At which point are our names written in the book of life? Is it by birth or the day we are born again?
I believe there are two “books of life,” one referring to our physical/natural life where our name was written the day we were born into this world. The other refers to our spiritual/eternal life which we received through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet I believe our names were written there before time began. Let’s look at scriptures to prove what I have just said.
In Exodus 32:31-33 we read, “Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, ‘Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.’ And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.” Now let’s read Psalm 69:27-28, “Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into Your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of THE BOOK OF THE LIVING, and not be written with the righteous.” In both references we read of people committing sin worthy of death…PHYSICAL DEATH. I believe “the book of the living” speaks of those who had their names written down by God the moment they were born into the world. At death their names would be “blotted out of the book.” I read in “What the Bible Teaches” these comments on Psalm 69:28, “This verse alludes to the ancient Jewish practice of recording the names of the inhabitants of every division, or tribe, of the people…. the names of those who died were blotted out, or WIPED out, and appeared no longer on the list of the living.” He then refers to Psalm 139:16 that reads, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And In YOUR BOOK THEY ALL WERE WRITTEN, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. His “book” here is “the book of the living here on earth.”
In Revelation 21:27 we read, “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are “written in the Lamb’s book of life.” The subject here is entering into the heavenly city called New Jerusalem (see verses 1-2, 10-25) and the Apostle John teaches us in verse 27 that only those whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter into this glorious city. Why is it called the LAMB’S book of life? Because the Lord Jesus Christ is the “LAMB of God” (see John 1:29, 36) who died and shed His blood so those who believe on Him could receive eternal life. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM should not perish, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE…. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and BELIEVES IN HIM WHO SENT ME HAS EVERLASTING LIFE, and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death to LIFE” (John 3:16 & 5:24). Every believer in Christ knows that we “were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold…. but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a LAMB without blemish and without spot.” Some think our names were written in that book the moment we believed on Christ, but I believe God wrote those names down before time began. Revelation 13:8 and 17:8, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him (the Antichrist), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world…. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.” In these two verses we learn that our names were written in the Book of Life before time began and we also learn that Christ was looked upon as the Lamb slain before time began. Putting those thoughts together we learn that before time began God ordained that His Son would die as the sacrificial Lamb for sinners and God also put our names in “the Lamb’s Book of Life before time began.” Of course, we didn’t know that our names were written there until after we trusted in Christ as our Savior. It was then that we learned that we were “chosen in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4a). The logical conclusion is that we came to believe in Christ and receive eternal life because God chose us and wrote our names in the Book of Life. This is confirmed in Acts 13:48, “And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” (DO) (631.3)