1. “The kingdom, which He promised to those who love Him” (James 2:5).
The coming kingdom was promised by God to those who love Him. Thus, loving God is also a condition for entering the kingdom of the heavens. If we want to inherit the kingdom of God in the future, we must be ones who love Him today.
1. “Adding all diligence, supply bountifully in your faith virtue; and in virtue, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control, endurance; and in endurance, godliness; and in godliness, brotherly love; and in brotherly love, love. For these things, existing in you and abounding...In this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly and bountifully supplied to you” (2 Pet. 1:5-8, 11).
Prior to speaking of being richly and bountifully supplied, Peter speaks of being a partaker of the divine life and nature. Based on this fact, we should add all diligence to pursue the growth in life, according to the faith that we have received, to abound in virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, and brotherly love until we produce the fullness of love. If these things exist and abound in us, an entrance to the Lord’s eternal kingdom will be bountifully supplied to us. Thus, if we want to enter into the kingdom of the Lord, the kingdom of the heavens, we must pursue the growth in life and have an abundant life.
2. “The kingdom of God is...righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).
If we want to participate in the kingdom of God, we must have an abundant life. Paul says that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness is toward oneself, peace is toward others, and joy in the Holy Spirit is toward God. We must be righteous and strict toward ourselves, we must be peaceful and accommodating toward others, and we must have joy in the Holy Spirit toward God. Whenever we obey the Holy Spirit and live in Him, we have joy before God. Joy is a proof of a proper living before God. If we have righteousness toward ourselves, peace toward others, and joy toward God, we are partaking of God’s kingdom. If we live in righteousness, peace, and joy today, we will enter into the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy. Thus, a life of righteousness, peace, and joy, that is, an abundant life, is also a condition for entering the kingdom of the heavens.
The Lord wants to bring in the kingdom through the church. When the church’s condition is normal, the church is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. If the church had not become degraded, she would have been able to usher in the manifestation of the kingdom by being the reality of the kingdom of the heavens in this age. But the church became degraded and fell from her heavenly, spiritual position, so the church as a whole lost its ability to usher in the kingdom, and consequently, not all the believers in the church will be able to participate in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. Because of degradation in the church, the Lord has to call out some believers to be overcomers in this time of degradation in order to recover the heavenly, spiritual reality that was lost by the church, to fulfill the church’s responsibility to live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, and to bring in the kingdom of the heavens. The Lord’s call to these overcomers is included in the seven epistles that were sent to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. In these seven epistles the Lord calls believers to overcome and to be the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today so that they can participate in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the future. The conditions for overcoming, as mentioned by the Lord in His call to the seven churches, are conditions for entering the kingdom of the heavens. These conditions must be seriously considered by those who want to enter into the kingdom of the heavens.
1. “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7).
All the Lord’s calls to overcome are related to the condition of the churches in the seven epistles. The first call to the church in Ephesus deals with the cause of the church’s degradation—leaving her first love toward the Lord. The church’s relationship to the Lord is wholly connected to her love for the Lord. The church’s degradation began when she left the Lord as her first love. As soon as the church left her love toward the Lord, she fell. Although outwardly she was very busy and labored much for the Lord, she lost her testimony before the Lord as a lampstand when she lost her love toward the Lord. This was the reason for the fall of the church in Ephesus in the early days and of the church after the apostolic age, which Ephesus typifies. This condition caused the church to gradually lose the reality of the kingdom and weakened the function of the church with respect to the kingdom of the heavens. Therefore, the Lord calls believers to overcome this condition, to repent, and to recover their first love for Him by maintaining a constant relationship of love toward Him. From this inward love, work can flow out for the Lord, and a testimony of life can shine for the Lord. If the believers overcome in this instance, they will enter into the Paradise of God and have a foretaste of the freshness of the fruit of the tree of life during the kingdom age. Love, light, and life are all interrelated. If we love the Lord, we will shine for Him and enjoy His life.
2. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life...He who overcomes shall by no means be hurt of the second death” (Rev. 2:10-11).
