Blotting Out

[Anthony Pritchard]

Blotting Out

Where the Name Endures and Faith Prevails
Overcoming (Part 2)

Blotting out is one of the most solemn themes in Scripture, and it is directly tied to the matter of overcoming. Overcoming begins with the believer’s relationship to the truth. Simply put, there are names in the Book of Life; some will not be blotted out, which means that some will be. This teaches us that all mankind conceived begins with their name in that Book. The Book of Life begins full; it is diminished only by unbelief. Scripture does not present overcoming as a contest of strength but as the steady alignment of the heart with what God has revealed. The believer is called, drawn, and awakened by the word of God, and overcoming is the human response to that divine initiative. It is not the result of human effort, but neither is it passive. It is the believer answering the voice that called him out of darkness and into light.

Revelation 3:5 presents both a promise and a warning: “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.” Only the overcomer retains his name in the Book of Life. But Scripture does not leave us to guess who the overcomer is. John answers plainly: “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?” 1 John 5:4–5. The overcomer is the born again believer. To believe on Christ is to be born of God; to be born of God is to overcome. Salvation is not earned, it is received. And once received, it cannot be revoked.

This is where the matter of blotting out becomes clear. Blotting out is not the removal of sin, nor the erasure of a charge. It is the removal of a name. The name of a person that does not overcome, that is not born again, that is n is the name that is taken out. The name that answers the call of God, the name that believes, the name that is born of God, is the name that remains. Overcoming is the evidence of that remaining. It is the believer responding to what God initiates.

John’s writings make this pattern unmistakable. The one who is born of God, who is born again. overcomes because he believes, and the life of God is in him. The victory is His, not the work of man. The believer overcomes because he belongs to the One who overcame. The world’s pull, the flesh’s weakness, and the enemy’s accusations do not define the believer’s destiny. The believer’s destiny is defined by the life he has received. Overcoming is the expression of that life. It is the believer choosing truth over deception, light over darkness, and Christ over the world’s demands.

If you have not yet read my meditation on the phrase “in no wise,” I encourage you to do so. It explains the force of the absolute negation used in the New Testament and how Christ employs it to assure the believer of His unbreakable promise. The strongest language of Scripture is used to guarantee that the one who comes to Him is received forever. That study is posted separately under the title Absolute Assurance and Absolute Negation: “In No Wise” - The Strongest Promise Ever Spoken. It provides the foundation for understanding why overcoming is the natural response of the one who is born of God and why the believer’s name remains secure.

Absolute Negation

Absolute Assurance and Absolute Negation “In No Wise”: The Strongest Promise Ever Spoken Introductory Note: I am posting this meditation to explain the meaning and force of the phrase “in no wise” as it appears in Scripture. A simply study of the language of Scripture and the assurance Christ...

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Nomen manet victori - The name remains to the overcomer.

~Tony

© A.K. Pritchard 1979 -

Free to use with proper attribution.

 

[Ascetic X]

The name that answers the call of God, the name that believes, the name that is born of God, is the name that remains. Overcoming is the evidence of that remaining. It is the believer responding to what God initiates.


John’s writings make this pattern unmistakable. The one who is born of God, who is born again. overcomes because he believes, and the life of God is in him. The victory is His, not the work of man. The believer overcomes because he belongs to the One who overcame. The world’s pull, the flesh’s weakness, and the enemy’s accusations do not define the believer’s destiny. The believer’s destiny is defined by the life he has received. Overcoming is the expression of that life. It is the believer choosing truth over deception, light over darkness, and Christ over the world’s demands.

I have been greatly blessed by this study of Blotting Out.

There are certain things in my past that bother me, even though I have confessed them as sins, and I believe that God has forgiven me.

I keep slipping into that dark night of the soul, where joy has faded, and I struggle to regain that blessed assurance that steadied my soul for many years.

Your articles are very beneficial to me during this spiritual combat. Thanks, brother!

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

I have been greatly blessed by this study of Blotting Out.

There are certain things in my past that bother me, even though I have confessed them as sins, and I believe that God has forgiven me.

I keep slipping into that dark night of the soul, where joy has faded, and I struggle to regain that blessed assurance that steadied my soul for many years.

Your articles are very beneficial to me during this spiritual combat. Thanks, brother!

Brother, I’m grateful the study has helped you. We all carry things from our past that rise up at times, even after confession and forgiveness. The enemy loves to use old wounds to trouble the present. But God’s forgiveness is not fragile, and His promises do not fade. Your struggle does not mean you are forsaken; it means you are fighting. And the very fact that you long for assurance is itself evidence of life. I’m honored that these articles have strengthened you in the battle. Keep your eyes on Christ, brother. He keeps what He calls. I will lift your name to the throne of our Heavenly Father.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

@Anthony Pritchard,
I will be interested to have your take on this verse.

Revelation 13:8. 'All who dwell on the earth will worship Him [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.'

You might also consider Rev. 20:12, which shows that the Book of Life is not the only book kept by God. Therefore to suppose that the book spoken of in Exodus 32:32-33 is the Book of Life is just that - a supposition.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

@Anthony Pritchard,
I will be interested to have your take on this verse.

Revelation 13:8. 'All who dwell on the earth will worship Him [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.'

You might also consider Rev. 20:12, which shows that the Book of Life is not the only book kept by God. Therefore to suppose that the book spoken of in Exodus 32:32-33 is the Book of Life is just that - a supposition.

Martin,

Revelation 20:12 certainly shows that God keeps more than one kind of record, but it does not suggest that there is more than one Book of Life. The text simply says “books were opened,” and then distinguishes one of them by name: the Book of Life. The existence of other books does not imply multiple Books of Life, only multiple categories of divine record.

