Revelation 17:8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit tells us that all unbelievers do not have their names recorded in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. In other words their names have never been recorded in God’s Book of Life. By revealing this truth to us the Holy Spirit therefore implies that believers do have their names written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. And so we see that before the foundation of the world God recorded in the Book of Life the names of those who would be saved. And in the same manner, before the foundation of the world God knew who would not be saved and therefore their names were never recorded in the Book of Life.
Revelation 3:5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
The truth revealed in the previous quoted passage of scripture agrees with the statement made by our Lord Jesus in the above quoted passage of scripture. For our Lord Jesus tells us in this passage that those who overcome will not have their names blotted out of the Book of Life. Jesus could say that because all who belong to Him already have their names written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, and therefore their names can only be blotted out. On the other hand, those who do not belong to the Lord have never had their names written in the Book of Life. Clearly God knows the future of all His creation. And so we can see from the scriptures quoted in this section that God knows everything. In other words there is nothing that God does not know. When we grasp this one simple concept then it helps us to understand more clearly how God governs His creation.
Michael E.B. Maher
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