Book 2 of Musings Fabulous Promises
The believer who chooses to overcome through Christ all the forces that seek to prevent his doing the will of God shall inherit all things that God makes new. This is a promise so fabulous as to be beyond description.
Christianity has gotten to be a religion, in which salvation comes through the proper belief system. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. This is all there is to it.
Well, maybe there is an elementary, a basic salvation from wrath that comes from a profession of belief in Jesus Christ. It appears that such is the case.
However, the promises we ordinarily associate with being a Christian are addressed to the overcomer. He who overcomes will be able to eat from the Tree of Life. He who overcomes will receive the crown of life. He who overcomes will govern the nations with the rod of iron, and so forth.
Some are teaching that all there is to being an overcomer is to "accept Christ." However, I do not believe this position can be defended from a balanced interpretation of the New Testament. (I put "accept Christ" in quotation marks because it is not a scriptural expression.
For example, the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation are addressed to "the seven churches in the province of Asia." I think we can assume by the expression "seven churches" that John is referring to people who have "accepted" Christ, according to our current usage of the term.
Yet, it is clear that the Lord, in these two chapters, is offering rewards to those of the believers who have behaved in a certain manner. No intelligent rendering of the two chapters would leave the reader with the impression that everyone in the seven churches is by virtue of being included in the churches, automatically an overcomer.
In fact, only individuals are addressed: "to him who overcomes," or "he who overcomes"; never "to them who overcome."
In no manner can the position that all who believe in Christ are therefore overcomers be defended from the New Testament.
This being the case, it is of great importance that we understand two facts: what it means to overcome; and that the rewards we ordinarily associate with being a Christian, including being raised from the dead when the Lord appears and receiving a glorified body, are given to the overcomers.
But what of those believers who do not live a victorious Christian life?
We know of the many severe warnings given by the Lord Jesus. All of them, such as being thrown into the outer darkness, and being beaten with lashes, have to do with the Lord's servants. The only warning to the unbelievers is that given to the "goats" from among the nations who are to be led away into the fiery Gehenna.
The Lord Jesus is stricter than He usually is portrayed, at least in the United States in the present hour. His demand that we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him is not always obeyed. Because we have little fear of God, we suppose that it does not matter whether we do what the Lord has said. We will be saved by grace and caught up to Heaven in an unscriptural "rapture."
We have been deceived, and our nation will suffer Divine judgment, perhaps in the near future. Then we Christians will be called on to suffer, just as Christians have from the first century.
It will be difficult to lead a victorious Christian life during the testings that are ahead of us, because of the chaos and danger. It is just as difficult today to lead a victorious Christian life, because of the multitude of distractions and the availability of sin.
What does it mean to overcome, and how is this different from "accepting" Christ and attending church?
To overcome is to resist, through Christ, involvement in the world system; the lusts and passions of our flesh and soul; and our desire to follow our own path, our own ambitions.
The Antichrist spirit of the world seeks to involve us in the frantic effort to acquire more and more money and material goods, to find our life in the possession of things.
The lusts and passions of our flesh and soul attempt to drive us into immoral, sinful behavior, such as adultery, fornication, rage, pride, covetousness, drunkenness, slander, and malice.
Our desire to follow our own path prevents us from obeying God strictly. We have numerous opportunities in America to do what we want. We usually are not constrained by the authorities. We can attend the church of our choice; select the educational opportunities that appeal to us; enter into business as it pleases us.
We are encouraged, in America, to be our own god; to be in control of our life; to speak and advocate what we will provided we do not break the law.
To say to such people that you are to present your body as a living sacrifice to God is to invite scorn and unbelief.
The overcomer keeps his or her involvement in the world to a minimum. He prays against and resists his sinful nature. When he falls into sin he confesses his sin and turns away from it. He seeks the mind of the Lord at all times and does not follow his own path.
The overcomers prays each day. He reads the Bible each day. He gathers together with fervent believers as often as possible.
