Will My Name Be Removed And Rewritten In The Book of Life When I Sin and Repent Later?
Question : In Exodus 32:33, the Bible says, ”...The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. How do you relate this verse to the permanency of "Eternal salvation" (Heb 5:9) which you believe? I am a born again christian and I too believe on the permanency of "Eternal Salvation" which many people also call as OSAS, but there are times when I sin. Does that mean that whenever I commit a sin, my name is blotted out from the book of life, and when I repent it will be written again? Please explain.
Answer : Greetings in Jesus name! In the Old Testament when God spoke to Moses about blotting people "out of My book" (Exodus 32:33), he was speaking to Moses about the book of life in which the predetermined time which God has pre-ordained days of life for each person to live on earth according to God was written in it. The Book of Psalms speak about it when the psalmist David revealed about it saying, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." (Psa 139:16). God's plan is His favourable pre-determined perfect plan for all human being of which He executes it favourably towards His people because of them giving themselves to Him as His willing subjects (Jer 15:1; Judges 2:1). This book of life was the maximum revelation God gave to His people about His favor towards His people in the Old Testament times. So when God was threatening Moses about blotting people "out of [His] book" (Exodus 32:33), God was actually saying that He was going to kill these people without letting them to live or fulfill the days which He has favourably pre-determined before creation for each of those individuals of how much they should live according to His Book of Life (Psa 91:16). God did not threaten these people who sinned with the lose of eternal salvation which is not based on work of any individual but by faith in God which is a gift given to all the people of God (Eph 2:8-9). How do we know this for sure? First, because in context to the threat He told to Moses, within the next couple of verses God fulfilled His word by plaguing and killing people physically who commited idolatry through worshipping the calf which Aaron made (Exo 33:35). Because as a leader Aaron made the calf under the intense pressure of the people, he was left alive by God or else he must have been the first to be plagued to death because he made the calf idol. Second when God revealed the unchanging eternal righteous state of the people of Israel through Balaam the prophet, He said, "19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21 “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them."" (Num 23:19-21). This means that God has promised and blessed the Israelites a unchanging sin-free spiritual state of soul salvation positionally, with which atleast He saw them through His eyes because of His sanctified Presence among His people, but always threatened a physical punishment for sin which they commited by forgetting God their Savior (Psa 106:21) and also when they provoked Him again and again from the day He brought them out of Egypt and even to the days when they kept on sinning after they crossed in to the wilderness journey (Psa 106:7, 13-42). They were brought low for their iniquity but when His people repented, again God remembered His covenant and relented from destroying them physically according to His mercies (Psa 106:43-45). When ever the people of God returned to the Lord He even made their enemies pity them, my question is, if God has made his people get unsaved when ever they sinned, how can they return to Him and call Him again saying, "Save us, O Lord our God...to give thanks to your Holy name, to triumph in Your praise. [And also finally say] And let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the Lord!" (Psa 106:46-48). God chastised His people in the old Testament times, but never once did He threaten them with lose of salvation of their eternal soul just because they sinned.
The Old Testament salvation was physical, the spiritual salvation was hidden to His people in those times and even to the prophets who according to Peter the apostle said were actually searching God's spiritual secrets which they themselves spoke without knowing the meaning of it. Here is what Apostle Peter said, "10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into." (1 Peter 1:10-12). So the Old Testament prophets who prophesied spiritual salvation never knew about it, but actually were prophesying to the Church which has received salvation and is experiencing all the spiritual blessings of God in heavenly places (Eph 1:3). Now the chastisement from God is spiritual and also physical to the Church which is a higher level than the Old Testament physical chastisement, but no means it is a lose of our soul for eternity which has been once and for all time redeemed by the Lord whether it was Old or New Testament (Heb 12:4-11; 1 Cor 11:30-31; 2 Cor 12:7; Matt 18:34-35; 9:12; 10:10, 12, 14). The Salvation for the Old Testament saints according to the Lord was in the future through Jesus, where as the same salvation was applied by the Lord for the Church from time backward through Jesus (Isa 53:11; 1 Peter 2:24). In the New Testament, the Lord has revealed that He has started to write the saved souls of all generations in a new book named "Lamb's Book of Life" from the time of the death of Jesus on the Cross and His resurrection (John 1:29; Eph 4:8-10; Matt 27:50-53), which is only for His saved people of all generations which includes both Old, New and future generations (Rev 21:27). This book of the Lamb was revealed only to the Church later and not to the prophets of the Old Testament including Moses and therefore when Moses was referring to the Book of Life, it was a different one which only spoke about the perfect plan of God's favour and blessing which He had it written for each individual. Also the same "Book of Life" (Rev 20:12) will be opened during the White Throne Judgment of the unsaved people after the end of the Millenium rule of Jesus along with the Church saints on the earth, in order to show these same unsaved people of how God's plan was perfect even for them, after that the "books" (Rev 20:12) of their own works will be opened so that they will be reminded how they have fulfilled their own plan of selfish evil with out God and therfore are heading to a hellfire without God by their own choice (Matt 25:41, 46).
That means, God is not like man to say one thing and to do another thing according to his mood, whims and fancies. To write a person's name in the "Book of Life" based on our performance is not for salvation, but for the reward that awaits us for eternity based on our work done for God in His service (Eph 2:8-9; Rev 22:12). When God saved His people, He saved them for eternity. There is no place inbetween it, either a person is saved forever or not saved at all (John 10:27-30). Salvation is eternal in nature (Heb 5:9). Once God seals us with the Holy Spirit, it stays that way until the time of rapture which is the appointed time of the redemption of our bodies (Eph 1:13-14). God has warned the Church that He will judge the Church immediately with His chastisement now so that they will not be judged along with the unbelievers later (1 Peter 4:17-18; 1 Cor 11:32). Whenever you commit a sin, your name will not be removed from the "Lamb's Book of Life", but you will lose the consciousness of the blessed Presence of God until you confess your sin and get right with God (1 John 1:3, 7, 9).
Much Blessings.....
Answer : Greetings in Jesus name! In the Old Testament when God spoke to Moses about blotting people "out of My book" (Exodus 32:33), he was speaking to Moses about the book of life in which the predetermined time which God has pre-ordained days of life for each person to live on earth according to God was written in it. The Book of Psalms speak about it when the psalmist David revealed about it saying, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." (Psa 139:16). God's plan is His favourable pre-determined perfect plan for all human being of which He executes it favourably towards His people because of them giving themselves to Him as His willing subjects (Jer 15:1; Judges 2:1). This book of life was the maximum revelation God gave to His people about His favor towards His people in the Old Testament times. So when God was threatening Moses about blotting people "out of [His] book" (Exodus 32:33), God was actually saying that He was going to kill these people without letting them to live or fulfill the days which He has favourably pre-determined before creation for each of those individuals of how much they should live according to His Book of Life (Psa 91:16). God did not threaten these people who sinned with the lose of eternal salvation which is not based on work of any individual but by faith in God which is a gift given to all the people of God (Eph 2:8-9). How do we know this for sure? First, because in context to the threat He told to Moses, within the next couple of verses God fulfilled His word by plaguing and killing people physically who commited idolatry through worshipping the calf which Aaron made (Exo 33:35). Because as a leader Aaron made the calf under the intense pressure of the people, he was left alive by God or else he must have been the first to be plagued to death because he made the calf idol. Second when God revealed the unchanging eternal righteous state of the people of Israel through Balaam the prophet, He said, "19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21 “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them."" (Num 23:19-21). This means that God has promised and blessed the Israelites a unchanging sin-free spiritual state of soul salvation positionally, with which atleast He saw them through His eyes because of His sanctified Presence among His people, but always threatened a physical punishment for sin which they commited by forgetting God their Savior (Psa 106:21) and also when they provoked Him again and again from the day He brought them out of Egypt and even to the days when they kept on sinning after they crossed in to the wilderness journey (Psa 106:7, 13-42). They were brought low for their iniquity but when His people repented, again God remembered His covenant and relented from destroying them physically according to His mercies (Psa 106:43-45). When ever the people of God returned to the Lord He even made their enemies pity them, my question is, if God has made his people get unsaved when ever they sinned, how can they return to Him and call Him again saying, "Save us, O Lord our God...to give thanks to your Holy name, to triumph in Your praise. [And also finally say] And let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the Lord!" (Psa 106:46-48). God chastised His people in the old Testament times, but never once did He threaten them with lose of salvation of their eternal soul just because they sinned.
The Old Testament salvation was physical, the spiritual salvation was hidden to His people in those times and even to the prophets who according to Peter the apostle said were actually searching God's spiritual secrets which they themselves spoke without knowing the meaning of it. Here is what Apostle Peter said, "10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into." (1 Peter 1:10-12). So the Old Testament prophets who prophesied spiritual salvation never knew about it, but actually were prophesying to the Church which has received salvation and is experiencing all the spiritual blessings of God in heavenly places (Eph 1:3). Now the chastisement from God is spiritual and also physical to the Church which is a higher level than the Old Testament physical chastisement, but no means it is a lose of our soul for eternity which has been once and for all time redeemed by the Lord whether it was Old or New Testament (Heb 12:4-11; 1 Cor 11:30-31; 2 Cor 12:7; Matt 18:34-35; 9:12; 10:10, 12, 14). The Salvation for the Old Testament saints according to the Lord was in the future through Jesus, where as the same salvation was applied by the Lord for the Church from time backward through Jesus (Isa 53:11; 1 Peter 2:24). In the New Testament, the Lord has revealed that He has started to write the saved souls of all generations in a new book named "Lamb's Book of Life" from the time of the death of Jesus on the Cross and His resurrection (John 1:29; Eph 4:8-10; Matt 27:50-53), which is only for His saved people of all generations which includes both Old, New and future generations (Rev 21:27). This book of the Lamb was revealed only to the Church later and not to the prophets of the Old Testament including Moses and therefore when Moses was referring to the Book of Life, it was a different one which only spoke about the perfect plan of God's favour and blessing which He had it written for each individual. Also the same "Book of Life" (Rev 20:12) will be opened during the White Throne Judgment of the unsaved people after the end of the Millenium rule of Jesus along with the Church saints on the earth, in order to show these same unsaved people of how God's plan was perfect even for them, after that the "books" (Rev 20:12) of their own works will be opened so that they will be reminded how they have fulfilled their own plan of selfish evil with out God and therfore are heading to a hellfire without God by their own choice (Matt 25:41, 46).
That means, God is not like man to say one thing and to do another thing according to his mood, whims and fancies. To write a person's name in the "Book of Life" based on our performance is not for salvation, but for the reward that awaits us for eternity based on our work done for God in His service (Eph 2:8-9; Rev 22:12). When God saved His people, He saved them for eternity. There is no place inbetween it, either a person is saved forever or not saved at all (John 10:27-30). Salvation is eternal in nature (Heb 5:9). Once God seals us with the Holy Spirit, it stays that way until the time of rapture which is the appointed time of the redemption of our bodies (Eph 1:13-14). God has warned the Church that He will judge the Church immediately with His chastisement now so that they will not be judged along with the unbelievers later (1 Peter 4:17-18; 1 Cor 11:32). Whenever you commit a sin, your name will not be removed from the "Lamb's Book of Life", but you will lose the consciousness of the blessed Presence of God until you confess your sin and get right with God (1 John 1:3, 7, 9).
Much Blessings.....
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