Everyone is in God's Book of Life (… at First) When I was made in secret, And embroidered in the depths of the earth . . . Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, And in your Book they were all written: The days that were crafted for me. (Psalm 139) Paul Sumner Analogies, metaphors, and imagery are the ancient language of the Scriptures. Perhaps they aren't always literally true. But they convey truth, nonetheless. Does God, the Creator of the universe, have a book in which he or a secretary angel writes down descriptions of a person's "unformed substance" (Heb. golem) and the number of days they will be alloted on earth — before they are born? "Book" (Heb. sefer) is a metaphor for God's mind or memory. Imaging a divine sefer conveys the truth that God is attentive to his work and remembers what he has made. In the case of this passage in Psalm 139, he is attentive to the individual person he has "embroidered" (or knitted), before his birth. Throughout the Hebrew Bible and New Covenant (Testament) is the idea that people's names are recorded in a book in Heaven. A "name" means a person's personality or character, their unique being. Even though some of us share our name with millions of other people, God knows our specific name — that is, the unique "substance" we are made of, our outer physical and inner spiritual DNA. [Top] The Psalmist affirmed: You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle;  Are they not in your Book? (Ps 56:8, Heb. v. 9) Yeshua told his disciples, "the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matt 10:30).  Along with these comforting promises comes the warning that our sins — committed during our lives on earth — may provoke God to remove our names from his Book. Our continual, willful, unrelenting sins so damage, pollute, and corrupt who we are, that we are no longer recognizable to Him. We are no longer pristine creations. We are not members of His godly human family. No longer do we have a place in His presence. We cut ourselves off from Him. We conclude, therefore, that our files in the heavenly data base also contain our deeds, not only our profiles. And when the heavenly Court convenes in the future, "the books" will be opened (Dan 7:10) and the dead will be judged "according to their deeds" (Rev 20:12). We must all appear before the judgment seat of Messiah, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done: whether good or bad. (2 Cor 5:10) [Top] Is Hell for Babies or for Adult Sinners? Michael Horton, a Protestant Reformed theologian, recently wrote that all humans are "born into the world guilty in Adam," and thus "condemned already" as babies [For Calvinism (2011)].  In contrast to this Calvinist theory, the apostle Paul, the evangelical Jewish Pharisee (Acts 23:6), said "the wrath of God will come upon the children of disobedience" (Col 3:6) — not because they are human beings but because of their sins:  They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer [so they are filled with] unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, malice, envy, murder, deceit, idolatry, sorcery, strife, jealousy, drunkenness, carousings…committed by "disobedient" people such as slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, inventors of evil, and those disobedient to parents. (Rom 1:28-30) Elsewhere, Paul said that "in Adam [we] all die" (1 Cor 15:22). But he did not say: "Merely because you are children of Adam and Eve, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." We die physically because the curse of death fell upon our first Parents; a curse we inherit. We also inherited their nature to sin, but not their guilt. God judges and condemns people for sinning, which can only happen after birth during one's lifetime. "I forewarn you…that those who practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God" (Gal 5:21). [Top] Time and again in the Tanakh, the verb "blot out" (Heb. machah) is used to describe removal from the Book.  [While interceding for Israel, Moses said,] "Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made an elohim of gold for themselves. But now, if you will, forgive their sin — and if not, please blot me out from your Book which you have written!" (Exod 32:32) [In response,] the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him of my Book." (Exod 32:33) [About his persecutors, the psalmist prayed:] May they be blotted out of the Book of Life [sefer hayyim], And may they not be recorded [katav] with the righteous. (Ps 69:28, Heb. v. 29) [See my parable Is Peloni Almoni Going to Hell?] [Top] The Faithful Remain in the Book Those who remain faithful to God, here and now, are retained in the master ledger — but under certain conditions. If only you had paid attention to my