The book of the living
by W.J. Wolfaardt
There is a book called the Book of Life, in which the names of the righteous are written. This Book was probably "created" after the fall of Adam and Hawwah, when they no longer continually walked in righteousness before the Face of the Almighty. After Hawwah and Adam ate of the tree of good and evil, Elohim drove them out of the garden of Eden, to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life! Read 1 Mosh. 3:22. The Tree of Life has existed since the creation of earth. Let us now explore Scripture, to find the route to that tree, the Tree of Life.
The first reference in Scripture to this Book, is in 2 Mosh. 32:32,33, where the children of Yisrael sinned against Elohim at Mount Sinai. They were waiting for Mosheh to come down from the Mountain, awaiting the Words which Yahuweh spoke to him. They were very impatient though, and started to mould themselves an image of gold - an idol to worship. When Mosheh came down from the mountain, and saw these horrible deeds of Yisrael, he pleaded with the Almighty, and said, ."..if You would forgive their sin, but if not, please blot me out of Your Book which You have written." And Yahuweh said to Mosheh, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I blot him out of My Book." A person who sins against the Almighty, his name shall be blotted out of the Book of Life.
In Psalm 69:28, the Psalmist asks the Almighty to blot out of His Book of the Living the names of the unrighteous, so that their names may not be written with those of the righteous.
The content of the Book of Life shall be revealed with the coming of Yahushua our Maschiach. We find in the book of Dani’el, prophesying about the end-time, that those who will be delivered, are those whose names are written in the Book. Dan. 12:1,2, "Now at that time Mika’el shall stand up, the great head who is standing over the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of distress, such as never was since there was a nation, until that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth wake up (the resurrection), some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches, everlasting abhorrence."
In Yesh. 4:2,3 we read of the times of the end, after the victory of the remnant of Yisrael, "In that day the Branch of Yahuweh shall be splendid and esteemed. And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for the delivered remnant of Yisrael. And it shall be that he who is left in Tsiyon and he who remains in Yerushalayim is called set-apart, everyone who is written among the living in Yerushalayim." These are the ones whose names are written in the Book of Life.
The elect, those whose names are written in the Book of Life, are special in the eyes of our Father. We read about them in the book of Mal’aki, chapter 3, verse 16 - 18 : "Then those who fear Yahuweh speak to one another, and Yahuweh listen and hear, and a book of remembrance be written before Him, of those who fear Yahuweh, and those who think upon His Name. "And they shall be Mine," said Yahuweh of hosts, "on the day that I prepare a treasured possession. And I shall spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then you shall again see the difference between the righteous and the wrong, between one who serves Elohim and one who does not serve Him." From this passage of Scripture, we find that one of the characteristics of those whose names are written in the Book of Life, is that they fear the Almighty, and think upon His Name.
In the above passages we amongst other saw that those whose names will be written in Yahuweh’s Book, will also be found in Tsiyon, in Yerushalayim. We also read in Yehezqel of those who will not be part of Yisrael. They are the false prophets. "My hand shall be against the prophets who see falsehood and who divine lies. They shall not be in the council of My people, nor be written in the record (Book) of the house of Yisrael, and they shall not enter into the land of Yisrael. And you shall know that I am the Master Yahuweh." (Yehezqel. 13:9). When we proceed building on the foundation of the Old Covenant Scriptures, we see just as many texts in the Messianic Scriptures regarding the Book of Life.
The first mention thereof is in Luke 10:20, when Yahushua appointed seventy disciples to spread the Good News. He said to them, "See, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and none at all shall hurt you. But do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names have been written in the heaven." What a privilege to have your name written in the Book of Life in heaven. Will we, without doubt, be able to say that our names are written in the Book of Life? It appears from the above text that Yahushua told these seventy emissaries that their names were already written in the Book of Life. The same can be said of Qlemes and other followers of Yahushua to whom Shaul wrote in Phil. 4:3, ."..and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life."
The writer of the book of Hebrews write in Hebr. 12:14, "Pursue peace with all, and pursue apartness (holiness) without which no one shall see the Master." Yahushua, and even Shaul were entitled to tell certain men and women that their names were written in the Book of Life. We are given the ‘command’ how to receive LIFE EVERLASTING. If we walk the path of righteousness - the route of set-apartness, then we are on the path to eternal life! If we stray however, we cannot be certain of our destiny. The path or route to everlasting life is a clear path, a path of no turning to the left or right.
Let’s have a look at the final promises made to the "overcomers" in the book of Rev.elation. Rev.. 3:5, "He who overcomes shall be dressed in white robes, and I shall by no means blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I shall confess his name before My Father and before His messengers."
The book of Rev.elation also clearly defines who shall not enter into eternal life - life everlasting. Rev.. 13:8, "And all those dwelling on the earth, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the slain Lamb, from the foundation of the world shall worship him (the beast)."
Rev.. 17:8, "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the pit of the deep and goes to destruction. And those dwelling on the earth, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, shall marvel when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."
Rev.. 20:12, "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to their works." If we are walking in the path of righteousness, we shall also be distinguished by our works, as Yahushua clearly said in Matt. 7:16-19, "By their fruits you shall know them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? So every good tree yields good fruit, but a rotten tree yields wicked fruit. A good tree is unable to yield wicked fruit, and a rotten tree to yield good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Yahushua continues, expressly discerning between good and rotten trees, when He says, "Not everyone who says to Me, ’Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heaven (everlasting life), but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens." (verse 22).
What is the desire of Yahushua’s Father? This question is clearly answered in the following verse 23, "And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!" Lawlessness is the opposite of law-abiding! There is only one law that our Father desire us to abide to. The law that He implemented from the foundation of the earth - the complete Torah, as defined in the books of Mosheh.
Let us go back to the book of Rev.elation to find out what will happen to those whose names are not written in the Book of Life. Rev.. 20:15, "And if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Finally, we read in the book of Rev.elation of the New Yerushalayim - the city we are awaiting. But who will enter into that city? Or shall I rather ask, who will not enter into that city? Rev.. 21:27, "And there shall by no means enter into it whatever is unclean, neither anyone doing abominations and falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life." These spoken of, who shall not go in, is also written of in Rev.. 22:15, and 2 Thess. 2:10 - 12. Rev.. 22: 15, "But outside are the dogs (spiritual dogs) and those who enchant with drugs, and those who whore, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and all who love and do falsehood."
To finish off, I wish to refer to the final prize of those whose name are written in the Book of Life. We read in Rev.. 22:14, "Blessed are those doing His commandments, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city."
You and I have the authority to say that a person’s name is written in the Book Of Life - if that person is doing the commandments of the Most High! There is another pre-requisite - having the faith in Yahushua, without Him our lives will be meaningless. Read Rev.. 14:12 and the preceding verses.