Marvelous Beast - Rumor notes 184

 Revelation 17

8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present. 9 Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits. 10 They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, the other has not yet come. When he comes, he must continue a little while. 11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction. 12 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour. 13 These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings. They also will overcome who are with him, called and chosen and faithful."

Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world

Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:10)

It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. Authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed. (Revelation 13:7-8)

In what way does name and book relate to the foundation of the world?

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. (Revelation 3:12)

What might it mean that Jesus has His own new name that He can write on others?

Is this simply about noting whose in and whose not? Is this a boarding list for getting on heaven’s plane destined for eternity? Is having the name of Jesus a pseudo-name we acquire through some transaction in order to secure our ticket, or does this name go far deeper than an external label we use?

We have discussed several times what the phrase those who dwell on the earth means in prophecy. It is a mindset of viewing reality and God through the perceptions of the flesh as Paul would put it. So how might this affect the meaning of the word name here?

Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. (2 Corinthians 5:16)

In what way do we interpret a name not being written in the Book of Life?

How does anyone’s name get into that book in the first place?

Is everyone’s name there at some point, and if so, how does it come up missing at this point?

The phrasing from the foundation of the earth can be misleading depending on the disposition of those who translate the Bible. Does this mean that some names get written into that book when the world was created, while others are left out? If so, it would support Calvinism and predestination where in reality no one has any actual freedom to choose for themselves whether they will be saved or lost, but they don’t even know which side they are on until the day of judgment. But if this were the case, then without real freedom to choose, agape love also is a fraud and God is nothing more than a puppet master, a robot maker but not the loving Father Jesus presents Him to be.

What is it that exists at the foundation of the world?

Is that the publishing date of the Book of Life?

Is that when the names who will be saved are written into it?

Or is this related more to the Lamb?

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast-- all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. (Revelation 13:8 NIV)

This makes it more clear that the time stamp of the foundation or origin point of this world is here connected to the slaying of the Lamb, not necessarily the writing of the names in the book. Of course that raises even more questions, for historically we presume that the Lamb of God as Jesus the Messiah, was slain only 2,000 years ago, much later than the creation of the world 6,000 years ago. What this challenges the serious learner to do is to expand our thinking to perceive reality and truth in a much larger perspective than the narrow confines of how we perceive history sequentially and particularly how God experiences this war between light and darkness, evil and love, Satan and Christ.

This also challenges how we interpret what is meant by the death of the Lamb. Without a heavenly perspective about the cause of that death, it will be nearly impossible to make sense of what this is referring to here. This makes a big difference in how we perceive reality, the gospel and how we come to interpret what this is really conveying. Our appreciation of the reality that everyone is always free to respond to His love positively, yet will ever remain free to reject it absent any threat of recrimination from God, affects significantly how we perceive what this verse means.

Is this verse stating when or how names get written into the Book of Life?

Does this inform us at all about how names in that Book might somehow come up missing here?

In the Greek the word written also means described. The word translated name also means character. This might be better translated as those whose character is not described in the Book of Life.

At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your 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 your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)

I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)

When we examine other passages referring to this Book of Life, it becomes more clear how names that once were in there can come up missing later on.

He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. (Revelation 3:5)

Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin – and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written."

Yahweh said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin." (Exodus 32:31-34)

Charge them with crime upon crime. Don't let them come into your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous. (Psalms 69:27-28)

While David was a man after God’s heart, he also had immature perceptions about God’s methods and motives. God had to block David from building the temple he so wanted to do for God, citing that David’s penchant for killing people disqualified him from being that closely linked to the place of worship that would affect how people thought about God for many generations to come.

This whole chapter in Psalms is something of a rant of David wanting God to use His power to punish people who were against David. Its like he is trying to think of every way possible to return evil for evil to them, and one of the ways he imagines would serve to give them what they deserve is to make certain they are not listed among the righteous in God’s Book of Life. Of course David considers himself as one of the righteous whose name should remain there, and David was certainly on the path to a better understanding of God’s graciousness. But he was not yet aware of the far greater revelation of the radical gospel that would be revealed to the watching and stunned universe through the Son of David who would far supersede David’s dim reflection of God’s heart.

