Eternal Security Part 2 of 3

Some speak about a troubling message; that you can lose your salvation, but the fact is that God wrote our names in His Book of Life (Rev. 3:5 & elsewhere) before time, earth or even we existed. He filled out the Book of Life in anticipation of how we would respond to Him. His effectual calling makes this possible (John 6:44). His calling, being effectual, means that He has the ability to complete in us a work that He began in the first place. If it were up to us and our feeble, human efforts, then yes, we ought worry about or salvation for in frail human hands, nothing is certain. But in Jesus hands and The Father's hands, who could wrest us from them (John 10:28-29)!? No one, no death, no sin, no thing on earth, under the earth, or in heaven can.

God has complete knowledge of all eternity, the Alpha and Omega. He knows the beginning and the ending, in advance, about us and in fact everything! He fully knows our beginnings to our endings in this life of ours, in fact the very day we will die. Ours is an awesome God, no doubt. God did not write in response to what we actually did (ie, works); rather, He wrote in response to what He knew we would actually do...but, more importantly, what He can accomplish in us. He knows our day of death and day of birth, before we even existed. As parents-to-be, my wife and I also knew in advance, although not precisely, what our baby would enjoy, what he or she might look like, what toys they would prefer, what music, what soft, soothing voices and love that they would need. With the help of a doctor, we had also had a general idea of when our child would be born. There were certain things we knew before we even conceived that our precious child would be predisposed to like and dislike. We also knew well in advance that someday they would leave home...that they would eventually drive a car, find a job, move out of the home....again, all well in advance, even before they were ever born. Now this distinction is very important because we, as finite human beings had a pretty good idea of what newborns needed and would prefer. God, being infinite, and omniscient, is more than able to know well in advance what we would be like, what we would like and dislike, what we would be gifted at...and even the very day of our death He knew (Heb 9:27, etc.).

So, it should not be surprising that God knew in advance those whom He would call, and justify, and redeem...those who would respond to His sovereign and effectual calling and those who would not. The point is that if God put our names in the Book of Life as history unfolded (as I used too think), it could be argued that He erases them as history unfolds as well, since not all will be saved. But if God entered names according to His perfect and complete foreknowledge, it follows that He would erase them according to His foreknowledge, which makes no sense at all. For if God wrote and erased according to foreknowledge, both His writing and His erasing would be complete before the world began. The point is that no one needs to live with the fear that his or her name will be erased from the Book of Life today or sometime in the future. Once you are saved, you stay saved (John 10:28-29).

If you only read Revelation 3:5 and don't read all the dozens of other scriptures that promise eternal security/salvation, you can miss out on the peace that Jesus spoke of; His peace. There is no need to live in fear and worry about losing your salvation (i.e. "I wonder if I am still saved?!").

Another worry that is often expressed in Revelation 3:5 about their eternal security of salvation is that only those that "overcome" can wear the "white raiment". So doubts may arrise as to wondering if someone is really an over-comer (Rev. 3:5). Have they really overcame? What is the Bible talking about when it mentions "for those who overcome"? Who exactly are those that are saved and have overcome the world? Have you read this verse and wondered if you are an over-comer? How do we know if we have overcome? Here's how. It's in another of John's books. I John 5:5 says, "Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God" So over-comers are believers in Christ. If you have believed on Jesus, then you have overcome the world (Rev. 3:5) the day you accepted Jesus Christ as Savior (I John 5:4-5).

The word "blot" actually means blemish or stain or soiled. Maybe a better way of looking at it is that our blemishes, stains and sins will not be used to blot out our names because of Christ's own (not ours) righteousness. So if your saved, your name's there. It will not be blotted out and that is why you will wear the "white raiment" some day...worn only by those that have "overcome". Next, in the final and last part (3) of Eternal Security, an examination of the question of whose names are put in the Book of Life and when they were recorded in it.