The Second Anointing of David

David was anointed king three times. The first anointing was by the Prophet Samuel and indicated that the Lord had chosen David to be king over Israel in the place of Saul. The second anointing occurred when David was installed as king over the tribe of Judah. The third anointing took place when David was installed as king over the nation of Israel.

The first anointing is described as follows:

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. (I Samuel 16:13)

The second anointing is described as follows:

And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabeshgilead were they that buried Saul. (II Samuel 2:3,4)

The third anointing is described as follows:

So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. (II Samuel 5:3-5)

The first anointing of David occurred at the time that Saul disobeyed God in the matter of the destruction of the Amalekites. Saul, a type of our fleshly nature, never could learn to serve God acceptably. Just as our human mind always is the enemy of God, so King Saul always was at cross purposes with God.

God gave Saul explicit instructions concerning the destruction of Amalek. Yet Saul thought of a "better way" and proceeded to adjust what God has said in order to fit the circumstances, according to Saul's reasoning. The result was disobedience on Saul's part and stern words from Samuel:

And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. (I Samuel 15:28)

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. (I Samuel 16:13)

The second anointing of David took place just after Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle with the Philistines. David found out about the death of Saul and Jonathan on returning from his victory over the Amalekites. David spent two days in Ziklag, and on the third day the messenger came with the news of the death of Saul and Jonathan. (Our third day again!)

The fact that David was informed of the end of Saul's reign on the third day of his stay in Ziklag is another of the numerous scriptural types that reveal the tremendous victory of the Lord Jesus Christ on the "third day"—the Day of the Lord, the Day of His glorious appearing.

David was still in the wilderness at this time, a type of the Lord Jesus who, though anointed by God Almighty as rightful King over the earth, yet is unable to claim His inheritance.

David had acquired a small army of faithful followers during his stay in the wilderness. As soon as he heard of the death of Saul, David inquired of the Lord and was directed to go to the cities of Hebron. David went, bringing with him his army of followers and their families. As soon as he had settled in Hebron the men of Judah came and anointed David king over the tribe of Judah.

After David had reigned over Judah for a period of seven and one-half years, during which time the leadership of the rest of Israel dissolved in confusion, the elders of Israel came to David and requested that he assume the leadership of the entire nation. David accepted, and the result was thirty-three years of the wisest, most victorious, most productive rulership in the history of Israel.

The first anointing of David typifies the establishing of Christ as King by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, just before the Spirit led Him into the wilderness. Human minds were in control of Jerusalem when Christ was anointed, and human minds have continued in control over the people of God since the resurrection of Christ.

The rulership of the people of God, and of the earth as well, already has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, like David, He must remain with His followers outside the camp of "respectability" until the Father brings to an end the rule of men who are inspired by self and Satan. Then the Lord Jesus can return to the earth and begin to perfect His rule over the Church, and through the Church over all the peoples of the earth.

We can observe the same design in our own life. As soon as we accept the Lord Jesus Christ He is anointed King over our whole being. Yet we go on for a season serving sin and self. When the Holy Spirit enables us to put to death our adamic nature we can come from the wilderness and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ over our whole person. The design is that of the continuously expanding rule of Christ.

The second anointing of David typifies the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and His army of saints to put down all rebellion in the earth. This is the Day of Vengeance, the time when the power of judgment is given to the saints.

The Millennial Kingdom will not be a perfect realm, and that is the reason for a rod of iron. There remains the possibility of rebellion. Satan will be bound, and Christ will be King of kings and Lord of lords during the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

Again, we may make a personal application here. We can gain victory in our spirit and soul but there remains our mortal body. We still must rule our body with a rod of iron, to speak figuratively, until the day that Jesus takes over the rule of our body also. Then He will be King over all our person—not just over our spirit and soul.

The third anointing of David portrays the extending of the rule of Christ until every Christian, and finally every saved creature in Heaven and on the earth, has been brought under the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will be King over all and there then will be no more need of the iron rod of correction and discipline.

