 that we would have a good time. In your name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Alright, I just started the recording in the middle of the prayer. So let's get started. Alright, so we had started talking about the uniqueness of Jesus and then we went into a lot of questions and then there was one question at the end of the class on the Book of Life. Anand, you remember? Alright, so we will quickly answer that question and then we will continue our lesson on the uniqueness of Jesus and go forward. So this question, so let me just bring the present the question and then we will see what the scriptures have to say and summarize the answer. So the question is about the Book of Life. The Bible tells us that there is a book called the Book of Life and the names of people are written there and whoever's name is not written in the Book of Life will not enter God's Kingdom. They are sent to the lake of fire and the Bible tells us. But we also see at least two places where it tells us that one is in the Old Testament. I'll give you these scriptures where God, you know, Moses says, blot my name out of your book. In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus says, whoever overcomes, I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life. So it means that maybe people's names can be removed from that book. So then the question is, if God wrote the names of people in this book before the foundation of the world, if he knew everybody's name and put it there, how come he's taking some names out? Did he make a mistake? You're understanding the problem, right? So how do we understand this correctly and so on? I want to mention that in the Bible, we see at least three references, three different kinds of books. One is the Book of Life. The other one is referred to as the Book of Remembrance in Malachi. I'll give you the references. A Book of Remembrance. And another one is just referred to as your book. So, for example, Psalm 139, all the days of my life were written in your book. So it's just referred to as your book. So how do we understand this? There's a Book of Life, there's a Book of Remembrance, and then there is your book. We don't know. It's just called your book. So, and then only about the Book of Life, it is said, it was from the beginning, the foundation of the world, the beginning of the world. And that is the book that will be used to determine who's going to go into heaven or not. So, here's what I... I'll just summarize all the scriptures. There are at least about, you know, 12 different references on these things, on these books that I mentioned. I'll just paste it in the chat and you can have a quick look at it in the chat. Paste. Oh, it's not there. We can't paste. Oh, we can't, sorry, we can't put all of these there. So, I'll just share my screen then. Let me share my screen. Share screen. You can see my screen? Okay. So, Book of Life. What is it? How can someone's name be blurted out of the Book of Life? There's a Book of Life, a Book of Remembrance. These different, right? So, if you look at the scriptures, first of all, starting from the Old Testament, there's Exodus 32 verses 32, 33. That is where Moses says, Lord, if you don't forgive their sins, you know, blurt me out of your book which you have written. And so I blurted out my book. And then Psalm 56, 8. Here, the Psalmist is saying, you put my tears into your bottle and, you know, my... and write them, are they not in your book? So, the tears that he's crying, he's saying, God, you're putting my tears in your bottle and in your book. So now, this one, we need to understand, again, Psalm 116, your eyes saw my substance being here and formed and in your book, they all were written the day's fashion for me. That means God wrote every day of my life in his book. That's what he's saying. Then in Malachi 3.16, is the reference for the book of remembrance where God says, you know, when he sees any two of us talking about him, then he writes our names in the book of remembrance. Ephesians 2.10, we learn that God has predetermined. He already has, you know, good works which he has ordained beforehand that we should walk in them. There are good things that God has already planned that we should walk in them. The other scriptures on the book of life, Philippians 4 and verse 3, Paul's talking about other believers whose names are in the book of life, Revelation 3.5. The Lord Jesus says, you know, whoever overcomes, I will not take his name out of the book of life. Revelation 13.8, he talks about the people who worship the Antichrist. Their names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 17.8, he talks about the book of life which is written from the foundation of the world. Revelation 20.12 and 15. This is where it says the books were opened. So that means there's more than one book that's being opened. And he says there's another book which is the book of life and people are judged based on this. Revelation 22.17 and 21, sorry, Revelation 21.27, 22.19 tells us clearly that those, sorry, 21.27, that those whose names are written in the book of life, they are the ones who get into heaven. And Revelation 20.19, once again it says, if anyone takes away from the words of this book, God will take his name away from the book of life. So at least these three references where it's saying God is taking the name out of the book of life. So how do we understand it? And here's what I want to present to us and I'd encourage