commandments! . . . Your descendants would have been like the sand, And your offspring like its grains: Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from my presence." (Isaiah 48:19) At that time your people, everyone who is found written in the Book, will be rescued. (Dan 12:1b) Nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into [God's holy city and temple], but only those whose are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. (Rev 21:22-23, 27) [Top] The contingency for remaining in God's Book is faithfulness to him and his commandments, whether before the coming of Messiah or afterward. Sins that lead God to blot out our names can only — and must — be removed by repentance and sacrifice: by blood. This is the good message of the Re-Newed Covenant ratified by Messiah Yeshua's sacrifice on the "Golgotha altar" (my term). Disciples of Yeshua should "rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven" (Luke 10:20). Paul's companions and fellow-workers, including women who "shared [his] struggle in the cause of the gospel," are assured that their "names are in the Book of Life" (Phil 4:3). And on Mount Zion, in the heavenly Jerusalem, we hear about "the festal gathering of the congregation of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven" (Heb 12:23). Contrary to the beliefs of many Christian sects, Yeshua issues a stern warning toward those who call themselves Christians but continue to live unrepentant lives of sin. [Top] To a congregation of "Christians" in Sardis, Asia Minor, he says that those who "overcome" the temptations to betray him through sin and idolatry, will be "clothed in white garments" and "walk with [him] in white." And I will not expunge his name from the Book of Life." (Rev 3:5a) Their reputation ("name") will then be mentioned by Messiah "before [his] Father" and the heavenly court (v. 5b) as valid members of his people. Yeshua's disciples soberly speak of falling "from grace" (Gal 5:4), falling "away from the faith" (1 Tim 4:1), and falling from their "steadfastness [of faith]" (2 Pet 3:17). The person who is overconfident about their religiosity needs to "take heed that he does not fall" (1 Cor 10:12).  [Top] When Are Our Names Written in the Book? Years ago, I heard it taught that when people become believers in Jesus, their names are at that moment written in the Book of Life. Before then, before they are saved, they are lost and headed for hell — because they aren't in the Book. (Note the comments above by theologians who say we are all "born into the world guilty…condemned already.") But I also heard other teachers say that everyone who sins automatically has their name blotted out of the Book and they'll go to hell. This didn't make sense. Do we start out in the Book or not? Or are there two books: one we all start out in (but get blotted out of if we sin), and one we get enrolled in only if we believe in Jesus (but never get blotted out of)? Is one book for Jews and all other Gentiles, and the other only for Christians? [Top] I resolved the exegetical mystery by studying the biblical texts. From my reading, I concluded that everyone is written in God's Book from the beginning. Whether that means at our conception in our mother's womb or at our physical birth, or perhaps in eternity, long before our material conception when God perceived our unformed substance (Ps 139:16). I don't know. We can say, based on Scripture, that we begin as invaluable treasures to the Creator, each uniquely crafted in his image (Gen 1:26-27).  [Top] We Corrupt the Image But the terrible, undeniable reality is: upon our entry into earthly human life, we commit and accumulate sin. And if the habitual, willful sin is not removed by atonement and the forgiveness of God, we, ourselves, are removed from his memory, blotted out from among those who are forgiven. A life of sin mars the Image of God in us. Until finally we become so unGodlike we are different beings — an alien species that cannot reside in the holy city Jerusalem. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. (Ps 14:3) If you, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? (Ps 130:3) The Lord Yeshua shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retributrion to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Yeshua. (2 Thess 1:7) [Top] When David was confronted by his great sins involving Bathsheba (2 Sam 11-12), he knew what was facing him: expulsion from God's Presence. So he begged that God would "blot out [machah] my rebellions" — before God blotted him out. "Wash me…cleanse me…I have sinned…purify me…wash me and I shall be whiter than snow…create in me a cleansed heart…renew a steadfast ruachwithin me" (Psalm 51). God hates this situation into which humans have descended. " 'I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,' declares the Lord YHVH. 