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NASB | Revelation 3:5 'He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 3:5 'He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God] will accordingly be dressed in white clothing; and I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, and I will confess and openly acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels [saying that he is one of Mine]. [Ps 69:28; Dan 12:1; Matt 10:32; 1 John 5:5] |
Subject: Were all names once in the book of life? |
Bible Note: Doc With all due respect to both you and to Arthur Pink the very great and respected theologian by many and now by me I am having trouble with his concept that the book of life is truly a figure of speech. Now, this is submitted in the spirit of a desire to arrive at a literal interpretation of the Bible and is not meant to be sent to you by way of starting argument or debate. This is just an obeservation on what the immenent theologian Aruthur Pink wrote on the subject at hand. Aruthur Pink 3. Its Grand Original, http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Election/election.htm Pink writes - This expression "the Book of Life" has its roots in Isaiah 4:3, wherein God refers to His chosen remnant as "every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem," and it is this which explains the meaning of all the later references thereto. God’s eternal act of election is spoken of as writing the names of His chosen ones in the Book of Life, and the following things are suggested by this figure. First, the exact knowledge which God has of all the elect, His particular remembrance of them, His love for and delight in them. Second, that His eternal election is one of particular persons whose names are definitely recorded by Him. Third, to show they are absolutely safe and secure, for God having written their names in the Book of Life, they shall never be blotted out (Rev. 3:5). Isaiah 4:3 is not the first reference to the book of life in the Bible as the roots of that concept as Pink states. Exodus gives us the roots and the first account of a book owned by God that contains the names of those belonging to God – Exodus 32:32, 33, and it is not in that scripture a figure of speech as it is in Isaiah. The next account is Psalm 69:28 which specifically says the words the book of life and that the wicked shall not be recorded with the righteous. According to Moses account we cannot assume that the book is merely figurative because the words written and scrolls are used, similar things can be said of Psalm 69, as is true in Revelation in several places concerning the book and names being written. Pink gives no scriptural reasoning for why the book of life should be considered to be a figure other than the wording in Isaiah 4:3, and based on that one scripture, he calls it a figure. There is no reason to question that the book of life is the Lamb’s Book of Life based on the collection of scriptures on the subject. I will not get into here the various things I saw that I do not quite agree with that Pink says about election. Nothing major, like sovereignty, but various observations about process as he describes it. Respectfully and in the Spirit of Christians fellow ship, blessings abound, bowler |