This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 16: I Will Never Erase His Name: Revelation 3:5.

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… In the same way, the one who conquers will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels (Rev. 3:5 CSB).

Behind the biblical teaching on the book of life loom Jewish and pagan shadows. We’ve noted previously the registry of the citizens of Israel, mentioned in such Old Testament passages as Psalm 9:5, Psalm 87:6, and Isaiah 4:3. This idea extended into the concept of a heavenly book in which the names of the righteous are kept (Ps. 69:28; Dan. 12:1).

Other heavenly tablets record tribulation (Ps. 56:8), judgment (Dan. 7:10), and personal destiny (Ps. 139:16); it’s likely these refer to the same scroll detailing deeds and corresponding rewards and punishments for conduct.  This concept of a heaven-kept registry extends into apocalyptic writings.

The same imagery developed in the pagan world, beginning with a record of citizens in a city-state or country and moving into the annals of the gods. This would have special meaning in Sardis, the long-time capital of the Persian and Seleucid empires and thus a keeper of such records. 

In both the Jewish and Hellenistic worlds, removal of a name from the official roll means exclusion from the community. When ancient Greeks are convicted of serious crimes, their names are expunged from the civic register. In the Old Testament, the purging of a name is associated with capital punishment (Deut. 29:20) and erasure from the national memory (consider Amalek in Exod. 17:14; Deut. 25:19). 

So, when we get to the New Testament, the references to the book of life clearly revolve around the concept of the righteous, their heavenly citizenship, and Christ’s guarantee that their names remain in the book. 

Eternal destiny

In the Old Testament and across Judaism, there are various kinds of books, but the meaning of the book of life in Revelation is best determined by John’s usage throughout his apocalypse. The phrase “book of life” is used six times in Revelation of believers whose eternal destiny is determined because their names already have been written in the book of life (Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; cf. Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23). 

“The book stands in contrast elsewhere to ‘the books’ that record the sins of unbelievers, who will be judged on the basis of such sins at the end of history,” writes G. K. Beale. “The dual idea of a ‘book of life’ and ‘books’ of judgment respectively for believers and unbelievers has been derived from the same dual conception in Dan. 12:1-2 and 7:10ff.”

One might infer from John’s reference to being erased from the book of life that if believers do not conquer, their names are removed. But, as Beale notes:

… this is not a logically necessary inference, and it is unlikely that it is in mind…. None of the other promises to the overcomer contains such an implicit threat of losing a salvation once gained, but they are coined in purely positive terms…. In somewhat unusual fashion the positive guarantee of this inheritance is expressed negatively: “I will not erase his name.” 

Another reason Jesus’s words should not be associated with the idea of losing one’s salvation is that, throughout Revelation, John never associates the lost with the book of life, except the mention that their names are not found there (Rev. 20:15). 

Even so, the assurance to the faithful that their names are secure in the book of life is counterbalanced by a warning to those in the visible church who are not part of the true church. In short, the book of life in Revelation 3:5 likely is the same book we encounter in Revelation 13:8, 17:8, and 21:27. These references underscore spiritual protection for those written in the book, so it would be contradictory to view the book in Revelation 3:5 as a metaphor for insecurity. 

So, why does Jesus even raise the issue of names being blotted out? Beale shares this insight:

Perhaps the names in the book are intended to be viewed from the perspective of apparent confession. Those to be “erased” were considered for a time by the church community as those who would receive the inheritance. Their claim to faith was taken at face value because for a time they played the part. Their purported place in the “book of life” will be revealed as a sham when they find at the last judgment that their names are, after all, not in the book. The “erasing” may express this idea.

Hope for Sardis, and for us

Vance Havner, one of the best-known and most-beloved revivalists of the 20^th century, frequently pointed out that ministries tend to go through four stages: a man, a movement, a machine, and then a monument. The church in Sardis is at the “monument” stage. Jesus chides his people in that city for their lethargy and complacency. He seeks to shake genuine believers from their slumber, while warning pretenders to come to faith while there’s still time. 

In the first century, there’s still hope for Sardis. And for the 21^st-century church – often living comfortably in the shadow of contemporary culture – there’s still hope as well. Followers of Jesus should hold fast to our faith and step out of the shadows, even when the cost is great. False professors of the faith should acknowledge their pretense, repent of their unbelief, and entrust their lives to Christ. That’s the only way to ensure their names remain written in the book of life. 

Next: Not Written from the Foundation of the World: Revelation 13:8 and 17:8