'Therefore, repent and live' " (Ezek 18:32). "The Lord…[does not wish] for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). He wants to retain everyone in his living Book. [Top] Implications Based on this survey of texts, Cain was once in the Book. So was Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. And Herod and Caesar. And Torquemada and Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Bin Laden and Xi Jinping, and other mass killers. Even apostate priests, rabbis, and mullahs who have led people to hell through their false teaching.  At one time, they were all recorded in the Book of Life. But one day when the books are opened and the entirety of their lives are examined, they will be blotted out for good — unless at some point they repent and seek salvation (yeshuah) from the hand of God. If they accept God's cleansing atonement through Messiah, they'll will be retained in the Pesach Lamb's registry — his Sefer Hayyim. [Top] Regardless of how we view the fate of the wicked before the day of judgment, these Scriptures speak to us both of God's love for his human creation and of his justice toward unrepentant human sinfulness.  It should provoke a rather fundamental question in our personal, introspective soul times: Am I still in the Book by faith in God and Messiah — or heading for removal because of my sins? It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy [qadosh] — everyone who is Written for Life [katuv lachayyim] in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 4:2-3) • Paul Sumner [Top]  NOTESHere are other pertinent texts on being removed from the Holy Book of Life: Hebrew Bible — Exod 17:14; 32:32-33; Deut 9:14; 25:6, 19; 20:20; 2 Kgs 14:27; Isa 4:3; 48:19; Ezek13:9; Malachi 3:16; Ps 9:5; 56:8; 69:28: 109:13; 139:16; Job 19:23-24; Dan 12:1. New Testament — Matt 10:30; Luke 10:20; Phil 4:3; Heb 12:23; Rev 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27. Readers may also wish to survey the uses of the Hebrew verb machah: Gen 6:7; 7:4, 23, 23; Exod 17:14, 14; 32:32, 33; Num5:23; Deut 9:14; 25:6, 19; 29:20; Judg 21:17; 2 Kgs14:27; 21:13, 13, 13; Isa 25:8; 43:25; 44:22; Jer 18:23; Ezek 6:6; Ps 9:5; 51:1, 9; 69:28; 109:13, 14; Prov 6:33; 30:20; 31:3; Neh 4:5 (3:37); 13:14. [Top] Contradictions in Revelation?  An inquiring reader wrote and asked me whether the following two passages in the book of Revelation contradict the teaching that everyone is originally written in the Book of Life. All who dwell on the earth will worship him [the Beast], 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. (Rev 13:8) [Given John's often perplexing Greek grammar, some translators place the phrase "from the foundation of the world" after "the Lamb who has been slain." But this doesn't affect the first part of the sentence: the names of the worshipers of the Beast are not written in the Book.] Those who dwell on the earth will wonder [at Babylon and the Beast], whose name has not been written in the Book of life from the foundation of the world…(Rev 17:8b) The question whether John is contradicting the teaching of Yeshua is valid. What we don't want to do, however, is pit Scripture against Scripture as a way of nullifying all of it. Here's how I work with this apparent contradiction. [Top] I reject as unbiblical the Calvinist (Reformed) doctrine of Predestination in which some people are ticketed for the Hell train before they are born. (See my comments above on Michael Horton.) This is one of the Five Points of "TULIP" Calvinism, which I believe besmirches the name and character of God. It also avoids disturbing passages such as Rev 3:5, where Yeshua warns sinful (Christian) believers in Sardis that he might blot out their names, IF they remain idolatrous and unrepentant. They were at that point in the Book; they could be deleted. But the worshipers of the Beast (and Harlot Babylon), whom John describes (in Rev 13:8; 17:8), are so sinfully corrupt in their spirits it is as though they never occupied ledger entries in the Holy Book. John describes them as far beyond the pale of normal creation: unlike most other human beings who were created precious to the Creator, these folks are poisoned from the beginning. Stillborn because of a satanic seed. John doesn't say that explicity, but I believe this interpretation is valid. It is essentially the view of Robert H. Mounce found in this commentary on Revelation 17:8: "John isn't teaching a form of determinism…, but emphasizing the great distinction that exists between the followers of the Lamb and those who give their allegiance to the beast" (Revelation [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, rev. ed. 1998], p. 314). [Top]

