Revelation 13:8

Standing on the verge of this crisis (note the change to the future tense), the prophet anticipates the almost universal success of the Cæsar-cult (cf. Revelation 3:10). Only the elect will be able to resist its appeal (cf. Matthew 24:25). As in the O.T., the consciousness of predestination is made a moral lever (cf. Revelation 17:8). The rest of mankind who succumb to the cult are plainly not on the celestial burgessroll or register. cf. the instructive second-century gloss on Acts 5:39. As a rule the faithless in life are deceived (2 Thessalonians 2:2-10; Asc. Isa. iv. 7, 8), but here the Imperial cultus occupies the place of the false prophet in Mark 13:12, etc, τοῦ ἀ. τοῦ ἐσφαγμένου, which transfers to Christ the possession of the divine register of citizens in the heavenly state, is usually taken as a scribe s gloss (after Revelation 21:27 where the position of ἀρνίου is less difficult). Elsewhere the book of life appears by itself. In any case, ἀπὸ κ. κ. goes with γέγραπται, not ἐσφαγμένου.