The Scroll of Life

Appendix B: The Doctrine of Reprobation

It is probably true that the doctrines of election and reprobation generate the greatest contempt and hatred from the lost against the grand Doctrines of Sovereign Grace, particularly the latter.

[If you need any examples, just spend some time on X in the “theological” accounts and you’ll see limitless hatred for the Doctrines of Sovereign Grace (usually under the catch-all topic of “Calvinism”). Moreover, those same posters maintain this animosity while they claim to love Scripture and the LORD. It is theological gaslighting at its finest.]

Even among those who embrace the Doctrine of Election there is a moral tension that falls somewhere between confusion and rejection when considering the Doctrine of Reprobation. Many attempt to “soften” this doctrine by attempting to make the LORD's passive rather than active. (I know, this doesn’t make sense!)

[Too frequently as Christians we become callous and take sovereign grace for granted. In fact, the truths of election and reprobation should stir our hearts. We need to be reminded to fear the LORD!

Pro 9.10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

2 Cor 13.5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?]

To be clear on what I’m saying here, let me define two terms:

Passive reprobation: a person is reprobated because he/she was not of the elect.
The LORD did nothing; He remained passive, “hands off” and “let” them be lost.

Active reprobation: a person is reprobated because he/she was actively rejected. The LORD was active in the reprobation of a person and in so doing ensured that he would be lost.

The Scriptures below initiate this important discussion:

Rev 13.8
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the little scroll of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

Rev 17.8b
And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the little scroll of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
[Of the 3 verses cited here, this is the most explicit to state that those whose names were not written in the Little Scroll of Life will be deceived when the beast makes his appearance on the earth. 2 The 2.11-12 This guarantees that they will not—indeed, cannot—ever be persuaded by the gospel to be saved.]

Rev 20.15
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the little scroll of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Some of my readers may wonder,

“If the LORD made a list of those whom He would draw to Himself and therefore save (that is, the Little Scroll of Life), why then did He not make a corresponding list of those whom He reprobated? Since such a list doesn’t exist, doesn’t that negate the so-called doctrine of reprobation?”

If I may be permitted some “sanctified speculation”, I reply:

The LORD never wastes anything or acts meaninglessly. It is not necessary to create two lists whose contents are mutually exclusive: a name on one list would never be on the other list, and vice versa. The "list" of those who have been reprobated will always be those whose names are not on the list of the elect.

Rev 20.15 is the implementation of this truth using the single Little Scroll of Life.

The purpose of this appendix is to review the applicable Scriptures, initiated from the context of Revelation 20.15, to produce a biblical Doctrine of Reprobation.

There are several questions that we immediately face:

• What is the Doctrine of Election?
• What is the Doctrine of Reprobation?
• The LORD is not Passive—About Anything!
• The Texts Which Teach Divine Reprobation
• What takes place at the great judgment of Rev 20 with the Little Scroll of Life?

What is the Doctrine of Election?

The Doctrine of Election is the magnificent truth that the LORD determined in eternity past those whom He would call to Himself before there was anything or anyone of our creation:

Rom 8.28-30
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
[This is the summary of Sovereign Grace!]

I have written frequently of this amazing, gracious, awesome, fearful and humbling doctrine on this site. It truly is at the heart of amazing grace and everything that I seek to expound. Here are the most direct articles I have written about the Doctrine of Election in past years:

The Election of Grace
Dead or Alive: The Ordo Salutis

The Doctrine of Election is a component of these articles:

The LORD: the Author of Calamity
It is Time for Imprecatory Prayers
The Humanism of Evangelistic Apologetics
The Day of the Lord (this is the most general article of this group regarding election, and discusses mainly the election of the Jews during the end time)

Now, let’s consider this amazing text and how it applies to the Little Scroll of Life:

Eph 1.3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

Eph 1.3-4 is the eternal implementation of the Little Scroll of Life.