David’s perception of how the Book of Life functioned is parallel to how many today perceive it. Most view this book as a passenger list of those who will be admitted into paradise predicated on how well they behave while living on earth or if they get the right formula in place to secure a safe pass despite their sins. Yet this view misses the truth almost entirely, partly because it presumes that God is the one deciding who is in and who is out. With this mindset, the emphasis becomes focusing on what it takes to affect God’s disposition towards us when in reality the whole issue of salvation is all about changing our disposition towards God so we can enjoy being in His fiery presence.

the book of life belonging to the Lamb

Those who think of the result of hastening or hindering the gospel think of it in relation to themselves and to the world. Few think of its relation to God. Few give thought to the suffering that sin has caused our Creator. All heaven suffered in Christ's agony; but that suffering did not begin or end with His manifestation in humanity. The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that, from its very inception, sin has brought to the heart of God. Every departure from the right, every deed of cruelty, every failure of humanity to reach His ideal, brings grief to Him. {Ed 263}

I believe it is important to keep in mind that the suffering witnessed at the cross of Christ is merely the externalization of how the entire Godhead has felt ever since the foundation of the world. This has led me to think that possibly this phrase foundation of the world may actually refer to when Satan seized the dominion over this world from Adam at the fall and displaced God’s style of government with his own system of imposed laws reinforced by his externally imposed reward/punishment design that misrepresents God’s government so profanely. This is what he promised to Eve in his enticing words, declaring boldly that God knows both good and evil. When Adam choose the system of governance that uses fear of death to control and manipulate people rather than love, the world as we know it now had its foundations laid. And it was into this kind of world that Jesus came to expose its illegitimacy and break open the prison of hopeless despair so that humanity could once again choose which system they would embrace for themselves.

What is the relation between this thing called the Book of Life, and the Lamb that it is so closely associated with? I find it hard to believe it is a literal book with paper pages or even a papyrus scroll. I don’t imagine our technology is what they are limited to in heaven. After pondering this for many years, I have come to the conclusion that the Book of Life is nothing less than the memory bank of Christ Himself. It is the list of all those who have chosen to embrace their true identity in Christ and allowed His Spirit to have access to the throne of their heart, transforming them into being a part of the very temple of God. The Book of Life is composed of all who are willingly a part of the body of Christ. There is no need for any external inscriptions, for all such language is adaptations heaven uses to convey to us realities beyond our physical existence we rely on to define what we imagine is real.

Clearly at this point in the sequence of Revelation, there are only two classes of people left alive at this point in the war: either their name is in the Book of Life or it is not. This is in no way due to any arbitrary decision on the part of God or anyone else in heaven for that matter. It is entirely the outcome of the choices that every person on planet earth has come to make concerning how they have chosen to relate to the gospel fully exposed by this time through the outpouring of the bowls. There will be no other category, not because God arbitrarily forces it to be so, but because circumstances described in the past few chapters have polarized every person on earth who have made their final choice as to whom they will trust, worship and emulate, whose image has shaped their character. That now determines how they react when exposed to the intense glory of God’s presence before the Lamb and holy angels. It is this factor that is revealed by how each person reacts during events that test the entire planet, and this revelation of character is vividly described in the previous couple chapters leading up to this. Testing here means a time of discernment, judgment, revealing what is hidden deep inside each individual that is exposed for all to see.

Which class each person will be found in, hinges on the central issue of freedom on the part of each person to choose. God never forces the will of anyone, for that directly contradicts who He is – agape love that has no hint or shadow of darkness whatsoever. Judgment is how people react to the light Jesus brings to this world. What we are seeing here is the outcome of judgment.

will marvel when they see that

One of his heads looked like it had been wounded fatally. His fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled at the beast. (Revelation 13:3)

I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement. The angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. (Revelation 17:6-7)

We covered this pretty exhaustively in one of our recent studies. This is the mindset of all who allow the beast mentality to shape their disposition and character as first noted in chapter 13.

was, and is not; and shall be present

This refers to what we looked at previously when we studied verse 8 and shows up several times in this chapter. While I don’t yet have a strong definitive understanding of what all this might mean, it seems to clearly involve the 3 ways we relate to time – past, present and future.

The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. (Revelation 17:8)

The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction. (Revelation 17:11)

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8)

The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around about and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!" (Revelation 4:8)