Overcomers in Christ Part II
John 16:33
These things have I
spoken unto you, that ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have
tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the.
In the
first article of this title, the writer set forth on scriptural ground; the
truth that Christ Jesus overcame the world in the behalf of His covenant people
who were given Him without beginning, and therefore when Christ overcame the
world His members in Him overcame the world. In this article we shall look to
the scriptures to inform us concerning the inheritance that is to be granted to
these who overcome in Christ Jesus.
Believers
have overcome Satan. “I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto
you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you,
little children, because ye have known the Father.” (I John 2:13). The Apostle
John here writes to three groups of believers at different stages of maturity
in the knowledge of the gospel; some are fathers who are instrumental in the
help and instruction of others in the way of truth, some are young men who have
overcame the wicked one through the faith of Jesus Christ, and some are little
children who have been brought to know God, they have been taught that they are
of God, and not of the world (John 17:14-16) and have overcome the world that
lieth in wickedness (I John 5:19). Each of these groups have overcome the
wicked one, for, they have all known the Father and to know God is eternal life
(I John 5:20; John 17:3). Believers may know that they have overcome Satan by
this “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is
the Son of God?” (I John 5:4-5) and “no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by
the Holy Ghost.” (I Corinthians 12:3).
“He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;” (Revelation
2:7) the ear of nature is dead to the sound of the gospel, for, though the ear
of nature is able to hear in the natural way, yet it is both dead and deaf to
spiritual hearing, for “the carnal mind is enmity against God:” (Romans 8:7) and
therefore will not hear, and so cannot hear. “But the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can
he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned.” (I Corinthians 2:14). But “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord,
in the light of thy countenance.” (Palm 89:15).
“To him that overcometh will I give
to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
(Revelation 2:7). When men eat natural food they are nourished, strengthened,
and live upon that food. Believers are “bound in the bundle of life (Christ)
with the Lord thy God;” (I Samuel 25:29). Christ Jesus is to believers a
“fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13), and believers are “vessels of
mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory,” (Romans 9:23) into which vessels
Christ puts the water of life, that is, as our Lord said, “I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John
10:28). Our Lord said to the woman at the well of Sychar “If thou knewest the
gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” (John 4:10)
living water is another name for eternal life. Our Lord said “I am the bread of
life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me
shall never thirst.” (John 6:35). “I am the living bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread
that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
(John 6:51). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the tree of life, the bread of life, the
water of life, Christ Jesus is the life of His people, for, “When Christ who is our life, shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4). “There are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these
three are one.. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.” (I John 5:7, 11). “Verily, Verily I say unto you,
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47). Concerning the
“children of the covenant” (Acts 3:25) who the Father gave to the Son in old
eternity (John 17:2; 6:37, 45) to be His spouse: “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
(Revelation 21:9) a picture of her calling is given by the Prophet Ezekiel,
“And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond
of the covenant:” (Ezekiel 20:37). The Holy Ghost visits His children at the
time appointed in the covenant of grace and brings them under “the rod of thy
strength” (Psalm 110:2) which is the gospel, and binds them to Christ; as it is
written by the Prophet “and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant
of the people” (Isaiah 49:8; see also Isa. 42:6) as it is written “all thy
children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isaiah 54:13). See the writer’s
blog at: www.hebrews915.blogspot.com
A.J.Ison.
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