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Scripture Reading: Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21
I. The God-men:
А. Born of God to overcome sin and the world — 1 John 3:9; 5:4.
B. Destined by God to conquer all the oppositions and persecutions, the hard environments, and the difficult situations — Rom. 8:31, 36-39.
C. Called by the Lord among the churches to be the overcomers — Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21.
II. The overcomers:
А. To overcome in the degradation of the churches:
1. Satanic Judaism — 2:9-10.
2. Demonic Catholicism — vv. 24-28.
3. Dead and Christless Protestantism — 3:1-5, 20-21.
4. The tide of the church’s degradation.
B. To overcome also:
1. Satan — 12:11a.
2. The love of the soul-life — v. 11b.
3. The upcoming Antichrist and his false prophet in the great tribulation — 15:2; 17:14.
III. The way for the God-men to be the overcomers:
А. To love Christ and follow Him — John 21:15-17, 19b.
B. To pursue Christ and gain Him — Phil. 3:12-15.
C. To be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection — v. 10.
D. To live Christ and magnify Him by the bountiful supply of His all-inclusive Spirit — 1:19-21.
E. To live with Christ and labor with Him — Gal. 2:20a; Col. 1:29.
F. To live the Body life and build up the Body of Christ for the fulfillment of God’s New Testament economy — Eph. 4:12, 16; 1:10.
IV. The reward for the overcoming God-men, the overcomers, in the millennial kingdom:
А. In the present age — to dine with the Lord — Rev. 3:20b.
B. At the earliest appearing of Christ — to be given the morning star, signifying the precious Christ in His earliest appearing — 2:28.
C. In the millennial kingdom:
1. To enter richly into the kingdom of Christ — 2 Pet. 1:11; Matt. 19:23; Acts 14:22; 2 Thes. 1:5; Heb. 12:28; James 2:5; cf. 1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5.
2. To partake of the wedding feast of Christ, which will last for one thousand years as a day — Rev. 19:9; Matt. 25:10.
3. To have their names confessed before the Father and His angels by the Lord — Rev. 3:5c.
4. Not to have their names erased out of the book of life — to have their names erased out of the book of life in the kingdom age signifying a kind of discipline in the kingdom age — v. 5b.
5. Not to be hurt of the second death — to be hurt of the second death probably signifying also a kind of discipline in the kingdom age — 2:11.
6. To participate in the consummation and enjoyment of the New Jerusalem as the Paradise of God in its initial stage in the millennium — v. 7.
7. To share in the joy of the Lord — Matt. 25:21, 23.
8. To be crowned with the crown, the crown of life and the crown of righteousness — Rev. 3:11; 1 Cor. 9:25; Rev. 2:10; James 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:8.
9. To sit with the Lord on His throne — Rev. 3:21.
10. To have authority over the nations — 2:26-27.
11. To be priests of God and of Christ and reign with Christ in the millennial kingdom — 20:4-6; 2 Tim. 2:12.
12. To eat of the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in its initial stage in the millennial kingdom — Rev. 2:7.
13. To eat the hidden manna — v. 17a.
14. To be clothed with white garments — 3:4-5a.
15. To be a pillar in the temple of God and never to go out anymore — v. 12a.
16. To be given a white stone with a new name written upon it — 2:17b.
17. To have the name of God and the name of the city of God — the New Jerusalem — and the Lord’s new name written upon them — 3:12b.
18. To be given the responsibilities in the coming kingdom — Matt. 24:47; 25:21a, 23a.
19. To enjoy the kingdom rest — Heb. 4:1, 9-11.
20. To enjoy the salvation of the soul, which is the aggregate of the above nineteen points — Matt. 16:25; Luke 9:24; Heb. 10:39; 1 Pet. 1:9-10.
V. The blessing of God’s complete salvation, that is, the enjoyment of the eternal life (Matt. 19:29; Rom. 5:21) for all the God-men in the new heaven and new earth:
А. To participate in the holy city — the New Jerusalem — in its consummated stage as their temple — the Triune God Himself — for their dwelling in eternity — Rev. 22:14b; 21:22.
B. To eat the tree of life — 22:14a, 2.
C. To enjoy the spring of life and drink the water of life in the river of life — 21:6; 22:1.
D. To have God as their God and to be sons of God — 21:7.
E. To participate in the divine and human marriage life of the processed and consummated Triune God and the transformed and glorified tripartite man — v. 9.
F. To serve God as priests and to reign as kings over the nations forever and ever — 22:3b, 5b.
G. To have no curse and no night but to enjoy God’s shining as their light — vv. 3, 5; 21:25, 23.
VI. The destiny of all “Christians”:
А. The Catholic Church as the great Babylon will be burned — 17:5, 16.
B. The false Christians, the tares, in all kinds of churches will be bound into bundles to be burned up in the lake of fire — Matt. 13:30, 40-42.
C. The genuine but defeated believers:
1. Their work and conduct as wood, grass, and stubble will be burned at the Lord’s coming.
2. They themselves will be saved, yet so as through fire — 1 Cor. 3:12-15.
3. They will be disciplined (Matt. 25:30) and transformed to be mature and perfect so that they will be qualified to participate in the New Jerusalem in its consummated stage for eternity.
D. The genuine and overcoming believers, the overcomers, whose work and conduct are like gold, silver, and precious stones:
1. They will be rewarded (1 Cor. 3:12-15; Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:5; Matt. 25:19) to enter into the coming millennial kingdom to reign with the Lord and partake of His joy, as revealed in the above list of their rewards.
2. They will be joined by the God-men perfected in the millennial kingdom in the participation of the final consummation and enjoyment of the New Jerusalem in its consummated stage for eternity.
In this chapter we will consider the God-men and the overcomers.
The God-men are born of God to overcome sin and the world (1 John 3:9; 5:4). As God-men, we were born not only to be saved but also to overcome. First John 3:9 tells us that we were born to overcome sin. Then 5:4 tells us that we were born to overcome the world. Sin and the world are two big seducers. Within us sin is seducing us continually, and outside us the world seduces us. To be an overcomer, we need to overcome the first line of the enemy. In a battle there are battle lines. We have been born of God to overcome the first line of the enemy, which consists of two items, sin and the world.
Not only so, we are destined by God to conquer all the oppositions and persecutions, the hard environments, and the difficult situations (Rom. 8:31, 36-39). After being saved, we, the God-men, are destined to travel not on a plain, smooth highway but on a rugged way full of troubles, trials, temptations, persecutions, attacks, and oppositions (John 15:20a; Acts 14:22; 1 Thes. 3:4; 2 Tim. 3:12; 2 Cor. 11:23-27). Before we were saved, many of us had a smooth family life. Because we believed in the Lord Jesus, our family life may have become very rugged. Nevertheless, we are destined to conquer. This is the second line of the enemy that we must overcome.
After being saved, many Christians are unable to overcome sin and the world. Rather, they become indulgent in their lust and in their enjoyment of worldly pleasures. Some believers temporarily overcome sin and the world, but they are not able to overcome the problems and the difficulties and all kinds of attacks, criticisms, persecutions, and oppositions. They do not dare to take the Lord’s way, which is a constricted and rugged way (Matt. 7:14). Hence, they compromise with the opposition that they encounter. For example, to please his unsaved wife, a believing husband may compromise by participating with her in the enjoyment of worldly entertainments and pleasures. Many Christians know that they should overcome certain things, but when they are threatened by opposition, they compromise.
Concerning the church life, some Christian leaders know that the denominations are wrong, but they dare not say anything. They dare not give up their involvement with their denomination, because they are afraid of losing their position as a pastor or a minister. This is the second line of the enemy that we must overcome.
Sin and the world are the first line of Satan, and the oppositions and persecutions, hard environments, and difficult situations are the second line. In addition to these two lines, the enemy has built up a third line to frustrate the lovers of Christ from going on to follow Him. This third line is the degradation of the churches. The God-men are born of God to overcome the first line of Satan, and they are destined by God to conquer the second line. To overcome the third line, the God-men have been called by the Lord among the churches to be the overcomers (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21).
As we have pointed out, the third line of the enemy is the degradation of the churches. The churches themselves are not the enemies, but the degradation, the degraded situation, the degraded condition, of the churches has become a real enemy to us. In overcoming the degradation of the churches, we need to overcome three “isms” — satanic Judaism (2:9-10), demonic Catholicism (vv. 24-28), and dead and Christless Protestantism (3:1-5, 20-21).
In Revelation 2:9 the Lord Jesus called the Jewish synagogue “a synagogue of Satan” (see footnote 5, Recovery Version). Today people consider Judaism a typical religion, but they do not know that in the eyes of God Judaism has become satanic. This is not my word but the word of the Lord Jesus in Revelation 2:9.
Today in the New Testament age of grace, one of the strongest oppositions to God’s economy is Judaism. In the past nineteen centuries millions of Gentiles have turned to Christ, but from the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 until today, comparatively few Jews have turned to the Lord. In preaching the gospel to sinners, it is much more difficult to win a Jew to Christ than to gain a Gentile for the Lord. Hence, today the Jewish religion is a strong enemy against Jesus Christ. For this reason the Jewish believers need to hear the Lord’s voice and overcome the synagogue of Satan. Otherwise, they cannot be lovers, followers, and pursuers of Christ. Rather, they will be defeated in God’s eyes.
The phrase demonic Catholicism refers to the Roman Catholic Church. I say that the Catholic Church is demonic, because in Revelation 2:24 the Lord Jesus, speaking to the church in Thyatira, a prefigure of the apostate Roman Catholic Church, said that in her there were “the deep things of Satan.” Because the Catholic Church teaches the deep things of the philosophy of the satanic mysteries (cf. 1 Tim. 4:1-3), it has become demonic, related to the demons.
In Revelation 2:20 the Lord Jesus referred to the woman Jezebel, a figure signifying the apostate Roman Church. The woman Jezebel is the same woman as the one mentioned by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 13:33. There the woman added leaven (signifying evil, heretical, and pagan things — 1 Cor. 5:6, 8; Matt. 16:6, 11-12) into the fine flour. The fine flour refers to the teachings concerning Christ. All the teachings concerning Christ should be very nourishing, like the flour of wheat. But the woman mixed many evil, heretical, and pagan things into the teachings concerning Christ. The Catholic Church has fully leavened in a hidden way all the teachings concerning Christ. This is the actual situation in the Roman Catholic Church. Eventually, the Catholic Church, signified by the woman in Matthew 13:33 and by Jezebel, the pagan wife of Ahab, becomes the great harlot, Babylon the Great, in Revelation 17.
On the one hand, the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. On the other hand, they teach the worship of Mary, the “holy mother.” This is a great heresy added into the truth concerning Christ. Today’s Christmas is another example of leaven added by Catholicism to the fine flour of the teaching concerning Christ. In ancient times December 25 was the day on which the Romans worshipped their sun god. Later, after many Romans became false Christians under the seducing of Constantine the Great, they still wanted to continue their remembrance of the sun god. However, under the influence of Constantine, they were forced to worship Christ. Therefore, they made December 25 a day for the celebration of Christ’s birth. This is the source of Christmas. Christ is true; Christmas is false. Christ is the truth; Christmas is a heresy and a mixture. Over the centuries some books have been written, including The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, to expose the heresies of Roman Catholicism.
What I have told you is the truth concerning the Roman Catholic Church. In the Lord’s recovery we do not teach anything out of the depths of Satan. We teach everything based on the strong word in the Bible. Although we may be attacked by those who are sympathetic toward Catholicism, no one can defeat us, because we have the truth, and the truth will prevail.
In Revelation 3:1-2, speaking to the church in Sardis, a prefigure of the Protestant churches from the time of the Reformation, the Lord Jesus said, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are living, and yet you are dead. Become watchful and establish the things which remain, which were about to die; for I have found none of your works completed before My God.” Here the Lord Jesus said that the Protestant churches are dead and that the things that remain in them are about to die. Today everything in Protestant Christianity is dead or is dying. This is not my word but the word of the Lord Jesus. Then, in Revelation 3:20 the Lord Jesus was knocking on the door of the church in Laodicea, indicating that He was outside the church in Laodicea. Thus, the church in Laodicea, a prefigure of the degraded Brethren assemblies as part of today’s Protestantism, is Christless. This is the actual situation of today’s Christianity. On the one hand, the Protestant churches are dead or are dying in spiritual things. On the other hand, they claim to preach Christ, but they do not have Christ actually living within them. In this sense they are Christless.
The degradation of the church today has become a tide that we, the God-men, must overcome. In the entire Christianity there is a trend of decline, a tide of degradation. According to my observation, over the past thirty years Christianity has been continually going downhill. The most sinful things have been brought into today’s Christianity. Today, because of the degraded situation, many people will not go to certain churches. In many denominations the number of Sunday-goers is decreasing. This is a sign of the tide of the church’s degradation.
The God-men also need to overcome Satan, the accuser of the brothers (12:11a).
In Revelation 2:10b the persecuted saints in the church in Smyrna were charged by the Lord to be faithful unto death. In 12:11b the overcomers overcome Satan, the accuser, because of three things: the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and not loving their soul-life even unto death. We need to overcome the love of the soul-life by sacrificing all the enjoyments, pleasures, and entertainments of the soul. Some of the saints may desire to drive an expensive car, to wear costly clothing, and to live in a magnificent house. This is the enjoyment of the soul in living luxuriously.
The reason we are not willing to go out to knock on doors to save sinners to make them members of Christ may be because we like to rest and do not like to lose our face in being rejected by people. This is the loving of the soul-life.
Very few are willing to pay the price at the cost of sacrificing themselves to take this way. This is why the Lord called this way the narrow way, in contrast to the broad way (Matt. 7:13-14). To overcome the love of the soul-life, the Lord will lead you to have many changes. He will lead you to give up the enjoyments of the soul.
At the end of this age there will be a time of great tribulation (24:21). During this time Antichrist will rise up (Rev. 13:1), and his false prophet also will rise up (v. 11). They will persecute all the children of God (vv. 7, 15). The overcomers must overcome that persecution (15:2; 17:14).
The way for the God-men to be the overcomers is first to love Christ and follow Him (John 21:15-17, 19b). The God-men as the overcomers must also pursue Christ and gain Him (Phil. 3:12-15), and they must be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection (v. 10). In everything we need to be conformed to Christ’s death. In everything we should be crucified. It should be “no longer I,” because the “I” has been crossed out (Gal. 2:20a). In ourselves it is impossible for us to be conformed to Christ’s death. However, we do have the resurrected Christ living within us. We should rely on the power of His resurrection that we may be conformed to His death in everything. Many times I realized that I was not conformed to the Lord’s death in my attitude toward my wife. After speaking just one short sentence in an unpleasant tone, I realized that I was not conformed to the death of Christ. I have repented for such sins nearly every day for many years.
The overcomers also need to live Christ and magnify Him by the bountiful supply of His all-inclusive Spirit (Phil. 1:19-21). Today the Spirit is not only the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who has the bountiful supply for us to live Christ and magnify Christ.
In order to overcome, the God-men also need to live with Christ and labor with Him (Gal. 2:20a; Col. 1:29). Finally, they should not live merely an individual Christian life but must live the Body life, a corporate life, and build up the Body of Christ for the fulfillment of God’s New Testament economy (Eph. 4:12, 16; 1:10).
God has prepared all kinds of blessings in the New Jerusalem. Every part, every aspect, and every item of the New Jerusalem is a blessing prepared by God for His chosen and saved ones. However, God realizes that many of His chosen and saved ones would not be faithful to Him. Hence, He has established the principle of the overcomers. The Lord came in to call the saved ones to overcome all the things that oppose God. Most of the God-called and saved believers would not listen to this call. Therefore, in the millennium the overcoming believers will be rewarded by participating in the enjoyment of the kingdom, but all the defeated ones will miss the reward. Furthermore, because they are not mature in life, God will have to perfect them by disciplining and punishing them during the thousand years. The overcomers will enjoy the blessing of God’s complete salvation one thousand years earlier as a reward. Those who do not overcome will miss the one-thousand-year enjoyment of the blessing of God’s salvation, and they will also be punished by the Lord during that period so that they can be perfected and matured.
Some dear saints do not like to be Christians who take such a narrow way. They may not like it today, but sooner or later the Lord will force them to like it. We have been chosen by Him (1:4; 1 Pet. 1:2); it is not up to us. We must overcome. If we do not overcome today, we will have to overcome tomorrow. In a school all the students must graduate. If they do not study well, they will not graduate with the rest of their class. Nevertheless, eventually they still need to graduate. Therefore, they have to remain in school for another period of time and must be forced to study until they graduate.
In the thousand years of the millennium the items of the eternal blessing of God’s complete salvation will become a reward to the overcomers. In the present age the overcomers dine with the Lord, that is, feast with the Lord, as a reward (Rev. 3:20b). At the earliest appearing of Christ, the overcomers will be given the morning star, signifying the precious Christ in His earliest appearing (2:28).
In the millennial kingdom the overcomers will enter richly into the kingdom of Christ (2 Pet. 1:11; Matt. 19:23; Acts 14:22; 2 Thes. 1:5; Heb. 12:28; James 2:5; cf. 1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) and will partake of the wedding feast of Christ, which will last for one thousand years as a day (Rev. 19:9; Matt. 25:10). They will also have their names confessed before the Father and His angels by the Lord (Rev. 3:5c) and will not have their names erased out of the book of life. To have their names erased out of the book of life in the kingdom age signifies a kind of discipline in the kingdom age (v. 5b). They will not be hurt of the second death. To be hurt of the second death probably signifies also a kind of discipline in the kingdom age (2:11).
In the age of the kingdom the overcoming God-men will be rewarded with the participation in the consummation and enjoyment of the New Jerusalem as the Paradise of God in its initial stage in the millennium (v. 7). The New Jerusalem will have two stages: the initial stage of one thousand years as a reward to the overcomers, and the consummated stage in the new heaven and new earth for eternity for all the completed, perfected, and matured believers.
In the millennium the overcomers will share in the joy of the Lord (Matt. 25:21, 23) and will also be crowned with the crown, the crown of life and the crown of righteousness (Rev. 3:11; 1 Cor. 9:25; Rev. 2:10; James 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:8). They will also sit with the Lord on His throne (Rev. 3:21) and will have authority over the nations (2:26-27). Moreover, they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with Christ (20:4-6; 2 Tim. 2:12) and will eat of the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in its initial stage in the millennial kingdom (Rev. 2:7). The overcomers will also eat the hidden manna (v. 17a) and be clothed with white garments (3:4-5a). They will be pillars in the temple of God and never go out anymore (v. 12a) and will also be given a white stone with a new name written upon it (2:17b). The overcoming God-men will have the name of God and the name of the city of God — the New Jerusalem — and the Lord’s new name written upon them (3:12b). They will be given the responsibilities in the coming kingdom (Matt. 24:47; 25:21a, 23a) and will also enjoy the kingdom rest (Heb. 4:1, 9-11).
In the millennial kingdom the overcomers will enjoy the salvation of the soul, which is the aggregate of all the abovementioned items (Matt. 16:25; Luke 9:24; Heb. 10:39; 1 Pet. 1:9-10). This salvation will be the common portion of all the saints, not in the thousand-year kingdom but in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
After being perfected and matured, the defeated believers will join with the overcoming God-men to enjoy the eternal blessing of God’s complete salvation in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 19:29; Rom. 5:21). That blessing is just the New Jerusalem.
In the enjoyment of God’s complete salvation, the God-men will participate in the holy city — the New Jerusalem — in its consummated stage as their temple — the Triune God Himself — for their dwelling in eternity (Rev. 22:14b; 21:22). They will eat the tree of life (22:14a, 2) and enjoy the spring of life and drink the water of life in the river of life (21:6; 22:1).
In the new heaven and new earth the God-men will have God as their God and be sons of God (21:7). They will also participate in the divine and human marriage life of the processed and consummated Triune God and the transformed and glorified tripartite man (v. 9). This is not the wedding, which will be a reward to the overcomers in the millennium; this is the marriage life of the believers with the Triune God for eternity.
In the New Jerusalem all the God-men will serve God as priests and reign as kings over the nations forever and ever (22:3b, 5b). They will have no curse and no night but will enjoy God’s shining as their light (vv. 3, 5; 21:25, 23).
There are mainly four kinds of “Christians” on the earth today. Some who call themselves Christians are actually not genuine believers but are false, or nominal, Christians. Each kind of “Christian” has a particular destiny.
The first category of “Christians” is the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church as the great Babylon will be burned. This is not my word but the word of the Bible in Revelation 17:5 and 16. There we are told that one day, probably at the beginning of the great tribulation, three and a half years before the one-thousand-year kingdom, God will use Antichrist with his ten kings to execute His judgment on the Catholic Church by burning her utterly with fire.
The second category of “Christians” is the false Christians, the nominal Christians, who are the tares prophesied by the Lord in Matthew 13:38-42. In a number of so-called churches today there are many false Christians, those who claim to be saved but have never been regenerated by the Spirit. A real Christian is one who not only repents unto God but also receives God in Christ into his being by exercising his spirit to receive Christ into his spirit. By so doing, his spirit has a direct contact with Christ as the divine Spirit. This is needed in order for a person to be genuinely saved. Electricity may be installed in a certain building, with all the electrical wires and switches built in. However, the lights in the building will not shine if a connection is not made at the switch so that the electrical current can flow. Once the connection is made, the electrical power operates, and the lights shine. A nominal Christian may agree with all the doctrines concerning Christ and may even repent, yet he has never opened himself in his spirit to receive Christ as the Spirit into his spirit. He has never experienced a spiritual “connection” so that the Spirit as the divine electricity can flow into him.
I was born into Christianity and was educated in Christianity. I heard many doctrines, and I proclaimed to others that I was a Christian. When people opposed Christianity, I contradicted them. But I was not saved until I heard the gospel one afternoon in April 1925 at the age of nineteen. At that time I had a direct contact with God. Unless a person has such a contact with God by his spirit contacting God’s Spirit, he can never be saved.
The false Christians, the tares, in all kinds of churches will be bound into bundles to be burned up in the lake of fire (vv. 30, 40-42). When the Lord comes back, the first thing He will do in executing His judgment is to send His angels to bind up the false Christians into bundles and cast them directly into the lake of fire. They will not need to pass through the judgment at the great white throne mentioned in Revelation 20:11-15. It is terrible to be a false Christian. When the Lord comes back, the false Christians will be the first to be judged. They will be judged at the time of the Lord’s coming, one thousand years before the rest of the unbelievers are judged.
The third category of Christians is the genuine but defeated believers. In 1 Corinthians 3:12 their work and conduct are likened to wood, grass, and stubble, which are good only to be burned. Many genuine Christians are not overcoming but are defeated. At His coming back, the Lord will burn their work and conduct by fire, but the defeated believers themselves will be saved, yet so as through fire (v. 15). Furthermore, they will be disciplined (Matt. 25:30) and transformed to be mature and perfect so that they will be qualified to participate in the New Jerusalem in its consummated stage for eternity. They will have no share in the New Jerusalem in the thousand-year kingdom, but after they are perfected and matured, they will join the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth after the one-thousand-year kingdom.
The fourth category of Christians is the genuine and overcoming believers, the overcomers. In 1 Corinthians 3:12 their work and conduct are likened to gold, silver, and precious stones, which can never be burned. For such a work and conduct they will be rewarded (v. 14; Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:5; Matt. 25:19) to enter into the coming millennial kingdom to reign with the Lord and partake of His joy, as revealed in the above list of their rewards. They will also enjoy the New Jerusalem as their blessing from the Lord as a reward in the thousand years. After the thousand years they will be joined by the God-men perfected in the millennial kingdom in the participation of the final consummation and enjoyment of the New Jerusalem in its consummated stage for eternity.
We need to be not only genuine Christians but also overcoming Christians. I hope that we will all be the overcomers.
