REVELATION
In This Section
REVELATION 20:12-13, 21:7, 22:14, 22:19
REVELATION 20:12-13
"12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne [of the Lord], and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades [the realm of the dead] gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15
According to those who believe in the NEST, the typical assertion that is made concerning this apocalyptic language, is that God will judge His own people; not according to Christ's deeds in the stead of all whom He saves, but rather, Christ will judge all people in respect to eternal spiritual salvation according to their own deeds of merit which supposedly win their salvation. Likewise, Christ will curse to eternal damnation, all those who do not win. The atonement and propitiation of Christ will not matter, because bad deeds, in and of themselves, will damn the previously saved person to hell.
The NEST is wrong.
To see why the NEST is wrong, we will analyze the passage, where we read,
"12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne [of the Lord], and books ..." (Revelation 20:12)
The first thing we need to notice is that there is not just one book. There are books, plural. This is apocalyptic language, so there may or may not be an actual library in the heavenlies. The books may be a metaphoric reference to what God knows according to His unforgetful mind, and so God could very likely be giving John an object lesson. Nevertheless, we will refer to the books (scrolls) plural. John goes on,
"... books were opened; and another book was opened ..." (Revelation 20:12)
We notice that in addition to the other books, there is another book. Keep this in mind also, as we proceed, and we read,
"... which is the book of life;
[The book of life is the book that all saved people's names are in. Continuing,]
"... and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds."
We notice that "the dead" are not judged by what deeds they have done that are recorded in the "book of life." The reason is because the book of life is filled with God's deeds. The book of life is not filled with any human deed. The dead here, are judged according to their deeds written in the other books. The book of life is filled with the names of all who are saved. All who are saved, are, in fact, the very deeds of God themselves. We, saved people are each God's workmanship. We are each, individually a deed of God, created by Him in Christ Jesus, (cf. Ephesians 2:10). This is why we must understand that salvation is more than a concept. Salvation is a supernatural miracle of intervention, where people are really changed. In fact, this New Covenant Life book, is Christ Jesus' record book of His miracle deeds of saved people. It is called His Lamb's book of Life in the next chapter, in Revelation 21:27. It is the same book that is called the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain in Revelation 13:8. Those other particular books that the dead are judged from, are the books containing the record of human deeds. For the unsaved, these deeds reflect, and emit from their unsaved state that they always existed in while alive on earth. The judgment will reveal, through God's comprehensive knowledge of every single thought and action, whether or not the person had been regenerated in miracle, or, had remained lost and in opposition to God while living on earth. Their deeds simply reflect their state of being.
The people of God under the Old Covenants from Adam to Abraham, to Moses, and until Messiah, will also be judged according to their deeds (cf. John 5:29). Their deeds will either have demonstrated that they were of the remnant that followed Jehovah, or of those who did not. But there is more, and it has to do with salvation in Messiah, of which all of the remnant people of God who lived before Messiah, and are made evident by their deeds, will be judged. In other words, everyone is judged according to Messiah and His Covenant. You are either saved in it, or you are lost outside of it, as Paul says,
"16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Messiah Jesus." (Romans 2:16)
All of God's Old Covenant people must be judged according to Paul's gospel (good news), because the blood of bulls and goats that they sacrificed for sins, could not really take away sins, (cf. Hebrews 10:3-4). On the other hand, their future hope of the sacrifice of Messiah, which was once for all time, sanctifies them from sin forever, perfecting them forever, (cf. Hebrews 10:10-14). Furthermore, the New Covenant scriptures proclaim that Messiah appeased the wrath of God, (cf. Romans 3:25). This is what reconciles anyone to God. This is why Paul says,
"For it pleased the Father that in Him [Christ] all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:20)
Only Christ is God's means in reconciling all things to Himself, whether things on earth, or things in heaven. All are not in God's "peace" unless they have been put there through the blood of the God-man's cross. So, even though people may have been in covenant with Jehovah before the cross, they, by necessity, needed the future Messianic promise to achieve the righteousness that God requires. Through Messiah, as propitiation in His blood through faith in demonstrating His righteousness, God in His forbearance passed over the sins previously committed, (cf. Romans 3:25). Christ confirms the promises to the fathers, (cf. Romans 15:8), and in Christ, all the previous promises of God are fulfilled, (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:20). Christ was the promise of righteousness that the ancient prophets looked forward to. Isaiah proclaimed, that under the Old Covenant, "all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). God gives this same prophet the insight into the future blessing, and so Isaiah prophecies,
"13 I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel." (Isaiah 46:13 cf. 61:11)
Jeremiah also prophesied the coming righteousness, saying,
"5 Behold, the days are coming," declares Jehovah, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 "In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called,'Jehovah our righteousness.'" (Jeremiah 7:32)
The apostles understood that these prophecies were fulfilled in Messiah Jesus, whom they called, the "Righteous One," (cf. Acts 22:14), and "the righteousness of God," (Romans 3:21). Hebrews 11 records how God's people of ancient times looked forward to Christ, (as a necessity) and so we read of those ancient people of God,
"39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39)
It is only through Christ that anyone is made perfect. Apart from us people who have experienced God's establishment of His New Covenant, (which are Jewish followers of Jesus in context here in Hebrews) no one is saved.
