Can I Be Blotted from the Book of Life?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - We have electronic mail from listener Charles Dazel
00:00:08.640 | in South Africa.
00:00:09.560 | Pastor John, I love listening to the podcast each day.
00:00:12.440 | If I'm correct, the Bible mentions the phrase,
00:00:15.520 | the book of life about 14 times.
00:00:17.960 | And quite a few of those passages
00:00:19.760 | mention getting blotted out of the book of life.
00:00:24.280 | How does this not mean losing your salvation?
00:00:27.640 | What would you say, Pastor John, to Charles?
00:00:30.400 | - When it comes to the doctrine of eternal security
00:00:35.240 | or perseverance of the saints,
00:00:38.580 | we need to speak with precision.
00:00:42.120 | And I think it's not quite precise to say, as Charles does,
00:00:47.120 | in quite a few of the scriptures,
00:00:50.240 | it mentions you can be blotted out of the book of life.
00:00:55.480 | I don't think it ever says you can be blotted out,
00:01:00.480 | at least not in the sense that sometimes God does it.
00:01:05.120 | It says we will be blotted out
00:01:10.960 | if we fail to meet certain conditions.
00:01:14.280 | Now, whether that ever happens
00:01:17.860 | or in God's sovereignty can happen is another question.
00:01:23.900 | I don't think so, and let me try to show why.
00:01:27.620 | The book of Revelation is the book
00:01:33.000 | that refers to this most often,
00:01:35.840 | and it's the book that has the text
00:01:38.360 | that sounds most problematical, I think.
00:01:42.200 | So Revelation 3:5 says,
00:01:46.280 | "He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments,
00:01:51.800 | and I will not erase his name from the book of life,
00:01:56.660 | and I will confess his name before my Father and his angels."
00:02:00.460 | Now, some say, "Well, that's a foolproof text
00:02:04.140 | against the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints
00:02:07.220 | or eternal security."
00:02:08.980 | They assume that when Revelation 3:5 says
00:02:12.460 | that God will not erase a person's name
00:02:15.980 | from the book of life,
00:02:17.180 | it implies that he does erase some people
00:02:20.660 | from the book of life,
00:02:22.920 | and that these people would once be born again,
00:02:26.120 | justified, saved, and nevertheless, in the end,
00:02:30.360 | condemned, lost, perish.
00:02:33.280 | In other words, they lose their salvation
00:02:36.440 | on that reading of that verse.
00:02:38.900 | But is that a true assumption?
00:02:42.160 | The promise, "I will not erase his name
00:02:45.680 | from the book of life,"
00:02:47.600 | does not necessarily imply
00:02:50.720 | that some do have their names erased.
00:02:53.880 | It simply says to the one who is in the book
00:02:58.120 | and who conquers in faith,
00:03:00.800 | "I will never wipe your name out."
00:03:03.380 | In other words, being erased is a fearful prospect,
00:03:08.280 | which I will not allow to happen to those who persevere.
00:03:12.820 | In fact, there are two other passages in Revelation
00:03:17.820 | that teach that to have your name in the book of life
00:03:23.280 | means that you will most definitely persevere and conquer
00:03:28.300 | and thus meet the condition not to be blotted out.
00:03:31.700 | For example, Revelation 13:8 says this,
00:03:36.460 | "And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast.
00:03:41.520 | Everyone whose name has not been written
00:03:46.040 | from the foundation of the world
00:03:48.380 | in the book of the life of the Lamb who was slain."
00:03:50.840 | Now, that verse teaches that those whose names are written
00:03:55.840 | in the book of life
00:03:58.380 | definitely will not worship the beast.
00:04:03.160 | That's what it says.
00:04:04.000 | In other words, having your name in the book of life
00:04:07.820 | from the foundation of the world
00:04:09.460 | means God will keep you from falling.
00:04:14.460 | He will cause you to persevere in allegiance to God.
00:04:18.680 | Being in the book means you will not apostatize.
00:04:23.680 | You'll not forsake the faith.
00:04:25.960 | Same point in Revelation 17, 8.
00:04:29.420 | The beast, this is what it says,
00:04:31.180 | the beast that you saw was and is not
00:04:36.180 | and is about to come up out of the abyss
00:04:39.000 | and go to destruction.
