Revelation 13:1, 8; 14:9 explains as follows, ".....And I....saw a beast. ...And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world....And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb...."

I believe no one would wish to drink of the wrath of HaShem. But it's clear that if one wishes to be safe from the wrath of HaShem, one  should have his or her name written in the book of life of the lamb .

Whenever I read about the book of life of the lamb, I usually wonder at the words. Why? Because I wonder if Yahshua has a book the same as the books we have here made of wood pulp or leather and an ink pen and usually scribbles names such as: John, Abraham, Beatrice, Judith etc.

Though it is called the book of life of the lamb in revelation it is important to note that it was not until the manifestation of the lamb to the world, by Elohim through Yokhanan the High Priest (John 1:29) that the book was regarded as so. Before then it was known as the book of HaShem (Exodus 32:32,33; ) or the book of the living (Psalms 69:28). If so, why do we find it regarded as the book of life of the lamb and why whosoever's name is not found written therein doomed?

To understand this it is important to understand that the word book is from the Hebrew word sepher . This word sepher is from the Hebrew root saphar which means to count or give relation to , genealogically . So book of life  is a counting of life.

How so? 

Because life itself is a sequence of events; life is a counting of events. So the book of life is basically a counting of life events.

Now that word counting is important because it shows someone took your life as worthy enough to pay attention to it (Psalms 87:6 & Mathew 10:29-31). 

Though life appears to us when conceived in the mother, Elohim knew it even before it was conceived (Jeremiah 1:5)

But how so?

From Hebrews 4:3 we learn that the works of creation "....were finished from the foundation of the world..." What this means is that Elohim created the earth and heavens, including Adam once and for all. This explains that though I was born in the twentieth century, I was created when Adam came to be. Elohim designed Adam and blessed him to regenerate (Genesis 1:28). That word bless in Hebrew is from the root word berek which is to kneel in adoration; and when Elohim blessed them he load them with seed or the potential to recreate/regenerate.

Since then, what we see today as though it's a creation that Elohim has just done during conception is actually the fulfillment of the declaration that everything has a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Actually  Ecclesiastes 3:11, 14, concurs with Hebrews 4:3 and explains as follows, "....He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.....know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him...."

From Psalms 139:16 we understand that our very being is fashioned as per an already existing immutable record. Psalms 56:8 further explains that our day to day life is also in a book. It's Psalms 40:7 that explains that lives are actually a fulfilment of a preordained record held by HaShem.

Now, a simple scrutiny at this fundamental truth will reveal the magnitude of the sin of Adam. Now that the soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:20) and Elohim consumes the wicked, (Psalms 119:119, 155; 129:4) what should have been the end of Adam in the land of the living? Psalms 125:3 explains that the lot/numbering/record of the wicked does not remain with the righteous (Psalms 125:3) lest the righteous conclude that wickedness establishes. Elohim categorically states in Exodus 32:33 that "Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book..." This means that Adam was no longer counted among the living for he had relegated his position among the living yet Elohim had already ended his creative work. Adam was no longer in the book of HaShem of the living. He was dead just as he had been forewarned (Genesis 2:16,17). 

To understand more, refer to the genealogy of Adam here on earth. We all know that the first son of Adam was Khayin. But what happened when Khayin sinned and was estranged from HaShem (Genesis 4:14)? Genesis 5:1-4 explains and regards Khayin as dead and drives this truth home by declaring Seth as the first born of Adam.

So, we should understand that those words of the Psalmist in Psalms 40:7; 56:8; 139:16 are relevant if the creation is alive before 

HaShem, otherwise if one is estranged, then like Chayin, their names/identities is no more; they are never reckoned/counted among the living. Now that Qoheleth explained that it is everything that has a season/counting (a book) before Elohim, it means that when Adam fell, then the book of life of Adam was no more among the books of life of other creations that remained loyal to HaShem.

The good news is that among the living that retained their books of life with Elohim, there was found one, even Yahshua, who loved Adam so much that he, Yahshua, struck a deal with Elohim. And from the scriptures it is clear that henceforth Yahshua was to share his life with Adam; essentially, Adam would be encapsulated in Yahshua and henceforth Adam was to live the life of Yahshua. That is why Shaul says in Galatians 2:20 as follows, "....I live; yet not I, but Meshiakh liveth in me..."

As such, Adam would be identified as Yahshua: Adam's name/identity would be within the name/identity of Yahshua and everything about who Adam is, would be recorded in the book of life of Yahshua that Elohim keeps. 

But how could Adam live the life of a creation that was living in the realms of heaven; how could he live the life of such an invisible one? 

Psalms 40:7 and Torah (John 5:39) explains that a certain phase of life of Yahshua involved him coming to this world and living as light so that Adam could emulate him (John 1:4, 10, 12) from death into life. He would come, live a sinless life, suffer and die, then rise again. It was that bit of dying as seen by YeshaYah 53:7 that qualified him as a lamb.

All of Adam, willing to have their identity entered in the same entry as that of Yahshua, would have to do what was ordained of him to do here on earth. What basically that means is that, every outreach you attend, every needy you help, every sick you heal, every suffering and even death of a martyr; every thing ever done and being done by saints (revelation 14:12) it was Yahshua who was supposed to do.Shaul understood this very well and said, "...From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Yahshua..." (Galatians 6:17). 

What we do as we get born into our generations is that we each find a slot in the life of Yahshua and as long as we are for the deal, we live as he would have lived here on earth; then our name/identity is reckoned with his (Yahshua). 

It is important to understand that this unmerited grace of being rendered sinless and reckoned righteous through/in Yahshua does not only apply to us who live in this post-atonement era. It applies even to those who lived before Yahshua was manifested to the world as the lamb of Elohim through the declaration of Yokhanan (John) the high priest. Its coverage spans as far as Adam. That is why revelation 13:8 says that the lamb was slain from the foundations of the world; when Adam founded the world. David spoke of it (Psalms 33:1). The Psalmist continues to say that this unmerited favour is not due to a ransom a man gives for his soul(Psalms 49:7). Job clearly states, it is Elohim who has sought and found the ransom for the soul of man. He says "... Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom..." (Job 33:24). Romans 3:23-25 clearly explains that all have fallen; from Adam to the last born on earth, but all shall be justified by grace. He explains that they who exercised their faith in this unmerited ransom of HaShem shall be counted righteous just as we who live now. He explains that this ransom that Job spoke of is Yahshua HaMashiakh.

In conclusion, it is important that each of us should never do anything that is not within the bounds of life that was ordained for Yahshua for the period he was a lamb of Elohim here on earth. The Holy Spirit of Abba sent into our hearts in the name/identity of Yahshua shall always guide us.

Yahshua explained as follows about that Holy Spirit, "...He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you...." (John 16:14,15).

But if we digress from the charted path of life of the lamb, we will plunge back to death and effectively be out of the book of life of the lamb.

I Corinthians 12:27 states that we no longer live individually; rather we are members of Meshiakh Yahshua. This means that Elohim identifies us as per the role we play in the body. In that case our names are actually our character by which we are identified in Yahshua depending on our roles in his body.

Brethren, from Romans 8:17 it is clear that we will have to walk step in step with Yahshua through his suffering , even his death , for how else can we be sure that we are living as per his life ; how else can we secure our names within his name ? How else can our names be written in the book of life of the lamb ? How else can our identities be counted within the life of the lamb ?

By Ev. Boniface Muthii