Opus 2026-276: The Other End of the Pencil

Recently in a Bible study focused on Jeremiah, the Book of Life somehow came up.  It was probably because it is easier to talk in platitudes and sound bites than to really dig into research.  There are times when it seems that everything comes down to “turn or burn”.  As important as that is to focus on, when you have the well established crowd at our Wednesday service seems a waste of time.

Does “book of life” appear in Jeremiah?  The only close reference is,

Psalm 69:28 (KJV) Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

And from there you jump to the NT. In the NASB this is “book of life”

There was a lot of enthusiasm about the topic.  We were told that it was a great witnessing tool.  Ask people if they are in the book of life.  It was supposed to be the final measure.  The problem is we won’t know until we are there.

My mind goes into overdrive when I hear boilerplate theology.  I know there is a book of life in Revelation.  I know the importance of having your name in it.  No problem there.  Where I run into issues is with people who do not think that God’s pencil has an eraser.  The once-saved-always-saved crowd love to proclaim that once you are in you stay in.

Let’s look at a few places that might bring you to question such thinking.  The first is at the beginning of Revelation.

Revelation 3:5 (KJV) 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.

The promise is that Jesus will not “blot out” their name.  It would seem obvious to me that if someone promises they will not erase your name if conditions are met, they can do so if you don’t measure up.  The measure here is to “overcome”.

Now go to the other end of Revelation. Notice this,

Revelation 22:19 (KJV) 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.

Again you have the clear knowledge that your name can be erased.

It is not something I worry about.  God is not looking for excuses to blot out names.  At the same time He is not a fool and does not play fool’s games.  It is summed up in the title of a well know hymn, “Trust and Obey”.

Keep in mind there is no other way.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-047: Turning Back the Clock

I was reading along, minding my own business.  In Psalm 69 David is bemoaning his situation.  His general feeling is that everyone is out to get him and nothing is going right.  It is good to read the open confessions of the man who is described as a “man after God’s own heart”.  He is down in the dumps.  If you are with him keep in mind that you are in good company.

Then I read a verse that I thought must have come out of a current press release.

(Psa 69:4 NAS77) Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies, What I did not steal, I then have to restore.

Does this not describe where so many of us are today if we are believers in Jesus Christ and the values of truth and morality that go with that belief?  We are hated and the powers that be are out to destroy us.

Then comes the reparations.  Yes, reparations.  Read that last sentence again and then think about the analysis that is coming out of the recent debates in California:  A state that has never had slavery is demanding that people who never owned slaves pay a lot of money to people who were never slaves.  Go a little deeper.  Your ancestors may have died fighting to end slavery.  On the other side your ancestors may have emigrated after slavery was illegal.  The big bucks are still supposed to be transferred.  

Shades of ancient Israel.

Maybe the next step with be the scapegoat route.  When someone of the right ethnic combination is convicted of a crime maybe we need a law that says someone totally innocent of the crime but from the wrong ethnic combination should do the jail time.  

Do I hear an “Amen”?

homo unius libri