In Revelation 2:10 the Lord Jesus said to the church in Smyrna, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” The crown of life, as a prize to those who are faithful unto death in overcoming persecution, denotes the overcoming strength that is the power of the resurrection life (Phil. 3:10). It also denotes that the overcomers have attained to the out-resurrection from the dead (v. 11), that is, the outstanding resurrection.
In 1 Corinthians 9:25 Paul says, “Everyone who contends exercises self-control in all things; they then, that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible.” The incorruptible crown, which the Lord will award to His overcoming saints who win the race, is a reward in addition to salvation. Believers in the Lord have all received His eternal salvation through faith in Him. But whether they will be rewarded by Him depends on how they run the race. Believers need to run until the last moment of the race to have the assurance that they will be rewarded by the Lord at His appearing. In view of this prize Paul charged the believers to run the race that they might obtain the reward (v. 24).
In Revelation 3:21 the Lord Jesus said, “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.” To sit with the Lord on His throne will be a prize to the overcomers that they may participate in the Lord’s authority and be co-kings with Him in ruling over the whole earth in the coming millennial kingdom.
In Matthew 25:21-23 the master says to the faithful slaves, “I will set you over many things.” In the coming manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, the overcomers will receive authority to rule over and shepherd the nations. As a prize, the Lord will set the overcomers over the nations. In Revelation 2:26-27 the Lord Jesus said, “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 vessels of pottery are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father.” According to Psalm 2:9 God gave Christ authority to rule over the nations. In the coming kingdom Christ will give the same authority to the overcomers. In Luke 19:17-19 the Lord promised in a prophecy that the believers who are faithful in their service in this age will receive authority to reign over the nations in the coming age; this is the authority over five cities or ten cities. Furthermore, these verses also indicate that the overcoming believers’ reigning in the coming kingdom as a reward will differ in extent. In addition, according to the prophecy in Revelation 12:5 the man-child “is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.” In the millennial kingdom the ruler will be a shepherd. This indicates that Christ’s authority—the iron rod—will be given to the overcomers for them to shepherd in the millennial kingdom.
In the coming kingdom the overcomers will gain their soul and enjoy the salvation of their soul. In Matthew 10:39 the Lord Jesus said, “He who finds his soul-life shall lose it, and he who loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it.” To find the soul-life is to allow the soul to have its enjoyment and to escape suffering. To lose the soul-life is to cause the soul to lose its enjoyment and thereby to suffer. If the believers in Christ are loose or indifferent in following the Lord, loving their soul, and allowing it to have its enjoyment in this age, they will cause their soul to suffer the loss of its enjoyment in the coming age, and they will have the weeping and the gnashing of teeth as a sign of the suffering of their soul. If they allow their soul to suffer the loss of its enjoyment in this age for the Lord’s sake, they will cause their soul to have its enjoyment in the coming kingdom age, that is, to share the Lord’s joy in ruling over the earth. In Matthew 25 the master twice says, “Enter into the joy of your master” (vv. 21, 23). When the Lord comes back, Satan will be bound, and the earth will be recovered by Christ and will be under His reign. By repossessing the earth, and the Lord will have His enjoyment. Then He will invite His followers to participate in this enjoyment, to enter into His joy.
In the kingdom the overcomers will have no problems, sorrows, or sufferings in their soul, for at that time they will save their soul and will enjoy the salvation of their soul (Luke 9:24). The “salvation ready to be revealed at the last time,” in 1 Peter 1:5, is the end of the believers’ faith, the salvation of their soul (v. 9). The soul of the overcomers will be saved from the realm of sufferings into a realm of comfort, that is, into the full enjoyment of the Lord at His unveiling, His coming back.