The names of every single one of those “chosen before the foundation of the world” in eternity past were recorded in it and sealed within it. The fact that it was sealed with 7 seals tells us conclusively that once the LORD determined the Little Scroll’s contents—that is, the names of His elect—He would never change His mind! And, given the fact that what John saw has not yet taken place (within our timescape), countless numbers of people have been truly saved already, and many are yet destined to be saved.

Remember: All this has taken place before the Little Scroll of Life is opened at the Great White Throne judgment!

What is the Doctrine of Reprobation?

The Doctrine of Reprobation is the perfect inverse of the Doctrine of Election. It is the magnificent truth that the LORD determined in eternity past those whom He would NOT call to Himself, before there was anything or anyone of our creation.

Some of those who embrace divine election express the following:

“I agree that election is the greatest demonstration of grace in the universe! But reprobation is a ‘bridge too far’; surely this exceeds the clear revelation of Scripture. For this to be true, it means the lost never had even a chance to repent. To proclaim the gospel to them would be meaningless! I don’t want to admit it, but this is unfair!”

This expression proceeds from profound ignorance of Scripture (deliberate or not!).

The fact that the Little Scroll of Life is sealed means that no one besides the LORD alone knows those listed on that scroll; it is impossible for anyone else to ever know its sacred contents. The LORD commanded His people to bring the Gospel to the world. The sower sowed the seed of the Gospel wherever he went; some took root, some did not.

Let’s see what the Bible teaches us about this important doctrine rather than indulging in emotion and humanistic reasoning.

It is a truth of Scripture that the LORD knows all things, that nothing is hidden from Him. It is therefore true that He knows those who are lost just as He knows those who are saved. The question is “What does the LORD do with that knowledge?”

[Unfortunately, there is a problem with my statement. It is true that the LORD knows all things, but His experience of knowledge is vastly different from our experience of knowledge. The LORD’s knowledge can’t be separated from His will; that is His knowledge of events is never separate from the fact that He directs all events. So, when we say that the LORD knows all things, the “things” He knows are the events which He directed: of course, He “has knowledge” of them because He directed them in the first place.]

We therefore begin with the crux of the issue: Is the LORD active or passive in the reprobation of the lost?

The LORD is not Passive—About Anything!

For those who distance themselves from the Doctrine of Reprobation but embrace the Doctrine of Election, you will recognize two simple facts related to the destiny of every person throughout all time:

1. that person will be saved; or,
2. that person will be lost.

There are no other choices. If you reject reprobation—either active or passive—you tacitly believe that while the LORD ensured the blessed destiny of the former, in the case of the latter He was completely “hands off”?!

This can only be a man-made ‘god’ because it does not even remotely resemble the Almighty One of the Bible!

[Beware of any so-called Bible teacher or preacher that use the following language:

“The LORD allowed such-and-such to happen ….” especially in the context of events or actions that are deemed evil, dangerous or destructive.

A good example of a well-known “apologist” expressing this error is a video that I cited in my article:

The LORD: the Author of Calamity

The video is of so-called “Christian apologist” Frank Turek titled:

Why does God Allow Natural Disasters?

I said in my article,

“In the video, Dr. Turek asserted three times that "God allowed" a particular action—in direct contradiction of the Scriptures …”;

This is a very common, but very serious, error. Turek should have owned the fact that the LORD brought about the “natural disasters”. Instead, he attempted to rationalize or soften this great truth, and in so doing showed contempt to the Almighty by deferring to a college student!

The ancient Job understood this grand truth far better than the “modern” Frank Turek:

Job 37.11-13
Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud;
He disperses the cloud of His lightning.
It changes direction, turning around by His guidance,
That it may do whatever He commands it
On the face of the inhabited earth.
Whether for correction, or for His world,
Or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.

Any “Bible teacher” using this language (that is, “God allows …”) in these contexts has no understanding of the LORD of the Scripture. Men like Turek leave impressionable students with a god (lower case ‘god’ intentional) that is not the God of the Bible! Turek has created a god of his own imagination in the name of “Christian Apologetics”.]

The LORD acts rather than reacts—always!

