Overcoming: October 2006
Table of Contents
The Christian As an Overcomer
The Word of God always supposes that the Christian will want to be an overcomer and shows us that it is entirely possible for him to overcome. In this the Lord Jesus Himself is the supreme example, for He says, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne” (Rev. 3:21). However, the Word of God also speaks of a Christian’s being overcome and warns of the consequences. In 2 Peter 2:19 we are told that “of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage.” In Christ we “have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear” (Rom. 8:15), but are brought into the liberty of the children of God. As such, we are to walk through this world in the liberty and power of that position.
The instruction to the believer in this world is summarized for us in Romans 12:21, where we read, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Here we find the negative and positive aspects of our Christian testimony brought together, and both are necessary if we are going to display Christ in our lives. First of all, how is it that we can “be not overcome of evil”?
Overcome of Evil
In his walk through this world, the believer is constantly surrounded with evil. This evil can tempt him in different ways, but there are three prongs to the attack — the world, the flesh and the devil. The world is that system of things started by Cain and his descendants, who used their energies to make this earth as comfortable as possible in the presence of sin, but without God. This concept has never changed in principle, and the world of today is essentially the same in its outlook as it was in Cain’s day. How easily this can overcome us as Christians, for we all have that in us which responds to the world’s attractions. Since the time this world rejected the Lord Jesus, Satan is called both the god and the prince of it, and it is Satan that manipulates the world (within God’s limits) to achieve his own ends. Sadly, this includes seeking to occupy us with the world and all that is in it.
The World
In 1 John 2:15 we are told, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” However, the Christian must live and move in the world, for we are in the world, although not of the world. There is not only “the deceitfulness of riches” but also “the care of this world,” and both can be a snare for the believer. In fact, the care of this world is perhaps more subtle and dangerous, for a certain amount of it is necessary in connection with earning a living and looking after our affairs in an orderly way. It takes real dependence on the Lord and a walk in communion with Him for believers to “use the world,” yet not be found “disposing of it as their own” (1 Cor. 7:31 JND). How encouraging to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “Even as I also overcame” (Rev. 3:21).
The Flesh
Also, we must remember that we all, even as believers, have the old sinful self — the flesh — in us. Although we are positionally dead and risen with Christ and are dead to sin, we still have an old nature in us that lusts after evil. The flesh also loves its ease, and the thought that I must constantly be on guard in this world is distasteful to the flesh. There is the tendency for Christians to be asleep instead of watching, and it is when we are asleep that we are apt to be overcome. All of this is a constant struggle, for the more we want to live for the Lord, the more the flesh asserts itself.
The Devil
Then there is the direct working of the devil from his vantage point of god and prince. He is constantly seeking to turn men away from the gospel and to rob believers of their joy in Christ. Truly “he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). We know that he tried to get the Lord Jesus to leave the pathway of dependence and obedience when he tempted Him in the desert. The Lord answered him from Scripture and put him to silence, but all too often in ourselves there is that which he can use to overcome us. His time is running out, and his attacks in these last days are so frequent and so difficult that some dear believers simply give up and go along with the flow of evil in this world.
Compromise From Within
Finally, we must be on guard for that which comes, not so much from outside the profession of Christianity, but from within. Since the days of the apostles there has been a steady declension in the church and a giving up of many truths. The Lord has graciously granted revivals and a restoration of that which He gave at the beginning, but it requires spiritual energy to walk in it. The tendency in the great house of Christendom is to compromise, and this too can be a strong influence to cause the believer to be “overcome of evil.”
In all these things we must remember that obedience to the Lord and affection for Him will enable us to be overcomers. He has already overcome, and we can follow Him in that path. As He was superior to all His circumstances, so we can live above our circumstances rather than being controlled by them.
Overcoming Evil With Good
However, Christian testimony is to be a positive one, and this is very important! It is not enough merely to resist evil and not be overcome by it. Let us not be content to do that and simply live good, morally upright lives with a view to going to heaven at the end. God wants us to be living witnesses in the world. He wants us to live in such a way that we are not just avoiding being overcome, but rather overcoming evil with good. This involves spiritual energy above and beyond what is needed simply to resist.