(People from around the country tell me it is nearly impossible to find a fervent church. Almost exclusively the preaching is about grace, the rapture, and Heaven. Or the church may consist of several thousand people who often have needs of which the pastor knows little. In fact, the pastor may not know the larger part of the congregation. Unless there are capable small groups, there is no one to watch over the spiritual growth of the believers. When there are such small groups, they are the true churches.)
The victorious saint is just that. He lives in victory, interacting with the living Jesus several times a day. He is becoming one with the Lord just as the Lord is one with the Father. He is learning utter dependence on Jesus in every aspect of his life. No matter what the Lord requires of him, he is ready to obey. He has counted the cost in advance. There is no disobedience in him or her.
This is what it means to be a victorious saint, an overcomer. And the Lord keeps testing, prodding, and challenging each of His saints every day.
Being an overcomer is not a goal we reach, it is a way of life. We can overcome only for the moment. The past is forgotten. We do not have grace for the future. We are pressing on! Pressing on! Pressing on!
There is absolutely no diminishing or compromising of what I have just written. The gate is small and the way is constricted that lead to eternal life. Few find it.
What we have today is a great kingdom that has gathered in of every kind of person. But in the last days the messengers of God will remove from the Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.
God will be the God of each believer who succeeds in living the victorious life. He or she will inherit all that God is making new in Jesus Christ.
This is a promise utterly beyond our imagination. The heavens, the earth, all who dwell on the earth, are the inheritance of the victors. Nothing they desire will be withheld from them. They can shape the universe as it pleases them.
There are promises in the Bible that are withheld from us, but they will be given to us after our schooling has been completed.
For example: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."
How often we struggle on year after year, and yet do not receive the desires of our heart. We thirst! We hunger! Yet the joy is withheld.
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life."
In God's Presence is fullness of joy.
The overcomer knows these promises. They may be deferred throughout his lifetime. It does no matter one whit. His treasures are in Heaven. If he receives in this life some of what he wants, fine. If he does not, fine. His eyes and hopes are fixed on the Lord Jesus.
When he is imprisoned in undesirable, boring circumstances, he endures to the end. He will never, never, never quit. For him to live is Christ and to die is gain.
When he stumbles, he gets back up on his feet and fights on. He accepts whatever punishment and chastening is sent his way.
This is what it means to overcome, and nothing, absolutely nothing less than this.
God is looking for a firstfruits today. The thrones have been prepared. There never will be another opportunity to acquire the best that God has to offer.
I am not speaking of being saved. Multitudes of people shall be saved from eternal fire-far more than one would guess from today's preaching.
No, I am not referring to merely being saved from wrath. I am pointing toward the promise of sharing with the Lord Jesus Christ the thrones that govern the creation. I am envisioning shining as the stars forever.
God does things in such a lowly manner with lowly people that it is difficult for us to grasp the enormous significance of the Christian walk.
One time a Baby was born in a manger, and later a carpenter's Son walked along the roads of the city of Jerusalem. Who would have guessed that this was the God of Sinai, the Lord of the Hebrews?
Yet He was!
Isn't it just like our God to perform such a marvel! He receives the poor gladly while the arrogant are turned away.
The things that are highly esteemed by mankind are of little interest to God. God is with the lowly in heart, the poor in spirit.
Religion lifts up its ornate cathedrals; its embroidered robes; its professional anthems. Who would not be impressed at such a spectacle?
But the Greatest of all kings is with the outcasts.
In the not too distant future the values of the world will disappear and that which is of true worth shall appear. In that day those who have overcome the world, Satan, and their own lusts and ambitions, shall bring justice to the nations and to the meek of the earth.
The nations that are wise will kiss the Son, lest He be angry and they perish when His wrath is kindled but a little.
We will wait for our God. He will come and vindicate us. We will be eternally glad that we have waited for Him.
In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation." (Isaiah 25:9)