When the church loses her love toward the Lord and her testimony of the Lord, she does not provoke Satan’s enmity or attack. But if the church keeps her love for the Lord and is faithful to maintain the Lord’s testimony, Satan will come in to harm and persecute her. This was the experience of the church in Smyrna, which typifies the church in the first and second centuries suffering under the opposition of the Roman Empire. Satan’s goal in his cruel mistreatment of the church is to frighten, hinder, and decimate her in order to destroy the testimony of the Lord and to prevent the church from hastening the coming of the kingdom of the heavens. The second call from the Lord to overcome is for the believers to not be afraid of Satan’s persecution, to suffer for the Lord, and to be faithful unto death. Overcoming in this instance will cause the believers to obtain a crown of life in the future; this means, they will enter into the kingdom of the heavens to enjoy the glory of life, and they will not be hurt of the second death. We can be faithful unto death and overcome Satan’s persecutions because we can live by Christ’s resurrection life. If we overcome Satan’s persecution, even unto death, by Christ’s life today, we will enjoy the glory of life and not be harmed by death in the future.
3. “To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and to him I will give a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written” (Rev. 2:17).
Satan has many stratagems to destroy the church. If a plot to persecute the church does not succeed, he will change his plot to welcome the church with a smile. This is what happened with the church in Pergamos, which typifies the church in the early fourth century. In the fourth century the church began to be mixed with the world through Satan’s stratagems. In the beginning the church was separated and completely distinct from the world, but Satan caused the church to go back to the world, to be mixed with the world, and to accept the teaching of Balaam, who received wages for being a prophet and who caused the people of God to commit fornication with the world and be contaminated with idol sacrifices. The church also received the teaching of the Nicolaitans, who subdued the laity and formed a clerical hierarchy. The teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans caused the church to commit spiritual fornication with the world and to be contaminated with idols. As a result, the church lost her heavenly position and reality entirely, so she could not function in the matter of ushering in the kingdom of the heavens. Thus, the Lord’s third call is for believers to overcome the mixture of the church with the world and to overcome its human teachings and worldly organization. By overcoming, believers can enter the kingdom of the heavens and enjoy the hidden manna and the blessing of having a white stone with a new name. Giving up the prominent position of the fallen, worldly church and the vainglory of the worldly organization of Christianity today is a condition for obtaining the kingdom blessings in the future—the hidden manna, which is the hidden Christ who is not enjoyed by everyone, and a new name, which speaks of a special relationship with the Lord that is for His particular delight.
4. “He who overcomes and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he will shepherd them with an iron rod...as I also have received from My Father” (Rev. 2:26-27).
In order to destroy the church’s function with respect to the kingdom of the heavens, Satan caused her not only to be outwardly mixed with the world and to lose her spiritual position but also to be filled with every kind of heresy and corruption until she was completely transmuted into an instrument for the expression of Satan and his desires. In the church in Thyatira, which typifies the Roman Catholic Church, Satan corrupted the church so that the church lost her spiritual position, nature, and condition (cf. Rev. 21) and became Satan’s mystery, Babylon the Great (17:5)—a great, earthly, religious organization filled with Satan and his evil words and deeds. Therefore, in his fourth call the Lord asks the believers to overcome these things by not following the Roman Catholic Church into heresy, not partaking of her spiritual fornication, and not being contaminated with her idolatry but instead by keeping His commandments unto the end when He returns. If the believers overcome in this instance, they will obtain the kingdom’s authority and rule over the nations with the Lord. Those who do not follow Satan’s religious teachings will obtain Christ’s authority in the kingdom. Those who keep the Lord’s commandments in the church will carry out the Lord’s commandments in the kingdom.
5. “He who overcomes will be clothed thus, in white garments, and I shall by no means erase his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Rev. 3:5).
God wants to bring in His kingdom through the church; this goal is eternal and will not change. Although Satan corrupted the church, God came in to revive the church. Even though the church was revived and escaped some of the satanic corruption, she remained weak and frail before the Lord; she did not completely escape the power of death, and she lacked the strength of life. This was the condition of the church in Sardis, which typifies the condition of the Protestant churches. In such a dead and weak condition, the church cannot bring in the kingdom for the Lord, and she is even defiled in the Lord’s eyes. Thus, the Lord’s fifth call is for believers to overcome the dead, cold, weak condition in the church by relying on the Lord’s powerful resurrection life and by being strong and living to keep themselves and all their actions from being contaminated by the defilement of death. If we overcome in this instance, we will be worthy to enter the kingdom of the heavens and to walk with the Lord in white garments, and our name will not be erased out of the book of life; rather, the Lord will confess our name before His Father and His Father’s angels. If we want to walk with the Lord in white garments in the future, we must not be contaminated by death today. If our living and actions bear the testimony of being in the Lord’s life without being defiled by death, our name will not be erased from the book of life during the millennium. If we want to enter into the kingdom of eternal life and enjoy the blessing of life, we must be in the power of life and live a life that overcomes death.
