He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white
raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I
will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels [Rev. 3:5].
“He that overcometh.” The one who overcomes by the blood
of Christ, of course, never does it because of his own strength, cleverness,
or ability.
Now He makes this statement which has caused the
difficulty in understanding: “I will not blot out his name out of the book
of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his
angels.” It is interesting to note that in the genealogies there are only
two books which are identified: (1) “the book of the generations of Adam”
(see Gen. 5:1)—we are all in that book, but it is a book of death—and (2)
“the book of the generation of Jesus Christ” (see Matt. 1:1). The phrase,
“the book of the generation,” is an unusual expression. It occurs only in
connection with Adam and then in connection with Christ.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ is the Book of
Life. I believe that you get into that book by faith in Christ. This, then,
raises the question here: Is it possible for you to be in the Book of Life
and then have your name blotted out? Can you lose your salvation? If that is
true, then the Lord Jesus should not have said, “And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand” (John 10:28). Again and again throughout Scripture we have
the assurance given to us of our salvation.
I would like to give you now an excerpt from Dr. John
Walvoord’s book The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
which is a very good explanation of what is meant in this verse:
Some have indicated that there is
no explicit statement here that anybody will have his name blotted out, but
rather the promise that his name will not be blotted out because of his
faith in Christ. The implication, however, is that such is a possibility. On
the basis of this some have considered the book of life not as the roll of
those who are saved but rather a list of those for whom Christ died, that
is, all humanity who have possessed physical life. As they come to maturity
and are faced with the responsibility of accepting or rejecting Christ,
their names are blotted out if they fail to receive Jesus Christ as Saviour;
whereas those who do accept Christ as Saviour are confirmed in their
position in the book of life, and their names are confessed before the
Father and the heavenly angels.
I think that that is a good, sound interpretation.
In Revelation there is a great importance placed on this
book (see Rev. 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; 22:19). In these references the
thought is that there are those whose names are recorded and those whose
names are not recorded in the Book of Life. We will talk about it again,
especially when we get to the last reference in the twenty-second chapter.
Some have identified the two books in chapter 20, verse
12, as the book of profession and the book of reality. They hold that names
are erased from the book of profession but not from the book of reality.
Others have suggested that all names are placed in the Book of Life at the
beginning, but some are removed. A person’s lack of decision for or
rejection of Christ causes his name to be removed at the time of death. Both
of these views propose serious objections as well as having good points to
commend them.
I am confident that the whole thought is simply that it
was amazing that anyone in Sardis would be saved but that there were some
whose names He said would not be blotted out of the Book of Life. He didn’t
say that anybody had been blotted out; He just said that even in Sardis
there would be some saved. May I say to you, the important thing is whether
or not your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. I do not believe
that after you are saved you would ever be able to lose that salvation.
McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible
Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997,
c1981, S. 5:914-915