Articles
Overcomers in Revelation 2 & 3
Overcomers in Revelation 2 & 3
In the letters to the churches as recorded in Rev. 2 and 3, Jesus makes great promises to His people who overcome.
"To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” (2:7)
He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’ (2:11)
To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’ (2:17)
He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. (2:26-28).
He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (3:5)
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. (3:12).
He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. (3:21).
ALL of this to ‘He who overcomes’! God’s people face trials, tribulations, and temptations. God has asked us to be faithful unto Him through all of this. We overcome by our faith in being faithful. Faithfulness makes provision for the sometime sin that we all do (see 1 John 2:1-2; 1:8-9, etc.). Faithfulness is never losing our allegiance to Jesus as our Lord, King, and Savior.
One of the keys of overcoming is to look beyond the present problems and keep our eyes upon the goal of living with Jesus forever. Paul was able to overcome because he considered "that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). Jesus overcame because "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).
The more we allow our eyes to gaze upon the things of this life as compared to setting our sight on things above the more difficult it is to overcome. Not overcoming is to be overcome, to be defeated. We dare not lose this battle.
Hugh DeLong