When our Lord was on earth, He encountered all the evil that had built up for thousands of years since man’s fall. He saw and experienced from without all the awful effects of sin in this world, both in others and directed against Himself. Yet in all this, not only was He not overcome by it, but He overcame evil with good. When He saw men hungry, He fed them. When He saw sickness and death, He healed and gave life. When He saw men as sheep without a shepherd, He taught them. However, the supreme overcoming of evil with good was at the cross, where all the evil came together. All the awfulness of sin, all the power of Satan, all the enmity of man against Him, all the wrath of a holy God against sin — it was there to the maximum. He triumphed over it all and emerged victorious over sin, over death and over Satan.
Since Christ has gotten the victory for us, we too can overcome evil with good. It is true that God does not generally give sign gifts today such as healing, but His power is the same. There may be evil in the world and even in the great house of Christian profession, but all this does not touch the goodness of God and His grace. The believer is called to walk through this world, not only avoiding being overcome of evil, but dispensing good and blessing. This takes more spiritual energy than merely not being overcome. But God has given us everything we need to enable us to overcome evil with good. The world may be against us, but in giving up the world we enjoy the love of the Father (1 John 2:15). If the flesh is still there to tempt us, we have the Spirit of God within us, so that we should not do the things that the flesh wants (Gal. 5:17). If Satan is active at all times, we know that “the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all for us! However, we need at least three things in our Christian lives in order to appropriate this power and to be overcomers.
Three Requisites to Overcoming
First of all, we need implicit obedience. All of the failure in our lives as Christians (or even before we were saved) ultimately springs from our unbelief in the goodness that is in the heart of God. As sinners we think that we will be happier in our sins. As believers we do not follow Christ fully because we think that He cannot completely satisfy our hearts. It is not knowledge that we need the most, but obedience to that which we do know. Then, if we are obedient, we will find that “whosoever hath, to him shall be given” (Luke 8:18).
Second, we need real fellowship with the Lord and to have our affections drawn out to Christ. The strongest motive for a believer to overcome evil with good is a sense of the Lord’s love in his heart. Only then will our lives not be influenced so much by what we find, but they will rather be characterized by what we bring. We will not faint in the difficulties of the way, for we will be “looking unto Jesus” and considering “Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself” (Heb. 12:23).
Finally, we must put on the “whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:11). Not one part should be missing, for the enemy well knows how to focus on our weak points. If we are going to be able to “withstand in the evil day” and “having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6:13), we must be willing to avail ourselves of that armor that God has provided to resist the many attacks on us. To “withstand in the evil day” is not to be overcome of evil, but “having done all, to stand” is to overcome evil with good. Paul brings this before us in this chapter (Eph. 6), for after having detailed the various parts of the armor which enable us to “withstand,” he asks for prayer “that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19). Truly an overcomer! May this be our prayer today. W. J. Prost
The Overcoming One
The words “he that overcometh” in Revelation 23 should rather be “the overcoming one”; that is, the person is participating in it, meaning that the action of overcoming is already their part, whereas “he that overcometh,” as a tense, might postpone the connection of the action with the person until the whole action of overcoming was perfected. This is very important to remember in the addresses to the seven churches and everywhere in John’s writings.
The Overcomer’s Spirit
Jesus, of Thee we ne’er would tire;
The new and living food
Can satisfy our heart’s desire,
And life is in Thy blood.
If such the happy midnight song
Our prisoned spirits raise,
What are the joys that cause, ere long,
Eternal bursts of praise?
To look within and see no stain,
Abroad no curse to trace;
To shed no tears, to feel no pain,
But see Thee face to face.
To find each hope of glory gained,
Fulfilled each precious word;
And fully all to have attained
The image of our Lord.
For this we’re pressing onward still,
And in this hope would be
More subject to the Father’s will,
E’en now much more like Thee.
Little Flock Hymnbook #186
The Overcomer in the Seven Churches
We can view the overcomer in Revelation 23 in three ways: historical, prophetical and moral. Let us consider the overcomer in each one from the prophetic point of view.
Ephesus
Ephesus pictures the beginning of the church period. It is the state of the church right after the days of the apostles, and He says to it, “Thou hast left thy first love” (ch. 2:4).
“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (vs. 7). The tree of life in the Garden of Eden was guarded, so that people would not live forever in their sins. Here the tree of life is Christ, and there are no restrictions against eating of it.
In a real sense every Christian is an overcomer. Every believer will share in the privileges promised to each church. There are no Christians who will not eat of the tree of life.
Smyrna
The prophetic view of Smyrna represents the years from the time of the apostles to the year 313, during which the church was going through terrible persecution.
We find the overcomer in Smyrna in verse 11: “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” They might be tortured down here, but He comforts them with the thought they would not have to die twice. It has been said, “If you are born twice you may die but once, but if you are born only once you will have to die twice.”