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My thoughts on 1 Corinthians 1:21-24

Foolish message preached saves believers 

No Signs

No wisdom

Message: CHRIST CRUCIFIED 

To those called: Christ is power and wisdom of God. 

1 Corinthians 1:21-24

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

My thoughts on 1 Corinthians 1:29-31

No flesh can glory

From The Father-I am in Christ

CHRIST is MY: wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption!

Glory in the LORD!!!!

1 Corinthians 1:29-31

that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."

My thoughts on Ephesians 1:15-23

Paul prays for us and gives thanks for us because we have faith in Jesus and love to the brothers in Christ. 

He prays:

God of Jesus

Father of Glory

Gives

The Spirit of Wisdom

The Spirit of Revelation 

Knowledge of Him

Eyes of heart enlightened 

To Know the Hope

Called to know the hope: 

Riches of glorious inheritance which is:

Immeasurable Power to us who believe 

According to resurrection power

Christ is seated above all rule and authority power and dominion and above every name forever under his feet. Head over the church the fullness of himself the body of which we are now in. 

Ephesians 1:15-23

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

My thoughts on Galatians:

Don’t try to please man-tradition

Please almighty God

Received Gospel not from man or taught from man-received from God through revelation of JESUS 

Set me apart before born 

Called by grace

Pleased to reveal his Son

Jesus gave himself for me - Christ cursed so I am free

Not justified by works of law

Justified by FAITH in Jesus 

Received Spirit by hearing with FAITH

Righteous live by FAITH

Promise by FAITH in Jesus given to those who BELIEVE 

Redeemed and Adopted

A son with His Spirit inside me

FAITH working through LOVE

Through Love serve one another 

Love your neighbor as yourself 

(Love self and others by willing the good of soul)

Let the Spirit lead not your flesh

Fruit of Spirit: Love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self control 

The new creation is what counts 

Grace peace and mercy of our Lord JESUS be with your spirit 

Worship is a sacrifice:

The only sacrifice I can give, is a broken Spirit and contrite heart to God, and Faith in the Sacrifice of Christ for me, that God was pleased to reveal, and I received by grace. 

Justified: made righteous in the sight of God. 

Faith: Complete trust or confidence in God. 

Love: affectionately willing the good of soul. 

Redeem: regain possession of. 

I cannot do anything without Christ, I can only allow Him to pick me up and carry me through life by grace in trust. Abandonment of myself. It’s all His work. He is orchestrating. I am his broken clay pot that He wants to live on earth through. Fruit is accomplished by letting Him have his own way. 

My Thoughts:

The Father is glorified when I bear his fruit. 

When I have fruit I prove I am a disciple of Christ. 

Jesus loves me as much as the Father loves Him. 

Abide in Christs Love by keeping His commandments. 

I am to keep Jesus’ commandments as Jesus kept the Fathers commandments. (Abandoned completely to His Perfect Will in loving obedience for His glory)

His commandment is to love others as He has loved me, which is as much as the Father has loved Him. 

I have fullness of Jesus’ Joy in me because I know this. 

John 15:8-12

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

The highest act of faith

Is to believe in God’s love

The highest act of Love 

Is to dedicate our life to returning His Love

We cannot love God if we do not believe in him

And we cannot believe efficaciously in God unless our faith blossoms from love and in love

You can know God and his mysteries 

deeper through love 

than that of studies

To love God is not a feeling it is an act of the will

It is to wish well to God

It is to wish God’s glory 

in the fulfillment of his perfect will. 

My Thoughts: 

Jesus please give me the grace to not reject the purpose you have for me. Amen

Luke 7:30 (ESV) 

but the Pharisees and the lawyers 

rejected the purpose of God for themselves, 

not having been baptized by him. 

My Thoughts about the

Consuming Fire of God

All will be resurrected. 

Jesus is the new Adam that merited Eternal Life for All Men. 