The following is a very small sampling of this great truth:

Isa 14.24-27
The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand ... For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

Isa 46.8-11
“Remember this, and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure'; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.”

Isa 55.10-11
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Psa 103.19
The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.

Rom 4.21
and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

Pro 19.21
Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand.

Luk 12.5
But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

Act 2.22-23
Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

Act 17.26
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation ...

Given the magnitude of the eternal punishment of the lost, it is unthinkable that that the LORD would “step back” and do nothing at all!

The Texts Which Teach Divine Reprobation

The texts cited above show the impossibility of the LORD doing nothing in the reprobation of the lost. It is now time to show from the Scripture that that the LORD chose to reprobate some.

Rom 5.12-21: the Legal Perspective of Election and Reprobation

Two great legal truths emerge from Romans chapter 5:

Rom 5.12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned

Rom 5.17
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

1. Adam is the representative for his people (those who are not the elect).
2. The Lord Christ is the representative for His people (the elect).

The elect sinner then had a representative head, the Lord Christ. This is the significance of that 'little' phrase in verse 17:

“those who receive the abundance of grace…”

These are the elect in the Lord Christ. This assertion is the implementation of Sovereign Grace.

I’m guessing that some of my readers will say:

“I embrace the Doctrine of Election, but then why does Paul say ‘… because all sinned’? Doesn’t that teach us that we began as cursed and under (Adam’s) sin, followed by a divine election that took place after the fall? Otherwise, how could the statement ‘all sinned’ be true? How do you resolve this?”

The resolution is this: the elect have always been elect. There is no “time” that they are not elect. When the Apostle Paul wrote “because all sinned”, he meant exactly that—within the “temporal boundaries” of a person’s life. We begin under the curse of sin but then are saved from sin.

Therefore, if the “temporal boundaries” are expressed as a timeline, we see the individual stages of:

• the initial legal standing in the guilt of Adam;
• the LORD’s gifting of the new birth;
• the effectual call to bring that person to Himself;
• the realization of repentance and faith;
• justification and adoption;

which is essentially the “Golden Chain” of Rom 8.

Before these events transpire, that person is simply not yet saved. He is fully elect, though an incipient believer. But be sure, he will be brought to faith because he has been ransomed from sin by the sacrifice of the Lord Christ!

Election is an eternal state. It does not depend on the person, his will or desires, or anything about him.

Salvation is a state of a human life within the temporal boundaries of that life. Salvation begins under guilt for sin. The Holy Spirit then uses the weight of that guilt to bring that person to repentance and faith. There is never, and can never be, a question of whether this will take place.

As humans, we can’t appreciate just how great sin—any sin—is before the most holy God of the cosmos. The Doctrine of Reprobation is a dramatic indication of how great the offense of sin is before God.

Those who stand before the Lord Christ during the Great White Throne Judgment are of that group who were not chosen to election; they are actively “left” in Adam. This is divine justice.

In Rev 20.15, they are about to be cast into the Outer Darkness because they stand condemned—and the LORD is just to do so! He is not required to show mercy to any. Moreover, His only begotten Son was punished without mercy to show mercy to His elect. This is His right as the Almighty and He is equally just to do so!

Rom 9.18 and Rom 9.22-23: “… vessels of wrath prepared for destruction”.

Let’s look at another text from the Apostle Paul, also from Romans:

Rom 9.18
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
ὃν θέλει ἐλεεῖ ὃν δὲ θέλει σκληρύνει
θέλει: [G2309: present active indicative, θέλω: to desire]
ἐλεεῖ: [G1653: present active indicative: ἐλεέω: to have mercy]
σκληρύνει: [G4645: present active indicative: σκληρύνω: to harden]

Rom 9.22-23
What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
σκεύη ὀργῆς κατηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειαν
κατηρτισμένα: [G2675: perfect passive participle APN, καταρτίζω: prepared]
σκεύη ἐλέους ἃ προητοίμασεν εἰς δόξαν
προητοίμασεν: [G4282: aorist active indicative, προετοιμάζω: prepared before]

When the Apostle tells us that of those vessels that were not part of the “vessels of mercy” which were prepared for glory, it is not because they were merely “left out”. No, they were “prepared for destruction”! (This is also confirmed by the use of the passive voice: these vessels were acted upon by the LORD Himself.)

