While the Book of Life has numerous references throughout the Old Testament and New Testament, no book provides as much emphasis on the Book of Life as Revelation.
I. WRITTEN BEFORE THE WORLD WAS MADE
The Book of Life was written before the world was made (17:8), but is first mentioned in Revelation in 3:5 in Jesus’s letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. Jesus contrasts those who have soiled their clothes with evil (3:4) to those who are clothed in white. Those clothed in white will never have their names erased from the Book of Life (3:5). Jesus will announce that they are his people before the Father and his angel (3:5).
II. BELONGS TO THE LAMB
Revelation also makes it clear that the book belongs to the Lamb (13:8; 21:27).
III. DESTINY OF THOSE NOT IN THE BOOK
In the midst of the Trumpet judgements and Bowl judgements John says that the people who worship the beast are the ones who names are not written in the Book of Life (13:8). Nearing the end of Revelation, the Book of Life is one of the books opened at the Great White Throne Judgment (21:11-15). Non-believers are judged at the Great White Throne according to what they have done (which was recorded in the books). Anyone’s name that is not found in the Book of Life is thrown into the lake of fire (20:15). Lastly, the only people allowed to enter the new Jerusalem are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (21:27).