As soon as the created realm has been brought under the unhindered rule of Christ, Jesus Himself will "be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all" (I Corinthians 15:28).

David now was king over all Israel. David himself was subject to the Lord, so it was the Lord who was governing Israel.

Victorious saints, and the second anointing of David. Let us center our discussion at this time on the second anointing of David—that which took place at the time of the death of Saul and Jonathan. You may recall that this anointing was over part of the nation of Israel, that is, over the tribe of Judah.

The prophetic significance is clear. Before the reign of Christ is achieved there will be a partial rulership of Christ over His inheritance. Christ was anointed King over all when He was baptized in the Holy Spirit. But His inheritance has remained in the hands of men who are inspired by sin and self-seeking. (Of course, God always retains control of the circumstances of His saints).

As soon as the necessary preparations have been made the Lord Jesus will assume the rulership of "Judah," that is, of part of His kingdom.

We can expect a partial installation of Jesus as King, to be followed thereafter by rulership over all of His rightful inheritance.

What is this partial rulership of Christ? It is His dominion that is being exerted today over each Christian who will assent to the unhindered rule of Christ of his or her life.

There are many people in the earth today who have made some kind of commitment to Christ or have some identification with Christ. Of this large group of "believers," how many are disciples? Over how many does Christ possess unhindered lordship?

How many begin each day with a strong grip on Christ, on the fact that Christ is to rule their life in every detail that day? How many are putting Christ first in every aspect of thought, word, and action, and are being obedient to the Holy Spirit each moment? These are the believers who fulfill the prophetic significance of the second anointing. These are the ones who are living the overcoming life of victory in Christ and to whom will be assigned the Divinely appointed positions of service and responsibility.

It is to this army of fervent disciples, these "mighty men" with whom Christ will be surrounded at His glorious appearing, just as David was surrounded by His mighty men, that the Kingdom of God will first be given.

Each Christian, regardless of membership in any earthly group, has full access to the ranks of the saints, the victorious saints, the conquerors. Being an overcomer means we have placed Christ in first position in our life. God furnishes the wisdom and power. The Christian furnishes the faithful, cooperative attitude.

The victorious saints are no mystical company closeted in a home prayer group, reveling in an attitude of superiority over the remainder of the church members. The victorious saints are the Christians, regardless of affiliation, who have accepted Christ as Lord and are following Him with all their strength each day.

There is no reason why every Christian on earth cannot be an overcomer. The only thing that holds us back is our own unwillingness to put Christ in first place in our life. The power is there. It is our responsibility to lay hold on the grace of God that is available to every believer.

The concept that all Christians receive the same reward has crept into the thinking of many of the Lord's people. This in spite of the many verses in both Old and New Testaments that teach that our reward is based on our performance in the earth.

Glorious rewards of authority and power will be given to the victorious saints. There is no glorious reward for the lukewarm, careless believer!

One of the incorrect notions in present-day Christianity is that all believers will reign with Christ at His appearing whether or not they are following the Spirit in overcoming the accuser. We can proceed blindly in this unscriptural belief if we wish, but it is a vain hope.

In order to be saved we must believe in Christ, be baptized, and endure to the end.

In order to attain the throne of Christ we must pursue the life of victorious conquest in Christ.

An overcomer is one who conquers the world, his own fleshly, self-willed nature, and the devil, by the Word of God, the body and blood of Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Anyone who would be an overcomer must establish his faith on the fact that the Scriptures are true. Also, he or she must put his own desires in second place and the will of Christ in first place. Each Christian who does these things, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus, will receive the rewards that are to be given to the conquerors.

Those who do not overcome but rather who are overcome by their own passions, Satan, and the spirit of the world, may be saved if they truly believe in the Lord Jesus. But there is no scriptural hope for their ruling with Christ when He appears. Also, they can expect severe chastening at the hand of the Lord.

