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In this lesson we will see the prophecies in the Bible concerning the overcoming believers receiving their reward.
The Christian life plus the church life is an overcoming life. Overcoming begins when people believe into the Lord. The entire universe is against people believing in the Lord; hence, to believe in the Lord is a real overcoming. Through their faith in the Son of God and the overcoming life in them, believers can live a life that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4-5), the evil one (2:13-14), antichrist (4:3-4), and all the fallen situations of the degraded church (Rev. 2:4, 6, 13-15, 20, 24; 3:1, 15, 17). Even though the enemy’s attack and corruption brought in the church’s decline, the Lord continually sounds out the call to the church to overcome during this time of the church’s degradation and desolation. In order to maintain and continue the church’s work as the Lord’s testimony so that the church can be restored to her original condition, there is a great need for some to overcome the church’s degraded situation. The Lord yearns for this. According to the prophecies in the New Testament, the overcomers will be rewarded by the Lord in the kingdom age.
In the coming kingdom the overcoming believers will reign with Christ. Revelation 20:4 says, “They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years,” and verse 6 says, “They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” Furthermore, in 2 Timothy 2:12 Paul says, “If we endure, we will also reign with Him.” These verses indicate that in the coming age the overcoming believers, who are living in the reality of the kingdom today, will reign with Christ as co-kings and be priests of God and of Christ.
A crown is a symbol of glory. In the New Testament a crown always denotes a prize in addition to salvation (1 Cor. 9:25). The overcomers who reign with Christ will receive many crowns, including the crown of righteousness, the unfading crown of glory, the crown of life, and the incorruptible crown.
In 2 Timothy 4:8 Paul says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense me in that day, and not only me but also all those who have loved His appearing.” The crown of righteousness and the righteous Judge in this verse show that in contrast to salvation, which is of grace and by faith (Eph. 2:5, 8-9), receiving the prize is of righteousness through works (Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12; 2 Cor. 5:10). Moreover, such a prize will be given to all those who love the Lord’s appearing. The Lord’s appearing, His coming back, is a warning, an encouragement, and an incentive to the believers. If the believers love the Lord’s appearing and look forward to it with earnest expectation and joy, they will receive the crown of righteousness.
First Peter 5:4 says, “When the Chief Shepherd is manifested, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” In Peter’s time crowns were given to victors in athletic games (1 Cor. 9:25; 2 Tim. 4:8). However, those were corruptible crowns, whose glory faded. The crown given to the overcomers as a reward will have an unfading glory. This glory will be the overcomers’ enjoyment in the manifestation of the kingdom of God and of Christ (2 Pet. 1:11).
In Revelation 2:10 the Lord Jesus said to the church in Smyrna, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” The crown of life, as a prize to those who are faithful unto death in overcoming persecution, denotes the overcoming strength that is the power of the resurrection life (Phil. 3:10). It also denotes that the overcomers have attained to the out-resurrection from the dead (v. 11), that is, the outstanding resurrection.
In 1 Corinthians 9:25 Paul says, “Everyone who contends exercises self-control in all things; they then, that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible.” The incorruptible crown, which the Lord will award to His overcoming saints who win the race, is a reward in addition to salvation. Believers in the Lord have all received His eternal salvation through faith in Him. But whether they will be rewarded by Him depends on how they run the race. Believers need to run until the last moment of the race to have the assurance that they will be rewarded by the Lord at His appearing. In view of this prize Paul charged the believers to run the race that they might obtain the reward (v. 24).
In Revelation 3:21 the Lord Jesus said, “He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with my Father on His throne.” To sit with the Lord on His throne will be a prize to the overcomers that they may participate in the Lord’s authority and be co-kings with Him in ruling over the whole earth in the coming millennial kingdom.
In Matthew 25:21-23 the master says to the faithful slaves, “I will set you over many things.” In the coming manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, the overcomers will receive authority to rule over and shepherd the nations. As a prize, the Lord will set the overcomers over the nations. In Revelation 2:26-27 the Lord Jesus said, “He who overcomes and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he will shepherd them with an iron rod, as vessels of pottery are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father.” According to Psalm 2:9 God gave Christ authority to rule over the nations. In the coming kingdom Christ will give the same authority to the overcomers. In Luke 19:17-19 the Lord promised in a prophecy that the believers who are faithful in their service in this age will receive authority to reign over the nations in the coming age; this is the authority over five cities or ten cities. Furthermore, these verses also indicate that the overcoming believers’ reigning in the coming kingdom as a reward will differ in extent. In addition, according to the prophecy in Revelation 12:5 the man-child “is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.” In the millennial kingdom the ruler will be a shepherd. This indicates that Christ’s authority—the iron rod—will be given to the overcomers for them to shepherd in the millennial kingdom.
