Question:
What is the Book of Life? How do people get blotted out of the Book of Life? Revelation 22:19; Psalm 69:28.

Answer:
The actual phrase “book of life” is not found in the Scriptural references you give. In Revelation 22:19 it should read “tree of life.” This is the rendering in Mr. John Nelson Darby’s New Translation, and in other critical translations. Psalm 69:28 reads, “Let them be blotted out of the BOOK OF THE LIVING” and I believe it is referring to “those living on the earth at that time.” The context of this Psalm is dealing with the enemies of God and how they deserve to be judged by God. Verse 28 is simply stating that they deserve the death penalty; that is, to be removed from the land of the living. See also Psalm 109:13 where we see the same truth being presented.

There are several New Testament references though that speak of the “book of life” or the “Lamb’s book of life” (see Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27). I have no doubt that in these verses (with the possible exception of Revelation 3:5) the book of life is referring to all who have eternal life (not just physical life, which Psalm 69:28 speaks of) through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is referred to as “the book of the slain Lamb” (Revelation 13:8, JND version) and “the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27) because only those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb are recorded there. And all who have been redeemed have been given eternal life (see 1 Peter 1:18, 19, 23).
I stated that Revelation 3:5 may be an exception to this. The verse reads, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I WILL NOT BLOT HIS NAME OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” There are two possible interpretations:
(1) The book of life here is a record of Christian PROFESSION, not a record of REALITY. Mr. Walter Scott states, “It is profession which may or may not be real. The end would show. Some names would stand, others be erased.” Those who hold this view believe the context substantiates this interpretation, for the Lord said to those in Sardis, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead,” meaning that many professed to have life in Christ (and thus were written in the book of life), but were actually spiritually dead.(2) Others believe that this verse is no exception. One writes, “The reference, I think, is to the same book, and conveys the assurance of what the Lord will not do. The Lord’s Word declares the impossibility of being once saved then lost, or blotted out of the book of life.” He also says, “Why think we are dealing here with a different book (one of profession instead of reality) when there appears no intimation of it being different from all the other references?” (From 400 Questions and Answers.)

Question:
I want to know why a woman can’t say anything during the meetings. I know we’re not supposed to, but why? And where does it say so in the Bible? I just need some Scriptures to make it clear to me.

Answer:

This is a very important question because it has to do with what is God’s order in His assembly. The Scriptures that give the answer are very plain. “Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church” (1 Corinthians 14:34,35). “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:11,12).

In order to understand the truth of God’s order, not only in the assembly but also among mankind in the world, we must study and learn the truth found in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 and at least the second chapter of 1 Timothy. The head of the woman is the man. God created the man in His image and glory. Headship, leadership, and responsibility are the man’s. The woman is the glory of the man. She is his fullness, his completeness and she is in the place of subjection to the man. This is the way God has made it to be in the world and in the assembly. The man is not better than nor superior to the woman. The woman is not less important than nor inferior to the man. It is a question of God’s order. The man is woman’s responsible head; he must answer to God in leadership and responsibility. The woman is under the authority of the man; she is to be supportive to him and subject to him. Leadership responsibilities have not been put on her shoulders. This is God’s order.

Therefore, the man is to speak, teach and lead in the assembly. The woman is to do none of these things.

These are just a few thoughts in answer to this question. Much more should be said, more than can be in this publication.

Question:
What is predestination?

Answer:
There are four verses in which this word is found. They are:Romans 8:29,30 and Ephesians 1:5 and 11. Also, in Acts 4:28 and 1 Corinthians 2:7 where the words “determined” and “ordained” are used, they mean the same as predestinate. Predestinate means to foreordain, to predetermine, to decide beforehand. All of these verses tell us that God has planned according to the counsel of His own will what He shall do. In Romans and Ephesians we are shown that what God has predetermined will actually be seen and enjoyed by Christ’s redeemed ones in the glory to come when we are with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Romans we shall be just like God’s Son and be with Him in Glory. In Ephesians we will be God’s sons by adoption according to His purpose. By faith, we now enjoy these wonderful things even though the full accomplishment of them is future. This is because what God has foreordained will become a full reality. Nothing and no one can stop, or even hinder, what God has decided beforehand. Some people think that predestination has to do with whether or not a person shall be saved and go to heaven, or that some are predestined to be saved and some are predestined to be lost. This is false, for all these verses show us what the blessing of Christ’s redeemed ones, the saved, are according to God’s determination. Lost ones are not noticed. To repeat, predestination is the truth of what believers shall be when they are with Christ in eternal glory.