The same verb καταρτίζω (“prepared for destruction”) is used in these verses:

Luk 6.40
“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.

Heb 11.3
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

The Apostle uses another common verb, ἑτοιμάζω [G2090, prepare, make ready] prefixed with the preposition πρό to produce the meaning “prepared beforehand”. If the elect were “prepared for glory”—and they were!—than the lost likewise were “prepared for destruction”.

They both are in the context of the same verse. You don’t get one without the other.

1 Pet 2.8: “… and to this doom they were also appointed.”

The same doctrine is expressed by the Apostle Peter:

1 Pet 2.8 NASB95
“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;
for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and
to this [doom] they were also appointed.
εἰς ὃ καὶ ἐτέθησαν
ἐτέθησαν [G5087: aorist passive indicative: τίθημι : put, place, set, establish]
[Like Rom 9.22-23 above, the key verb τίθημι is in the passive voice: “they were set, placed”.]

Note that in the original, the relative pronoun ὃ [who, what, which, that] appears to stand alone and unresolved; because of this, the NASB95 translators supplied the noun “doom” in brackets.

[I checked AT Roberson on this verse (pg 714, VII Relative Pronouns, 4. Gender) and received the following insight into the phrase

εἰς ὃ καὶ ἐτέθησαν
“Once more, ὃ is used to refer to a verbal idea or to the whole sentence. … The neuter gender is only natural here. … Col. 1:29 εἰς ὃ καὶ κοπιῶ (cf. εἰς ὃ in 2 Th. 1.11; 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:8)”

Here are the texts which Robertson cited as examples:

Col. 1:29
For this purpose also I labor…

2 The 1.11
To this end also we pray for you always …

2 The 2.14
It was for this He called you through our gospel …]

Peter used a common idiom to indicate that the antecedent of the relative pronoun ὃ is the entire thought and could be rendered something like this:

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;
for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and
and to this stumbling and disobedience they were appointed.

Jud 1.4: “long beforehand marked out …”

The same doctrine is expressed by Jude:

Jud 1.4
For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

οἱ πάλαι προγεγραμμένοι
προγράφω [perfect passive participle, G4270, to write before; to depict or portray openly]

The destiny of those of whom Jude wrote was set long ago. The adverb

“long”

modifies

“beforehand marked out”.

The LORD was not reacting to their current behavior; rather, He ensured long before they were born that they would be condemned.

The same adverb is used when the Lord Christ used the example of the debauched cities of Sodom and its neighbors:

Mat 11.21 [Luk10.13]
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

The same adverb is used here:

Heb 1.1
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις
in many portions and many ways long ago God spoke …

The emphasis here is that in a time long past the LORD spoke through the prophets, but now He speaks through His Son, the Lord Christ.

The verb προγράφω is used in 3 other places in the NT:

Rom 15:4
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Gal 3:1
You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

Eph 3:3
that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.

What takes place at the great judgment of Rev 20 with the Little Scroll of Life?

We know of exactly one use of the opened Little Scroll of Life in the Revelation; it is scanned for the name of each of the lost dead. If that person’s name is not found, he/she is thrown into the Lake of Fire.

The demonstration of a person’s name being absent from the Little Scroll of Life proves this. Since it contains the names of the elect only, it is impossible that the name of any of the lost dead would be found!

What then is accomplished in this phase of the Judgment since the destiny of the lost dead is established already? Why is the Little Scroll of Life consulted at all?

It is true that the legal status of the lost can’t be changed. All we can say with certainty is that the Lord Christ will show to each and every one of the lost dead that He chose not to extend mercy to them by proving to them that their names are absent. Beyond this we dare not go.

As we saw above, and as the Apostle Paul put it through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

Rom 9.18
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

It bears repeating:

2 Cor 13.5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?