In the coming kingdom the overcomers will gain their soul and enjoy the salvation of their soul. In Matthew 10:39 the Lord Jesus said, “He who finds his soul-life shall lose it, and he who loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it.” To find the soul-life is to allow the soul to have its enjoyment and to escape suffering. To lose the soul-life is to cause the soul to lose its enjoyment and thereby to suffer. If the believers in Christ are loose or indifferent in following the Lord, loving their soul, and allowing it to have its enjoyment in this age, they will cause their soul to suffer the loss of its enjoyment in the coming age, and they will have the weeping and the gnashing of teeth as a sign of the suffering of their soul. If they allow their soul to suffer the loss of its enjoyment in this age for the Lord’s sake, they will cause their soul to have its enjoyment in the coming kingdom age, that is, to share the Lord’s joy in ruling over the earth. In Matthew 25 the master twice says, “Enter into the joy of your master” (vv. 21, 23). When the Lord comes back, Satan will be bound, and the earth will be recovered by Christ and will be under His reign. By repossessing the earth, and the Lord will have His enjoyment. Then He will invite His followers to participate in this enjoyment, to enter into His joy.
In the kingdom the overcomers will have no problems, sorrows, or sufferings in their soul, for at that time they will save their soul and will enjoy the salvation of their soul (Luke 9:24). The “salvation ready to be revealed at the last time,” in 1 Peter 1:5, is the end of the believers’ faith, the salvation of their soul (v. 9). The soul of the overcomers will be saved from the realm of sufferings into a realm of comfort, that is, into the full enjoyment of the Lord at His unveiling, His coming back.
In the manifestation of the kingdom the overcoming believers in Christ will participate in the kingdom feast with the overcoming saints in the Old Testament, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is promised by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 8:11: “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will recline at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens.” The overcomers will drink the cup of the new covenant anew with the Lord when they participate in the feast of the kingdom of the heavens, just as the Lord said when He established the table on the earth, “I shall by no means drink of this product of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of My Father” (26:29). This word indicates that from the time the Lord established His table, He would be physically away from the believers and not drink the fruit of the vine with them until He drinks anew the cup of the new covenant with the overcoming believers in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, that is, the kingdom of the Father.
In the coming kingdom the overcomers will rule over all the possessions of the Lord as a reward (24:47).
Ephesians 5:5 implies that some believers will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God (cf. 1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21). The kingdom of Christ is the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 16:28); it is also the kingdom of God (13:41, 43). The kingdom of Christ and of God refers to the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming millennium. The overcomers will inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God so that they can enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens (5:20; 7:21; 2 Tim. 4:18). Believers have been regenerated into the kingdom of God (John 3:5), and in the church life they are living in the kingdom of God today (Rom. 14:17). However, only those who overcome will participate in the kingdom of Christ and of God in the coming age, that is, in the manifestation of the kingdom in the millennium. The defeated believers will have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God in the coming age.
The millennium will be the kingdom in a way that is more practical than what we are experiencing in the church today. Only in the millennium will the kingdom of Christ become the kingdom of God. When Paul speaks of inheriting the kingdom of God, he does not mean merely to enter the kingdom. This is to receive the kingdom as a reward for our enjoyment. The coming kingdom will be a joyful inheritance to the overcomers. This should be an incentive for the believers to live an overcoming life. The believers referred to in Ephesians 5:5, those who practice the fleshly works in Galatians 5:19-21, and those who do the unrighteous deeds in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 will not inherit the kingdom of God as a reward.
Moreover, if believers want to inherit the kingdom, they need to love God. James 2:5 says, “Listen, my beloved brothers: Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He promised to those who love Him?” The kingdom here is the kingdom of God; it is also the kingdom of Christ, which will be inherited by the lovers of God as their reward. Second Peter 1:11 says, “In this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly and bountifully supplied to you.” This verse clearly indicates that the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is eternal (Dan. 7:13-14). This kingdom will be manifested at His coming back (Luke 19:11-12). It will be a reward to His faithful believers, who pursue the growth in His life unto maturity and the development of the virtues of His nature that in the millennium they may participate in His kingship in God’s glory (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:4, 6).
The overcomers will be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Glory is God expressed. Christ, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27), was sown as the seed of glory into the believers at the time of their regeneration and is now growing. When this seed reaches the stage of blossoming, it is the time of manifesting glory. For the believers to be glorified with Christ means that the glory within the believers will be expressed; that is, the believers will be brought into the full expression of the Triune God. This is the issue of the believers’ maturity in life. If the believers suffer with Christ today, they will also be glorified with Him in the future. The degree of their suffering will determine the degree of glory. The more suffering, the brighter the glory will be. Ultimately, the strength of the believers’ glory depends on the degree of their sufferings. However, Paul clearly saw that the sufferings of the present time were not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed upon the believers (Rom. 8:18). Moreover, the momentary lightness of our affliction today works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17). Compared to the coming glory, the present suffering is indeed momentary and light and means nothing.
The overcomers will inherit eternal life in the millennium (Matt. 19:29). To inherit eternal life is to be rewarded in the coming age with a fuller enjoyment of the divine life in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens (Luke 18:29-30). Some believers have received eternal life and enjoy eternal life to a certain extent; however, they have not enjoyed it to the proper level. As a result, when the Lord Jesus comes back and the kingdom is manifested, they will lose the fuller enjoyment of the eternal life in that age. However, the overcomers will participate in the coming kingdom, inheriting eternal life and having a fuller enjoyment of the divine life. Hence, they will be the first to receive the full enjoyment of eternal life. This will be their reward.
