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1. The Book of Life
As Taught in the Bible
By: Elder Don Ellis •

2. Section 1: Exodus 32:33, Romans 9:3,
Revelations 3:5, Revelations 5:9
This book of life as taught in the bible must be
understood as being signified. It is not as a book
we are read ing from the King James Version. I
feel it is speaking of God's great power to
remember and not to forget. We, as finite
people, realize the fallacy of depending on our
memory, so we write our transactions in a book
and have them become legal. The term used in
Malachi 3:16 is: "Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another: and the Lord
hearkened, and heard it. and a book of
remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his
name." It is evident that this is not speaking of
the election of grace from before the foundation
of the world. It is to encourage us that God is not
unmindful to forget our labor of love and to know
that our labors in hard desolate times are not in
vain in the Lord.
In Exodus 32:33. a great sin has been
committed. Israel has made a golden calf and
has worshiped it saying, "These be thy gods. 0
Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt. " Now God is wroth at his covenant
people and promises to blot their name out of the
book of life. This is not speaking of them ceasing
to be in the election of God before the foundation
of the world; these are the people that God has
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3. chosen to dwell in the land of Canaan. This land
is to be possessed by their obedience to God.
Israel is the elect of God (Isaiah 45:4). This
election is according to the purpose of God to
have an elect people in a covenant only se nse~
In Revelation 5:9 is states that the lamb
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
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kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ... "
Being blotted out of the book of life is not
speaking of the people redeemed by the blood of
Christ. There is no conflict between Exodus
32:33 and Revelation 5:9.
The life spoken of in Exodus 32:33 is the life
Moses refers to in Deuteronomy 3: 19 and 30:20.
In this, we can choose life or choose death. or
the chi ldren of Israel this life refers to the land of
Canaan. In this scripture, Moses is making
intercession with God and says that if He (God)
is going to blot out the Israelites from this
covenant land, then Moses does not want to go
there alone, he wi ll just stay with his people.
God hears Moses pleading and grants them this
much pardon : an angel will go before them and
they will be plagued for their sin yet they will be
brought into the covenant land. As the law was
added because of sin, it did not disannul the
Promised Land. Moses does not want to be
blotted out of the book of life but is willing to lay
down his life for his brethren. He is a pure type
of Jesus, our intercessor.
2

4. Section 2: Romans 9:3
As Moses was pleading with God in Exodus
32:33 because his people had committed such a
great sin at Mt. Sinai, he desired for God to blot
his name out of the book of life. In the previous
section, the life he has in mind is the beautiful
land of Canaan. Even so the apostle Paul in
Romans 9:2-3 is saying, "That I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For
I could wish that myself were accursed from
Christ for my brethren, my kinsman according to
the flesh ..." These his people have received
such rich blessings from God down through the
centuries such as adoption, glory, the covenants
and the giving of the law which enabled them to
please God.
Now, after Christ is come according to promise,
the prophet who was to come and bring in a new
covenant, new and greater blessings, Paul finds
them in stubborn unbelief just as Moses did in
Exodus 32:33. Not all of them though are in
unbelief as in Romans 9:6, "Not as though the
word of God hath taken none effect. For they are
not all Israel, which are of Israel..." Jacob, who is
Israel, had his name changed because of his act
of believing, so the name of Israel really means
believing God. So it is today, a born again child
of God can be an unbeliever. Paul's great love
and concern about his brethren turns back in
Acts 22: 19-20, "And I said, Lord, they know that I
3

5. imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them
that believed on thee: And when the blood of thy
martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing
by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the
raiment of them that slew him." This was Paul's
desire to continue laboring with them, the same
as Moses at the mount. In Moses' time, God
gave them a measure of pardon. Even so it is
today. Paul writes that the Jews are to suffer
fu rther unbelief: Romans 11 :8, "(According as it
is written , God hath given them the spirit of
slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears
that they should not hear;) unto this day. "
However, they do receive a measure of pardon in
that they are still in God's covenant as it is
written in Romans 11 :29, "For the gifts and •
calling of God are without repentance." Like
Moses, Paul did not truly want to be accu rsed
from Christ, but realizing he was a bond slave to
Christ, he obeys God. This is shown in Acts
22:21, "And he said unto me, Depart: for I will
send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." Paul
shows his great concern for his unbelieving
brethren all through his preaching, but also is
obedient to his master, Christ. This life he is
preaching is the life in the new covenant. As the
Old Covenant was the ministration of death (2
Corinthians 3:7), the New Covenant is the
ministration of righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:9).
Paul is not taking, nor can he take away their
eternal salvation that was given by election from
before the foundation of the world, but what is
4

6. being taken away is the unbeliever's life and
happiness in the New Covenant and Paul is now
turning to the believing Gentiles. Acts 13:48,
"And when the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as
many as were ordained [or assigned] to eternal
life believed." Acts 15:17, 'That the residue [or
remnant] of men might seek after the Lord, and
all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called ,
saith the Lord, who doeth all these things."
5