Question:
How do we know what the Lord’s will for us is?

Answer:
“For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (1 Peter 2:11-20). “I will show thee my faith by my works,” we are told (James 2:18).

We are to “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4) “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4) “worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1) and “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). We are to “study to show thyself approved unto God” and to “shun profane and vain babblings” (2 Timothy 2:15,16). We are to be “an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). We are to “give attendance” to reading, exhortation, doctrine, our individual gift, and meditation so that we may continue in sound doctrine (1 Timothy 4:13-16). We are to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us” and “run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1) and we are to serve God with the mind (Romans 7:25).

We are not able to understand God’s entire plan for us as we go through life, but we must be prepared to wrestle with Satan (Ephesians 6:11,12) and to prayerfully request and follow God’s direction. We know that our adversary is “transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14,15) and that through his subtleties and deceit we may be distracted from the true path. While the first or second step on the wayward path may not be “clearly wrong,” it is certain that long before we find ourselves away from a walk with the Lord that the broad way will be distinguished from the narrow (correct) path. The individual who has studied “to show himself approved” (2 Timothy 2:15) will be most able to discern the differences between the true and the wayward choices early.

Bad things sometimes happen to good people. Although Joseph had a dream (Genesis 37:5-7), neither he nor his family understood that being sold into bondage by his brethren or being falsely accused by his master’s wife and imprisoned were in his path to fulfill God’s perfect plan. Because of his walk with the Lord, he became a leader in God’s time. Samson and his parents did not understand the significance of Samson’s selection of the daughter of a Philistine, but we are informed that, “It was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines” (Judges 14:4). The apostle Paul was unaware of God’s plan for him when he met the Lord on the way to Damascus, but God says, “He is a chosen vessel unto Me” (Acts 9:15) and he became God’s faithful minister. We must be prepared then to discern His path for us. We are to become skillful in the word of righteousness to grow in Christ to be “of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:13,14). We have been assured that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). We are instructed that we must not intentionally “do evil that good may come” (Romans 3:8) but we are to “abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). We are to “strive against sin” and when we fail in our walk we are told, “Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him:For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” (Hebrews 12:4-8) since chastening “yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11).

As we strive day by day to perceive His will for us, we should “stand,” prepared with “the whole armour of God,” pray, watch, (Ephesians 6:11-18) wait, and redeem the time “because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).

Question:
How do we know what the Lord’s will for us is?

Answer:
By God revealing it to us through His Word, His Mind and Heart and Will has been manifested to us in the canon of Scripture. We need only be subject to His Word and He will reveal His will to us. It may be though direct commandment or through many principles He has stated for us. I emphasize the fact that we must be willing to do His will before He will reveal His will to us. John 7:17 reads, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine….” Also, Romans 12:1,2 states, “…present your bodies a living sacrifice….be not conformed to this world:but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, THAT YE MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD, AND ACCEPTABLE, AND PERFECT, WILL OF GOD.”

Question:
What do 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 14:22 mean? Basically, what exactly is the gift of tongues, and why do we not (our assemblies) believe that the gift has passed away

Answer:


In order to answer the first part of this question one must first define the “tongues” as it is used in these verses and others. TONGUES is “the supernatural gift of speaking in another language without its having been learnt” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words). This is evident from the incident recorded in Acts 2:1-13. Ignorant Galilean fishermen were moved by the Spirit of God to speak in languages they had never learned and the response of those who heard them was, “Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue [language], wherein we were born?” (vss. 7,8).

First Corinthians 14:2 (“For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God:for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries”) is speaking of the inferiority of tongues compared to prophesying (see vs. 3 and then read the whole chapter to see that this is the teaching being presented). If one in the church were to speak in a tongue and there was no one to interpret the language (see vss. 27, 28), he would only be speaking to God, for in this case only God would understand the language being spoken. First Corinthians 14:22 (“Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe”) is teaching us that the main purpose for the gift of tongues was for them to be a sign to unbelievers. The first use of them on the day of Pentecost, to which we have already referred, illustrates this fact. See Mark 16:17-20.