In the millennium the names of the overcomers will remain in the book of life (Rev. 3:5). The book of life is a divine record of the names of those who partake of the blessings that God has prepared for them. The names of all the saints chosen by God and predestinated to partake of these blessings are written in this book (Luke 10:20). These blessings are in three stages: the church, the millennial kingdom, and eternity. The blessings in the stage of the church, such as forgiveness, redemption, regeneration, eternal life, and the divine nature, are all the initial portions. All God’s chosen ones whose names are written in the book of life have a share in these initial portions to begin their spiritual life. If they mature in life in the church age, this earlier maturity in life will constitute a prize to be rewarded to them. However, those who do not mature in life in the church age will not be able to enter into the millennial kingdom at the Lord’s coming back. Therefore, during the millennial kingdom their names will be erased from the book of life. After being disciplined by the Lord and growing in life unto maturity during the millennial kingdom, their names will be written in the book of life again so that they may share in the blessing of eternity. Therefore, in the coming kingdom age only the names of those believers who live an overcoming life in the church age will remain in the book of life.
Since the overcomers will inherit eternal life in the millennial kingdom, they will not be hurt by the second death (Rev. 2:11). Because of the fall and the entering in of sin, every man must die once (Heb. 9:27). This first death, however, is not the final settlement. At the close of the millennium, that is, at the conclusion of the old heaven and old earth, all the dead unbelievers will be resurrected and will pass through the judgment of the great white throne. As a result of this judgment, they will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death as the final settlement (Rev. 20:11-15). Since the overcomers will have overcome death through their faithfulness unto death, they will require no further dealing by God after their resurrection. They will be resurrected before the millennium to be rewarded with the crown of life and will no longer be touched by death. This means that they will not be hurt by the second death.
The overcomers will eat of the fruit of the tree of life in the paradise of God—the New Jerusalem (2:7). Strictly speaking, to eat of the tree of life in the Paradise of God refers to the particular enjoyment of Christ as our life supply in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom, because this is a promise of reward made by the Lord to His overcomers. The enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth will be the common portion of all God’s redeemed people, whereas the particular enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom is a dispensational reward given only to the overcoming believers.
The overcomers will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matthew 13:43 says, “The righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Daniel 12:3 also speaks of the same thing: “Those who have insight will shine like the shining of the heavenly expanse, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars, forever and ever.” The righteous, who shine forth like the sun, are the sons of the kingdom (Matt. 13:38, 43). According to Matthew 5:20 these sons of the kingdom will have the surpassing righteousness. They will be righteous to such an extent that their entire being will shine. This righteousness is the indwelling Christ lived out of them. Today the believers shine like a lamp (vv. 14-16), but in the coming millennial kingdom the overcomers will not only enjoy the Father as the light but will also shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
The overcomers will enjoy the great reward which is in the heavens. In Matthew 5:11-12 the Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they reproach and persecute you, and while speaking lies, say every evil thing against you because of Me. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” This reward is great and is in the heavens. Hebrews 10:35 says, “Do not cast away therefore your boldness, which has great reward.” The reward spoken of here is the kingdom reward to be given to the overcomers for their enjoyment in the coming kingdom, not in this age. Today in the church life the kingdom is an exercise. If the believers are faithful in the kingdom exercise today and do not cast away their boldness, they will be rewarded with the kingdom as an enjoyment in the coming age.
Finally, the overcomers in the church will become the New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom. Revelation 3:12 reveals that the overcomers will be pillars built into the temple of God. Because they are built into God’s building, they shall by no means go out anymore. That the name of God (God Himself), the name of the New Jerusalem (the city itself), and the Lord’s new name (the Lord Himself) are written upon the overcomers indicates that the overcomers are possessed by God, by the New Jerusalem, and by the Lord. This also shows that what God is, the nature of the New Jerusalem, and the person of the Lord have all been wrought into the overcomers as a prize to them in the millennial kingdom.
The Christian life plus the church life is an overcoming life. Overcoming begins when people believe into the Lord. Through their faith in the Son of God and the overcoming life in them, the believers can live an overcoming life. According to the prophecies in the New Testament, the overcomers will be rewarded by the Lord in the kingdom age. They will reign with Christ in the millennium and receive the crown of righteousness, the unfading crown of glory, the crown of life, and the incorruptible crown. They will sit with Christ on the throne and have authority to rule over the nations. They will also gain their souls, enjoy the salvation of their souls, and share in the joy of their Master. They will participate in the kingdom feast with the overcoming saints in the Old Testament, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord will set them over all His possessions. They will also inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God, be glorified with Christ, and inherit the eternal life. They will be the first people to receive the full enjoyment of eternal life. Their names remain in the book of life, they will not be hurt of the second death, and they will eat of the tree of life in the Paradise of God. The overcomers will also shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Because they are faithful in the kingdom exercise and do not cast away their boldness, they will receive the great reward which is in the heavens. Eventually, they will become the New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom. What God is, the nature of the New Jerusalem, and the person of the Lord will be fully wrought into the overcomers as a prize to them in the millennium.
