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The salvation that the believers receive in Christ is a free gift; it is eternal and unchangeable in nature (Heb. 5:9; John 10:28-29). Hence, the salvation of the believers has nothing to do with their works (Eph. 2:8-9). Nevertheless, the New Testament reveals that among saved believers there is still a difference between being defeated and overcoming. In this lesson and in the following lesson we will see the New Testament prophecies concerning the punishment to be received by the defeated believers and the reward to be received by the overcoming believers.
According to the revelation in the Bible, the principle of God’s work among His people is to first gain a few people so that His intention may be worked into many people. This is the principle of the overcomers. History has proven that whether in the age of the patriarchs, the age of law, or the age of grace, only a few among God’s people were strong. These strong ones are considered a collective unit fighting the battle for God’s interest and bringing God’s kingdom to earth.
God’s original intention in His New Testament economy is to have the church as His corporate expression. The commission of the church on the earth is to uphold and testify the victorious Christ. However, the enemy persecuted and damaged the church so that the church became defeated and degraded. After the church was defeated, God called a small number of faithful ones to be His overcomers to bear the responsibility of the church, which the church failed to bear, and to restore the church to God’s original intention. What the Lord wants the overcomers to do is what the whole church should have done in God’s economy. God called the overcomers so that they may stand in place of the church for the accomplishment of God’s economy.
The believers’ defeat and overcoming before the Lord will not be manifested until they are before the judgment seat of Christ. Second Corinthians 5:10 prophesies, “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done through the body according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad.” This judgment is not concerning the believers’ eternal salvation but concerning their dispensational reward (1 Cor. 4:4-5; 3:13-15). The believers whose Christian living and works are approved by the Lord are the overcomers. The reward they will receive from Him in the kingdom age is an incentive to them. The believers whose Christian living and works are not approved by the Lord are the defeated ones. Even though they will not lose their eternal salvation, they will suffer the loss of the dispensational reward and will be disciplined and perfected in the kingdom age (1 Cor. 3:8, 14-15; Matt. 25:21, 23).
The believers who are not perfected and not matured in the church age will be perfected in the age of the millennium. The means by which they are perfected is the Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline. This discipline is for the slothful ones who did not apply the sufficient grace of the Lord, did not enjoy this grace, and did not take this grace as their portion in the church age, the age of grace. Hence, they still need the Lord’s loving discipline in the coming age so that they can be perfected.
Hebrews 12:6 says, “Whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” The Lord’s discipline toward the believers is not only in this age but also in the coming millennium. Since the age of the millennium is still part of the old heaven and old earth, the Father still deals with His children in the kingdom age by means of dispensational and governmental discipline to perfect them. In Revelation 3:19 the Lord says, “As many as I love I reprove and discipline.” The Greek word translated love in this verse means “to love intimately.” This clearly indicates that the defeated believers still belong to the Lord as His children and that the Lord’s discipline is out of love.
Today many Christians disregard the need for maturity. However, since the believers are selected, called, redeemed, and regenerated by God, He will not let them go. If they do not have the real experience and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ and His unsearchable riches in the church age, they will not be transformed and perfected. Thus, the Lord will have to use the millennial age to perfect them.
In Matthew 7:21 the Lord said, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.” In this verse entering into the kingdom of the heavens refers to entering into the manifestation of the coming kingdom—the millennium. For the believers to have a part in the millennium, they need to do the will of the heavenly Father. If the believers do not do the will of the heavenly Father, they will be considered as workers of lawlessness. The Lord will declare to them: “I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (v. 23). Never knew means “never approved.” The Lord never approved those who prophesied, cast out demons, and did many works of power in His name (v. 22) but did those things not according to the will of the heavenly Father (v. 21). The Lord did not deny that they did those things, but He considered those things lawlessness because they were not done according to the will of the heavenly Father; they were not done in line with the divine will. Luke 13:27 says that the Lord called these people “workers of unrighteousness.” They will not enter into the kingdom of the heavens but will depart from the Lord and will not participate in the glory of the kingdom. This means that they will be excluded from the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming age and will not receive the kingdom reward.
In the same principle, in the parable of the virgins in Matthew 25 the Lord did not approve the foolish virgins (v. 12). The foolish virgins had lighted lamps, went forth to meet the Lord, died, and were resurrected and raptured, but were late in paying the price for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Because of this the Lord would not recognize them, approve them, for participation in His wedding feast. They do not lose their eternal salvation, but they miss this dispensational reward.
In the coming kingdom age the gift that the defeated believers received from the Lord in the church age will be taken away. In the parable of the faithful slaves in Matthew 25, the Lord not only rebukes the evil and slothful slave but also takes away the talent from him and gives it to him who has the ten talents. This is because “to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he shall abound; but from him who does not have, even that which he has shall be taken away from him” (v. 29.) To everyone who gains profit in the church age, more gifts will be given in the coming kingdom age; but concerning the one who has not gained a profit by using his gift in the church age, even the gift that he has will be taken away from him in the coming kingdom age (13:12; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18).