Now as we move along through the rest of Revelation, we must also understand that all people who were outside God's covenants throughout history, will also be judged according to their deeds. They will be judged as lost, and their deeds are manifest as those deeds which emit from lost souls (cf. Revelation 21:8, and 22:10-17), where they will manifest that they always were unsaved and
"... cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars," (Revelation 21:8)
"Unbelieving" is a benchmark word here in this list of aggregate traits of the unsaved. Actually, it is the definitive word; "unbelieving," and also being sorcerers, and idol worshippers. These three in particular demonstrate the exclusive affinities of the unregenerate (the unsaved). Being cowardly here, is more than likely, the unsaved attribute of being cowardly concerning the gospel. They are cowards who fear men's opinions over turning to Messiah. Additionally, the fact that they are murderers who are liars, simply goes with the territory of being unsaved. The deeds of their lives, philosophies, beliefs, and loyalties, reveal that they were, and are lost. None of these people will be manifested as overcoming in the end. Only saved people are overcomers. Unsaved people simply demonstrate that they were never born again as a miracle deed of God in the first place. Some of these people, though, are pretty good at faking it. In fact, many of them, may, at times, have called themselves spiritual, religious, God's chosen people, or even Christians, but the "books" will demonstrate that they were fakes. So, at the judgment, it will be shown that they were fakes who were always lost, and are lost forever and ever. On this point, we must keep in mind a pertinent analogy. These people are like the difference between a sugar crystal and a diamond crystal. If someone shows them to you from a distance, and says that they are both diamonds, the two may look similar to the human eye, but, whenever you put both the sugar crystal and the diamond crystal in water, you soon recognize that the diamond remains a solid carbon crystal. It overcomes being dissolved. The sugar crystal, on the other hand, dissolves away; not overcoming, being one of the most evident deeds it is judged by. The diamond is made evident as the overcomer in the end because it must, by necessity, always be the overcomer. This is what happens with all true Christians. They, by necessity, always overcome, and they will be made manifest as the overcomers in the end. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that saved people can be cowardly in other kinds of ways, and yet still be saved, as Peter was when Paul rebuked him in his lack of boldness, where Paul says of Peter, that he,
"... separated himself, fearing the circumcision party." (Galatians 2:11)
Peter was a coward; "fearing" men in respect to outward Jewish piety when it came to associating with uncircumcised Gentiles, yet Peter was saved. Saved people do not reject the gospel out of cowardice, (which is what the damning deed is in the book of deeds). Telling a lie, such as Peter did in that same group situation, is sin and should be avoided, but it is something else that Christians have been known to do. The way Peter lied when he separated himself from Gentiles in fear of the circumcision party, is that he was being deceptive among the circumcision party by acting like there was something wrong with the uncircumcised Christians. The circumcision party considered the uncircumcised Gentiles to be "unholy" and "unclean." Peter knew better. He had received a direct revelation from God to not act this way, as we read in Acts 10,
"28 And he [Peter] said to them, 'You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean." (Acts 10:28)
The truth is that there was nothing wrong with the Gentile Christians that required segregation, and so Peter was being deceitful in his actions. He was living a lie. The point is that being liars, and cowards, as an affinity of the unsaved, is more than just an adjective that describes occasional actions of someone who is saved. In this respect, in the context of Revelation 21:8 and 22:15, these are labels that are applied to the unsaved who have a penchant for sin-things as a matter of their reprobate, dark, dead, unrighteous natures. In other words, the evil they desire comes from the only nature they have. They are murderers by nature, and they do not believe because it is in their nature to not believe. They reject God in their dead, dark, lost deeds of sorcery, and idol worship. In fact, nothing that they do is righteous. Therefor, when judged according to their deeds, they are always found to be lost. Lostness is their spiritual DNA, so to speak, that produces out of them the dark fruits that are recorded in the books which condemn them to the lake of fire, (cf. Revelation 20:15). It is as Paul says in Romans 3,
"9 ... we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one;'" (Romans 3:9-10)
Romans 3:9-10 is the big point in respect to this analysis. All are under sin. None is righteous, except for Christ Jesus. So, non-righteousness is what all unsaved people's deeds reflect in the books. For us to be the righteousness that God requires, we must have His righteousness imputed to us, which is God's deed written in the Lamb's Book of life. Without Christ's deed, we are sinners who are lost, as Paul goes on and says,
"'11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'" (Romans 3:11-12)
[This is why all unsaved people are always judged condemned according to their deeds--because "no one does good, not even one." Paul continues,]