It is generally held among us that the gift of tongues has ceased, which the Apostle Paul foretold in 1 Corinthians 13:8. I believe they were a sign-gift used of God to authenticate His Word (see Mark 16:17,20). When the purpose for which they were given was realized, the gift stopped all on its own. (If the reader has back issues of IN TOUCH, see Issue #16, Question 15.2, pages 11-13.)

Question:
What is the Book of Life? How do people get blotted out of the Book of Life? Revelation 22:19; Psalm 69:28

Answer:
The actual phrase “book of life” is not found in the Scriptural references you give. In Revelation 22:19 it should read “tree of life.” This is the rendering in Mr. John Nelson Darby’s New Translation, and in other critical translations. Psalm 69:28 reads, “Let them be blotted out of the BOOK OF THE LIVING” and I believe it is referring to “those living on the earth at that time.” The context of this Psalm is dealing with the enemies of God and how they deserve to be judged by God. Verse 28 is simply stating that they deserve the death penalty; that is, to be removed from the land of the living. See also Psalm 109:13 where we see the same truth being presented.

There are several New Testament references though that speak of the “book of life” or the “Lamb’s book of life” (see Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12,15; 21:27). I have no doubt that in these verses (with the possible exception of Revelation 3:5) the book of life is referring to all who have eternal life (not just physical life, which Psalm 69:28 speaks of) through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is referred to as “the book of the slain Lamb” (Revelation 13:8, JND version) and “the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27) because only those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb are recorded there. And all who have been redeemed have been given eternal life (see 1 Peter 1:18,19,23). I stated that Revelation 3:5 may be an exception to this. The verse reads, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I WILL NOT BLOT HIS NAME OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” There are two possible interpretations: (1) The book of life here is a record of Christian PROFESSION, not a record of REALITY. Mr. Walter Scott states, “It is profession which may or may not be real. The end would show. Some names would stand, others be erased.” Those who hold this view believe the context substantiates this interpretation, for the Lord said to those in Sardis, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead,” meaning that many professed to have life in Christ (and thus were written in the book of life), but were actually spiritually dead. (2) Others believe that this verse is no exception. One writes, “The reference, I think, is to the same book, and conveys the assurance of what the Lord will not do. The Lord’s Word declares the impossibility of being once saved then lost, or blotted out of the book of life.” He also says, “Why think we are dealing here with a different book (one of profession instead of reality) when there appears no intimation of it being different from all the other references?” (From “400 Questions and Answers.”)

Question:

How can we prepare for the remembrance meeting?

Answer:

Before making some suggestions on how to prepare for the remembrance meeting, let us remember that this is not a meeting where we plan in advance to bring out certain hymns, or to read a certain portion of Scripture. Nor do we decide in advance that we are going to pray. There are meetings where those things are suitable. For example, if one is going to take a gospel meeting or a teaching meeting, then it would be quite proper to determine these things beforehand, but in a remembrance meeting we are gathered by the Spirit of God and we are to allow the Spirit to lead “whomsoever He will.” We do need to be in the proper spiritual state though for the Spirit of God to use us and there are certain things we can do to be in such a state. The following comes to mind:

(1) Abide in Christ and in His love. In John 15:1-9 we are instructed by the Lord as to this. To “abide” is to “continue.” Thus to abide in Christ and in His love is to continually have Him and His love before us. If we are conscious of His presence moment by moment, and are perpetually enjoying His love, we will be spiritually prepared to remember Him when we come to the remembrance meeting.

(2) Self-judgment. In 1 Corinthians 11:28 we read, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” This portion of Scripture is dealing directly with the remembrance meeting and we learn that we must examine (or JUDGE) ourselves before we eat and drink the Lord’s Supper. This means that we are to examine our life to see if there is anything in it inconsistent with the privilege of remembering the Lord. In other words, there should not be any unconfessed sin before partaking of the emblems at the Lord’s supper. If upon examining ourselves, we detect a sin in our life (like unforgiveness towards someone, or maybe we lost our temper resulting in harsh words spoken to someone), we should immediately confess it (see 1 John 1:9) and then go to the remembrance meeting with a clear conscience. This will help us to be in the proper spiritual state for the meeting.

