Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #11 of Revelation, chapter 13, and we are going to be reading Revelation 13:7-8:

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 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.

Last time we were looking at verse 7 and we saw, once again, that God is taking full responsibility that these things are happening.  It was “given” to Satan to have the power and authority to be able to speak these blasphemous things and to be able to make war and overcome the saints.  He overcame the churches and took his seat in the temple, showing himself that he was God, standing as the “abomination of desolation” in the holy place.  These things were not done because of Satan’s own power, but because God gave it to him.  God further stresses this fact at the end of verse 7: “and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”  Notice the word “given.”  The Lord does not want us to miss this.  These things are not done for any reason except that they are according to the perfect will of God.  The things happening in this world at this time – things in the churches – are not “out of control” events, but they are according to the perfect will of God.  They are fulfilling Scriptures, so we need to have the right attitude and outlook on these things; when we look at it the right way and see God’s hand in these things, knowing it was done as He willed it to be done, then we can find comfort and encouragement.  Yes, the world is tremendously wicked and we do not find comfort or encouragement in that, but the child of God always desires the will of God to be accomplished.

Now let us look at Revelation 13:8:

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.

“All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,” and this refers to the “beast,” not God.  Notice there are no exceptions – it is not just “most” people or just those in the churches, but it is all the unsaved that dwell upon the earth.  It is all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth.  We know it is only the unsaved God is talking about because He goes on to explain that they are those “whose names are not written in the book of life.”  The names that are written in the book of life are the elect – those predestinated to obtain salvation and for whom Jesus died and paid for their sins.  They are not going to worship the beast.  Remember what we read in Revelation 15:1-2:

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

These are the elect and they are actually the great multitude that had gotten the victory over the beast.  We saw last time that the Lord Jesus was upon the white horse, in Revelation 19, and His army, which was also upon horses, defeated the beast.  That was a picture of Judgment Day (which we are presently in) and the defeat was “sudden,” on May 21, 2011.  The beast was defeated and his army was defeated and now God’s people that are living on the earth in the Day of Judgment will soon be represented by the seven messengers that come out of the temple and go forth carrying the seven vials of the seven last plagues; that is the information in the Bible concerning Judgment Day, which God’s people are currently sharing with the world in order to feed sheep.  But God’s people are to publish these things and testify that “Babylon is fallen.”   In obedience to God, God’s people are sharing this information and, in so doing, these seven vials are being poured out upon the earth.

The important thing is that they had gotten the victory; they were not defeated by the beast and they did not worship the beast, as it says in Revelation 13:8: “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb…” 

This is what happens when people are completely given up to sin and when mankind develops theories such as evolution that do away with God and deny the truths of the Bible and they make atheism an idea that is more and more accepted and mankind thinks they know best in matters regarding life and death.  Then it becomes no problem at all to say, “You can terminate your pregnancy.  You can abort your fetus.”  Notice how they avoid the name “baby,” but the reality is that this leads mothers, doctors and nurses to murder children and it leads governments to endorse murder.  These are the horrors that come upon the world as all the unsaved and wicked of the world do service to the beast in manifold ways.

Those in the churches serve the beast as they continue to worship in congregations that God had commanded to disband and God commanded His people to come out of them.  Yet, there they remain and they continue to insist, “No – we know better and God is still with us.”   Yet, it is worship of the beast.  Even though the beast has been put down and deposed, his “image” was set up and that image became the churches.  So all that dwell upon the face of the earth, in one way or the other, worship him as more and more people accept the idea of homosexual marriage and they feel that a man can rightfully (and with all good conscience) marry another man or a woman can marry another woman.  It is fine and they say, “Oh, this is a wonderful thing and we are making progress and evolving.”  But there is nothing good about it and there is certainly no progress toward goodness or toward that which is right.  It is deterioration and it is a falling away and a blindness that does not even understand basic morality, which had previously been understood.  That is why for thousands of years of earth’s history, there has been no such thing as we have found in the last couple of decades as men are marrying men and women marry women.  Now this is fine and there is nothing wrong with it.  According to society and according to world governments, there is nothing wrong with it and they make whatever laws they want, but according to the Law of God in the Bible, there is nothing right with it.  It is all wrong.  It is taking that which is evil and calling it “good.”  It is doing contrary to what the Bible says and that is worship and service to the beast and that is why this statement is made in Revelation 13:8.  We have witnessed this bowing down to Satan, the father of lies, in so many ways.

Let us take a look at the term “Lamb’s book of life,” as our verse says, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb.”  Let us look at this mysterious book.  It says in Daniel 12:1:

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Again, this is a reference to God’s elect.  When we read the Bible, we find that God did something amazing before the world was created.  It says in Ephesians 1:3-5:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

The Bible is so amazing.  God can just make a couple of statements and give us so much information concerning things that no man would ever be able to learn.  No one in this world knows what God has done in eternity past.  We do not know anything about anything when it comes to spiritual matters, unless God opens up our understanding and reveals things about Himself and the thing He has done.  Here, He tells us this incredible fact: before the foundation of the world, He predestinated certain ones “unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.”  Why did He choose certain ones?  We know He did not choose everyone because our verse tells us: “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.”  This means that some were not chosen and they were not predestinated to receive salvation. 