7. Section 3: Psalm 56:8, 69:28, 139:16
Psalms 56:8-- 3,"Thou tellest my wanderings:
1
put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in
thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine
enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
In God willi praise his word: in the Lord will i
praise his word. In God have I put my trust: I will
not be afraid what man can do unto me. Thy
vows are upon me, 0 God: I will render praises
unto thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from
death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God in the light of the
living?"
These beautiful scriptures are a great •
consolation to a church member that feels very
low in spirit and feels to have enemies both in his
carnal self and also enemies around him. This is
a great struggle to be like Christ and imitate Him
in His commandments, to bear this patiently
knowing in yourself this you must do to have His
fellowship. In verse 8, David mentions his
wanderings that God knows about. These
wanderings inside our heart and mind go from
love, understanding, patience, and forbearance,
and then frustration sets in and turns to
imagination, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy
and hatred which bring on loss of fellowship with
your friend Christ, causing sorrow, great loss and
loneliness. Hence, we weep, feel lost, heavily
burdened and unspiritual. This is where we need
6

8. to remember that Jesus loves us and is mindful
of our tears. Are not they written in the great
book of His promises? God never slumbers or
sleeps. Isaiah 57: 15 "For th us saith the high and
lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is
Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him
also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to
revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the'
heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 66:2, "For all
those things hath mine hand made, and . hoset
things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man
will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." God
looks to this person to worsh ip Him and obey
Him whether in happy times or sad times. This
man should always think of God's promises that
his tears are kept in a book. If a child cries tears
of disappointment and heartbreak, just take a
bottle and put it up to his eyes and tell him you
want to keep them to remember his sorrows of
childhood and he will immediately stop crying
and smile. When experiencing our spiritual .
tears, heartbreak, disappointment, being
despised, cast out of fellowship, being insulted or
spoken evil of, just remember all this is written in
His book. Shall we not say book of life? Amen
In Psalm 69:21-28, David is speaking of an
experience that is also a prophesy of the
sufferings of Christ as He lived here on earth as
a sin bearer for His elect people. Ought they not
know and understand the example He set, that
7

9. we might walk in His steps? Verse 26 reads,
"For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten;
and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast
wounded." When we suffer these things in our
own life, let us commit the keeping of our souls'
"life" in well doing, knowing that God will blot their
name out of the book of life. Deuteronomy 32:4,
"He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his
ways are judgment: a God of truth and without
iniquity, just and right is he." Amen
In Psalm 139:16, David is speaking of God's
great foreknowledge in seeing the great house of
David, who is a type of Christ. The substance of
th is great body of people is unperfect, or
incomplete, yet in the mind of God, all these
people will be and are His. And although they
don't exist yet, they will exist because they are
written in this book or mind of God. " ... which in
continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them." As God chose a people in
Christ before the foundation of the world, when
as yet there was none of them, them He elected ,
or chose, he also predestinated to be conformed
to the image of His son. Them that He
predestinated, He also called, and whom He
called, He also justified by the blood of Christ,
and them that He justified, He also glorified, or
raised from the dead. This is the continuance of
the unperfect to the point that he could say that
they are complete in Christ.
8

10. Section 4: Revelations 3:5
The last book in the Bible is written unto seven
churches of Asia. One of which is the church in
Sardis. This church had a name that it lived; at
least people around must have felt it was a lively,
spiritual church. God, who knows the hearts of
men, saw that it was dead. There were a few
members who were spiritual, obedient, and
evidently loved God. To those that were lifeless,
or with a don't-care attitude, god called for their
repentance and they were ordered to overcome
this fault. It would be difficult to overcome, but
the great promise would be that their name
would not be blotted out of the book of life. This
life is to be found in the kingdom of God, or the
New Covenant Church. This life is mentioned in
Acts 5:20 when the apostles were commanded to
preach to the people this way of life. The life in
the New Covenant of God is the Holy Ghost. Life
in the Old Covenant was rich crops, weather, and
wombs were opened for healthy children. God
prospered them and gave them victories in
battles against enemies. Life in the New
Covenant is the words of Christ dwelling in us
richly by faith. Romans 8:35, "Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Verse 37,
"Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors [those who overcome] through him
that loved us." We get our eternal life through
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11. His shed blood. The life we are speaking of is
faith in His blood. What a shame it is to believe
in His shed blood for/the redemption from sin and
eternal life through Christ's resurrection, and
then walk in a dead, listless, worldly way, being
mindful of earthly things, being enemies of His
cross. As Galatians 5:25 states, "If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. If we
JJ
overcome through faith in Christ and do not faint
or become weary, we will not be blotted out of
the book of life.
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12. The Book of Life
As Taught in the Bible
By: Elder Don Ellis

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