Pergamos
Pergamos followed right after the time of persecution. Pergamos means “twice or much married.” Pergamos was married to the world. Constantine was used of Satan to bring this about.
“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (vs. 17). The manna was hidden in the ark in the Old Testament. On the ark was the mercy-seat where the blood was put. The cherubim looked down on it. They picture God looking down in judgment.
Manna is a picture of Christ in humiliation. “The bread . . . which I shall give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51 JND). In heaven you and I are going to feed on Him and enjoy the fact that He was once a man down here, and He remains a man forever, for He was the servant who had His ear pierced to serve forever (Ex. 21:16). The Lord will never cease being a man.
The white stone with the new name written on it shows His secret approval. I will never know yours, nor you mine. It is individual approval.
Thyatira
Thyatira means “burning incense,” which is quite characteristic of that system, Catholicism.
“But unto you, I say, and the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations” (vss. 24-26).
Why is the reward of “power over the nations” given to this church and not to the others? The Catholic Church has striven for world power all her days. But there are some real believers in that system, so the overcomer will receive, in a future day, what the system longs for now, “power over the nations.” In association with the Lord, the overcomer will be given that which the church is seeking today. Does it not show us how unbecoming it is for us to be seeking power now? Believers are going to have a much higher place than this world — we are going to judge angels. The Lord wants us to go through this world now as quietly as we can.
Sardis
Sardis began with what came out of the Reformation. At first there was a great work of the Spirit, but later was brought in a great nominal profession. “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy” (ch. 3:4). There were “a few names in Sardis.” Even in that great system there will be some saved souls at the end.
“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment.” “White raiment” is righteousness. “I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels” (vs. 5). There was a time after the Reformation in Germany when every child as it was born became a member of the church; the church ledger became a professing book of life, for in their catechism they state, “My baptism in which I was born again and made a member of the body of Christ.” Thus the state record professes to become a record of those who were born again and members of the body of Christ. Many names have been blotted out of that book as they grew up to be ungodly men and women. The Lord does not blot out any from His book of life. “They are worthy” (vs. 4) refers to those who had truly repented and were real.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia means “brotherly love” or “love to the brethren.” There are three characteristics of Philadelphia: They have a little strength, they have kept His word, and they do not deny His name. Sometimes we see on the billboards pictures of the strongest men known, with muscles bulging, but we don’t see pictures of the weakest men. Philadelphia has “a little strength” to do that most important thing — “keep His word.”
“Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (vs. 9). Who are they? They are the professors who say they are Jews by putting themselves under law. The time is coming when the Lord will have a public demonstration of the truth and will make the world know and own His righteousness. Real believers are going to be kept from the great tribulation.
“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (vs. 11). Back through the last forty years I have met with groups of young people who have heard these things, but during that time some have sold out and given it all up and plunged into the world. It is very sad to see people give up. Here we are told to “hold fast.”
“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name” (vs. 12). “My” is used five times in this verse, and it makes it very intimate. It is something like being made “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Let us get along without a name until we get that new name.
The “crown” is the reward of the Lord’s approval. There will be a time when these saints who have crowns will not wear them, but they will cast them at His feet, for they realize that He alone is worthy of all praise, for anything we have won has been through His power and grace. That is the overcomer in Philadelphia.
Laodicea
Laodicea means “voice of the people.” It is characterized by lukewarmness and indifference. It is a blight over the whole profession today —lukewarmness.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (vs. 20). So we find that even in Laodicea there may be some who have an ear to hear. But He is outside the whole system and is knocking at the door of individual hearts.
“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me on My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne” (vs. 21). The overcomer’s reward here is not as high as that to Philadelphia, but one can still be an overcomer in Laodicea.
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth” (vs. 16). The Lord coming and taking the true believers out of the world will be the spewing out of the false. Much goes on under the name of Christ but leaves Him outside and is just dead formalism and is distasteful to Him. There is no reality, just going through the motions. There is no heart for Christ.
We are living in the Laodicean age, but we do not have to be Laodicean. It takes grace and truth. God has given us the grace, so let us go on in faithfulness to Him.
C. H. Brown, jottings from a meeting
Overcoming
We live in a day when, if we do not overcome, we will be overcome. The world, the flesh and the devil are constantly at work to overcome us. While we have been delivered from their power by our Deliverer, we are exhorted to stand firm against the tide of evil flooding this world. We are not only to stand against it but to overcome it with good.
