Where does the Bible say that our names are taken or rubbed out of the book of death and written in the book of life when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior?
The short answer to this question is that the Bible does not say that our names are rubbed out of the book of death and written in the book of life. In fact the book of death is never directly mentioned in the Scriptures. The only place that we may get the idea of a book of death is out of Revelation 20:12. It reads “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Revelation 20:12)
The book of life
We can see that it mentions that books were opened but it never tells us what these books are, however these books do reveal how we are to be judged. The passage does draw our attention to one book in particular, the book of life.
The book of life is mentioned only eight times in the entirety of Scripture. Only one time is it mentioned outside of the book of Revelation. In each passage the reference is concerning one’s name being found in or not found in the book of life. Nowhere in these passages do we read about movement from one book to another.
Names not found in the book of life
Most interesting are the verses about names not found in the book of life, Revelation 13:8 and Revelation 17:8:
“and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” (Revelation 13:8)
“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.” (Revelation 17:8)
Written from the foundation of the world
If certain names have not been written in the book of life since the foundation of the world, then it can be understood that for those who do trust in Jesus, their names have been in the book since that time. Compare Ephesians 1:3-6, where Paul also writes about God choosing us before the foundation of the world.
Imagine, if you have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of your sin then your name has been written in the book of life since the foundation of the world. Your name will never be blotted out (Revelation 3:5). We can have confidence that our Lord will never reject us and that even before we were born He knew us as His own.