"13 Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. [they are liars] The venom of asps is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; [they are murderers] 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:13-18)
The only people who fear the One true God, are saved people. Unsaved people's deeds simply reflect the cold fact that they do not fear the One true God. They may fear Allah or Kali, (the Hindu idol of destruction). They may claim that fear a god named Jehovah, or something like that, but they do not fear the real living Jehovah, who is the true Father of Jesus, and the true Godhead of the eternal Son, eternal Spirit, and eternal Father, as One.
When it comes to eternal life, faith in Christ as Lord and Savior is what ushers anyone right past Jehovah's dooming judgment. In John's first revelation from Christ, we read of Christ saying that saved people do not come into the eternal spiritual damning judgment that is reserved for the lost. Jesus said,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." (John 5:24)
Saved people do not come into damning spiritual judgment, as is contingent upon deeds recorded in the books of deeds. Saved people believe God in Christ, which, in fact, is the ultimate deed, yet not a deed generated out of one's own sinful volition. Believing in Christ, is, in fact, the very deed wrought of God, which gives us the complete picture. As we read one chapter later in John's gospel,
"28 Therefore they said to Him, 'What shall we do, so that we may work the deeds of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the deed of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." (John 6:28-29)
This is one of the most amazing statements in the whole Bible, located in one of the most amazing chapters in the whole Bible. The great baptist commentator of 1700's England, John Gill eloquently expounds on John 6:28-29, in the following manner,
"Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God," ... this is of the operation of God, which he himself works in men; it is not of themselves, it is the pure gift of God: "that ye believe on him whom he hath sent;" there are other works which are well pleasing to God, when rightly performed, but faith is the chief work, and others are only acceptable when done in the faith of Christ. This, as a principle, is purely God's work; as it is an act, or as it is exercised under the influence of divine grace, it is man's act: "that ye believe"; the object of it is Christ, as sent by the Father, as the Mediator between God and men, as appointed by him to be the Saviour and Redeemer; and believing in Christ, is believing in God that sent him."--John Gill
There is no room for boasting. When you believe on Christ, whom God has sent, then you are working the intended work that God worked in you, as God's very own work. This is the backbone of Paul's meaning in Ephesians 2:8 where he said,
"by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;" (Ephesians 2:8)
Paul is saying that grace, salvation, and faith are all three gifts from God. We give ourselves none of them, and we generate none of them on our own (See footnote 2 below for Greek syntax in Ephesians 2:8). Peter expresses the same principle when he addresses his second epistle,
"To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:" (2 Peter 1:1)
Faith is a grant to us that we receive from God. It is of the same kind as the apostle's faith. So we do not boast in generating our own faith. Paul says it to the Philippians,
"29 For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, [to suffer, and] ... to believe in Him," (Philippians 1:29)
Back over in Romans 3, Paul continues and says that we are not justified by "deeds of the Law," (cf. Romans 3:28), but rather by the "law of faith," (cf. Romans 3:27), and of course, we are not justified by merely human deeds, but the very fact that we have faith unto salvation is a demonstration that we are working the work of God in our heart which He has placed there. We are working, according to a law, but it is not the Mosaic Law, or the ten commandments ripped from the other 603 commandments of the Mosaic Law. Rather, we are working according to this "law of faith," and in this law of faith work of God, we are justified. The big point in all of this, is that the fact that any person believes in Christ whom God has sent, is a living manifestation of God's deed, and not the person's own deed. This, of course, is the great gospel truth of being saved by grace alone, through faith alone, (which is not your deed, but a deed of God alone, where you are the one believing, and you do, in fact, choose with great pleasure to believe, because of the enabling gift), and it is in the deed of Christ's cleansing blood atonement alone, which is what imputes his righteousness to those whom He has elected to save by purchasing them on the cross (cf. Revelation 5:9-10 and the rest of Romans 3),
"Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and bought, for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God;" (Revelation 5:9-10)
Christ made all His saved people to be what they are in the great purchase which imputes His righteousness. Now Paul, continuing in the rest of Romans 3, states,
"21 ... the righteousness of God has been manifested, ... 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redeeming purchase which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26)
So, the truly saved will be judged as righteous according to the deeds of God, which are the deeds of His plan in the crucifixion of His Son (which exemplifies the deed of Christ, which imputes Christ's righteousness), which is also the deed of gifting people to believe in Christ.
