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.

---

… 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.

Continue reading →