(3) “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). The more we know God’s Word, the more prepared we will be to be used of the Spirit of God in the remembrance meeting (see the last question and answer on this point). It is the Word that presents Christ and His death to us. We have Him and His work in type and prophecy (in the Old Testament), as well as the historical accounts of His sufferings in the gospels, and many teachings strewn throughout the New Testament epistles. The more acquainted we are with these, the more prepared we will be for the remembrance meeting. (See Luke 24:26,27, 44-46 in this regard.) I might just add here that although the sisters will not be used to give out Scripture, or to pray, or raise a hymn, they too will be more prepared to remember the Lord by heeding these suggestions.

(4) “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). I do believe this verse is teaching us to always be ready to pray, and of course if we are always ready to pray, we will find ourselves praying often. If we are accustomed to habitual prayer, we will find it easy to pray when we come to the remembrance meeting. There are times of silence during the remembrance meeting and I think this is an ideal time for anyone to pray. And then there will be times when the Spirit leads a brother to pray audibly. But whether we pray silently or out loud, we need to be in the attitude of prayer, and this can only be learned as we give heed to this simple exhortation each and every day of the week.

(5) Be acquainted with our hymn books. In Ephesians 5:19 we read, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” The singing of hymns to the Lord is an act of worship and the Spirit of God often leads the saints to worship the Father and the Son through hymns at a remembrance meeting. It stands to reason then that the more acquainted we are with the hymns which speak of Christ and His death at Calvary, the more prepared we will be for this meeting.

(6) Have the glory of Christ before you. If a believer is to be led by the Spirit, he/she must have the glory of Christ as his/her primary object. We do not come to the remembrance meeting to display ourselves in any way, but we come there to think on Christ and to bring glory to His Name. We want Him to be seen and to be praised. This is paramount if we are to be prepared for the remembrance meeting. Think of Mary when she anointed the Lord with her ointment of spikenard (John 12:1-3). She had one object before her: Christ and His death. I believe she was oblivious to those around her; Christ filled her vision and nothing else. If we were all prepared in this way for the remembrance meeting, the Lord would receive much more glory than we usually see, and we would be supremely blessed.

Question:
How do you know when the Spirit is leading you? Does the Bible talk about the Spirit leading people to do things?

Answer:

Let me begin by quoting two excerpts from Short Papers by C. H. Mackintosh on this subject:“We do not doubt that God can speak to men now by means of a dream or a vision of the night; but we consider that the true and proper way for a child of God to be guided, is by the Word and Spirit of God. It is very unsafe ground indeed to be merely guided by dreams or by the impressions of a man’s mind. We vastly prefer the solid imperishable Word of God….It is greatly to be feared that very many mistake their own inclinations for the moving of the Spirit of God—a terrible mistake! It needs much brokenness, self-emptiness and singleness of eye to discern and follow the precious leading of the Holy Ghost. As a general rule, we should say that where the glory of Christ is the exclusive object of any act to which we feel led, we may conclude that it is the Spirit of God that moves us.”

I will leave it to the reader to digest Mr. Mackintosh’s thoughts, but let me emphasize two points that he brings out:(1) The Spirit of God leads us by the Word of God. If we believe we are being led to do something and we find that our course of action conflicts with the Word of God, we ARE NOT being led by the Spirit. (2) We must have a single eye, one fixed on Christ and desiring to glorify Christ in all that we do. The question recently came up at a young people’s meeting:How do you know if the Spirit is leading you in a remembrance meeting? I believe the answer lies in having Christ before you, thinking of Him as Scripture presents Him to us, and desiring to glorify Him in that meeting. Then, when we feel we are being led to give out a hymn, or to pray, or to read and comment on a portion of Scripture, we can rest assured that we are being moved by the Spirit of God, Who loves to occupy us with Christ and to glorify His Name (see John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13,14).

For the second question:“Does the Bible talk about the Spirit leading people to do things?” I would refer to the following Scriptures:Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18,25; Acts 8:29; 10:19,20; 13:2; 16:6,7; 20:23; 21:4,11; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Philippians 3:3.