There is more to recognize in respect to the books of deeds, because there is more than eternal salvation that is dealt with when it comes to judging people according to deeds. There are also eternal rewards. This aspect applies to saved people. For saved people, their eternal rewards that will be added to eternal life, will be given based upon the deeds that they did in ministry while on earth, (see, 1 Peter 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10; 1 Corinthians 3:10, and Hebrews 13:17). So if you are saved, it is not that you do deeds to earn salvation, but that salvation, which was earned for you in the deed on the cross by the Lamb, produces the deeds that you will be rewarded for, forever. Now, let us go on through the rest of the passage in Revelation,
"13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades [Hades is the realm of the dead] gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:13-14)
The lost are judged according to their deeds which emit from their lost natures (see footnote 1 below), but we must not overlook that other book. That other book is the record of surety in security for all who are God's work in salvation. It is surety in security, but it is also confirmation in condemnation. We find it described in the next verse, as we read,
"15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15)
This is really the bottom line passage for understanding John's revelation of the various books. Only people who do not have their names written in the New Covenant book of life of the Lamb will end up in the lake of fire, and of course, all who are once saved always saved (OSAS) in eternal security, have their names written in the New Covenant Lamb's Book of Life. This leads to the next passage that the NEST uses in Revelation. Going into chapter 21 we read;
REVELATION 21:7; 22:14
"6 Then He said to me, 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:6-8)
Those who believe in the NEST assert that what is being said here is that saved people can fail to overcome, and so they forfeit God being their God.
The NEST is wrong.
To demonstrate the error of the NEST, we simply need to consider some things:
<1>
The First consideration, is that God says here that He will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. "Without cost" means that this is the free gift of salvation that is given to all who come to Christ in the effectual call. So this salvation is not earned in some contingency of deeds of merit. But this is just one consideration.
<2>
Secondly, this is a declaration of doom for unbelievers, and at the same time, this is a declaration of assurance for all who are once saved in eternal, overcoming, and enduring perseverance of the saints in salvation, by grace through believing. This is only bad news for all those who were never truly born again. Any person who is only curious about Messiah, or merely gives lip service to being a follower of Him, yet in reality, does not really believe in Messiah as Lord and Savior, can not possibly overcome. That person is "unbelieving" as is stated in Revelation 21:8. He who does not overcome, will not inherit these things; God will not be his God, and the unsaved person will not be God's son.
<3>
Thirdly, when Christ says that He will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost, He is saying what He repeats in the next chapter in Revelation 22:12-15, where He speaks of judgment according to deeds. There Christ says that the free gift in Christ is the right to the "tree of life" for those who wash their robes in His blood (cf. Revelation 7:14), Jesus says,
"12 "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. [That is according to what is in those books of deeds] 13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, ..." (Revelation 22:12-14)
This is how people are saved. They do not go to some sort of works-laundry and clean their robes with their own cleansing agents. They do not use their own religious scrubbing power. Rather, God already explains to us how it is done in Revelation 7:14,
" ... they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ..." (Revelation 7:14)
Christ's righteous atoning blood is the cleansing agent and scrubbing power. So here is what happens when their robes are washed in the blood;
"... so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city ..." (Revelation 22:14)
It is the free gift of eternal life to all those who believe (cf. Romans 1:16), but damnation to all those who do not, (cf. Romans 1:18), which is the damnation that we read of next in verse 15,
"15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying." (Revelation 22:15)
This is essentially a repeat of Revelation 21:8 where the lost are barred from perfectly righteous eternity with Christ. They are manifest as being cowardly concerning the gospel. They are unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, (cf. Revelation 21:8). Therefor, they are outside. They can not enter. Here they are called, the dogs, and the sorcerers of a false religion, and the immoral persons who are void of God's morality, and the murderers and the idolaters who worship false gods, and everyone who loves and practices lying as their dark affinity which comes from their dark deceptive lying hearts of lostness.