6. “I come quickly; hold fast what you have that no one take your crown. He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God,...and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem...and My new name” (Rev. 3:11-12).
If the church is in a proper condition, all the saints would love one another and be members one of another; they would do their best to keep the word of the Lord’s endurance, obeying the Lord’s word in all things; and they would not forsake His name in anything or have any name other than the Lord’s. When the church is like this, she is an anti-testimony to this rebellious earth, which rejects the Lord. This was the condition of the church in Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love, which typifies the state of the church in the early nineteenth century, particularly among the Brethren. This condition is the standard that the church should maintain, but this is not easy. Thus, the Lord’s sixth call is for believers to hold fast what they have until He returns. To overcome in this instance requires us to exhaust our little power so that we can obtain a crown and enter into the kingdom of the heavens. There we will be pillars in the temple of our God and have God’s name, the name of the New Jerusalem, and the Lord’s new name written on us. If we keep the word of the Lord’s endurance today, we will be pillars in the temple of God in the future. If we do not reject the Lord’s name, then God’s name, the name of God’s city, and the Lord’s new name will be written on us. If we keep all these things, we will obtain a crown and enter into the kingdom of the heavens.
7. “He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21).
When the church is up to the Lord’s standard, she can quickly become self-satisfied, proud, and lukewarm. She can also be lacking in faith, approved works, and fresh vision. The church in Laodicea, which typifies the fallen churches of the Brethren, is in this condition. When the church is in such a condition, she shuts the Lord outside, and the Lord is no longer able to use her to bring in the kingdom. Therefore, the Lord’s seventh call is for believers to repent and to overcome all self-satisfaction and pride by paying the price to pursue the faith that passes the test of being rich before the Lord, by pursuing actions that are approved by the Lord in order to be clothed before Him, and by pursuing light to see one’s poverty, pitiful situation, blindness, and nakedness. An overcomer must also open his heart and allow the Lord to have the ground to sit down and dine with him. Overcoming in this way enables one to enter into the kingdom of the heavens in the future and to sit with the Lord on His throne of authority to reign with Him. If we want to enter the kingdom of the heavens and sit on the throne with the Lord in the future, we must open our hearts to Him and allow Him to come in and dine with us today. If we are willing to fellowship with the Lord today in spirit, we can sit with the Lord on the throne of authority in the kingdom of the heavens. We must be willing to allow the Lord to sit on the throne in our hearts today in order for us to sit with Him on His throne in the kingdom of the heavens. Having the Lord’s presence and allowing the Lord to sit on the throne of our heart today is a condition for being with the Lord and sitting with Him on the throne in the kingdom.
The content of the Lord’s call related to overcoming shows that overcoming is a matter of fighting against and being victorious over all things that oppose His testimony and damage His kingdom. The Lord’s testimony depends on the church, and the Lord wants to bring in His kingdom through the church. Knowing this, Satan does everything in his power to damage the church. Therefore, the Lord needs some overcomers who will fight and win the victory. Overcoming is necessary to bring in the Lord’s kingdom; it is an essential condition for entering the kingdom of the heavens. These conditions are quite high. We must recover our first love toward the Lord; we must endure persecution and trials, even being faithful unto death; we must not be mixed with the world, and we must refuse the clergy-laity system to escape from the organization of Christianity; we must forsake the heresies of Roman Catholicism and not be contaminated by idol worship or spiritual fornication; we must overcome the coldness and weakness of spiritual death; we must keep the word of the Lord’s endurance and not forsake His name; we must not be self-satisfied but pursue with an empty heart, allowing the Lord a place within us for fellowship. Overcoming in these matters are conditions for entering the kingdom of the heavens. Only overcomers will enter the kingdom of the heavens and sit on the throne. Defeated believers who remain in the dark, evil world will not enter into the bright, righteous kingdom to reign. If we are not an overcomer in the midst of today’s degradation, we will not reign in the age of restoration. The Lord commands us to fight and win the victory. May we be faithful.