As the authors of this issue bring before us, nothing less than a single eye — fixed on the Lord Jesus as the object of the heart and of faith — will carry us above the flood that threatens to drag us down and carry us along with the current that is sweeping man on to certain judgment.
We are under constant pressure to let go and give up the good fight of faith. To each of us the Lord by the Spirit encourages, “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Rev. 3:11).
Our Lord Jesus overcame. He encourages us to do the same. Then with Him we shall enjoy our eternal portion: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son” (Rev. 21:7).
Overcoming in a Day of Disorder
There is much said of the blessing to the overcomer. What is the meaning of an overcomer? He is not a person who is standing fast when things are all in order. Take Adam in the garden; had he to overcome in anything? No. Then, when overcoming becomes necessary, what is the cause? Things have gotten into disorder; the mass has turned aside. Now when things are so, the overcomer has to stand fast for Christ, and he is the very one to whom Christ’s heart is drawn out in a way that could not have been when the whole body was going on well.
It was in the dark day of Israel’s ruin that Elijah and Elisha were sustained; there were no such men in the prosperous days of Solomon. The faith that carried Elijah through such days of ruin for God was answered by his being taken to heaven in a chariot of fire!
The overcomer was one who, when he found that the people of God were drifting away from a state suited to Him, was opposing the stream. If you ever swam against a stream, you know what would come of your missing a single stroke and where it might land you. It is one thing, beloved friends, to have gained a firm foothold, and another to keep it — one thing to have the intelligence of a divine place, and another altogether to maintain it in power.
The Seven Churches
In the messages to the seven churches you get no individual directions as to what to do. You get rewards promised the overcomer, but you are not told how to overcome. Many say, Look at all the evil that is in the seven churches and the like, and the Lord does not direct His people to leave them! The reason is you have in them only a single direction as to what you are to do. That is: “Hear what the Spirit says.” Then you find the blessing promised “to him that overcometh.”
The Calling
In Ephesians 4 I find a calling to what we have to do. “I . . . beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit” (vss. 14). There is a difference between the calling (vocation) here named and that of Hebrews (ch. 3:1). In Hebrews it is individual; here in Ephesians it is connected with the corporate calling of the church — “one body” — a “habitation of God through the Spirit.” He exhorts them to walk worthy of it. Still I must know my calling, before I can do so. Here it is plain enough. I might as well say my salvation is of no consequence, as say that the pathway of my calling is of no consequences as a member of Christ. Both rest simply and immutably on the Word of God. If I accept one, I am bound to accept the other. I dare not say, Christians have failed to follow what has been given, and this exonerates me. Such reasoning would not stand before the Lord for a moment. If I say that things are in hopeless confusion, though it is true, putting the blame on others will not exonerate me.
Has the Holy Spirit left the church? Has the divine fact that “there is one body, and one Spirit” changed? No. He is here and maintains the unity of Christ’s body on earth as truly as ever. The simple question is, Has He failed? Some may say, But it is all scattered; how can I set things right? Though this is true, I must begin with myself and set myself right. This is the first thing. Just as Jeremiah did in his day: The word of God digested in his soul isolated him, but not for long, for he was to be God’s mouth to separate the precious from the vile.
We find, then, in Ephesians 4 that the Holy Spirit has maintained intact this unity, no matter how men have externally broken up the church of God. Thus we find something definite to guide us; we can come together to the name of the Lord, when we have individually cleared ourselves from evil and falseness. Even the feeblest few may find that “one body, and one Spirit” abides.
The Unity of the Spirit
This “unity of the Spirit” embraces all members of Christ who are not under discipline, and even Christ Himself as chief of it. It is a basis which embraces and contemplates the whole church of God, and yet in its character is suited to Christ. It is not merely the unity of Christians; it is comparatively easy to have this. It is easy to say, Let us put aside differences and be together, and then attach Christ’s name to it and call it unity. The fashion of the day is to make a union and attach Christ to it nominally. The Spirit of God, on the contrary, attaches unity to Christ.
People reason, Are not all believers, however they walk, members of the body of Christ? Yes, they are members of the “one body,” and the Spirit of God maintains its unity. But when I come to practice, I cannot own that all are “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.” I speak of practice, diligently seeking to realize by the power of the Spirit that unity in which we have been formed.
What God commends us to is that unity which embraces all members of Christ and yet allows of nothing that is unsuited to the Chief of this unity, who is Christ Himself! There is a marked difference between being in the “one body,” and the observance of this practically.