How we experience God:

Like a lightbulb does not change tone of light when turned on it is experienced differently depending on the darkness of the room. 

1. Heaven: fire of Love burning in our hearts for love of God and Worship Praise and Glory to Him. 

2. Purgatory: Love of God not quite purified - will be changed in an instant when He Comes again. 

3. Hell: Reject God as Lover of our Soul that has made a way to Himself. 

False Church

If the church was wrong before Luther and Calvin that means there was no visible church on earth. 

That was the only church. 

If it was right, they are false teachers that went astray and broke it into factions. Which are still never ending. 

God said the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. The Catholic Church is still going no matter the challenges it faces with its sinners. All are sinners. The sheep and goats will be sifted at the end. It is always in need of reforming not obliteration. Prune not Destroy!

The Faith of the church is to be RECEIVED not interpreted for yourself. 

Some will preach in the last days and may even deceive the elect. RECEIVE TRUTH! 

COME HOME. 

Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe 

that you are one God in three divine Persons,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

I believe that your divine Son became man 

and died for our sins and that he will come 

to judge the living and the dead. 

I believe these and all the truths 

which the Holy Catholic Church teaches

because you have revealed them 

who are eternal truth and wisdom, 

who can neither deceive nor be deceived. 

In this faith I intend to live and die. 

Amen.

Matthew 7:21

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Only by Cooperating with His Grace can we Receive, Know, Believe, Trust, and Obey His Will for His Glory!

100% Relentless Grace yes, but must not be resisted (not irresistible)

NOTE: The Holy Spirit will bring us to the point where we can believe, but never to a point where we must believe. So, if we do believe, it is all credited to God’s grace, working through the Spirit. If we refuse, however, it’s our own fault.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I firmly believe that salvation is completely by grace, not works. And I believe the Bible teaches that humans would never choose God on their own, apart from the Holy Spirit. Left on our own, we are “dead” toward spiritual things (Eph 2:1, 5), and corpses can’t do much of anything last I checked. To come to Christ, the Father must draw us (Jn 6:44).

If it was true that humans had enough life, goodness, or intelligence to choose God on their own, and if the reason that some were saved and some not was because some chose God on their own and some didn’t, then I see no way one could avoid the conclusion that the reason some are saved and some not is because some are better or smarter than others! So saved people, give yourself a nice pat on the back!

At the same time, it seems just as clear that God does not pick and choose who will be saved. He doesn’t want anyone to perish but wants all to enter into eternal life (2 Pet 3:9; 2 Tim. 2:4-6). Jesus died for the sins of every person (1 Jn 2:2). So, any line of reasoning that leads to a portrait of God as less-than-universal in his love and less-than-universal in his desire to save people must have something wrong with it.

As I see it, the mistake in the line of reasoning that leads to the Reformed doctrine of election is the assumption that God’s grace must be irresistible. (This is the “I” of the famous Calvinistic Acronym “TULIP”). It’s one thing to say that humans won’t believe in Christ without the Holy Spirit and quite another thing to claim that with the Holy Spirit humans must believe.

As I put aspects of the biblical narrative together, I am led to the conclusion that God wants everyone saved and the Holy Spirit is working in every person’s heart to bring them into salvation. (The issue of whether people need to be brought to the point where they consciously choose Christ to be saved is a separate matter). But the Holy Spirit will not work coercively, for coerced love is not genuine love. So it is that through the Bible we have warnings to not resist the Holy Spirit (e.g. Acts 7:51; Eph 4:30; Heb 3:7-8). The Holy Spirit will bring us to the point where we can believe, but never to a point where we must believe. So, if we do believe, it is all credited to God’s grace, working through the Spirit. If we refuse, however, it’s our own fault.

His relentless love wears some of us out.

If salvation depends on our free choice, how are we saved totally by grace? - Greg Boyd - ReKnew

 

 

Only by 

Cooperating with His Grace 

(absolute Surrender and self denial)

can we 

Receive, 

Know, 

Believe, 

Trust, and 

Obey His Will 

for His Glory!