Across Scripture, the Book of Life is treated as a single, unified book. The references are consistent:

• Exodus 32:32–33 — a book in which God writes names
• Psalm 69:28 — “the book of the living”
• Daniel 12:1 — those “found written in the book”
• Philippians 4:3 — coworkers “whose names are in the book of life”
• Revelation 3:5 — names blotted out of “the book of life”
• Revelation 13:8 — “the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”
• Revelation 17:8 — names written “in the book of life from the foundation of the world”
• Revelation 20:12, 15 — destiny determined by the Book of Life
• Revelation 21:27 — “but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Revelation 21:27 is decisive. It is the last verse of the next‑to‑last chapter of the Bible, and it gives the book its fullest title. John does not introduce a second book; he simply identifies the Book of Life in its redemptive context. The Lamb’s Book of Life is the Book of Life. Scripture never distinguishes two.

This brings us back to Exodus 32. The burden of proof rests on anyone claiming that the book Moses refers to is not the Book of Life. The text does not name a different book, and Revelation never distinguishes two. The simplest reading — and the one consistent with the whole canon — is that Exodus 32 speaks of the same book later called the Book of Life.

If Exodus 32 refers to some other book, Scripture would need to identify it. It does not. The only book in Scripture associated with names being written and blotted out is the Book of Life. Revelation 3 uses the same language Moses uses, and both passages fit the same pattern.

Therefore, the idea that Exodus 32 refers to a different book is not drawn from the text, but from the need to avoid the implications of the blotting language. The unity of the Book of Life across Scripture remains intact.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Martin,

Revelation 20:12 certainly shows that God keeps more than one kind of record, but it does not suggest that there is more than one Book of Life.

Anthony,
I did not say that there was more than one book of life. I pointed out that there are books mentioned in Revelation 20:12 which will be opened on the Day of Judgment which are not the Book of Life.

The text simply says “books were opened,” and then distinguishes one of them by name: the Book of Life. The existence of other books does not imply multiple Books of Life, only multiple categories of divine record.

Just so. Books plural; Book of life singular. What I am saying is that to take Exodus 32:32-3, which mentions only a book and to insist that it must be the Book of Life because that suits your pre-suppositions, is not proper exegesis.

Across Scripture, the Book of Life is treated as a single, unified book.

Perhaps, but the Book of Life is not the only book mentioned. Can we say that the 'Book of Life' is the same as the 'Lamb's Book of Life'? Perhaps, but only with caution.

The references are consistent:

• Exodus 32:32–33 — a book in which God writes names
• Psalm 69:28 — “the book of the living”
• Daniel 12:1 — those “found written in the book”

You have omitted Daniel 7:10, which says 'The court was seated, and the books [plural] were opened.'
As with Exodus 32, Daniel 12:1 does not specify the Book of Life.
You have also omitted the 'flying scroll' of Zech. 5:1-4 and the 'book of remembrance' of Malachi 3:16-18.

• Philippians 4:3 — coworkers “whose names are in the book of life”
• Revelation 3:5 — names blotted out of “the book of life”

Did you mean to say 'names NOT blotted out of the Book of Life'? We need to consider exactly what 'overcome' means in context, but I will reserve that for a further post.

• Revelation 13:8 — “the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”

Rev. 13:8. 'All who dwell on the earth will worship [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.' I asked for your view of this verse in my previous post, but unfortunately you did not give it. I suggest that 'All who dwell on the earth ' might be contrated with Ephesians 2:6, 'and made us sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus' and with Phil. 3:20, 'For our citizenship is in heaven.'
But more importantly, those who worship the beast are those 'whose names have not been written in the Book of Life....' There is no suggestion that these names were once in the Book and have been excised, and indeed the use of the Perfect Tense suggests a once-and-for-all writing. There is the question of whether the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, or whether the names were written in the Book from that time (both, perhaps?), but the next reference reaveals the truth.

• Revelation 17:8 — names written “in the book of life from the foundation of the world”

Yep. The names were written, once and for all, in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world. No 'blotting out' and no writing in.
The idea that everyone's name starts of in the B.o.L and names get progressively removed is a non-starter.

• Revelation 20:12, 15 — destiny determined by the Book of Life

Other books mentioned, but yes, the Book of Life, written from the foundation of the world, determines our destiny.

• Revelation 21:27 — “but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Revelation 21:27 is decisive. It is the last verse of the next‑to‑last chapter of the Bible, and it gives the book its fullest title. John does not introduce a second book; he simply identifies the Book of Life in its redemptive context. The Lamb’s Book of Life is the Book of Life. Scripture never distinguishes two.

No problem with that.

This brings us back to Exodus 32. The burden of proof rests on anyone claiming that the book Moses refers to is not the Book of Life. The text does not name a different book, and Revelation never distinguishes two. The simplest reading — and the one consistent with the whole canon — is that Exodus 32 speaks of the same book later called the Book of Life.

If Exodus 32 refers to some other book, Scripture would need to identify it. It does not. The only book in Scripture associated with names being written and blotted out is the Book of Life. Revelation 3 uses the same language Moses uses, and both passages fit the same pattern.

Therefore, the idea that Exodus 32 refers to a different book is not drawn from the text, but from the need to avoid the implications of the blotting language. The unity of the Book of Life across Scripture remains intact.

I disagree. The term 'Book of Life' is not mentioned there and in the light of Rev. 22:19, we should cetainly think twice before writing it in. Other books are mentioned, in both Testaments.

I want to write something on Psalm 69:28, but I have already spent too much time on this post. I will do so later, God willing.