There is more to the life of victory in Christ than making an initial profession of faith in Christ and then waiting for His appearing. There is a life of fervent discipleship to be lived during which the Holy Spirit brings us through the three areas of redemption, as outlined in our book. Let us all be among those who press on to the fullness of the redemption that is in Christ.

The second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation are concerned with the attitude of the Lord Jesus toward the "seven churches that are in Asia." Christ has something to say about each of these churches.

Whether the seven churches of Asia represent periods of history, types of congregations of believers, or something else, we are not prepared to say. Our opinion is, if we can apply the admonitions profitably then let us do so.

In addition to the churches, Christ addresses Himself also to individuals in the churches. Christ never says, "to those who overcome"; it is always, "to him that overcometh." A church never can be an overcomer.

Overcoming, conquering in Christ, is an individual accomplishment. Belonging to an assembly or being identified with a particular congregation or affiliation can never make a person an overcomer.

The victorious saints, the conquerors, are addressed one at a time by the living Christ. Each conquering saint is responsible directly to the Lord Jesus. The Church gives birth to and nourishes the overcomer. The conquerors fight their way up to a one-to-one relationship with Christ.

The victorious saints are steady Christians, active church workers in many instances, useful members of the community—an asset to any organization. In addition to demonstrating sound character, there is something in the spirit of the conqueror that sets him apart from the swamps of confusion and defeat that characterize the churches in so many instances.

The conquerors are on an all-consuming quest for God. They are being stretched on the Lord's bow and are pointed straight at the heart of the enemy. When the Lord fully draws that bow and lets the arrow fly the forces of wickedness will be torn down from their heavenly vantage points and crushed under the feet of the saints.

By reading the second and third chapters of Revelation we can notice the contrast between the seven churches of Asia and the individual victorious saints. For example, the church of Ephesus had some fine qualities and had persevered in the face of difficulties. However it had lost some of the fervency of its love for Jesus and was in danger of having its lampstand removed from its place, that is, of losing its Divine testimony.

The reward was held out to those of the church who would follow Christ with a whole heart:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)

To eat of the tree of life is the goal of the Christian quest. It is the "resurrection of the dead" that Paul was seeking to attain (Philippians 3:11). It is the "first resurrection" (Revelation 20:6). One of the penalties suffered by Adam and Eve was the denial of access to the tree of life.

The overcomer, the conqueror, does not lose his first love. He is consumed with love for Christ. His reward is resurrection life. The church at Ephesus, on the other hand, had fallen away from the fervency of love for Jesus and was commanded to repent.

The church of Smyrna was about to suffer imprisonment and tribulation. Those in the church who were faithful to death were to receive the crown of life.

Then, speaking to individual saints who have "ears to hear," the Lord Jesus promises, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, He that overcometh shall not be hurt of [be harmed by] the second death" (Revelation 2:11).

The second death is the Lake of Fire. The second death cannot injure or exercise any power or authority over one of the Lord's conquerors, over a believer in Christ who denies himself, takes up his cross, and follows the Lord Jesus throughout his lifetime. Victorious saints love the Lord with all their heart. The other believers of the churches have problems escaping the attractions of the world.

The reason the second death cannot injure an overcomer has to do with the nature of the overcomer. If wood is cast into the fire it is destroyed. If gold is cast into the fire it is refined.

The overcomer attains the resurrection of his inner nature by sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ throughout the temptations of the present life, and as a result receives the resurrection of his body at the appearing of the Lord Jesus.

If his spirit, soul, and body are all "gold," all Divine Substance, all filled with eternal life, having been raised from the dead, then he cannot be injured by the second death.

The Lake of Fire can no more harm an overcomer than the fire of Nebuchadnezzar could harm Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego.

Christ pointed His two-edged sword at the church in Pergamos. Pergamos dwelled in a satanic area but had made some spiritual progress. However, there were people present in the church who held doctrines of wickedness. Christ warned this church of judgment to come if there were no repentance.

To the conqueror Christ promises:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17)

What a contrast! Christ with the sword of His mouth fights against those holding doctrines of wickedness but nourishes and blesses each person of the churches who chooses to become a conqueror in Him.

