Name Not Blotted Out7 min read

Name Not Blotted Out7 min read

‘The name not blotted out’ is a bible article that could raise a storm in the Christian world. If you are not interested in what the bible teaches, then please give this article a miss and enjoy all the other articles on Whispering Encouragement.

Name Not Blotted Out Controversy

Globally, the church teaches that “Your name is written in the Book of Life, when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour”. I have felt for some time that this is contrary to what is written in the bible, despite the danger of raising a lot of hackles.

Finally, I have taken the plunge and am writing what appears to be the reality. We are in what is called the Knowledge Tsunami,  so we need to check our facts, heedless of what the majority believe. Stay with me and I will try to explain it is the simplest terms.

What is the Book of Life?

In Christianity and Judaism The Book of Life is the book in which God records the names of every person who is destined for Heaven in the World to Come. This book is mentioned in Psalm 139:16. It refers to God’s omniscience, (all knowledge), ‘Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.’

God knew us before we were even a twinkle in our father’s eye. This is reflected in a statement from Jesus in Luke 12:7. ‘Even the very hairs of your head have all been numbered.’

Name not Blotted out of Book of Life

The Book of Life is mentioned seven times in the Book of Revelation: 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 20:15, 21:27, 22:19.

Rev 3:5 reads: ‘The one who is victorious will be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life. I will confess that name before my Father and his angels.”

The name of overcomers will not be removed from the Book of Life. It has to be written there, before it can be blotted out. Rev 17:8 shows that names were written in the book before the foundation of the world, just as Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

Antichrist Rule

Rev 13:8 comes from a totally different angle. It is talking about the time when the Antichrist, who blasphemes the name of God and all who follow God. He will have great authority and all that dwell on the earth will worship him. ‘Their names will not be written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.’

Rev 17:8 also speaks about people living on earth during the period of the Great Tribulation that is to be poured out upon the earth. ‘Their names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.’

There has long been much speculation about who the Antichrist is. If, as many believe, we are already in the end of this age the Antichrist has to be someone who is already living. Who it is, I have not got a clue and it is something no one agrees about.

God’s Judgement

Let’s pause here for a moment and dig a little deeper. The Christian world is waiting for the next great event known as the Rapture. This is based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, along with all saints who have ever lived, will be resurrected, and ‘snatched away’. This will make way for God’s righteous judgement to be poured out on the earth, in the Tribulation period, or the Apocalypse.

These events take place at the End of an Age. The movie Left Behind may have made great entertainment, but it only got a tiny fraction of the story right. The Antichrist will rule with a rod of iron and things will get pretty tough, but many believe the Rapture will take place before this happens.

However, there is also much argument about whether the Rapture is pre-Tribulation, mid-Tribulation or post-Tribulation. Also, the length of the Tribulation is debated. It is either three and a half years or seven years. I personally opt for the three-and-half years, which is mentioned 15 times in book of Revelation.

This is another of my pet queries, as I feel the seven-year theory is based on only one verse in the book of Daniel. But, that is topic I don’t really feel is worth arguing about. Judgement is coming, and in many ways I see the ‘entree’ is already happening,

God as Judge and Jury

Whatever anyone believes about the coming rapture and the tribulation, God is a God of judgement. In the Old Testament, when Israel turned away from God, He caused the nation to go into 70 years of Babylonian captivity because of their disobedience to His laws. They had failed to observe 70 Sabbath years. A Sabbath year was when the land was to be left to rest after six years of cultivation.

However, Israel is the only nation in history to be ‘reborn’. The Medes and Persian, the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian and Roman Empires all disappeared, never to resurface. 1948 saw the rebirth of the nation Israel, as was predicted thousands of years ago by the Old Testament prophets. So, God will judge the people of this world who thumb their noses at the belief in a loving Heavenly Father. He provided the way of salvation for all mankind, in an old wooden cross.

The Books

Revelation 20:12-15 is speaking of a great white throne judgement that takes place at the close of the Millennium. Following the tribulation, Christ returns with His people and reigns on earth in total peace, from the New Jerusalem, for 1000 years.

At the end of the Millennium, all the ungodly who have died throughout time, will be resurrected and stand before God. ‘And the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things, which were written in the books, according to their works.’

At that point, their names will have been blotted out of the Book of Life. They will be judged because there is a gap where their name was.

New Heaven and New Earth

If you only read one chapter in the Bible, read Revelation 21. It is the eternal promise of all things new. Something we can hardly comprehend from where we sit right now. Revelation 21:1 ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.’

It goes on to speak about the New Jerusalem. Rev 21:27: Nothing shall enter the city that is defiled, Only ‘They which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.’

Name Blotted Out

To have a name blotted out, means that the name was written there in the first place. Does that mean that every single person’s name has been written in the Book of Life? That is what I see the Bible clearly says, in Rev 17:8.

Those who do not accept Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world and live in unbelief, will have their name blotted out. If that is the case, when a person believes in Christ’s redeeming work at Calvary, their name is already written in the Book of Life. Their name and will never be blotted out. The Church teaches the name is written in at that point. I don’t see it that way as there is special valued placed in a name.

I trust you enjoyed this brief overview and encourage you to do your own research, or write and ask me questions. I will help where I can.

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