ABOUT THE BOOK OF LIFE?

1. What is the book of life discussed in Revelation? What is its purpose? If God knows everything why does He have to write things down? How is this book related to the one of the Lamb?

a) Many questions can be asked about God. Why does he do things in a certain way? We may wonder about a book of life because of our limited reasoning and understanding. That said, let us see what the Bible says about this subject.

b) Surprisingly, the first place a book of life is mentioned in the Bible is not in Revelation but in Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians. Near the close of his letter he exhorts two female helpers in the gospel to be of 'the same mind' (verse 2) and then asks someone in the fellowship to help them.

i) 3. And I ask you, my true yokefellow (this is likely referring to Timothy, Silas, or another person Paul knew well) to assist these women (Euodia and Syntyche from verse 2), who labored with me in the gospel . . . whose names are in the book of life. (Philippians 4:3)

c) The most well-known reference to this volume is in Revelation, where it is opened before God judges the vast majority of mankind.

i) 12 And I (the apostle John in vision) saw the dead, great and small alike, standing before the throne (after they have been resurrected from the dead) . . . then another book was opened, the book of the living (the NKJV and other translations have 'book of life'). (Revelation 20:12)

d) Any human not found written within its pages will be cast into a fiery lake and perish forever (verse 15). Other places where this phrase occurs includes a statement about the understanding those who are not converted will have at the end time (Revelation 17:8).

e) This mysterious volume appears again when John, in vision, sees the new heaven and earth God will create after judging all humans (Revelation 21). In this new creation, he also sees the new Jerusalem coming down to earth. Not everyone, however, will be allowed in the new city, but only those found in the Lamb's book of Life (verse 27), which is the same one found elsewhere in Revelation. The Book of Life can be rightly referred to as the Lamb's for it is Jesus Christ, the "lamb of God," who will do the ultimate judging of man (John 5:22 - 23).

f) Near the very end of the Bible we are warned by God not to add or subtract from what He has said or else "God shall take away his part from the Book of Life" (Revelation 22:19).

g) The conclusion drawn from these verses is that this volume contains the names of those who are truly "saved." Those found in this special volume will NOT cast into a lake of fire but allowed to enter the New Jerusalem and be deemed worthy to live forever and ever. So, why does God have a book of life? The simple answer is because He wants one.