Why did God choose some and not others?  He explains elsewhere, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau I have hated.”  The only reason God gives us, as found in Ephesians 5:1, was that it was according to the good pleasure of His will.  He had determined to obtain a people for Himself, so He then chose that people.  When He looked at mankind He saw that there were “none righteous, no not one.”  None were good.  All He saw was dirty, rotten sinners and none were deserving of salvation or eternal life.  None had done good to merit salvation – no not one.   That is what He saw when He looked down the corridors of time throughout all history; He did not see a single good person, following mankind’s fall into sin.  Therefore, if it had been based on merit or works, then we would all be destroyed and none would have become saved.  But, due to God’s desire to have a people that were created in His image and His desire to put on display His wonderful attributes of grace and mercy and the justice of His law, God determined to save a people through grace alone: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”  It would be based exclusively on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and upon His faith and God would make the selection and, so, there were twins, Jacob and Esau, that were formed together in their mother’s womb, but even before they were conceived, God had already made choice before the world was to save Jacob (“Jacob I have loved”) and not to save Esau (“And Esau I have hated.”)   

With that choice it is as if God wrote Jacob’s name in His Book of Life of the Lamb, but He did not record Esau’s name.  Obviously, there is no literal book.  It is a figure of speech the Bible uses to teach us about what God has done and we can understand that.  We who are finite and of limited intelligence would need to write all the names in a book.  God condescends to us by using this picture of a “book” and how God knows everyone that would be born and when they would die, whether it they would die at 100 years of age or if they would die as an aborted child.  God says, “I know every one of them.  I have determined to save Jacob and then save Abraham and save Joseph and save David, and on and on.  God would save many names that were not in the Bible and He recorded them in His infinite mind and He will never forget them.  Christ, from the foundation of the world, died for them.  In our next study we take a look at the last part of the phrase that refers to the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  God would never forget or misplace even one of the names.  Of course, people could do that, but not God, the brilliant God of the Bible and the God who is from everlasting to everlasting and who knows everything about everything in the entire spectrum of existence between those two “points.”  God knows all, which is incredible.  How enormous is the mind of God to contain just the names, if you think about the billions and billions of people that have lived in the past or are presently living or that are yet to be born; God knows the names of every one and He is able to process all this information and He can say, “In this particular generation I will have these certain ones who will be born into these families and live in this city and country and I must get the Gospel to them.  And over here, at this time, I do not have any elect, so I do not need to get the Gospel to them.”  (This would have been during the day of salvation.)  It is just incredible to think about the amount of information within the Person of God and which He processes constantly.  But let us keep looking, as we could just stand in awe at many facets of God’s being, but let us move on.

It says in Philippians 4:3:

And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

The “book of life,” the Lamb’s Book of Life!  How wonderful it is if your name is found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  That means we will live for evermore.  We will never die.  We have been chosen by God, but not because of anything in us.  It was all by grace and according to God’s good pleasure.  We can thank the Lord and lift up His name on high because He has thought of us and has known us before the world even began.  He knew you and me, if we are the elect and our names were recorded in that book.  Then He has always known us.  No wonder the Bible speaks of His thoughts toward His people being more numerous than the sand of the sea.  Let me read that because this is a true statement concerning how often and how much God has thought upon each of His people.  It says in Psalm 139:15:

My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

This refers to the whole body of elect that were “wrought in Christ” as He descended into the heart of the lowest parts of the earth.  Then it goes on to say in Psalm 139:16:

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written…

This refers to the one body of the elect people.  God likens the sum total of all the elect to one body that has different members, so this is referring to the Lamb’s Book of Life.

...which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

God determined, from the foundation of the world what persons He would save, so he “fashioned” the body when there was still “none of them,” because none had yet been born or had been redeemed.  Then it says in Psalm 139:17-18:

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

We can see why this is and why God has spent so many thoughts upon us.  It is because He had been thinking this salvation program through before the world began.  So He began to think and He knew who would be born and He made “choice” and predestinated His people and, therefore, He began thinking about us.  It was as though He wrote our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Then, as time began and history unfolded, from generation to generation, God was constantly on watch for those He had ordained and predetermined to salvation.  He was watching everything with deep concern regarding them.  He had to protect them.  They could not die before they heard the Word and became saved.  He had to watch out for them and, finally, bring the Word to them and save them.  Such care!  Such love!  There was constant concern for the elect of God.  That is what salvation is and this is what the Bible teaches us about an “ever present” and “ever watching” God who is ever looking out for the people He has chosen to salvation.

That is not the case with the wicked.  It is not the situation with the unsaved whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.