The Overcomer: Part Three

We have left Ephesus for now, and are dealing with the church at Smyrna. This is the church of suffering. Paul tells us that in order to reign with Christ we must endure whatever problems come against us. The cross and the crown go together. I think Christians in the past understood this, but the concept of the cross and the crown going together appears to have gotten lost along the way.

There are two factors that stand out when we study the overcomer of the church at Smyrna. These two factors are obedience and rulership. The reward to the believer who obediently remains in his place of trial is the crown of life, the power to govern by the power of indestructible resurrection life.

(8/25/2008) May we take a look at the big picture for a moment.

God showed what He has in mind when He planted the Garden of Eden and placed two people there. Keep in mind that God created man to be in God’s image; to be male and female; to be fruitful and multiply; and to govern the works of God’s hands. Man is to be the son of God, in the truest sense of the word.

Then God placed man in a delightful environment. God created man to live in love, joy, and peace.

God never begins what He does not finish. He is the Beginning and the Ending; the Alpha and Omega; the First and the Last; the Author and the Finisher. God always knows from the beginning what the ending will be. God does not start something He isn’t going to finish. We may change our mind and drop out of the program, but God proceeds along the way He has in mind.

God is building a new world of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. God is building a Kingdom. The King of the Kingdom is righteous, compassionate, merciful, and sternly obedient to God. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. All authority and power have been given to Him by the Father because of His obedience. This giving of authority and power occurred two thousand years ago.

Why, then, the two thousand years of chaos and insanity that followed the giving of authority and power to God’s first Son?

The purpose of these two millennia has been to bring more sons into glory, sons who are filled with the first Son and sternly obedient to Him. The heart of the Kingdom of God is stern obedience to God.

The first Son learned obedience through the things He suffered while on the earth. Now it is the rest of the sons who have to learn stern obedience to God, and they will do so through the things they suffer. If we do not endure suffering, we will not reign with Him.

Each true saint is given a personal cross to bear. The personal cross may be in the form of the denial of our most fervent desires for what may prove to be a lengthy period of time. Or it may be a prolonged prison that we do not enjoy. God permits Satan to place us in situations that are disagreeable to us.

God fully intends to restore all that was lost in Eden and place it on the earth in the midst of the nations of the earth. But the Paradise that was lost must be established by saints who are absolutely obedient. Then it must be maintained by obedient saints.

The problem is that of rulers! If God had assigned experienced, obedient saints to govern the Garden of Eden, they would have kept Adam and Eve from sinning. This is why we are experiencing the tribulations and problems that we are. It is to test us and perfect us in obedience. We simply cannot restore Paradise to the earth until we are obedient to Christ.

God is envisioning a new world of righteousness in which His children can live in love, joy, and peace. This perfect environment will be established on the earth by saints who have remained in their “prison” until obedience has been perfected in them. It is as simple as this. This is the reason for our suffering.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Kingdom of God is not Heaven. Heaven is a place, a location in the spirit world. The Kingdom of God is a realm of authority. Jesus is the supreme King. There will be kings and lords under Him. He is King of these kings and Lord of these lords.

It absolutely impossible for there to be justice, love, joy, and peace on the earth until there are rulers who are righteous, merciful, compassionate, and obey Christ totally in every detail.

Satan desires to sift us as wheat is sifted. When God sees the right time has come for us, He permits Satan to test us severely. God wants to know if He can trust us to govern the works of His hands.

The future kings will be tested in every conceivable manner, just as the Lord Jesus was tested so severely

One of the rewards to the believer in the church at Smyrna is the power to govern with indestructible resurrection life, the crown of life. But the believer will gain that crown only by remaining patiently in the circumstances in which he has been placed.

Many today have been called to reign with Christ. Only a few demonstrate a consecrated life and thus pass into the ranks of the chosen. They are called. They are chosen. Then they have to be proven faithful.

It is interesting to note that in the beginning, God created all creatures and things through Christ, both spiritual and physical. Yet, the almighty Christ had to be made a Man and be tested in the earth as to His obedience to His Father. This is absolutely incomprehensible. But it shows the importance of the role our own testing and suffering play.

We are coheirs with Jesus Christ. If Christ had to be tested so severely, how much more necessary will it be for us to be tested before we are placed in a position of responsibility in the Kingdom of God?

If we patiently endure throughout our allotted time, we are given the crown of life. If we break out of our prison, we are not eligible for the crown of life, the authority to govern by the power of indestructible, resurrection life.

The purpose of the prison is to destroy any trace of disobedience to Christ that remains in our personality

The reason the overcomer of Smyrna cannot be harmed by the second death, the Lake of Burning Sulfur, is that the behaviors over which the second death maintains authority have been overcome by him as he patiently has remained in the circumstances in which Christ has permitted Satan to place him.

Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:7)