00:04:40.900 | And those who dwell on the earth
00:04:43.480 | whose names have not been written in the book of life
00:04:48.480 | from the foundation of the world
00:04:50.460 | will marvel when they see the beast
00:04:53.820 | that was and is and will come.
00:04:56.880 | Now, that means having your name in the book of life
00:05:00.440 | means you will be kept from marveling at the beast.
00:05:04.720 | Those whose names are not written in the book
00:05:07.960 | will marvel at the beast
00:05:10.400 | and those whose names are in the book will not marvel.
00:05:14.640 | It's infallible as far as the way this author is arguing.
00:05:18.600 | To have your name in the book means you won't marvel,
00:05:21.620 | you won't worship.
00:05:23.640 | So the point is that having one's name
00:05:27.640 | written in the book is effective.
00:05:31.300 | It keeps you from making shipwreck of your faith.
00:05:35.800 | John does not say, if you worship the beast,
00:05:40.360 | your name is erased.
00:05:42.720 | He says, if your name is in the book,
00:05:47.120 | you will not worship the beast.
00:05:49.720 | Now, back to 3.5, Revelation 3.5.
00:05:53.520 | He who overcomes, I will not erase his name
00:05:58.520 | from the book of life.
00:06:00.480 | Does that mean God erases some people?
00:06:04.740 | No, the conquering that keeps you from being erased
00:06:09.740 | is guaranteed by being in the book.
00:06:14.480 | That's the point of 13.8 and 17.8.
00:06:18.360 | Being in the book keeps you from doing
00:06:21.520 | what would get you erased from the book if you did it.
00:06:24.000 | - Amen, yes.
00:06:25.280 | - And say that again.
00:06:27.020 | Being in the book, having your name in the book
00:06:30.400 | keeps you from doing, like worshiping the beast,
00:06:34.280 | keeps you from doing what would get you erased
00:06:37.640 | from the book if you did it.
00:06:39.200 | And that's not a contradiction
00:06:43.000 | any more than the way Paul is a contradiction
00:06:45.880 | when he says, work out your salvation,
00:06:49.760 | for God is at work in you to will
00:06:52.560 | and to do his good pleasure.
00:06:54.240 | Philippians 2.
00:06:55.940 | It's not nonsense to state the condition,
00:07:00.160 | if you conquer, God will not erase your name.
00:07:04.280 | And then to state the assurance,
00:07:07.680 | if your name is in the book, you will conquer.
00:07:10.440 | That's not a contradiction.
00:07:12.400 | God's written down ones really must conquer,
00:07:17.400 | really will conquer.
00:07:19.320 | They must and they will.
00:07:20.640 | One side highlights responsibility, you must,
00:07:23.440 | and one side highlights God's sovereignty, you will.
00:07:26.780 | So the message for us is, I think,
00:07:30.100 | never, never, never be cavalier or trifling
00:07:35.100 | about your perseverance.
00:07:37.580 | God uses real warnings to keep us vigilant
00:07:42.380 | and to keep us persevering.
00:07:44.140 | We are safe, but we are not careless.
00:07:49.140 | That's the point.
00:07:50.380 | Press on to make salvation your own, as Paul says,
00:07:55.920 | because Christ has made you his own.
00:07:59.400 | Safe, but not careless.
00:08:00.840 | Well said, Pastor John, thank you.
00:08:02.420 | And we'd love to hear from our international audience,
00:08:04.760 | like Charles in South Africa.
00:08:06.740 | And to send us a concise question of your own,
00:08:09.460 | like this one, go to our online home
00:08:11.860 | at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn
00:08:15.180 | and click on the button that says, submit a question.
00:08:18.460 | Well, we're back tomorrow and we're gonna look
00:08:19.860 | at how the gospel of Jesus Christ sensitizes us
00:08:23.000 | to life in this world,
00:08:24.260 | so that we can discern the manifold experiences
00:08:27.780 | of this life.
00:08:28.620 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:08:29.860 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast
00:08:32.260 | with John Piper, and we'll see you tomorrow.
00:08:34.460 | (upbeat music)
00:08:37.040 | (upbeat music)
00:08:39.620 | [BLANK_AUDIO]