Rev. 3:5 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. 3:6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

First, the Lord says in His letter to the saints in Sardis, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment.” Who are the overcomers during the Tribulation? These are saints who overcome Satan by faithfully obeying the Lord all the way to the end, whether it’s the end of the Tribulation or the end of their lives. Because of their faith in Christ, they have already overcome everything because they have eternal life, and by being faithful to His Word, they will defeat Satan during the Tribulation even if they’re killed.

Then the Lord says something interesting. He says, 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.

How does the Book of Life work exactly?

You can only find the Book of Life in the so-called NT. In Phil. 4:3, Paul talked about Clement and other fellowlaborers, “whose names are in the book of life.” There’s no reason to think that that all of the people referenced in this verse, including Clement, in Phil. 4:3 are Jews only.

So if you have eternal life, your name is written in the Book of Life.

In Rev. 13:8 we read that “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” All he means here is that everyone, including those whose names are not in the Book of Life, will one day worship him. As Paul said in Phil. 2:10, every knee shall bow to Christ.

When John says in Rev. 13:8, “whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, I think he’s saying the Book of Life has always been the Lord’s book since the creation of the world.

Of course, there are a number of verses telling us that unbelievers are condemned for all eternity in the Lake of Fire because their names are not found in the Book of Life. God emphasizes this same point in Rev. 17:8, Rev. 21:27, but especially in Rev. 20 talking about the Great White Throne Judgment. We’re told in Rev. 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

If an unbeliever today in the age of grace dies in his sins, will he appear before the Great White Throne judgment? Of course, he will. Why? Because his name is NOT written in the Book of Life! Rev. 20:15 told us whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That whosoever encompasses every soul across every age and every dispensation.

If unbelievers from the age of grace are standing before God at the Great White Throne, then believers in the age of grace will NOT be standing before God at the Great White Throne judgment. Why? Because our names ARE written in the Book of Life!

Of course, I’m open to anything anyone has to say about the Book of Life, but I suspect that how the Book of Life works is much simpler than we often make it out to be.

Here’s how it works. Every person who gets saved gets his/her name written in the Book of Life. Your name has to be in that Book in order to avoid eternal condemnation. Every person who isn’t saved does not have his name in the Book of Life. That’s it.

Wait a minute, Joel! What about that tricky verse in Rev. 22:19? “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” What John is saying here is that if any man, especially a believer, alters the text of the book of Revelation, there will be eternal consequences.

John doesn’t say that God would completely remove his name out of the Book of Life, but that God shall take away his part out of the book of life. I’d suggest he means that God is going to take away some of the glory that comes with eternal life. That sin has an eternal consequence. This is an eternal loss of glory for that believer. He’s not going to lose his salvation, but God is going to take away from him some of the rewards and glory he could have had because he committed this sin. This is more than a loss of rewards he won’t be getting. This is an eternal loss to him of his eternal glory. The point is that there is an eternal consequence for this sin.

Yet, here in Rev. 3 in the letter to Sardis, the Lord talks about blotting out names, which I think is the big verse that trips up most of us, myself included. He said 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.

I throw this out there as a suggestion and you decide for yourselves. But I would argue that his verse is one of comfort to even sinful Sardis. Despite how terrible their walk is, He is willing to give them one comforting thought and that is that they are eternally secure.

There are no corresponding verses explaining when and how God would ever blot a name out of the Book of Life. All He is saying here is that you don’t ever have to worry about having your name blotted out, which is yet another assurance of eternal security in the book of Revelation. Despite your walk, even if you’re saved, the one thing you don’t ever have to worry about is having your name blotted out because names don’t get blotted out once they’re written in the Book of Life.

I don’t think God made the Book of Life complicated. I think we make it complicated when we read this verse when all God is doing is assuring these believers that their names won’t ever be blotted out, because God doesn’t blot names out of His book.

Once you’re saved, you’re always saved no matter what dispensation you lived in.

In the kingdom program, if a Jew placed his faith in Christ as the Son of God, as their Messiah, he’s saved. He has already overcome the world, and he has already overcome Satan. We find in 1 John 5:4-5. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” How do you become an overcomer? You get saved by having faith in Christ. Faith in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. You have already overcome the world because of your faith in Christ.

What is the key to overcoming the Tribulation? Faith in Christ and obedience to His Word.

What is the gospel that will be preached during the Tribulation? The Lord told us in the Olivet Discourse. Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.

How did someone get saved under the gospel of the kingdom? Faith in Christ as the Son of God. Consider Joh 20:31, But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. Consider also Joh 3:18, He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. They were to believe that Christ was all He said He was, the Messiah, the Son of God. That was the reality of their justification during the Lord’s time on the Earth and it’s also the reality of their justification during the Tribulation. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

The fact that the Lord promises the overcomers that He will not blot out their names out of the book of life is very much in the same vein as what He told the saints in Smyrna when He said that they shall not be hurt of the second death (Rev. 2:11). Both verses, both assurances, were designed to comfort the believers and reinforce the reality of their eternal security.

Jude wrote in the first verse of his letter that all the saints are “preserved in Jesus Christ.” John opens the book of Revelation with a proclamation of grace and peace from the entire triune Godhead. Grace and peace wasn’t about the circumstances they’d be going through. Grace and peace was about their standing before God. You cannot be in a state of grace and peace with God without being justified, and if you’re justified then you have eternal security.

John also in the first chapter spoke of Jesus and wrote in vs. 5, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood… If all their sins are already washed by His blood, they are not only justified by faith, but they can never become unwashed. They can never lose that perfect work that was already accomplished for them at Calvary. They can never be hurt of the second death. They can never have their names blotted out of the Book of Life.

Consider Abraham’s conversion. What saith Scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. When Abraham believed God, he obtained eternal life. God imputed His righteousness upon Abraham. God declared him righteous in His eyes and the sin issue would be dealt with at the future death of Christ, who will pay for all his sins.

And during the Tribulation, salvation is also faith in His name, in which God would impute His righteousness upon all believers based upon the past death of Christ, who paid for all their sins.

Even though we’ve returned to the prophetic program for the Tribulation, all the saints can still declare that Christ loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and that sacrifice would lay the foundation for the new covenant, which will be established at the Lord’s Second Coming. Faith in His name gets them saved. And now it’s just a matter of obeying the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to stay in His divine protection through all the judgments and persecution until they ultimately overcome the Tribulation whether it’s to the end of their lives or surviving until His Second Coming. Then they’ll be richly rewarded for their faithful service to Him.