The House of God
Let us examine what Paul says in 2 Timothy 2. He sees the house of God in ruin when he writes this letter to his beloved son in the faith. In his first epistle we find the orderings of things when things were in order; in the second, the path of the saint when things were in disorder.
In 2 Timothy 2:19, he says, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let everyone that nameth the name of [the Lord] depart from iniquity.”
We cannot say, The whole thing is in ruin; we are delivered to this corruption. No, fundamental truth has not changed, and although the ruin cannot be remedied, we are responsible for our action in it. The Lord sees a great mass of profession and says, I know them that are Mine in it. Then we have the responsibility of those who name His name: They are to “depart from iniquity.” This is very clear. I need not say another word as to it. Then he takes up the analogy of a great house, with vessels to honor and dishonor. The man of God has to purge himself from these that he may be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, like Jeremiah, and meet for his Master’s use. He cannot go on with what is untrue, nor can he set things right, but he can be an “overcomer.” This must be his path in the scene around.
Standing Fast in an Evil Day
Overcoming is not standing fast as when things are in order, but it is getting back to divine principles when things are in disorder.
God makes all our path so plain for us, that we need not have difficulty in an evil day. It is an evil day, but the very evil makes the path the more plain for the single eye.
The Lord give us in full measure, then, to know what it is to overcome. We each and all have something to do, and the great thing for each is to do that for which we have been left here by Christ. We have to seek His mind and not argue for expediency and what we think is right.
God delights to view and guide the one who looks upon Him with a single eye. When our eye is single, the whole body is full of light, having no part dark, and the heart walks peacefully with God. It is due to Christ that so it should be. Do I love Him? Then let me keep His commandments. We need personal devotedness to Him, and it is humbling that we find so little of it in days when He has imparted such light to our souls. We need the purpose of heart that bows to His will in the most trivial thing, and it brings its own joy from Him who has said to us, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”
F. G. Patterson, adapted
from The Church of God
He That Overcomes
Revelation 21:18 lifts the veil from eternity and describes the eternal state. Here we have the fullest setting forth in Scripture of the blessedness of the new heaven and new earth, in which all things are made new. The time of God’s ways in government has closed, and God rests in the blessing of His redeemed people according to the perfection of His nature. But in wondrous grace the Spirit of God mentions one link with the things that are passed away: “He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be to him God and he shall be to Me son” (Rev. 21:7 JND). In the eternal state there will be no more overcoming, for there will be nothing to overcome. Rather, this note of triumph carries us back to the battlefield of the past, where His own have fought those battles upon which God thus puts His seal. Who but God could have so recalled them? If the individuals themselves had recalled their experience in the conflict, we might expect the record to be nothing but failure and defeat. But in sovereign grace this is the character He gives them, and all else is forgotten. Could anything affect our hearts more deeply or encourage us for the conflict that remains? If rightly understood, surely the precious grace of God — beyond all our thoughts — is the strongest incentive for us to be overcomers!
As Christ Overcame
The expression here is very general — no particular circumstance or conflict is specified. But in turning to Scripture to seek light as to it, a precious clue is found in another passage in this book. “To him that overcometh will I give to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne” (Rev. 3:21). This little clause, “even as I also overcame,” has a peculiar sweetness. It recalls to us the Lord Jesus in His pathway here and occupies us with the perfection in which He passed through conflict. Can we, then, learn from the Gospels anything of the character of the conflict and the manner in which He overcame?
Overcome Evil With Good
But before we turn directly to them, there is an expression in Romans which, though it is not exactly applied to Him, can only be understood as we see in Him the perfect expression of it: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). Could anything be more characteristic of the path of the blessed Lord? In a world of evil, He was the revelation of the perfect goodness of God. In the power of that good He rose above all the evil and was never overcome by it. We have to go through the same world and are tested in our experience every day. Shall we be overcome of evil, or has the infinite good I know in Christ so taken possession of my heart that in the power of it I overcome? In His strength we are able not only to resist evil, but through grace to overcome evil with good. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20).
The Strong Man Armed
Twice in the Gospels the Lord speaks to us of His overcoming. The first is in Luke 11:21-22: “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.” Here we are taken back to the conflict which no other eye but God’s witnessed and learn how He overcame, who proved Himself to be the stronger. He was “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Matt. 4:1). Satan tempted Him in three different ways, presenting that which appealed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. In each case, our blessed Lord overcame by keeping the place, which He had taken as man, of dependence and obedience. In each case He answered Satan from the Word of God and simply said, “It is written.” The devil could not gain any foothold. Everything as to God’s glory and the accomplishment of His purposes in grace depended on the issue of that conflict, but the Lord Jesus staked it all on “It is written.” What an example for us!