you to think about all of these scriptures. So the book of life, the book itself was there and has been from the beginning, from the foundation of the earth. So there are two things we need to think about. So first we need to talk about God's own foreknowledge, God's mind, that in his mind he knew ahead of time and he knows ahead of time those who will say yes to him, those who will say no to him. So for example, God already knows, even before I was born, God already knew that at some point in my life I would say yes to him. He knew that. Even before each one of us were born, he knew that. That is the foreknowledge of God. That's the mind of God, where he knows things ahead of time. He knows the decision we will make. He's not deciding for us, but he knows the decision. Even before we were born, he knew. Francis knew. He knew. But and then the book of life was there from the beginning, from the foundation of the word. But if you put all these scriptures together, to me it appears that the names are being written in the book based on our decision. So it's like my name is written in it when I make the decision in time. Does God already know what decision I will make? Yeah, he knows already. But in time my name is written in it. And if I withdraw from my faith or I turn back, then my name is blotted out. So that way, if I understand it that way, then there is no problem with oh God made a mistake and put my name in the book. No, he didn't make it. He knew his foreknowledge is separate. The book is there from the beginning, but it is being written or updated in time based on my decision. That's how we understand it. Similarly, the book of remembrance that we saw in Malakai, it says as people are talking, the angel is recording. So again, it is telling us that it's being updated in time. As we are talking, it's being recorded. And the third thing is the other book, for example, you put my tears into your bottle. Are they not in your book? So does that mean there are bottles in heaven? They're all our tears again? No, I think that, like for example in Psalm 56 verse 8, is poetic language. It is poetic language. It's not to be taken literally that God is collecting all our tears and putting in the bottle in heaven, no. So, you know, Psalm 56 verse 8, there it is poetic language or Psalm 139 verse 16. Your book, All My Days Were Written, poetic language, say to talk about the knowledge and the foreknowledge of God, saying that God, you know me when I cry. You are so close to my tears as you are collecting them in a bottle and you're writing all my tears, two drops, three drops, five drops, writing it in his book. So that is poetic language. So that's the third part, right? So Psalm 56 verse 8, Psalm 139 verse 16, is poetic language, talking about the intimate knowledge of God. So I would look at it from these three perspectives. There is a book of life and there is a book of remembrance. And then maybe other books like Revelation says the books were opened. So maybe there are many other books we don't know about. So the book of life we know it says it was the book itself, this record system whether it's actually a physical scroll or some other means of recording, whatever that recording system is in heaven. It was there even from before God created and in time it's being updated. That means when I say, God already knows I will say yes, but when I do say yes, my name is written. But if I recant, if I go back, God can plot my name out of that book. So then that's a clear understanding of okay, it is possible that somebody's name is blotted out. No problem. It's not a problem with God's knowledge, omniscience. It's a change in my decision that's updating my record in heaven. We must understand it in the same way as again, for example, when Jesus says, you lay up treasures in heaven. Does that mean you're sending gold and silver into some account in heaven? Is it like literally some bank account with your name and number and every time you do good work, some money goes inside? No. It's talking about God recognizing and remembering or in some way keeping accounts of the good that we're doing here is remembering that it's not forgotten. That's Hebrews 6 verse 10 where he says, you know, God is not going to forget your good works. He's recording it, he's maintaining. Is that okay? So if we understand it like this, then it's possible for us to say, yes, names can be blotted out of the book of life and it is not a mistake. God didn't make a mistake by putting it in there in the first place. But if we say, oh, it was all written there, but then when you said, and God made a mistake putting it in there, and then you made a mistake. You refuse to accept God and so God takes it out. He made a mistake thinking you will say yes. Then the mistake is on God. So if you understand that it's being updated in real time, which is evident from these scriptures, it's fine. So when we read these scriptures, it tells us the book of life was there from the foundation of the world and the names are written into that book as in when I make my decision. The book was already there from the beginning of the world, but my name is being written there. If you take the other position and if you take the other, the scripture is not necessarily saying the names were already written before creation. So the book was already there before creation, but your names are being written in it and if I refuse Jesus, he can blot my name out. When I accept