The salvation that the believers receive in Christ is a free gift; it is eternal and unchangeable in nature (Heb. 5:9; John 10:28-29). Hence, the salvation of the believers has nothing to do with their works (Eph. 2:8-9). Nevertheless, the New Testament reveals that among saved believers there is still a difference between being defeated and overcoming. In this lesson and in the following lesson we will see the New Testament prophecies concerning the punishment to be received by the defeated believers and the reward to be received by the overcoming believers.
According to the revelation in the Bible, the principle of God’s work among His people is to first gain a few people so that His intention may be worked into many people. This is the principle of the overcomers. History has proven that whether in the age of the patriarchs, the age of law, or the age of grace, only a few among God’s people were strong. These strong ones are considered a collective unit fighting the battle for God’s interest and bringing God’s kingdom to earth.
God’s original intention in His New Testament economy is to have the church as His corporate expression. The commission of the church on the earth is to uphold and testify the victorious Christ. However, the enemy persecuted and damaged the church so that the church became defeated and degraded. After the church was defeated, God called a small number of faithful ones to be His overcomers to bear the responsibility of the church, which the church failed to bear, and to restore the church to God’s original intention. What the Lord wants the overcomers to do is what the whole church should have done in God’s economy. God called the overcomers so that they may stand in place of the church for the accomplishment of God’s economy.
The believers’ defeat and overcoming before the Lord will not be manifested until they are before the judgment seat of Christ. Second Corinthians 5:10 prophesies, “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done through the body according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad.” This judgment is not concerning the believers’ eternal salvation but concerning their dispensational reward (1 Cor. 4:4-5; 3:13-15). The believers whose Christian living and works are approved by the Lord are the overcomers. The reward they will receive from Him in the kingdom age is an incentive to them. The believers whose Christian living and works are not approved by the Lord are the defeated ones. Even though they will not lose their eternal salvation, they will suffer the loss of the dispensational reward and will be disciplined and perfected in the kingdom age (1 Cor. 3:8, 14-15; Matt. 25:21, 23).
The believers who are not perfected and not matured in the church age will be perfected in the age of the millennium. The means by which they are perfected is the Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline. This discipline is for the slothful ones who did not apply the sufficient grace of the Lord, did not enjoy this grace, and did not take this grace as their portion in the church age, the age of grace. Hence, they still need the Lord’s loving discipline in the coming age so that they can be perfected.
Hebrews 12:6 says, “Whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” The Lord’s discipline toward the believers is not only in this age but also in the coming millennium. Since the age of the millennium is still part of the old heaven and old earth, the Father still deals with His children in the kingdom age by means of dispensational and governmental discipline to perfect them. In Revelation 3:19 the Lord says, “As many as I love I reprove and discipline.” The Greek word translated love in this verse means “to love intimately.” This clearly indicates that the defeated believers still belong to the Lord as His children and that the Lord’s discipline is out of love.