Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
October 1, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: Having one's name blotted out of the Book of Life simply means that the person whose name is blotted out is no longing "living" in any sense of the word.
Introduction: In our study two weeks ago, we considered the letter to the leader of the church in Sardis. We saw that Jesus identified Himself as "The One Who Knows" and the recipient of His letter as "The Fraud Who Is Dead".
In that study we made the claim that the man to whom Jesus addressed Himself was not a "believer" and was in danger of having his name blotted out of the Book of Life.
It was because of the complexity of the issues involved in having one's name "in the Book of Life" that we put off going into that study until we could spend the entire time of our study considering the issues that the Bible presents to us regarding the "Book" which determines the destiny of every man who has ever been "alive" in any true sense of that word.
I. The Letter To The Angel Of The Church In Sardis.
- A. Jesus' Self-description.
- B. Jesus' Message.
- 1. What He knows.
- 2. What He plans to do.
- 3. The promise.
- a. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments.
- 1) There are two words that refer to "clothing" in The Revelation: "himation" and "stole".
- a) The word "himation" is used of garments that can be "soiled" as in 3:4 and are the clothing of the "overcomer" (3:5), just as 4:4 indicates.
- b) The word "stole" is used in 6:11 and refers to the garment that is given to "brethren" before they are rewarded for their loyalty under threat of martyrdom, and in 7:9 where it is the garment of everyone who comes out of the Great Tribulation because they, according to 7:14, "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (these are "robes of justification" ((Isaiah 61:10)), not of personal achievement).
- 2) The word used in this text is "himation".
- b. I shall not blot the name of him out of The Book of The Life.
- 1) The pertinent texts...
- a) Exodus 32:32 - Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
- b) Exodus 32:33 - And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. [This is God rejecting Moses' offer to be counted as one has sinned for the sake of those who did sin.]
- c) Psalm 69:28 - Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. [This indicates that, at least initially, the names of both are written in the book, but at some point the wicked will be blotted out.]
- d) Luke 10:20 - Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. [There is no "cause" for such rejoicing unless there is something unique about the names being written there.]
- e) Philippians 4:3 - Indeed, true comrade, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in [the cause of] the gospel, together with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
- f) Revelation 3:5 - He who overcomes shall 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.
- g) Revelation 13:8 - And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, [everyone] whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
- h) Revelation 17:8 - "The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
- i) Revelation 20:15 - And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
- j) Revelation 22:19 - And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life (the Textus Receptus has "the book of life") and from the holy city, which are written in this book
- 2) The conclusions we draw.
- a) It is important to know these facts or God would not have told them to us.
- b) There is a direct connection between the doctrine which these verses establish and the concept of "election" from the foundation of the world.
- c) There is also a direct connection between these verses, "election" and "grace": Why?
- i. To provide a basis for strong confidence in the Promise(s).
- ii. To eliminate any basis, whatsoever, for a confidence in the flesh.
- iii. To make "confidence" and daily living a matter of significant humility as we see the direct link between our blessings and God's workings.
- c. I shall confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
- II. The Application To All Of The Churches.
