In the foregoing messages we covered the failures in the churches and the degradation in the church. In this message we shall begin to consider the overcomers in the church.
The Christian life plus the church life is altogether an overcoming life. This matter of overcoming began with our believing in the Lord. Our believing in the Lord was a strong step of overcoming. The entire universe is against people believing in the Lord. Therefore, to believe in the Lord is real overcoming, a real victory.
We overcome through faith in Christ to inherit the eternal life and to be sons of God for eternity. This is revealed in Revelation 21:6b-7. “I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely. He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he shall be a son to Me.” This word refers to our enjoyment in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth. In the age of eternity we shall enjoy the eternal life, and we shall be sons of God as the composition of the New Jerusalem.
The meaning of “overcome” in Revelation 21:7 differs from that in chapters two and three of Revelation, where it is used seven times. In 21:7 it means to overcome by believing, as in 1 John 5:4 and 5. The overcoming in Revelation 2 and 3 qualifies the overcoming believers for participation in the enjoyment of the millennial kingdom as a particular reward in God’s dispensational administration, whereas the overcoming in 21:7 qualifies all believers for participation in the New Jerusalem with all its enjoyment as a common portion of God’s eternal salvation.
The “son” in 21:7 is the believer who will dwell in the New Jerusalem. The sons of God in the New Jerusalem are the constituents of the New Jerusalem. They are the regenerated believers who have the divine life and the divine nature. The New Jerusalem is constituted of all these saints who have been born of God, for the New Jerusalem is a composition of all the reborn children of God. Every reborn child of God is a part of this living composition. Because the sons of God are the constituents of the New Jerusalem, they will also dwell in the New Jerusalem.
The sons of God will participate in all the enjoyment of the New Jerusalem, especially the enjoyment of the water of life. We should not confuse the enjoyment of the saints with the enjoyment of the nations. The nations will enjoy the common blessing, but the saints will have a particular enjoyment. Mainly, the saints will enjoy the life supply of the water of life (Rev. 22:1).
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