We have stated that the overcomer is born in the Church and nourished in the Church. The saint comes to maturity by the ministries and gifts in the churches as well as by the other means provided by the Holy Spirit.

A church may contain those who follow doctrines that lead to evil practices. In such a case the Lord Jesus rebukes the church. Unless the church repents He will come and fight against those who teach wickedness. Each conqueror in that church is hearing the Spirit and is pressing upward toward the throne of Christ.

Every Christian believer, as we have said, has the opportunity to be a conqueror. The choice is his. The victorious saints are not, for the most part, little groups of saints hidden away in secret meetings. Rather, the victorious saints are the persons in each Christian assembly who give their lives to Jesus.

The remainder of the people who attend Christian churches are not eligible for the promises of glory and authority, at least not while they are found in a condition of half-heartedness concerning the things of Christ. Every believer in Christ is invited and welcome to the ranks of the victorious saints.

The rewards to the conquerors are the blessings that traditionally we have assigned to all Christians. A closer reading of Scripture will reveal that the promises of rulership with Christ always are associated with overcoming, with suffering, with sharing the afflictions of Christ.

Christ will appear with His warriors, with those who have gone outside the camp with Him bearing His humiliation and rejection. By appearing with His warriors Christ will fulfill the type of the second anointing of David—the rulership of David over the tribe of Judah. Shortly thereafter the blessing and Presence of Christ will increase in the whole Church and then expand to every believing person on the earth.

We are not teaching that every individual ultimately will be saved because that is not true. Satan and all who choose his way are doomed to eternal punishment. There is no redemption in that punishment. It is utter, final, absolute. The destruction that God has promised is as eternal as the salvation that God has promised.

What we are teaching is that Christ is seeking and separating out now an army of victorious saints who will rule with Him, just as David's mighty men shared the victorious return of David to Israel. In due time the whole Church, the Body of Christ, will rule the earth and the blessing of Christ will reach out to include every soul whom God has saved.

In order to encourage us to press into the second anointing, the place of authority and blessing with Christ, let us examine the promises God has made to each believer who chooses to conquer in Christ:

To eat of the tree of life—to gain eternal life in spirit, soul, and body.

To not be hurt of [be harmed by] the second death—the ability to survive all judgment.

To eat of the hidden manna—to receive an impartation of Divine Substance for strength, given to those who do the Lord's will.

To receive a white stone having a new name written on it. Since this appears to be a pebble used in casting a ballot, the white pebble signifying acceptance, we can think of this as representing our eternal acceptance in the favor of God. Some of the promises to the conquerors carry with them the implication that the saint has been sealed forever in the Presence of Christ in God and no longer is threatened with being cast away from the Presence of the Lord.

To receive power and authority over the nations.

To receive the morning star—the eternal light of Christ in the saint.

To be clothed in white raiment—the portrayal of the eternal sanctification of the Wife of the Lamb.

To have one's name confessed before the Father and His angels—the establishing of our identity and recognition at the highest levels of spiritual authority.

To be made a pillar in the Temple of God. The conqueror is created an eternal part of the structure of God's Temple.

To remain in the Temple of God forever. The overcomer will be able to minister throughout the creation and to represent God in every place; but he never will leave the Temple, just as Jesus never leaves the Throne of God but is everywhere at once. In fact, Christ and His Body are the eternal Temple of God.

To have the name of God written on him. This marks the saint as the personal possession and representative of God throughout eternity.

To have "Jerusalem" written on him. He now is part of the ruling city of God and will be recognized as such throughout the creation.

To have the new name of Christ written on him. This establishes the overcomer as an inseparable part of Christ throughout eternity. The new creation is of Christ and is Christ. God has determined to make all things new in His beloved Son. Christ receives a new name because we now are part of Him. We receive a new name because He now is part of us.

To dine with Christ and Christ with Him. This refers to the communication of the Life of God between Christ and the believer who receives Christ into his or her personality.