them, he puts it in there and I refuse him. He can blot my name out of the book of life. So from the scriptures that we saw, we'll look at it again, I'll share it. What are the conditions in which names are taken out? One is in Revelation 3 verse 5. He who overcomes, will be clothed in white garments. I will not blot out his name from the book of life. The converse is true, which means if somebody does not overcome, that means he gives in to the things of the world and he walks away from faith, then obviously his name will be blotted out. The second one is Revelation 2219. If anyone takes away from the words of this book of this prophet, say God shall take away his part from the book of life. So that means if somebody is mishandling that word, especially this is very specific to the book of Revelation. It's a very important book. If anybody is playing, going to take away the words of this book from prophecy. That means in some way, yes, I don't know how somebody could do it, but like, for example, say, oh, these words are not true or not real. If you take away words of this prophecy, then I will take your name out from the book of life. So these are two conditions we are saying. One is if somebody is not following through with the Lord Jesus. That means you're saying they're giving up on their faith in Jesus. Second one is if they are doing this to the words of prophecy, those are the ones whose names are being taken out of the book. So what we can say is our names go into that book when we make a decision to follow Christ and then take it out or put our faith in the living God. So think about it and just put these scriptures here so it's easy for us to discuss. All right, any questions on it from online students? Build-up treasures have been good works as in All right, I'll just answer this question. So Nina, build-up treasures in heaven. So there are two references to that. Matthew chapter 6, Philippians chapter 4. In both these cases, it is having to do with actually and also in 1 Timothy chapter 6 where so let me repeat, Matthew 6, Philippians 4 or Timothy 6 where it's having to do with money, it's having to do with giving and it says that when we give here on earth, when we give, it is like we are storing up treasures in heaven. So in all these three contexts, it's having to do with money. Matthew 6, Philippians 4 where Paul is commending the Philippians for them sending him an offering while he was doing the ministry and in 1 Timothy 6, Paul is telling those who are rich in this world let them be, give to others so that they will lay up treasures for themselves in heaven. So all these three contexts are money and giving is where it's at that. Any other questions? Francis? Sir, coming to that, a book of life is only for believers or like whoever is believing in Jesus or all the people. So we can take it that it is, it has the names of the people who are going to enter into God's kingdom. So that means it has the names of people who have believed or saved, believed in Jesus. So that's that. And so for those in the Old Testament, it will be those who have faith in Yahweh God, like Moses. So you say, you take my name from your book. So basically it's the names of the people who will be entering into God's kingdom through faith in the true and living God. So what about person like who, like tribal people means who is living in the forest and all. So how is there a situation like, most of the people, they can't hear about Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. I think we've, I think we discussed this last time, right? So we were saying, see, we don't know everything, but based on the scriptures, based on what we have written in the scriptures, we can say, and we looked at Romans chapter two, verse 15 and 16. Paul is saying that he asks the same question. Now what, of course, at that time, when Paul was writing Romans chapter two, they only had the Old Testament scriptures, right? So today we have Old Testament and New Testament, but when Paul was writing, they only had the written Old Testament, written scriptures, but Paul was asking the same question. What about those who don't have the scriptures? How will they believe? So he answers this by saying, in Romans chapter one, he has already said God is speaking to them through creation. Romans one verse 20, he's speaking them through creation. He's given them evidence through creation. Second, Romans two, 15, 16. He says God has put a conscience inside people, that the conscience will make them seek after God. Second thing. And third thing, of course, is we have to preach the gospel. That's why we have to do our best to get the message out. And, but in Romans two, 16, he says, but God will judge every man according to the gospel, right? So what if somebody has never heard the gospel, which is possible? They never heard. They never heard the name of Jesus. How will God judge? Well, we can only say what the scripture says, that Paul said in that same context, when asking that same question, he still answered saying, God will judge every man according to the gospel. So that's all we can say. Is God going to do something more? Maybe. I don't know. We don't know, right? We can't say, but all we can say is, hey, Paul asked the same question. And this is how it was answered Romans two, 16. It will be judged. They will be judged according to the gospel. So to that extent, we can say, beyond that, if God is going to do something different, we don't