When are the names of the elect enrolled in the book of life—from times eternal, or at the conversion? And do the elect know their names are so enrolled? The Saviour says, "Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." N. L. M.
The names written from times eternal in the book of life are names of elect characters, characters marked out of God to inhabit this earth, and worthy of everlasting existence. Men in this world are called to those characters. When they accept that call by faith—when they are converted—their names are enrolled in the Lamb's book of life, as candidates of some of those characters, of those names, of the crowns. If faithful to the end, those eternal names become the new names, and the crowns are given. Rev. 2:17; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4. If they prove false, their own names are blotted out. Rev. 3:5. Surely, when one has given himself to God, he should know that the Lord is his, and that his name is written in the book of life; but to be among the eternal characters, he must be faithful to the end. Matt. 24:12; Heb. 3:12-14.