Details: Also available:; Created: 14 April 2026

He who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem – Isaiah 4:3

The Apostle Peter writes that the prophets of the Old Covenant wrote for us in the New Covenant (1 Pet. 1:10-12). Consequently, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we should carefully study prophetic books, because they clearly contain elements that are crucial to our eternal salvation. We find a striking example of this in Isaiah 4:2-4. When we connect this text with Revelation 20:11-15 and Revelation 21 (the New Jerusalem), we receive highly significant insights, especially regarding the so-called “Book of Life.”

Isaiah 4:2 unambiguously announces the first, visible coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah 11:1). However, this is not primarily about his visible appearance, but about the provision of his perfect salvation for motivated people, as was ultimately brilliantly revealed to the Apostle Paul in the so-called “Gospel of Christ.” For it is only through this work that certain people receive the divine status of “holy” and the correct entry into the “Book of Life,” which endures all judgments.

The word “Jerusalem” appears three times in our text. Literally translated from Hebrew, “Jerusalem” means “to dwell in peace.” Prophetically speaking, this is not a geographical place name. Rather, it contains a series of powerful, hidden references that are of the utmost importance to us. This ultimately becomes gloriously evident with the appearance of the “New Jerusalem” in Rev. 21. Ultimately, it has no ethnic (Jewish) or religious reference (Jews, Christians, etc.). In the prophetic vision, it is the formation of an exclusive people with whom the eternal LORD and God will then make history for all “eternity.” This people (“Zion”) truly possesses all the qualities of life of the Lord Jesus Christ, e.g., “holiness,” “righteousness,” “peace,” and much more (Rev. 21). And only for this reason is their name written in the “Book of Life.”

But how did this (chosen) people (the “Daughters of Zion”) come into being? The foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ’s brilliant work of vicarious salvation, which was sealed on Golgotha when He cried out, “It is finished!” And His heavenly Father brought His Son’s work into effect by raising Him from the dead.

This work of salvation is what is known as a “work of identification.” This means that the eternal LORD and God, from His perspective and viewed objectively, has in advance bestowed His entire Son upon every human being. Whatever blessings the Lord Jesus Christ acquired through His death, for example, have been made fully available to every human being in advance, solely by divine grace. It is the perfect work of God, carried out by His Son, that would lead us, among other things, into this glorious “Sabbath rest” of God’s people. All that is required from now on is that a motivated person truly “knows” the Lord Jesus Christ (namely, all that He has acquired and bestowed upon us through His death) and subsequently accepts Him as his life (Gal. 2:19-20).

Whoever is truly in Christ and remains in Him, their “filth” and “bloodstains” are “washed away” (Isa. 4:4) – provided we have confessed them as sin and thus decisively broken with them (1 John 1:7). Therefore, in Christ we are, for example, “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 1:3); “chosen, holy, and blameless” (v. 4); “sons of God” (v. 5); “forgiven” (v. 6); “redeemed by His blood” (v. 7); “all transgressions are forgiven” (v. 7), etc., etc.

In this state in Christ – and exclusively in Him alone – we represent the “New Jerusalem.” There are no longer any “cowardly, faithless, polluted, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters and liars” there (Rev. 21:8, 27). The “New Jerusalem” is a glorious synonym for Christ and His own, for the Son of God and the sons of God, for the Head and the members – in short, for all people who were and are truly in Christ.

And why did they become so? Because on Golgotha, the “Spirit of judgment” and the “Spirit of burning” came upon the Lord Jesus Christ (Isa. 4:4), and His own subsequently appropriated this work of salvation in Christ through faith. But for them to experience this in truth, they themselves went through “sanctification” (ongoing purification) throughout their lives – through brokenness, humiliation, suffering, the experience of the personal crucifixion of their old self, and much more.

This group is the true people of God – regardless of any ethnic or religious background. It is a small remnant that has survived and been spared through all of God’s judgments – the “survivors of Israel” (Isa. 4:2–3). They are “recorded for life.”

This is a reference to the most crucial entry in the Book of Life for a person, both for this life and for “eternity.” In the Old Testament, we find three additional parallel references in Exodus 32:32, Psalm 69:29, and Daniel 12:1. The Lord Jesus Christ mentions this entry to His disciples in Luke 10:20. Yet in Rev. 20:15, it becomes abundantly clear that the entry into the “Book of Life” definitively overshadows all other “religious” experiences. It is simply a matter of our “eternity” – that is, humanity’s eternal calling and purpose – or total loss!

But how did this entry come about? Certainly not through any human “efforts,” that is, “religious” achievements. For in the Kingdom of God, one’s own works and merits are completely excluded (Eph. 2:8-10). The entry into the “Book of Life” has a direct connection to the “New Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:27), which means nothing other than complete union of life with the Lord Jesus Christ (e.g., Eph. 5:27-29). The Lord Jesus Christ is both the “incarnate” “Tree of Life” (Rev. 22:2; 2:7; Gen. 2:9) and “eternal life” (1 John 5:12), as well as a synonym for the “Book of Life.” Whoever was, is, and remains in Christ is in the “Book of Life” and will never be “blotted out” from it.

Yet the fact that a person has been or may be granted the privilege of truly knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and accepting Him as their life has to do with divine grace and divine mysteries (Eph. 1:4; Rom. 8:28-30). Even if we do not understand these things, or only partially, we should ensure one thing: If we are in Christ today and now, then we should do everything in our power to remain in Him until the end of our lives (John 15). And, if possible, to live out a practical lifestyle from Christ that draws those around us to the Lord Jesus Christ!

You can read, download, forward, or print this text as a PDF file: