16
How to Recognize an Overcomer
(1 John 5:1-5)
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (5:1-5)
God’s people are identified by many designations in Scripture, including believers (1 Thess. 1:7; 2:10; 1 Tim. 6:2), Christians (Acts 11:26; cf. 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16), children (Matt. 18:3; Eph. 5:1; 1 Peter 1:14), children of God(John 1:12; Rom. 8:16; Phil. 2:15; 1 John 3:1), children of light (Eph. 5:8; cf. Luke 16:8), children of promise (Gal. 4:28); sons of the day (1 Thess. 5:5), sons of the kingdom (Matt. 13:38), friends of Jesus Christ (John 15:15; cf. James 2:23), brethren (Matt. 28:10; Acts 1:15; 11:1; 14:2; 16:2; 28:14; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 8:12; 15:6; Gal. 1:2; Phil. 4:21; Col. 1:2; 1 Thess. 4:9; 5:27; 1 Tim. 4:6; 6:2; Heb. 2:11; 13:1; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:14, 16; 3 John 3, 5; Rev. 12:10), sheep (John 10:1-16, 26-27; 21:16-17; Heb. 13:20), saints (or holy ones; Acts 9:13, 32, 41; 26:10; Rom. 1:7; 12:13; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; 3:8; Phil. 1:1; 4:21, 22; Col. 1:2, 4; Philem. 5; Heb. 13:24; Jude 3), soldiers (Phil. 2:25; 2 Tim. 2:3; Philem. 2), witnesses (Heb. 12:1), stewards (1 Peter 4:10), fellow citizens (Eph. 2:19), lights in the world (Phil. 2:15), the elect (Matt. 24:22, 24; Luke 18:7; Rom. 8:33), the chosen (Matt. 22:14; Col. 3:12; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 2:10; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:9; 2 John 1, 13), the called (Rom. 1:6-7; 8:28, 30; 1 Cor. 1:9, 24), ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20), heirs (Rom. 8:17; Gal. 3:29; Titus 3:7; James 2:5), branches in the vine (John 15:5; cf. Rom. 11:16-21), members of the body of Christ (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12, 27; Eph. 3:6; 4:12; 5:23; Col. 1:24; 3:15), living stones (1 Peter 2:5), the beloved of God (Rom. 1:7; Eph. 5:1; Col. 3:12; 1 Thess. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; Jude 1), followers of Christ (Mark 9:41), sons of Abraham (Gal. 3:7), disciples (John 15:8; Acts 6:1, 2, 7; 9:1, 26; 11:26; 15:10), letters of Christ (2 Cor. 3:3), servants of Christ (1 Cor. 7:22; Eph. 6:6; Rev. 6:11), the godly (2 Peter 2:9), the people of God (Heb. 4:9; 1 Peter 2:10), a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13), vessels for honor (2 Tim. 2:21), the righteous (Matt. 13:43), aliens and strangers (1 Peter 2:11), and members of God’s household (Eph. 2:19).
Like a multifaceted diamond, each of those names reveals something of the character, blessings, and privileges of believers. But John reveals yet another title for Christians in this passage: overcomers. Believers are victors, winners, or conquerors. The verb form, nikaō (“overcomes”), appears twice in verse 4 and once in verse 5. It is one of John’s favorite terms; twenty-four of its twenty-eight occurrences in the New Testament are in his writings. The word means “to conquer,” “to gain the victory,” or “to defeat.” It was a popular term among the Greeks, who believed that ultimate victory could not be achieved by mortals, but only by the gods. They even had a goddess named Nike, the goddess of victory who aided Zeus in his battle against the Titans. Against that pagan backdrop, it was stunning for the New Testament to assign to Christians the invincibility associated only with the gods.
The Lord Jesus Christ used nikaō in John 16:33 to speak of His victory over the satanic world system. That victory forms the basis of believers’ overcoming, which the apostle Paul described in Romans 8:37: “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:57). “Overwhelmingly conquer” translates an intensified, compound form of nikaō (hupernikaō), which refers to being absolutely, completely victorious. In Jesus Christ, believers are invincible and unconquerable, so that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate [them] from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
Believers are overcomers of Satan. Earlier in this epistle, John wrote that spiritual young men overcome the Devil through the power of the Word (2:13-14). In John’s vision of the future, the tribulation saints “overcame [Satan] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Rev. 12:11). Not only have believers overcome Satan, but also his servants (1 John 4:1-4).
Though still a dangerous foe (1 Peter 5:8), Satan’s defeat is certain. In Romans 16:20 Paul wrote, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” James added, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:76). Satan will ultimately be cast into hell, where he will be punished forever in “the eternal fire which has been prepared for [him] and his angels” (Matt. 25:41; cf. Rev. 20:10). In the meantime, believers can triumph over Satan by being wary of his schemes (2 Cor. 2:11; Eph. 6:11), refusing to give him an opportunity to take advantage of them (2 Cor. 2:11; Eph. 4:27), and putting on the “full armor of God” (Eph. 6:11).
Believers have also overcome death. As he concluded his magnificent chapter on the resurrection, Paul wrote,
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:54-57)
The apostle taunts death, likening it to a bee whose stinger (sin and its deserved punishment) has been removed. God grants believers victory over death through Jesus Christ, who “redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13).
Finally, as John notes three times in this passage (vv. 4, 5), Christians have overcome the world. The world is the invisible spiritual system of evil, which is hostile to God (John 1:10; 7:7; 15:18-19; 17:14, 25; James 4:4) and is ruled by Satan (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2; 1 John 5:19). Its citizens are dominated by carnal ambition, pride, greed, selfishness, and pleasure, all of which constitute “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16).
But through their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, believers are no longer part of the world system, even as He is not (John 17:14, 16). According to Colossians 1:13, God “rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” As a result, “our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). Although they still live in the world (John 17:11), Christians have no ongoing relationship to it (1 John 3:1); they are “aliens and strangers” (1 Peter 2:11; cf. Heb. 11:13) in it. Their new natures, along with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, drive them away from the world and toward God. The world’s allurements no longer captivate their hearts, and they do not love what it has to offer (1 John 2:15–17; cf. Titus 2:11–12).
Far from being enamored with the world, believers struggle against it. The apostle Paul is a clear example of one who faced intense opposition from the world, some of which he described in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27:
Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
But that hostility did not defeat him, because the world had no hold on him. “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself,” he declared, “so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). When those who loved Paul tearfully begged him not to go to Jerusalem, where he faced arrest, he replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).
Paul knew that his ultimate triumph over the world was certain. To the Corinthians he wrote, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18). Or, as he simply and directly put it in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Believers, then, are invincible overcomers—not in themselves or by their own power, but in Jesus Christ and by His power. Although their ultimate victory is assured, Christians still lose some of the battles. They succumb to Satan’s temptations, the world’s allurements, and the corruption of their own hearts, and fall into sin. But if believers are not always victorious in the skirmishes of this life, how can they be sure that they are truly overcomers? Reiterating, recycling, and enriching familiar themes from earlier in this epistle, John gives three characteristics of an overcomer in verses 1-5: faith in the truth, love for God and others, and obedience to the Word.
FAITH IN THE TRUTH
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God … For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 a, 4-5)
The foundational mark of an overcomer is believing that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah). That abbreviated statement implies all that is true about Him; that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who came to earth to die and rise to accomplish salvation for sinners. Only the one who believes in the truth about Him is born of God (lit., “out of God has been begotten”) and overcomes the world. All who are born of God are overcomers, and only those who believe in Jesus Christ are born of God.
In the prologue to his gospel, John wrote, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). The Lord Himself declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). In Acts 4:12 Peter boldly told the hostile Jewish authorities that “there is salvation in no one else [other than Jesus; v. 10]; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Paul wrote, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11), and, “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time” (1 Tim. 2:5-6). Any teaching that people can be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ is biblically untenable (see the discussion of this point in chapter 20 of this volume).
The tenses of the verbs in verse 1 reveal a significant theological truth. Believes translates a present tense form of the verb pisteuō, whereas gegennētai (is born) is in the perfect tense. The opening phrase of verse 1 literally reads, “Whoever is believing that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten of God.” The point is that, contrary to Arminian theology, continual faith is the result of the new birth, not its cause. Christians do not keep themselves born again by believing, and lose their salvation if they stop believing. On the contrary, it is their perseverance in the faith that gives evidence that they have been born again. The faith that God grants in regeneration (Eph. 2:8) is permanent, and cannot be lost. Nor, as some teach, can it die, for dead faith does not save (James 2:14-26). There is no such thing as an “unbelieving believer.”
The question sometimes arises concerning those who profess faith in Christ, but then stop believing in Him. Our Lord described such people in the parable of the soils:
Others [seeds] fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out….
The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Matt. 13:5-7, 20-22)
Such false, temporary faith produces no fruit, in contrast to genuine saving faith, which alone produces the fruit that proves one’s new birth:
And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty….
And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. (Matt. 13:8, 23; cf. 3:8; Acts 26:20)
Earlier in this epistle, John explained that those who permanently fall away from the faith were never redeemed in the first place: “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (2:19; cf. the exposition of this verse in chapter 9 of this volume). Their professed faith was never true saving faith. Saving faith is not mere intellectual knowledge of gospel facts, but involves a wholehearted, permanent commitment to Jesus as Lord, Savior, Messiah, and God incarnate.
The content of saving faith, as noted above, is that Jesus is the Christ; He is its object. People who are born of God believe the truth about Christ; those who do not are liars and antichrists. As John warned earlier in this letter, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son” (2:22). Then, making it unmistakably clear that no one can come to the Father apart from Jesus Christ, he added, “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also” (v. 23; cf. chapter 9 of this volume for an exposition of 2:22-23). No one who rejects Jesus Christ will ever see heaven, since anyone who “does not confess Jesus is not from God” (4:3), and only in the one who “confesses that Jesus is the Son of God [does God abide], and he in God” (v. 15).
John repeated for emphasis the truth from verse 1 that those who believe in Jesus Christ and have been born of God … overcome the world, gaining the victory over it through their faith. The phrase our faith literally reads, “the faith of us.” It could refer to the subjective, personal faith of individual believers, or objectively to the Christian faith, “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3; cf. Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:13; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 1:23; Phil. 1:27; 1 Tim. 4:1; 6:10, 21; 2 Tim. 4:7). It is safe to see in this context of believing that John is referring not to the objective content of the gospel as theology, but to the subjective trust by which God makes saints overcomers.
This interpretation is supported by the apostle’s rhetorical question, Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (cf. 4:15). Christians are victorious overcomers from the moment of salvation, when they are granted a faith that will never fail to embrace the gospel. They may experience times of doubt; they may cry out with David, “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? (Ps. 13:1; cf. 22:1; 27:9; 44:24; 69:17; 88:14; 102:2; 143:7; 2 Tim. 2:11-13). But true saving faith will never fail, because those who possess it have in Christ triumphed over every foe. The “great … cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1; cf. Rom. 8:31-39)—the heroes of faith described in Hebrews 11—testify that true faith endures every trial and emerges victorious over them all. Job expressed the triumph of faith when he cried out in the midst of his trials, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him” (Job 13:15).
LOVE FOR GOD AND OTHERS
whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. (5:1b)
The primary mark of an overcomer involves the doctrinal test of believing the truth of the Christian faith. The second mark is again a moral characteristic: an overcomer loves both the Father and the child born of Him. The new birth brings people not only into a faith relationship with God, but also into a love relationship with Him and His children. John has emphasized that principle throughout this epistle:
The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (2:10-11)
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (3:10)
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. (3:14)
But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? (3:17)
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. (3:23)
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (4:7-8)
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. (4:12)
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (4:20-21)
The love of which John writes is not mere emotion or sentimentality, but a desire to honor, please, and obey God. Directed toward people, it is the love of the will and choice, the love that sacrificially meets the needs of others. Paul described it in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
The New Testament repeatedly commands such love (e.g., John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17; Gal 5:13; 1 Thess. 4:9; Heb. 13:1; 1 Peter 1:22).
OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. (5:2-3)
The opening statement of verse 2, by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, is the corollary to the truth John expressed in verse 1. Just as it is impossible to love God without loving His children, so also is it impossible to truly love His children apart from loving Him. Those twin priorities of loving God and other Christians mark all who have been born again.
The proof of genuine faith is sustained and loving obedience; it is to love God and observe His commandments. Genuine saving faith produces love, which results in obedience. Those who believe God is who Scripture reveals Him to be will respond in love, praise, and adoration. Because He is the supreme object of their affections, they will long to obey Him. Observe translates a present tense form of the verb poieō, which has the connotation of “to accomplish,” “to carry out,” or “to practice.” The present tense indicates that believers’ obedience is to be continuous. It will always be the direction, though not the perfection, of their lives. A different word, a form of the verb tēreō, is translated keep in verse 3. It has the connotation of keeping watch over, guarding, or preserving. One who truly loves God will view His commandments as a precious treasure, to be guarded at all costs (2 Tim. 1:14). Poieō refers to action, tᄽreō to the heart attitude that prompts obedience.
The principle that those who truly love God will obey Him permeates Scripture. In Deuteronomy 13:4 Moses commanded Israel, “You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.” Samuel rebuked Saul’s disobedience by reminding him that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22). Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wrote, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person” (Eccl. 12:13). God commanded Israel through the prophet Jeremiah, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you” (Jer. 7:23).
Obedience was also a foundational theme in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 12:50 He said, “Whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.” He pronounced “blessed … those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Luke 11:28). In John 8:31 He challenged those who professed faith in Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” To His disciples in the upper room He stated plainly, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15), and He repeated that truth several times during that discourse:
He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. (14:21)
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word He who does not love Me does not keep My words. (14:23-24)
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. (15:10)
You are My friends if you do what I command you. (15:14)
The apostles also taught that obedience is an essential mark of the redeemed:
And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him. (Acts 5:32)
Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake. (Rom. 1:5)
For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed. (Rom. 15:18)
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith. (Rom. 16:25-26)
And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. (Heb. 5:9)
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. (1 Peter 1:1-2)
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance. (1 Peter 1:14)
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. (1 Peter 1:22)
The obedience that characterizes a true child of God is not external, ritualistic, legalistic compliance. Nor is it unwilling, partial, inconsistent, or grudging. Loving obedience is from the heart (Deut. 11:13; 30:2, 10; Rom. 6:17), willing (Ex. 25:2; 1 Peter 5:2; cf. Lev. 26:21), total (Deut. 27:26; Gal. 3:10; James 2:10), constant (Phil. 2:12), and joyful (Ps. 119:54; cf. 2 Cor. 9:7).
Those who truly obey God do not find His commandments … burdensome. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus invited weary sinners, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” In Psalm 119, the psalmist repeatedly expressed his delight in God’s law:
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. (v. 14)
I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. (v. 16)
Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors. (v. 24)
O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. (v. 97)
How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (v. 103)
Those who love God will obey His law, because they want to honor His holy nature. They do so not out of dread, but out of loving adoration.
Because of His delight in overcomers, God will pour out rich blessings on them. The letters to the seven churches (Rev. 2, 3) contain those delightful, special gifts that God promises to all overcomers.
The first promise is found in the letter to the church at Ephesus. In Revelation 2:7 Jesus said, “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” After Adam and Eve sinned, God drove them from the Garden of Eden, in part so that they would not “take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” in their sinful state (Gen. 3:22; cf. v. 24). The tree of life symbolizes eternal life; the “Paradise of God” is heaven (cf. Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:2, 4). The promise to overcomers, then, is that they will live forever in heaven.
The second promise is the flip side of the first. In the letter to the church at Smyrna, Jesus promised, “He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death” (Rev. 2:11). The fall resulted not only in physical death, but also in the second death—eternal punishment in hell (Rev. 20:14; 21:8). But while overcomers will experience the first death (physical death), they will not die spiritually and eternally. The second death has no power over them (Rev. 20:6), since God has granted them eternal life (John 3:16; 5:24; Acts 13:48; Rom. 6:23; 1 John 2:25; 5:11) and promised them heaven.
The letter to the church at Pergamum reveals two more promises from Christ to overcomers: “To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it” (Rev. 2:17). The “hidden manna” pictures God’s supplying His people’s needs. For Israel, the manna was a visible, tangible manifestation of God’s provision. For Christians, Jesus Christ, “the bread that came down out of heaven” (John 6:41; cf. vv. 31, 35), is God’s provision for all their needs (cf. 2 Cor. 9:8; Phil. 4:19). The “white stone” was given to victorious athletes in the games, and served as an admission pass to a special celebration for the winners. God promises overcomers admittance to the eternal victory celebration in heaven.
The overcomers in the church at Thyatira (Rev. 2:26-28) also received two promises. First, Jesus assured them, “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father” (vv. 26-27). According to Psalm 2:8-9, Jesus Christ Himself will rule the nations with a rod of iron (cf. Rev. 12:5; 19:15). The Lord will delegate His authority to believers and, during His millennial kingdom, they will reign with Him (cf. 1 Cor. 6:2; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:6) as under-shepherds (cf. John 21:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2) of the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4; cf. John 10:11, 14; Heb. 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25; Rev. 7:17). More than that, Christ promises them the “morning star” (Rev. 2:28). Since He is the morning star (Rev. 22:16), that is nothing less than a promise of Christ Himself in all His fullness (cf. 1 Cor. 13:12).
The church at Sardis was so filled with unregenerate people that the Lord declared it to be dead (Rev. 3:1). Yet there were some even there who were redeemed. To those overcomers, Christ addressed the three-part promise, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Rev. 3:5). White symbolizes purity (cf. Rev. 6:11; 7:9, 13, 14; 19:8, 14) and is fitting for those clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Gal. 3:27; cf. Isa. 61:10). Having had their sins washed in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14; cf. 1 Peter 1:18-19), they will one day be freed from the remainder of sin that still entangles them (Heb. 12:1) and given perfect holiness and purity.
Because He has purified them from their sins, Christ also promises not to erase overcomers’ names from the Book of Life (cf. Phil. 4:3; Rev. 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27). In ancient times, rulers kept a register of their city’s citizens. Those who had committed particularly heinous crimes might have had their names expunged from that register, thus making them outcasts. But under no circumstances will Christ blot out a true Christian’s name from the roll of those whose names were “written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain” (Rev. 13:8), because “He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).
Far from blotting their names from the Book of Life, Jesus promised to “confess” every overcomer’s “name before [His] Father and before His angels,” thus affirming that they belong to Him (Rev. 3:5). He made that same promise in Matthew 10:32: “Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.”
To the overcomers in the faithful church at Philadelphia Christ promised, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name” (Rev. 3:12). A “pillar” suggests stability, permanence, and immovability. The New Testament pictures the church metaphorically as God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21; cf. 1 Peter 2:5), of which each believer is an integral, permanent part.
The Lord’s assurance that believers “will not go out” from heaven further reinforces the truth of their absolute, eternal security. His words were especially meaningful to the Philadelphians, since their city was in a region prone to earthquakes and they sometimes had to flee for their lives. But no one will ever be forced to leave heaven.
In still more imagery reflecting believers’ eternal security, Jesus said, “I will write on [overcomers] the name of My God [a mark of His possession of them], and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God [a mark of their heavenly citizenship], and My new name [a mark of His love]” (Rev. 3:12).
The final promise was addressed to the faithful believers in the lukewarm church at Laodicea. As if all the previous ones were not enough, Jesus made the staggering promise, “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne [cf. Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:29-30], as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21). As He shares His Father’s throne, so will overcomers share His throne and reign victoriously with Him forever. (For a complete exposition of the letters to the seven churches, see Revelation 1-11, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 1999], chapters 4-10.)