It is significant for us that the order of the enemy’s tactics with the Lord is the same that the young men have to be warned against in 1 John 2. They have overcome the wicked one by the Word of God abiding in them, but the world is the danger now. They are told, “Love not the world,” and, because of the treachery of our hearts, it is added, “Neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15). It is not possession that is in question, but what a man hopes to possess — what the heart is set upon. All God’s objects for us are centered in Christ and found where He is. God can present nothing as an object for the heart that is of, or in, a world that has cast out His Son. If there is anything here that has attracted us and become our object, it is the wily tempter who, turned away from the front door, has come around by the back door and gained an entrance by what we have desired for ourselves or our families. As another has said, a bit of something in a shop window may do his work, but if it does not, he can enlarge the bait up to all the kingdoms of this world. Yet, in God’s estimate, there is nothing in this world morally but lust and pride — the miserable lust for what we do not have or the contemptible pride in what we do have.
Victory Through Faith
But how are we to overcome the devil’s snare of the world? In 1 John 5:4 we read, first, “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” In the very life and nature we have received from God we have a principle of victory over the world. Second, we have, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4). That is, by the object presented to faith we become overcomers. Third, it is asked, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5). Nothing short of the full glory of His person as the Son of God is sufficient. We need the full shining of His infinite glory as Son of God to give us victory over the world and its shams. Then shall we know something of a heart so filled with Him for worship and service that, as with the Lord when He was here, there will be no room for any object of Satan’s world.
In Nothing Terrified
The second occasion where the Lord presents Himself as an overcomer is brought before us in His closing words with His disciples in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” This is another side of the world. It is not the seductive aspect of it by which Satan hoped to overthrow the Lord and which is the danger of the young men, but rather the persecuting aspect of it —a world where much tribulation was to be encountered on the way to the glory. It is our appointed portion here, and there is real danger of yielding before the pressure of it and becoming unfaithful. If Satan cannot seduce the Christian by the world, he will persecute by it, as in Smyrna.
This aspect of the world may not be so insidious but it is very real, and our only safety is in keeping the eye upon Him who tells us, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Thus again the words, “Even as I also overcame,” have their full bearing upon our path. It was given to the Philippians “in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake; having the same conflict” which they saw in Paul and now heard to be in him (Phil. 1:29-30). It was not God’s will that they or we should be discouraged — “in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God” (Phil. 1:28).
The Power of Satan
We have to meet the power of Satan in the world, but it is in a very different way from that in which the Lord met him. At that time the devil was flushed with the success of forty centuries. Never before had a man been able to stand against him, firmly and fully. But now he is completely discomfited. “When the devil had ended all the temptation he departed from Him for a season,” and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit, the same power in which He had gone to meet him, into Galilee (Luke 4:13-14). If that season was spent by Satan in gathering up all his resources for the last onslaught on the Lord Jesus, it was only to meet with his final overthrow, for through death He has destroyed him that had the power of death, to deliver them who through fear of death had, as in Old Testament times, been all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. 2:14-15). Because to faith he is a defeated foe, it can be said, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). He cannot stand before the weakest saint who will lift the little finger of resistance to him, and shortly the God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet.
He that overcomes will have eternity to enjoy in peace the inheritance of these things. “I will be his God, and he shall be My son” — the sum of all the blessedness. Yet that word, characteristic of those thus blessed, tells of how God had not forgotten the conflicts of the past, though only recalled by the grace that made them overcomers. We are, according to Romans 8:37, “more than conquerors” (for the word is the same as that translated “overcomers,” though with a strengthened force) “through Him that loved us.”
May the Lord, by His wonderful grace and by the example He has set us, stir up all our hearts to more earnest and devoted faithfulness in the conflict that yet remains, for He can say, “Even as I also overcame.”
J. A. Trench, adapted
from Truth for Believers
Overcoming the World
Nothing will overcome the world in my heart but the deep consciousness of how it has treated Christ. Take my children, for instance. Do I want them to get on well in the world? Must I have good places for them in it? Nothing but knowing the place Christ had in it will overcome the world in my heart. There is no possibility of getting on with God unless the world is given up and the heart is satisfied with Christ; Christ must be everything.
J. N. Darby