoot] to find the Word of Yehovah, and won’t find it.
Why did Elohim tell us that He gathers information about the unborn? Does Father relish totally useless information or could that information be some of the most precious information He has? Could it be that before the seven thousand years are finished, Father will have recycled all of the “useless genetic information” that was aborted or left on the mountains to die or was passed thru the fire for Moloch. Yeshua Himself was brought into the world via miraculous genetic code transplant! Family planning could be a bit different. Resuming:
Daniel 12:5-13 Then I, Daniel, looked; and there two others standing there. One was on the bank of the river on this side, and one on the other bank of the river. 6 Someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the water of the river, “How long will it be til the end of these amazing events”? 7 I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the water of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by the One who lives forever that it will be for a time, [a year], times [2 years], and half a time [1/2 a year], and when they’ve made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the kadosh people, all of these things will be finished. 8 I heard, but I didn’t understand; then I asked [rephrasing the question], “Master, what will be the outcome of these events?" 9 He said, Go your way, Daniel; BECAUSE THE WORDS ARE SHUT UP AND SEALED UNTIL THE TIME OF THE END. [Daniel’s questions concerning “how long” and “what will be the END of these things” is now no longer a secret!]. 10 Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked will continue to be wicked; and none of the wicked will understand; but those who are wise will understand. 11 From the time that the CONTINUAL BURNT OFFERINGS ARE ABOLISHED, and the ABOMINATION that makes desolate is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 BLESSED is the person who waits, and comes to the 1,335 days. 13 But go your way until the end, because you will remain resting, and arise to your compensation, at the end of the [1,335] days [1].
[1] If you do the math, the resurrection of the just is 75 days after “the time of trouble”, or “the Great Tribulation”.
The whole point that I believe Father has made, by revealing that our names are already written in the Book of Life, is to illustrate the hope that Father has for each of us. Father wants everyone, including unborn children, to keep not only their names engraved in His book, but He expects us to all become His very sons. Father is an optimist; He assumes, until proven otherwise, that we will be “counted worthy to attain that age”!
There is just one point that needs to be considered: “the books”. Two references to “books” being opened on Judgment Day appear in the Bible. Would it make sense for Father to use “mysterious books” to judge mankind with, using esoteric standards? Of course not! The books that we will all be judged by are the Books of the Bible, which reveals all that we need to know before we stand before our Maker!
Revelation 20:12-13 I saw the dead, those of lower status [small] and the highly esteemed [great] standing in front of the throne, and the small books were opened [8], including the small Book of Life. The dead were judged by the things that were written in the books, based on what they had done [9] [or “their works”]. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Sheol gave up the dead in them. Everyone was judged based on what they had done.
[8] This happens in the time frame of Daniel 7:10, as the beasts are biting the dust (verses 11-12). [9] The KJV explains that they were judged “according to their works”, yet the vast majority of Christian teachers teach that “works” don’t matter at all on Judgment Day!
Daniel 7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.
Mastering these books, and applying them to your daily personal interactions is the best way to keep your name written in the Book of Life!
Chapter 39 is Seven Things That Elohim (Father) Loves
