DEVELOPING OVERCOMERS
In each of the Churches spoken about in Revelation chapters two and three they are given means of overcoming their problems. Becoming an overcomer was typified in the promise Jesus gave to the Laodacean Church in Rev. 3: 21 —
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Not just a promise for an after earthly death but a promise for the now and forever!
This promise was made to a Church of people with a reputation of being lukewarm in the faith (v v. 15 & 16) in danger of being vomited out of God’s mouth. A comfortable Church, without financial problems but with unrealistic spiritual status.
They were told to accept God’s loving rebuke, bec0me zealous and repent. (v.19). As a result they would be invited into God’s inner sanctum in true fellowship with Him.(v.20)
To be an overcomer means there has to be something to overcome.
Enter satan! The deposed angel, always lurking in the shadows, ready to afflict anyone with guilt, shame, unrighteousness greed and any other egotistic foible usable for disrupting life and ultimate godly success – the major author of our problems.
The best example of this, in the scripture, is his dealings with the unsuspecting godly character Job.
It all started when God was reviewing the tasks of his special messengers (Job 1:6-8).
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
Who were these “sons of God?
According to the Greek Septuagint version and to many of the earlier New Testament English translators, such as Moffet, they were “Angels of God.” ( angel = special messenger) Angels had their problems with satan also. 2Peter 2:4 says: For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment
Where was this taking place? Answer: In the second heaven.
Where did heaven come from? Did God need somewhere to live?
[ We all want to know about heaven because we all seem to culturally believe (both Christians & non Christians alike) that we will end up there.]
In Genesis 1: 1: In the beginning God created the heavens [plural] and the earth.
Psalm 103: 19 says: The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.
What is the size of heaven?
It would be huge because of the number of people who have inconsiderately expected to end up in the great by and by in the sky. That is not a valid question because heaven is not a physical or time constricted place. Heaven is a spiritual dimension coexisting across the same proximity as human life. Jesus wanted it to exist where The Father lived and exist concurrently within human experience. That’s why Jesus found no difficulty in expecting to see the Father’s Kingdom, as the Lord’s prayer suggests, coming visibly on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10; Lk. 11: 2.).
The culture of Heaven is spiritual and judgemental!
HEAVEN HAS A LIBRARY
Ps. 139:16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
2 Tim. 1:8c-9 God…who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
HEAVEN HAS A COURT ROOM
Jude 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;
Heb. 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
THE SPIRITUAL ARRANGEMENT OF HEAVEN
2Co. 12:2-4 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
*LEVEL 1. The Natural Realm with the clouds above etc.
*LEVEL 2. The Place of Judgement
Heb. 10: 30 “The Lord will judge His people.
Job 1: 6, 7; Heb. 9: 27.
*LEVEL 3. The Place Of God’s Throne with The Lamb
Rev. 5:6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain,
Where did the Angels come from? – Job 1: 6, 7; Jude 6
Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Jesus was involved – John 1: 1,2
The Holy Spirit also involved – Gen.1: 2
Gen. 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Darkness … deep … waters -> Noah’s flood was not the first! ( could have been like a ‘melting Pluto)
“without form” (Heb. Tohu); “void” (Heb. Bohu)
GNB “formless & desolate”
AMP “without form & an empty waste”
Tohu & Bohu used about 8 other times in the Old Testament – every time things became waste & empty as a result of the judgement of God.
[ see commentaries by Derek Prince & Jennings Finis Dake]
How did the earth get into such a mess?
Isa. 14: 12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
Jesus — Lk.10: 18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Rev. 12: 7, 8 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
Rev 12:9 -11 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
All this happened before Genesis 1: 2 !
WE ARE TO BE “OVERCOMERS”
Rev. 3:21, 22 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ‘
If we had a problem with the size of Heaven now we have a bigger one with the size of the throne? Just as well spiritual things are not governed by space or time considerations. Heaven should be within us!
We become Overcomers (Rev.12: 11) by: –
“The blood of the lamb”
Thru’ the loving grace and faith of God supernaturally dispensed in the wonderful sacrifice of our elder brother and saviour Jesus Christ. Unfortunately this marvellous event is too often allowed to dim in the fog of modern existence. The Holy Spirit is within us to remind us of the value we have received both to ourselves and those around us,
“By the word of our testimony”
We love to hear other people’s testimonies of what Jesus has done in their lives sometimes allowing the valuable effort He has put into our own life to fade. What Jesus has achieved in us can be vitally important to others no matter how long ago it occurred.
“By not loving our lives to the death”
Allowing the abiding life of Jesus to overtake the existence of our usual experience and causing us to live with Him as first in our lives. Dieing to ourselves is not popular but it is the secret of catching hold of God’s faith principles. Robert Henderson says: “This is why we see a discrepancy between what we say we believe and what we actually experience. The Holy Spirit wars against our unbelief and seeks to bring us to realms of faith.”
We need to ask the Holy Spirit to relate us back to the original plan set out for us before time began; leading for particular situations will relate back to here. Purpose and grace were given to us before time began. Purpose is our reason for existence. Grace is the empowerment to accomplish it. Anything we are called to do we therefore have the ability for it. We can function from an anointed authority [faith] direct from the throne of God. The level of anointing is a gift.
Ps. 139:16, 17 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
God created you, loved you, wanted you, bought you, called you, before time began and has given you His Holy Spirit to keep you. His Kingdom can come here on earth as it is in Heaven (Matt. 6: 10; Lk. 11:2) just as Jesus wanted.