In the age of the millennium the Lord will give dispensational and governmental discipline to the believers who are not mature; this includes cutting them off from the glory of the kingdom (Matt. 24:51; Luke 12:46). The evil slave in Matthew 24 does not expect the Lord’s coming. He does not like to live the kind of life that prepares for the Lord’s coming: he mistreats his fellow believers, and he keeps company with worldly people, who are drunk with worldly things. Therefore, at the Lord’s coming back he will be cut asunder and appointed a portion with the hypocrites (vv. 48-51; Luke 12:45-46).
To be cut asunder refers to being cut off from the glorious Christ, from the glory of His kingdom, and from His glorious presence in His kingdom, unable to participate in Christ and the glory of His kingdom in the manifestation of the kingdom. The overcomers will be called to enter into glory to enjoy the Lord, but the defeated ones will be cast outside of this glory. To be in glory will be a reward, but to be cast outside of glory is a kind of punishment. This is the discipline that immature believers will receive in the coming age. The believers being cut asunder is to be cut off from their enjoyment of the organic union with the Lord.
After a person believes in the Lord, he is put into an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). For a believer to be baptized into the name of the Triune God is to be brought into an organic union with the Triune God so that he can have a portion in God, partake of God, and enjoy God. By enjoying the Triune God in the organic union, the believer will be transformed and perfected, ready to be received into the enjoyment in the millennium at the Lord’s coming back. However, the defeated believers will be cut off from the enjoyment of the organic union in the kingdom age. This means that they will be cut off from the enjoyment of the Lord. This corresponds to the branches being cut off from the vine in John 15. Even though the defeated believers will be cut off from the Lord, from His presence, from His fellowship, and from His realm of glory, they will not perish eternally but will be chastened dispensationally during the coming age of the kingdom. The goal of this chastening and punishment is that the believers would be perfected.
After the immature believers are cut asunder, cut off from their organic union with the Lord, they will be cast out into the outer darkness, which is the darkness outside the bright glory in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, where they will weep and gnash their teeth. Weeping indicates regret, and gnashing the teeth indicates self blame. To be cast out into the outer darkness is not to be cast into the lake of fire after the millennium to perish eternally (Rev. 20:15); it is to be dealt with dispensationally. In the coming kingdom age the overcoming believers will be with Christ in the bright glory of the kingdom (Col. 3:4), whereas the defeated believers will suffer discipline in outer darkness (Matt. 8:12). They will be disqualified from participating in the enjoyment of the kingdom during the millennium, for not having lived an overcoming life by Christ. Because these believers have no part in the wedding feast, they cannot enter into the joy of their Master, and there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth due to the loss of the higher commission (22:13; 25:21, 23, 30.) This will be a sign of their suffering the dispensational and governmental discipline of the Lord.
In 1 Corinthians 3:15 Paul says, “If anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” He will suffer loss indicates loss of reward, not of salvation. The believers whose Christian works are not approved by the judging Lord are still saved yet so as through fire. Through fire does not refer to purgatory, which is heretically taught by Catholicism in its superstitious misinterpretation of this verse; rather, it indicates a dispensational punishment to perfect the believers in the millennium.
In the age of grace today the Lord is always upholding the believers and supplying them with rich grace so that they would enjoy this grace, be edified, transformed, and perfected. If the believers are faithful, they will become overcomers to enter into the Lord’s joy in the coming age. But if they are defeated, they will be disciplined by Him in the coming age so that they may be perfected. Those who overcome in the age of grace will receive the Lord’s reward in the coming age, be in His presence in glory, and even reign with Him. But for those who are not perfected in the age of grace, the millennium will be the time for their discipline. In order to be suitable to enter into the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth, the believers who are not mature need to be disciplined in the coming age in order to be perfected. This truth is truly a solemn warning to all Christians.
The salvation that the believers receive in Christ is a free gift. It is eternal and unchangeable in nature. Nevertheless, among saved believers there is still the difference between being defeated and overcoming. Throughout the ages the principle of God’s work among His people is to first gain a few people so that His intention may be worked into many people. This is the principle of the overcomers. As an incentive, the overcoming believers will receive a reward from the Lord in the kingdom age. Defeated believers will not lose their eternal salvation, but they will suffer the loss of the dispensational reward and will be disciplined and perfected in the kingdom age. The Lord disciplines those whom He loves. Since the age of the millennium is still part of the old heaven and old earth, the Father still deals with His children in the kingdom age by means of dispensational and governmental discipline to perfect them.
In the kingdom age the defeated believers will depart from the Lord because of the Lord’s disapproval; they will not participate in the glory of the kingdom. This means that they will be excluded from the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming age and will not receive the kingdom reward. If they have not gained a profit by using their gift in the church age, even the gift that they have will be taken away from them in the coming kingdom age. They will also be cut off from the glory of the kingdom and from their enjoyment of the organic union with the Lord. They will be cast into the outer darkness. Because these believers will have no part in the wedding feast, they cannot enter into the joy of their Master, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth due to the loss of the higher commission. They will also suffer loss as through fire.
If the believers are faithful in the age of grace today, they will become overcomers to enter into the joy of the Lord. However, if they are defeated, they will be disciplined by the Lord in the coming age so that they may be perfected. In order to be suitable to enter into the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth, the believers who are not mature need to be disciplined in the coming age to be perfected. This truth is truly a solemn warning to all Christians.