know. It's similar to what Nina asked about good works. Sorry? About good works. Good works, yes. So is it the same thing, like how we say for faith, or it says in the Bible, faith without works is dead? I mean, is it the same works that we're talking about? Oh. So you're saying faith without works, and you're talking about good works. Are you saying these are these the same things? Right? Okay. To take them in context, when James is writing about this, in James chapter two, when he talks about faith without works, there he's talking about good works, meaning if somebody is hungry, somebody needs something, you know, you clothe them, you feed them, you do. So that is the context of James chapter two, where he's saying faith without works is dead. That means you have to do something good to people, like doing good works. So the faith and works context in James two is the same as good works that we talk about, like doing good to people. James chapter two, right? So that's the context. So that's where James says, if your brother is hungry, can't you say God bless you, God take care of you and send him off? No. You have to give him something. You have to do something for him, get to help him. So that is the context of the works he's talking about. So essentially saying we have faith, but we must also do something, right? And then of course, there are what we refer to as faith works, which would be the miraculous, the supernatural, and those are the works of faith as well. So the works of faith include all of these things, right? Doing the supernatural or believing God for healing deliverance, as well as doing good works, which is taking care of the needs of other people to the extent we can. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. So last class, we went through lesson number 10, the uniqueness of Jesus, and we will start off today in lesson number 11, the resurrection of... We finished, right? Yeah. So resurrection lesson number 11, which is about the resurrection of Jesus. So let me share the notes. Okay. That's another question. Sorry, one minute. I just saw a question on the chat. Okay. That's a question on the chat. Let me just answer this. Shukma. Past of a person believed in Christ, but not taken water baptism. Well, the name of that person entered in the book of life or removed. Right. So we don't have chapter and verse very specific to this question. But what we do know is that salvation is through faith in Jesus, and water baptism is an expression of that. So water baptism itself is not bringing salvation, but water baptism is an expression of our receiving salvation through faith in Christ. Right. So what saves us? It is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only scripture that people would use is in first Peter chapter three, where Peter says, you know, even now baptism saves. Right. Or there's another scripture in Acts. Acts 10. Acts. Acts. Acts 9. Sorry. Acts 9. Acts. But he says, you know, rise and be baptized and wash away your sins. So it seems to indicate that hey, you know, let me give you the exact verse here. I'll give you the exact verses so that you know what we're talking about. This is in Acts 9. So it, okay, Acts 9. Sorry. This was, so this is talking about the Paul's experience of salvation. But I think when Paul recalls it, as I said, it's one minute to me a minute, please. Yeah. Well, Acts 22 was 16. Acts 22, 16. Paul is recounting how, you know, Ananias gave a minister to him and he says, this is what Ananias told me. Acts 22, 16. Why are you waiting? Rise and be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. So Acts 22, 16 seems like, oh, when you're baptized, your sins are washed away. The other scripture I referenced was in first Peter chapter three. Where, sorry, is it, let me give you the exact verse. Sorry. I can't remember these exact verses. First Peter 321. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. First Peter 321. There is also an anti-type, which now saves us baptism, but the answer for good conscience toward God. Yeah. So it seems, okay, some people may use these scriptures, look, look, look, baptism. It's washing away your sins or baptism is saving, but we have to understand everything in context. That means in all, in the light of all the other teaching of scripture. And I mean, look at all the teaching of scriptures. Very clear that we are saved by grace through faith. Full stop. You believe in Jesus? You'll have your sins forgiven. What a baptism is an evidence, is an outward expression of what we have experienced spiritually. What a baptism is a testimony to people. I have made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. So to answer your question, if a person has believed in Christ, at that moment, his name is written in the book of life. If he dies without being water baptized, he will still go to heaven, right? Because salvation is through faith in Christ. It's like, and the example we can point to is the thief on the cross. Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. And all the Old Testament saints, all those who believed in Yahweh God before the preaching of the kingdom, they're all people who believe they received justification by faith and they were not baptized in water, but they were all taken to heaven. So all the Old Testament saints are saved just by faith, looking forward. All right. So let's move on into our next topic, lesson number 11, which is on the resurrection of... Yes, okay. I don't know whether you get it. Go ahead, go ahead. We are talking about the book of life. So how we will get to know like our name is there, because many people say, many people is comparing their character from Bible, like Paul. They are comparing with Paul's their character. So they are telling, that means my name is, my character is matching that character. So they are telling like that. So how we will get to know this thing? So the question is, is somebody, how do we know somebody's name is written in the book of life? Is it based on character or is it based on salvation? So we have to see, okay, what is this book of life being used for? Right? It is used like we saw in the book of Revelation. The book of life is being used to determine who is going to go into Heaven, who is not. So then we look at, what is the rest of the scripture say about who is going to go into Heaven, who is not going. So the Bible is clear that you go into Heaven because of Salvation through Faith in Jesus. Of course, we have to do live right, but it starts with this. It's based on Salvation through Faith in Jesus. And we are saved not by works, not by our character, but simply by faith. So therefore we conclude that when a person is saved, his or her name is written in the book of life. Now there is no chapter in verse that actually says, when you believe in Jesus, your name is written in the book of life. There is no verse like that, but we are deducing. That means we are thinking through, okay, what is the book of life used for? It is used to see who is going to go into Heaven, who is not going to go into Heaven. What is the rest of the scripture teach us on who is going to go to Heaven, who is not going to go. It's very clear it's through Faith in Jesus. So therefore we arrive at this conclusion. So even though there is no chapter in verse, if you think clearly, if you think logically in this. So now the next part of what we want to talk about is the resurrection of Jesus. How do we know that Jesus was raised from the dead? That happened 2,000 years ago. You and I were not here there. The only record we have is the four gospels and maybe a little bit of historical books that reference something like this. So how can you and I looking at the information given to us come to the conclusion that Jesus rose from the dead? So we say, okay, fine. Let's think about this. What is the information we have about Jesus rising from the dead? Given the account in the four gospels and any historical information. So number one we say is, okay, and let's look at it as though we were as though we were lawyers. Like in a very logical, let's see, can this hold up? So first of all, you'd say, hey, okay, we know what happened. Jesus died on the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, when he got permission, said, please give me the body. I will make sure. But before that, the sanctuary said, hey, go and check if all of them have died. So the Roman soldier came. One thief was not dead yet. So he broke his legs to force him to die. Other thief was not dead yet. So he broke the legs to force him to die. He came to Jesus. So he was dead. But to ensure he was dead, he pierced his side. And it says, okay, you know, blood and water flow. That means like, okay, he is dead. So the Roman soldier ensured that Jesus was dead. He went back and reported all three of them are dead. Now then he gave permission to Joseph of Arimathea. Okay, you go take the body and you do what you have to do. The Jewish burial, you do it. Fine. So first thing we know, Jesus actually died. Who ensured it? Roman soldier. These people are trained people. They're not going to... The probability of them making a mistake is very little. Or it's almost nothing. Because he made sure everyone are dead. He went and said, they're all dead. So when Joseph of Arimathea took the body, the Jews also were clever. They said, hey, this man said three days he will rise up. So we want you to make sure for him, you send a guard of soldiers to stand in front of the tomb. That means 12 Roman soldiers at least. Well, for one dead man. 12 soldiers, put them around the tomb, stand there. Because he said on the third day he will rise. We want to make sure nobody does anything. So that is the Roman seal. That means after Joseph of Arimathea came, took the body, they did whatever they had to do. The embalming, they put it in the tomb, kept it on the stone, kept his body there. And those days the way they did it was they moved a huge stone. So little Mary could not push the stone. It had to take some big strong men to move the stone and they will push the stone. It's almost like sealing it. Push the stone into the place. I mean, he's sitting there. It cannot be moved easily. And the Roman soldiers when they came, they almost like put a cloth like thing around the tomb. So that is their seal, that cloth like thing which has the Roman emblem. That means nobody crossed this, nobody touched this. It's like today, you know, sometimes the police line, they put something, barricade. The police line don't cross. Civilians cannot cross. Only authorized people can cross. So similar there, but in those days they used a cloth with a seal, put around the tomb and 12 soldiers standing in front. The penalty of any civilian breaking the seal in those days was death. If you do this, if you cross this thing, 100% because you know you're not supposed to cross. So that is the first thing. There is a Roman seal on the tomb. No civilian will dare cross it because they know the consequence. If you cross it, you also will be on the cross next day or whatever form of killing finished. So would, question is, would any of the apostles, would any civilian have tried to cross the Roman seal? Answer is no. They would not. They know what it means. But in the resurrection, that seal was broken. Who was standing there? 