Revelation 3:5

He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Shall be arrayed with me in white ... This, of course, is to be taken in close connection with Revelation 3:4. Rather than finding some reference in this to customs of pagan worshippers, it is better to understand the figurative meaning of it as similar to that mentioned by Adam Clarke:

The great council of Israel sat and judged the priests. If in a priest any vice was found, they stripped off his white garments and clothed him in black, in which he wrapped himself, went out, and departed. Him in whom no vice was found they clothed in white; and he went and took his part in the ministry with his brother priests.[21]

I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life ... For fuller comment on "The Book of Life," see in my Commentary on Hebrews, pp. 381,382. It is significant that Christ's confession of the faithful is, in some manner, connected with enrollment in the book of life, not only upon the occasion of the initial inscription, but upon the final entry into heaven. A verse like this is inevitably associated with the study of predestination; and sharply divergent views of it are taken. Bruce, for example, has this:

The "book of life" appears here ... to include at first all whose names are on the membership roll of a local church; but those whose membership is but nominal have their names deleted, the Lord declares he never knew them (Luke 13:25,27).[22]

The significance of such an interpretation is that it means that some who are enrolled in the book of life were never saved at all. "The Lord never knew them." It is difficult to understand how anyone could believe that heaven itself endorses the earthly enrollment of wicked people whom the Lord "never knew" by inscribing their names in the book of life. It is impossible, therefore, for us to accept the notion that any reference whatever to the membership rolls of any local church is to be found here. Any true conception of the "Book of Life," which belongs to the Lamb of God, makes it inconceivable that any unsaved, unredeemed persons would ever be inscribed in such a list unless they were entitled to be so recognized. Whatever this passage may seem to say to others, this writer sees in it the positive and certain declaration that born-again, redeemed Christians, whose names, upon the occasion of their conversion, are indeed written in the book of life, are still subject to probation. If they should fail to continue in faithfulness to the Lord, their names will be blotted out of the book of life; and we fully agree with Roberts who wrote, "Christ had already had to blot out the names of most of the Sardis Christians from the heavenly register."[23] The predestination in which John believes is a conditional predestination. A man cannot earn the right to have his name on the citizen roll, but he can forfeit it."[24]

And I will confess his name ... This is an echo of Matthew 10:32,33. For the connection between this confession and inscription in the book of life, see in my Commentary on Hebrews, pp. 381,382. From this place, it seems that Christ not only confesses the redeemed upon the occasion of their conversion, but again, upon the occasion of their entry into heaven.

[21] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. VI (London: Carlton and Porter, 1829), p. 984.

[22] F. F. Bruce, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 640.

[23] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 47.

[24] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 49.