<4>
Fourthly, all who are truly saved must by necessity overcome. Saved people necessarily overcome, and will overcome, because Christ the overcomer makes them overcome, (cf. John 16:33 with 1 John 4:2-4). Additionally, the outworking of this principle is seen very clearly in 1 John 5, where we read,
"whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:4-5 emph. mine)
Therefor, all once saved in eternal salvation people, (which is anyone who has ever been, and will ever be saved), do overcome, and so they will inherit these things, and God will be their God, and they will be God's children. All the rest who are unsaved, will also be what they always were; children of the devil. This is why we read next,
"8 But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:7)
These people, who were never saved in the first place, are being described by their natural affinities in unredeemed flesh. Once God gets rid of them, then all that is left forever with Him in glory, are those who are snow white because of being washed in Christ's precious blood. This is what is meant, in the next chapter, in 22:14,
"14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city." (Revelation 22:14)
Washing their robes is not some works based system for getting them into heaven. Further, it is not some works based system for getting rewards. Washing their robes is called faith. It is faith, particularly, in Messiah's washing work, which is the cleansing blood of the Lamb. Those who wash their robes, do so by entrusting them to Christ in His New Covenant, in His very own works based system of all works based systems;
"... the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)
"To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood--" (Revelation 1:5)
Christ's work-base is His own cleansing crucifixion, where He shed His blood in the stead of all whom He saves. Outside the gates are all that are poisonously tainted by the vile sin inheritance of the first Adam: the dogs, sorcerers, idol worshippers, and people who love lying. They are lost people (cf. Revelation 22:15).
REVELATION 22:19
"18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19)
According to the typical interpretation of those who believe in the NEST, this passage means that saved people can seek to purposely add false prophecy to John's revelation, and in so doing, God will add all the multitudes of plagues in Revelation to them. Likewise, it is believed that truly saved people can wickedly desire to erase the words from John's prophecy, and so, if that happens, then God will take away the saved person's state that those who believe in the NEST, call "temporal salvation," in that the person loses their part from the tree of life, and the holy city. Additionally, this warning leaves some people who believe in the NEST, mortified when they approach teaching from Revelation. In other words, they are afraid that they may accidentally take away something, or add something, to this scroll (Unfortunately, they are already guilty of adding to Revelation by seeking to inject their NEST philosophies into it). Further, since some of the translations of this verse have Erasmus' famous translation mistake of saying that God will take away the false prophet's part from the "book" [sic.] of life, instead of "tree of life" as every Greek manuscript everywhere has it, those who believe in the NEST subsequently use the wrong translation to support their wrong philosophy of conditional security.
The NEST is wrong.
{1}
Starting out in explaining why the NEST is wrong, we will first touch upon the Erasmus mistake. The mistake is found in the Textus Receptus, which is a compilation of manuscripts that the King James Interpretation was translated from. This mistake, by the way, is one of the many embarrassments of the cult of King James Onlyism. Basically, what happened, is that when the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus did his translation work, he could not get hold of the last six verses of Revelation in any Greek manuscript that was available to him in his region. Subsequently, he decided to go ahead and use the Latin Vulgate and translate the vulgate back to Greek. This was a shame, because in consulting the Latin Vulgate in this manner, Erasmus created this error along with sixteen other textual variants that are not found in any Greek manuscript anywhere! His rendering, "book of life" in 22:19, is really supposed to be "tree of life." The Greek manuscripts always existed, but where Erasmus lived, he only had access to manuscripts that were missing the last six verses in Revelation 22. All serious scholars admit that the actual Greek is "tree of life" and not book of life. So, at the outset here, any NEST argument that starts out using the Erasmus error in this passage, (of thinking that Jesus is talking about His New Covenant Lamb's book of life), fails instantly on this basis alone.
{2}
This leads to a second consideration that we need to recognize, and that is that only God's elect saved people eat from the tree of life, and only God's elect saved people are in the New Jerusalem. John said in Revelation 21,
"14 Blessed are those who wash their robes [washed in the blood of the Lamb according to Revelation 7:14], so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying." (Revelation 21:14-15 emph. mine)
Those who have robes washed white with the astringent of Christ's precious blood are the ones who have the right to "the tree of life," and may enter the gates of the city. Both of these things (tree and city) are expressions in apocalyptic language for the blessing of actually being saved for eternity in Christ by His grace alone through faith alone. In contrast to all the elect who have their robes washed clean, nothing unclean can enter the holy City (cf. Revelation 21:27). This describes anyone not cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, which also means all people who are not in His New Covenant book of Life, (cf. Revelation 21:27). Only the elect are in Christ the Lamb's New Covenant book of life, which logically are those who have been predestined and written there since before the foundation of the world according to Revelation 13:8. This is such an important consideration, because we know that God can not be talking about barring saved people from the tree of life and the holy city. To do so, would mean that God somehow did not really write their names in predestination before the foundation of the world in the New Covenant book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. God did not make a mistake in writing all saved people's names in the New Covenant book of life since before the foundation of the world, and then, one day notice a saved person erasing things out of John's Revelation manuscript, or adding his own personal prophecies into it, and pawning it off as the authentic Revelation, and so then God suddenly realizes that He must now add all the multitudes of plagues He has mentioned in the Revelation prophecy to this saved person, and worse, bar the saved person from both the tree of life and the Holy city, thus taking away the person's salvation. Such a bizarre scenario can not happen because Revelation 13:8 states that,
"8 All who dwell on the earth will worship [the beast], everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." (Revelation 13:8 emph. mine)
Those who were predestined and were written in the New Covenant book of life of the Lamb from the foundation of the world, are once saved in eternal salvation, and so they would never worship anyone other than Jehovah, which this verse affirms. Additionally, in Revelation 3:5, we read that Jesus says that all who overcome, (which is a necessity for all truly saved people, as all saved people will overcome) and are dressed in garments made white by the blood of the Lamb, will "never" have their names blotted out from the New Covenant book of Life. So, when we understand biblical election, for God to have a part for a saved person in the tree of life and the Holy city, we must ask, "in what sense was the part there? Was it the part that the saved were predestined to have, which is salvation?" If God did predestine the part He has for His elect people in the tree and city, then evidently the part He predestined for His elect ones is not a part He is taking away from His predestined ones. Certainly such a part being taken away must be something that applies to someone else, and that is what is being demonstrated now in this analyzation.
{3}
This leads us to another point concerning God's saved people, which is our third consideration. Truly saved people have, as their ambition, to preserve God's word. Their ambition is not to reject God and establish their own false religion, which is what false prophets seek to do. False prophets seeks to add, to and take away, from God's word all the time, so it is with this consideration that we must understand that this is John's warning from the island of Patmos to the unsaved to not change his revelation. Truly saved people will not desire to battle against God by trying to destroy His prophecies. Truly saved people do not purposely desire to create fraudulent prophetic passages to add to Revelation. The unsaved, who have evil intent, and seek to exalt themselves rather than exalt God, create false prophecies every single day. For anyone to add to, or take away from the book, would be for them to not consider the prophecy to be true. This describes unbelievers rather than believers, which, of course, is John's real point. Even history has demonstrated this. There has always been this one apocalyptic revelation of John, preserved the way we have it now, and the reason is because the truly saved have, in fact, preserved it for over 2000 years, from generation to generation. Any minor variation that may have temporarily come and gone, has been a translation error, which always gets caught later on, and is corrected. Nevertheless, such mistaken translators, being saved, who made the mistake and translated wrongly, are not guilty of purposely being fraudulent, or purposely trying to destroy Revelation. Desidirius Erasmus, certainly was not trying to add to or take away from Revelation when he made his now famous error.
{4}
This leads to the fourth thing to consider: no where does this warning, state that a genuine Christian will actually do this. On the other hand, we know that the unsaved add to this prophecy and take away from it everyday in that it contains the gospel of Christ, which they augment, corrupt, deny, and malign every moment of their lives.