To sit with Christ in His throne. This is the highest possible level of authority and power and is assigned to each believer who, through Christ, wins the fight against his own passions, Satan, and the world.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (Revelation 21:7)

The promises to the conquering saint are so great as to be inconceivable to us at the present time, but they are as true and as real as Calvary.

Becoming a victorious saint. We have seen that the second anointing of David had to do with an intermediate rule over part of Israel, typifying an intermediate rule of Christ over part of the Church of God. The first and greatest rewards will go to those who are first to come over to the undisputed sway of Christ. The remainder of the Church still has a problem with making the transition from the rule of the flesh (Saul).

If the key word is overcome, what does it mean to be an overcomer? How does this differ from conventional Christianity? Let us examine the implications of this word.

The term overcome implies a battle. It brings to our attention that there are two opponents and one has subdued the other. The overcomer has conquered the one who is opposing him.

The Church always has known and taught that Christ overcame the devil on Calvary and that His victory is our victory if we will believe and receive. There is no question about the fact that Christ overcame Satan at Calvary and made an open show of triumph over His enemies when He ascended into Heaven. Why, then, do we speak of personal battles and personal victories?

The answer is as follows: the Lord does all the fighting when we come out from Egypt, to speak figuratively, and the atoning blood of the cross of Christ is the means whereby we are able to escape the authority of the kingdom of darkness. But Israel, with the help of the Lord, does the fighting when the time comes to enter the land of promise and dispossess the inhabitants of Canaan.

Israel did not lift a finger when it came to destroying the Egyptians. But Israel had to fight bloody battles against the Philistines, the Amorites, the Amalekites, the Jebusites, and the other tribes of Canaan.

Some of the fighting remains for the Church, the Body of Christ, to do. We are wrestling against evil powers in the heavenlies. Christ is waiting until His enemies have been made His footstool.

Jesus had to conquer and we must conquer (Revelation 3:21).

What does it mean to be an overcomer? It means that by the grace of God that has been given us in the form of the Word of God, the body and blood of Christ, and the Holy Spirit, we are to take our stand against the accuser, the present evil age, and our own lusts and self-will. Each day of our lives we receive the victory of Christ by laying hold on the Divine grace given to us for that day.

Many persons who name the name of Christ are not victorious saints. They could be!

They wander in the wilderness of the world, not really laying hold on the promises of God in Christ. Periodically they go through seasons of repentance, knowing in their heart there will be no lasting change in their behavior.

It is their opinion that believers never can overcome wickedness in this life, and their hope is that when the Lord Jesus comes He will magically transform them into spiritual giants. They are not overcoming but are living according to the demands of their fleshly, soulish nature, Satan, and the world.

Many weak Christians are good, honest, sincere, hard-working people. God loves them and has in mind to save them, just as He saved Lot. We should not be referring to such persons as victorious saints or leaving them with the impression that when Jesus appears they will receive the rewards designated for the victorious saints. They are not filled with the Light and Glory of God. They are not attaining the first resurrection from the dead.

The overcomer is a different type of Christian. He despises the world, the flesh, and the devil, and has no fear of Antichrist or of any other thing or person with which God will plague the world.

The overcomer abides under the anointing of the Spirit. He walks in perpetual revival even though he passes through severe testings. He is willing to perceive nothing but revival. He does not perceive the world as worldly Christians do, he perceives only the Glory of God filling the whole earth.

He is observant of the fact that we now are entering the greatest of all revivals and that multitudes upon multitudes of souls will enter the Kingdom before Jesus returns. He understands that the wall of defense against sin will be built in the days of trouble.

He beholds the hand of God in all people and circumstances. He is established on the truth that where sin abounds grace does much more abound. Therefore he does not allow himself to fret or be cast down concerning the swelling of the hideous boil of sin that the Spirit has declared will fill the earth in the last days.

The overcomer lives in the throne of Christ. Every moment of his time and every calorie of his energy is bent toward pressing upward to victory, to complete reconciliation to God. How can he settle for less when the Spirit of Christ continually is drawing Him to the heart of God?

