I’d like to begin by quoting two verses from Revelation:
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. (Rev. 3:21)
Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Rev. 11:15)
We are all here, brethren (as those attempting to overcome) because we are awaiting the coming of the great King (who has overcome the same thing that we are to overcome!). We await the establishment of His kingdom on earth. It is sure to happen – this King will take His throne. It will be a world-encompassing coup … and every misguided government, kingdom, fiefdom, dictatorship, and tyrannical dominion will then be gone. I’ve always loved to hear this sentiment expressed in Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.
Our Victorious Christ
Christ’s personal war has already been won. His enemies are defeated – He has overcome, and is seated at His Father’s right hand on His Father’s throne. But for each of us, the battle rages on. We are attempting to overcome this world even as He did, but with far less success … and when we do overcome the world, we will be allowed to sit with Him on His throne.
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. (1 Peter 3:21-12)
His victory has given Him greater authority and powers than anyone except for the Father Himself, and He has already won the throne of this earth. The Father is just waiting till the time is right … and when it is, He will act, an inauguration will take place, and the world will be His.
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Col. 2:15)
I’d like to read a bit from Matthew Henry’s commentary on this verse: “The Redeemer conquered by dying. See his crown of thorns turned into a crown of laurels. He spoiled them, broke the devil’s power, and conquered and disabled him, and made a show of them openly – exposed them to public shame, and made a show of them to angels and men. Never had the devil’s kingdom such a mortal blow given to it as was given by the Lord Jesus. He tied them to his chariot-wheels, and rode forth conquering and to conquer – alluding to the custom of a general’s triumph, who returned victorious.”
Born to Overcome
Just as Christ has overcome, we are supposed to be overcoming. 1 John 5:4 provides us with a view of the gestational process of an overcomer. It reads, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.”
The word “born” is gennao (G1080), and can mean “begotten, or born,” but in a figurative sense it also means to regenerate, to conceive, to be delivered of. And I ask you to consider, what fits better with what “overcoming” means for people like us.
Our Bibles contains the words, the ways, the thoughts, and the examples of the King of the coming kingdom. It could accurately be said that this Word is Jesus the Christ. I don’t believe it’s just a clever little play on words that John 1:14 says “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.” The Bible is the King of the coming kingdom personified in print. It’s purpose is to teach the called out ones how to do what the King has already done so that they might become kings also under the King of kings, and sit with Him in His throne. It is His service to us as the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, as the Apostle and High Priest of our calling
How well do we know the King? How strongly do we believe the King? How deeply have we allowed our lives to be influenced by the King of the coming kingdom, and His words, admonitions and warnings to us? What I’d like to do in this series of blog posts, is to take a look at some particular warnings that the King has given us regarding our interactions with the spirit world, and how the evil beings from that realm, having failed in their attempt to prevent Him from overcoming and being seated with the Father in His throne, have directed their attentions to opposing His purpose for us to be seated with Him in His throne.
Under the Influence
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Rev. 12:7-9)
Notice here, it says Satan is the deceiver of the whole world. No exceptions. Brethren … I’m under the influence, and I have been since birth. All of you are too. Every human being on earth is under the influence of Satan’s deception from birth – from the strongest to the weakest, the poorest of men to the very richest human being on the face of the earth, all of us are under the influence. Presidents and prime ministers, kings and queens, popes, evangelists, leaders and followers in the largest religions on earth … all of us are under the influence!
This influence has only been fully overcome by one human being to this point in world history. He is the only One who knows how to overcome the influences of this age and bring us to sit with Him in His throne. In order to be victorious, we are going to need His help, and that’s part of what we’ll talk about next week.
Baptism For Life 