{5}
The fifth consideration is the all important audience context, and the eschatological thrust of the revelation. For this, we must consider the two different views for the dating of Revelation (before AD 70, or, in the AD 90's). When examining the pre-AD 70 view of the dating of Revelation, we must remember that it took one generation (40 years) from the inauguration of Messiah's ministry at age 30, up to the complete wiping away of the temple, priests, and other remnants of the Old Covenant system in the destruction of the Holy city in AD 70. In the meantime, the descendants of Abraham were being evangelized to come to Messiah in repentance during a period where they still observed Old Covenant rituals as physical descendants of Israel. In this transitional evangelization period of the first generation, Israelites were recognized by God, in at least one respect, to have a "part" in Messiah, in that He was their promised King. Nevertheless, for the Jews to eat from the tree of life which was on both sides of the water-of-life-river that flowed from the throne of the Lamb in the Holy city, they absolutely must receive Messiah. The tree of life bore 12 types of fruit for healing the nations, which consequently would be barred to anyone from the twelve tribes who continued in rejection of the Lamb from which the river flowed that had the tree of life tree growing on each side (possibly singular as growing over to both sides in some manner, or possibly "the" tree as in more than one of the same type as a metaphoric grove, yet eaten from individually, thus, the word "the"). Unfortunately, the Jewish people, as a majority, rejected Messiah, and persecuted God's elect remnant under His new Covenant. In rejecting Christ and persecuting Christians, they demonstrated that they were apostate Jews and false prophets. Instead of following Jehovah, they were His enemies. So Messiah says of them here in Revelation, concerning some of them who are persecuting His churches,
"'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." (Revelation 2:9)
"Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie--I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you." (Revelation 3:9)
The Jews as an Old Covenant people, who rejected Messiah, and skewed God's message as is contained in this revelation, became apostate Jews, barred from covenant with Jehovah, and so some scholars suggest that apostate Jews are specifically being spoke of at this point, who, in anti Christian activity, by adding to the book, will receive the plagues prophesied in it, and by taking away from the words of this prophecy, they would have their Abrahamic, Davidic, and Mosaic, "part" removed from the tree and the city of Messiah.
In respect to the the view of the AD 90's date of authorship, the persecuting Romans in general, proto-gnostic cults that were developing in the Asiatic region, and other pagans, would be who John is warning to not add to, or take away from, the book.
The bottom line, in looking at the merits of all these considerations, in contra to the NEST philosophy, it makes more sense to understand John's warning to be apocalyptic language that is meant to caution unregenerate people who have evil intentions toward rewriting John's revelation. This alert has a stated curse of an add for add, and a take for take play on words, which is meant to be a strong counsel to all who hear the prophecy of this book to understand just how serious and complete the revelation really is, and therefor, preserve it in the form it is received, recorded, and sent out. It is God's word, so it should not be corrupted. To seek to purposely change God's word into a false message, is the equivalent of rejecting Christ, and so in rejecting Christ in this manner, the false prophets have no part in the tree of life, nor the city. They must stay outside with the dogs, unbelievers, sorcerers, and idol worshippers. Again, Christians, which are truly saved people, are not going to rewrite John's revelation, or erase sections of it for their own insidious ends.
Therefor, this passage, as all passages in Revelation, does not remotely suggest that anyone can lose spiritual salvation, gain spiritual salvation through meritorious effort, or maintain keeping salvation secure by meritorious effort.
________
Footnotes:
(1) Not only are they lost spiritually, but the scriptures seem to indicate that they also will be judged and given degrees of punishment as is implied in Luke 12:42-48, and Matthew 11:20-24, cf. 10:15; John 19:11, 2 Peter 2:21, Mark 12:40, 2 Timothy 4:14.
(2) Greek scholar Dr. E. Campbell words this very well in his commentary on Ephesians,
"With reference to the statement, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith,' Paul says, 'And this is not of you.' Both of the Greek words rendered 'grace' (cariti) and 'faith' (pistews) are in the feminine gender, but the Greek pronoun translated 'this' (touto) is in the neuter gender. If this pronoun refers back to the words 'grace' and 'faith,' as we have suggested, why isn't it in the feminine gender? The answer is in the latter part of this verse, where Paul considers both the grace and faith as a 'gift' (dwron), a Greek noun which is in the neuter gender, and as such, is the antecedent of the pronoun 'this' (touto). In other words, looking at the two essential ingredients involved in God's saving of sinners, Paul refers to the same as a gift which is 'not out of you' (ouk ex umwn). This verse clearly teaches that neither the grace not the faith are of human origin, they are not out of nor from those being saved (cf. v. 5; 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5) but are from an outside Divine source." pp. 70-71