Although the conflict is terrific the conqueror is victorious through the Virtue of Christ.

There are Christians who desire to be victorious saints but who are under the false impression that the overcoming life is unattainable for them because of their personal weaknesses. This is not true.

All that is required to be an overcomer now—and we overcome one moment at a time—is to cast all of one's self on Christ. He is the Overcomer. It is His position and power that overcomes our fleshly nature, self-will, Satan, and the world. Our task is to continue steadfastly in faith in the conquering ability of Christ.

We overcome the world by faith in the ability of Christ to conquer.

The overcoming state is not that of a static, passive acceptance of correct doctrine concerning Christ. Overcoming is a day-to-day struggle in the Spirit of God against the world, our flesh, and the adversary. The walk of victory in Christ is dynamic, and challenging to the depths of our personality.

It we look to Christ and surrender all to Him we are victorious saints immediately. If we keep on surrendering each moment we are moment-by-moment victorious saints. None of us can overcome for tomorrow. There is no grace for tomorrow. There is enough grace for now, and so we always are overcoming in Christ now.

Victorious saints are perfect before Christ because they have turned over their lives to Him. They are not perfect in the eyes of the churches or in their own eyes. Perfection is an area of confusion among Christians. One would suppose that perfection before God meant perfection before men, but such is not the case.

A look at Abraham, David, Elijah, and others of God's outstanding saints will reveal that they did not always behave themselves in a manner we would deem perfect. Yet they are God's heroes of faith and heirs of the Kingdom.

God's standards of perfection and victory are different from ours. God's enemies are different from ours. We seek popularity and acceptance by people. God seeks the destruction of His enemies.

Your own view of yourself as an overcomer, a saint, may be quite different from God's view of you as a saint. You may desire to overcome the flaws in your personality that are keeping you back from greater acceptability by people. God desires to destroy from you everything that is of Satan and to create the Nature of His Son in you.

We Christians are ancestor worshipers, in a sense. We read in the Scriptures of the patriarchs, prophets, priests, apostles, and so forth and think of them as perfect people who came down from Heaven. We picture them as something other than what they were.

There are few of us who would care much for the company of Elisha, for example. We probably would find him to be an undesirable member of our church. If we had a committee and put Elisha on it he might prove to be difficult to work with—somewhat abrupt and tactless in his presentations.

Our concept of a conqueror and God's concept of a conqueror may not be the same.

We may have wondered about Paul. There may have come to our mind a handsome, outstanding preacher whose brilliant discourses in huge temples brought cheering thousands to their feet or left congregations weeping or transfixed in rapturous silence.

It is more likely that the Apostle Paul was a homely little Jew, prickly as a cactus, tough as a boot, who argued doctrine in home study groups for the most part.

There were religious teachers who followed after Paul, undoing what he had taught and profiteering from the Gospel.

Paul was no fashionable revivalist. He was a disreputable prisoner. No doubt it has been a surprise to Paul in Heaven to see how God has brought such an abundance of fruit from his letters to the young churches. The greatest fruit comes by our death rather than by our life.

You can be a conqueror. You may be as aloof as Elisha, as fearful as Elijah or Peter, or as lustful as David, but you too can be a conqueror in Christ. Christ has enough wisdom and power to enable you to lay hold on the inheritance for which you have been elected.

You task is to spend your faith, time, and attention in laying hold on Christ. If you will look to Christ in faith you can join the army that is fighting upward against all odds to the throne of Christ. Or you can remain with murmuring Israel, hoping (unscripturally) that the rewards are for all who profess belief in Christ whether or not they are fervent in their pursuit of Christ.

Such double-minded professors are basing their hope of glory on the concept that the Scripture does not mean exactly what it states. You can bury your head like an ostrich if you wish. How much better to look up to Christ and receive from Him this moment the authority and power to press forward to God's rest!