12 Roman soldiers. The Roman soldiers themselves will not break the seal. They also put the seal there. But the seal was broken because it's stone was rolled away. It was pushed out of this place. So that is the first thing. Second, there's an empty tomb in Jerusalem right there. Anybody can go and see it next day. You don't want to cross the tomb. It's right there. So why is that important? Because first, we know this tomb belongs to Joseph of Arimatia. He's got proper documents. This is my tomb. That means he's saying, see, I bought the land. I made this tomb for myself. I have the documents. This is my tomb. There can be no mix up. Joseph of Arimatia's tomb got mixed up with Joseph of Galilee. Not like that. No. This is the tomb of Joseph of Arimatia. Very clear. No mix up. There cannot be any mix up. Because nobody else is going to let you use their tomb for free. This is his own tomb. He has put the body there. That is the tomb. So one, there can be no mix up of the tomb. Secondly, see, if the disciples had done some trick, meaning, hey, let's take Jesus' body far away. He will go somewhere far away. Get on the flight from Jerusalem, fly all the way to Delhi or somewhere. Or somewhere in the Himalayas or somewhere. Fly and bury there. And then we say, he rose up there. Who will go and check? They can make any story. But they did not do that. The tomb was right there. They didn't take the body some far away place and say, we buried him and then he rose up the third day. No, no. He was buried right here. We are not playing any tricks. We put it in this tomb. We know whose tomb it is. Joseph of Arimatia. That man is there. It is his tomb. We put his body right there and that tomb is open and that body is missing right here. Whoever wants to see can go and see. No tricks. We're not saying it happened somewhere. They're far, far away. It happened. No, no, no. It happened right here. So, see, the fact that there is an empty tomb right in the city of Jerusalem, right there in Jerusalem, where anybody can go and see. It's a clear indication that nobody was playing tricks. Some people say, oh, the disciples must have played a trick. They stole the body. They put it somewhere. Nobody could see and they said, he rose up. Hey, what do you say? The tomb was right here. This is Joseph of Arimatia's tomb. You can go and see. All the people who want to go and see can go and see it. There is no trick being played. So that is another thing you have to think about. I think you're sitting like in a court and you're examining all these details. Number three is, yeah. I mean, like the Rome people, they believed that Jesus would rise on the third day, but the disciples did not. The disciples themselves, yeah. Yeah, but look here. So number three is, there's a large stone moved. Again, we have to think about this. The first people who went there were ladies. By themselves, they would not have been able to move the stone and say, ah, move it. And we can tell everybody he rose up from the dead. First people went there were ladies. They themselves are not going to be able to move the stone. It's estimated, I don't know, it's a two ton stone estimated, two and a half, one and a half, two ton stone, big heavy stone. Secondly, if even if the disciples, all 12 of them came together and said, we will move the stone and take his body out. How can they move the stone so quietly? You've got 12 soldiers sitting in front. Even if we had 12 disciples come, man, how are they going to move the stone so quietly without disturbing? Assuming that all these 12 soldiers were asleep, which will not happen, who moved the stone? One cannot be the ladies. Two cannot even be the disciples because the soldiers are right there. And you can't so quietly move the stone. It will be a big noise. A big thing, you'll wake up everybody. So the fact that a large stone was moved and it had to be moved for the body to come out, how they'll happen. One more before the break will go. Number four, the guards ran away. Guards ran away. These are soldiers, trained soldiers, armed soldiers, strong soldiers. They got so scared, they ran. That means something very overwhelming must have happened for them to say, let's run from here. And they ran straight to the high priests because they know if they go and stand before their commander, their leader, they're all dead. So you guys didn't do your job. You deserve death. So they went to the priests. Priests came up with a plan. Say, hey, take this money, each of you. Thank you for doing your job, night duty. Even though it didn't work out, let us create one story. Just say disciples came and stole the body. Which is the wrong, it's not true. We will handle this matter. You go, just disappear. And they spread the rumor, you know, disciples came, stole the body, something there. They must have paid the people, paid the whoever. But the fact is that these Romans were so, so room and guards were so scared. They ran and they ran to the priests saying, hey, what do we do? This happened. So let's pause here and we will continue.