Blotted From The Book Of Life

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Hi G____,

Thanks for your words of encouragement and for your question.

You are so right. The ‘Book of life’ is Christ. He is the ‘Tree oflLife’ and the ‘River of Life.’

You ask:

The answer to your question is, yes it is possible to be blotted out of the book of life, not because of uncaused sin but because of God who created the wicked for the day of evil:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Being “in Christ” is not to be confused with being elect. Nowhere in scripture is it stated ‘He that is in Christ shall be saved.’ Anyone who is saved will of course be ‘in Christ.’ But not all who are now ‘in Christ’ will “endure to the end.”

Here is what we are told of the elect:

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Paul repeats this same warning:

Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

It is fine to consider oneself as one of God’s elect. But to ever become proud and overly confident would be a fatal mistake. Here is how the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to consider his relationship with God:

1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

To Paul, the ability to fall short of Christ was real. Paul knew that God already knew who His elect were. Nevertheless Paul never for one second assumed that since God knew who His elect were that Paul was one of those elect. Where is it written that since God has made all things for Himself, that therefore we are His elect??? Striving for that high calling is not something to be taken lightly. Paul taught that God works all things after the counsel of His own will. He never once taught ‘once saved always saved.”

God’s elect will never be nonchalant about their relationship with God. They will zealously guard and protect that relationship. Constant vigilance and living righteously, in no way conflicts with the sovereignty of God. But then neither does the lack of vigilance and living in sin. The Truth of God’s Word reveals that most who are ‘in Christ’ are not elect.

All who are in Christ will have their names blotted out of the book of life. What else does “many are called [ to be in Christ] but few are chosen [ Greek- elect]” mean? Look closely at what Paul says to the Corinthian Christians about where they were “in Christ.”

1Co 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

Paul tells the Corinthians in the first two verses of this letter that they are “sanctified in Christ Jesus, [ and they are] called to be saints.” But this truth does not change the fact that the first four verses of chapter 3 are also true!

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

This is amazing. In the space of four verses Paul tells these “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” Corinthians that they “are yet carnal” four different times. So being ‘in Christ’ and being ‘dragged to Christ’ in no way means that someone is elect. God uses sin to cause many “Who were once enlightened and have tasted the Holy Spirit to fall away.”

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all thing s for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

With this verse solidly in mind let us read another verse which makes this sovereign work of God clear:

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible [ in this age] for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

These have had their names ‘blotted out of the book of life.’ This situation was just as familiar to God “before the world was” as is the knowledge of who is God’s elect. God is not surprised by anything He has made. He alone works all things after His own counsel.

How is God doing all His work here on earth? It is all being done “of God” but by and through Christ.

Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, [ are] all things: to whom [ be] glory for ever. Amen.

Christ Himself tells us that He is ‘in the Father and we are in Him.’

Joh 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Christ tells us that He could do nothing of Himself. that everything that He did or said was “Of the Father.”

Joh 8:28 I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

Paul mentions something that is revealed throughout the Old Covenant scriptures. Speaking to the pagan Athenians, he says this:

Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

The point is that even the pagans of this world are “in Him [ the Father].” Since it is the Father’s will to “head” up all things in Christ, then the whole world also “consists… in Christ.” So in scriptural reality, the whole world, the good and the evil, the Christians and the pagans all consist in Christ.

Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things [ both good and evil] consist.Col 1:18 And he is [ therefore] the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciledCol 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

‘By Him all things consist… He is the head of the body… And you… hath He reconciled… by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself… in earth… or… in heaven… through death… If ye continue in the faith…’ But what happens if you don’t continue in the faith? Your name is “blotted out of the book of life (Christ).” The only people who are in the book of life and will not be ‘blotted out’ are the elect,’ also called the ‘chosen.’

All of christendom likes to quote:

Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the very people who are challenging you with the truth that some are “blotted out of the book of life,” also preach that salvation is just that simple; “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” Here is the truth of this subject, straight from the mouth of the Lord:

Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.Mat 22:14 For many are called [ and receive the words of Christ “with joy’ – Mt. 13: 20-21], but few are chosen.

In other words, the chosen are all called, but the called are not all chosen. That is why when we see the overcomers with “the Lamb,” we are told:

Rev 17:14 These [ the ten horns on the beast] shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

In spite of christendom’s false doctrine of free will, Christ tells us plainly:

Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,

What does Christ tell us of these “chosen” or “elect?” The Greek word used for both ‘chosen’ and ‘elect’ is the same: ‘eklektos.’ Here is what Christ tells us of His “chosen:”

Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition [ Not ‘Because his free will stopped me from saving him,’ but]; that the scripture might be fulfilled.Joh 18:9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake,Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

So not even one of the chosen are lost, but “many of the called have their “names blotted out of the book of life.”

Now all we have to do to clear up this question is to ask when this decision to save the elect took place. If we can ascertain this answer, we will have also discovered when the “many called but [ not] chosen” have their names “blotted out of the Book of Life.”

So exactly when and exactly why was this decision made?

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Notice the verse before the one you gave me in Psa 69:

Psa 69:27[ You, God] Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not [ God does not allow them to] come into thy righteousness.Psa 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living[ before the world began], and not be written with the righteous.

But, of course, they are not blotted out for all eternity. I am sure that you are very familiar with the scriptural use of the words ‘aion’ and ‘aionios.’ These words translated ‘eternal, eternity, forever, for ever and ever, ever lasting’ etc., are easily demonstrated by the scriptures to have nothing to do with the thought of endless time. Rather these words have to do with the ‘ages’ in which God is “working all things to the counsel of His own will.”

Consequently we are told plainly:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

I hope this has been of some help to you. Be sure to read ‘How The False Doctrines Of Free Moral Agency, The Fall Of Man And The Trinity Are Related.

Mike

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