To press on to the fullness of the reward will cost you everything of your adamic personality. You must make use constantly of the blood of Christ. You must hold in unwavering faith to the faithfulness of God's Word. You must love not your life to the death.

Yours will be a sometimes-painful, uphill struggle against incredible pressures. The strength of Christ will enter where yours fails. He never will leave you, fail you, or prove unable to solve the problems that are attacking you on every side.

To not press on to the fullness of the reward will cost you everything. It will cost you the glory and power promised to those who serve Christ. How many Christians, like Esau, will trade the throne of Christ for a bowl of beans? How foolish and unnecessary!

You will suffer pain in this life whether or not you choose to follow Christ. You will be crucified either way (II Corinthians 7:10). There were three crosses on Calvary: the Lord was crucified, the believer was crucified, and the unbeliever was crucified.

So why not get on the right cross? Why not be crucified to the resurrection of Christ rather than to the anguish and death of the world?

There is a price to pay for serving Christ to the fullest. There is an even greater price to pay for not serving Christ to the fullest. The choice is yours, dear reader, and Christ stands near you with all the help you will ever need. He is waiting patiently for you to choose His way. Will you do that—now?

The second anointing of David, that which established him as ruler over the house of Judah, occurred when Saul and Jonathan died. We have suggested that this partial rulership of David is a type of the appearing of Christ and His saints to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.

We have set forth the idea that the thousand-year Kingdom Age is a period of time during which the rule of Christ will be expanded until all wills have been subjected to His will. The fruition of the work of the thousand- year Kingdom Age (the Millennial Jubilee) will appear in the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. Then Christ Himself will be subject to the Father that God may be All in all.

We have suggested further that the conquering saints are being created now. Today the challenge is being presented to us. All things are possible to us if we will believe. Let us turn to Christ again, even if we have been faithful Christians for many years.

Does our heart condemn us? If not, we rejoice that we have been received of Christ and that the fullness of the rewards are ours. We never will allow Satan or our own doubts to keep us under the burden of guilt that there is something more we should be doing.

God desires we be full of faith and confidence that we are pleasing to Him—not full of doubt that somehow, somewhere there is something we should be doing. It is the accusations of Satan that keep us under the impression we always are failing Christ.

Are we not doing the will of Christ with a perfect heart? Why then should we allow ourselves to be persuaded that God is an angry ogre whom it is impossible to please?

The ways of the Lord are pure, simple, attainable by the grace that God gives. Every believer can walk with a perfect heart before God, being without condemnation. The true Christian is the one who is doing the will of God.

If we are being disobedient, let us cease from our disobedience and do God's will. If we are unwilling to do God's will we need to pray for strength to be perfectly obedient to the Lord. All else is rebellion.

It is the Lord's command that we walk as He walked. This is perfectly possible by His grace and is the normal Christian discipleship. To believe that we are "trying to be like Jesus but doomed to failure" is a weak, unscriptural, defeated point of view. It is not the attitude of God's conquerors.

If we attempt in our own strength to "be like Jesus" we indeed are doomed to failure. If we open our heart to the Lord, receive His grace, and perform His will for the moment, we are assured of victory over every enemy.

The difference between trying to be like Jesus, and opening our heart to receive the victory of Christ in every circumstance, is the difference between law and grace, between religion and Divine redemption, between the nominal Christians and the conquering saint.

We overcome the world by faith, not by our own efforts. Let us then flee from all weak talk and actions and receive into our spirit the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord—strong and mighty in battle. He is the ever-victorious Lord of hosts. The Lord does not try to do anything. What He does, He does, and the armies of Hell cower in the darkness when the Lord acts.

Let us receive Christ. When we receive Him we receive victory. We are not attempting merely to imitate Christ. We have Christ by partaking of His body and blood. We have victory because we possess the Victor. This does not mean we are victorious vicariously because He is victorious. It means that the strength and wisdom of God enter us and give us the power and wisdom to behave in a righteous, holy, and obedient manner.

Back to Three Deaths and Three Resurrections: Vol 2