Real Overcomers

There are many people today who feel very strongly about the need to become an overcomer. The book of Revelation that prophecies about the intense events that are even now beginning to take place on this planet bringing the history of this world as we know it to a catastrophic end, repeatedly talks about those who are overcomers. Over and over in His messages and warnings to the seven churches right near the beginning of Revelation Jesus addresses messages of hope to “him who overcomes”.

It becomes quite apparent when studying Revelation seriously that if one is not willing to take these messages about being an overcomer seriously that they will be eternally lost. This is not an option for those who want to spend eternity with God, it is an absolute requirement and necessity.

But like pretty much every other religious term from the Bible, the true meaning of what it means to be an overcomer has often been largely obscured by skewed pictures of what God is like and mistaken notions about how to be righteous. Legalism particularly has distorted our assumptions about what it means to be an overcomer and has kept millions of people stuck in a mode of trying to achieve some high level of “righteousness” in order to earn God's favor and gain entrance into heaven. Even though many of them would deny that they are doing it for these reasons because that is clearly against the teachings of the gospel, deep in their heart can be found that this is their real motives.

This group of people generally share a definition of what it means to be an overcomer that is based on some sort of performance checklist by which to measure how close they are to being perfect. I know, I have spent my whole life living among many of these kinds of people and have wasted many years myself trying to measure up through every means possible to high standards set down for me by others who were always seeking to create ever-changing lists of rules and requirements needed to become perfect in order to be ready for Jesus to come.

This mindset is subtly woven through many phrases tossed around that outsiders might never pick up on if they are not privy to all the expectations of the insiders. Subjects like the Second Coming of Jesus take on great terror in the heart because phrases like “developing Christian character” or “we need to get ready for Jesus to come” have implicit within them the connotation that one has to perfect their character through hard work and the elimination of every last sin from the life in order to be ready and acceptable for Jesus to save.

All of this and much more was wrapped up in the term “overcomer” and so this word for most of my life has not exactly been a positive word that was very attractive to me.

But not long ago someone pointed out to me that they believed this word actually had a very different flavor to it than what we grew up thinking. Sometimes when you switch a word around internally you can discover surprising meanings that help to explain it in a very new and refreshing way. In this case the meaning of overcomer can at least partially be seen more clearly by considering it as one who comes over. And when this is compared with many other Scriptures (which is how all interpretation should be arrived at) it really makes a lot of sense.

Jesus when speaking from the very center of the gospel said that anyone who would come to Him would receive rest. (Matt. 11:28) We are nearing the climax of a titanic controversy that has been going on for thousands of years at least. But it is not going to last much longer because the great trial of God that is at the center of this controversy is nearly finished. Most of the evidence has been presented except for the last final violent attempt by evil to extinguish God's people from all the earth just before Jesus returns to rescue them. This will be a time when evil fully matures and it will be the ugliest time ever seen in all of history according to the prophecies in Daniel. (Dan. 12:1)

In this great controversy we all have to be on one side or the other. There is simply no other option: we are either going to be controlled by God and His angels and be trained to be authentic and truthful witnesses about what God is really like, or we are going to be dominated and manipulated by Satan and his angels to pervert the truth about God and promote the lies about Him that have permeated nearly everything that is believed on this earth.

Our part is to choose which side we are going to stand on and which side is going to shape our characters. Many will firmly and sincerely believe that they are on God's side while actually living for the enemy because they refuse to surrender absolutely everything in their life and heart to the control of Jesus. They may look and feel religious and may teach and preach from the Bible and may promote all kinds of wonderful teachings that may even bring others to a saving knowledge of God. But if their own heart is not fully submitted to the influence of God's true Spirit then they will actually become undercover agents of Satan living and operating within God's people and not even realize they are doing so. But if they cling to any selfish desires and refuse to allow God full access to every area of their heart this will be their final stance.

But those who in the end are going to be seen as God's true witnesses are those who accept Jesus' invitation to come over to His side and believe the real truth about God as it has been revealed in the life of His Son. As they surrender every area of their life to His control He has promised that He will come over to them and will dwell inside of them and live out the very life of God from within their heart. This is the only way that anyone will ever live a truly righteous life – when the only righteous One lives inside a fallen human being making them a reflection of the perfect love and goodness of the God that is dwelling within.

When I come to this word overcomer from this perspective it suddenly has a radically different connotation than how I have perceived it most of my life. Now when I hear the term overcomer I can remember that to be transformed into the likeness of God means that I must focus my attention on knowing His heart so intimately that His character will simply glow out of my life more and more clearly as I see Him more fully. This is the authentic life of an overcomer.

And what brought this to my attention this morning? It was the interesting reminders of this in the story I am studying about the Samaritan woman who had a most amazing encounter with Jesus at a well. As I am now beginning to see it, this story is a wonderful example of the real way a person becomes an overcomer. This woman actually became an overcomer and a very effective witness for Jesus (which is the same thing) because she chose to come over to Jesus' side and trust in His promises to give her living water and ravish her heart with new hope and life and love as her Messiah.

Compellingly the almost immediate results of her becoming an overcomer was that her whole town decided to come as well. Note what the text says about this.

"Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. (John 4:29-30)

It is hard to describe the relief and peace that belief in this new definition of the word overcomer can bring to me. Years of heavy baggage and religious works suddenly fall like ashes as I see that God is really inviting me to let Him overcome sin by living in me instead of expecting me to make myself perfect with a lot of assistance from Him. It is true that my life will become more and more like His perfect life as I allow Him full access to my heart. But trying to overcome sin and perfect myself through all sorts of formulas, effort, fear, lists and religious exercises will never even begin to make me righteous and ready for Jesus to take me home.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him 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." (Revelation 12:10-11)

The blood of Jesus, as I am now beginning to see it more clearly, is the proof to my heart that nothing can separate me from the love of God except my own choice to resist it. When Jesus allowed sinners and demons to destroy His human life through torture and crucifixion, the blood that was extracted from His body and His heart was the ultimate proof that there is nothing so wicked, evil, violent and hateful that anyone could ever dream up and do to the Son of God to get Him to quit loving them or choose to quit forgiving them. This was the ultimate demonstration of the character of God, the ultimate contrast between how good God really is and how bad sin is at its core.

As I come to really perceive and appreciate deeply the real truth about God as revealed in Jesus, it is the evidence of His blood that transforms me and turns me into an overcomer – one who chooses to step over and be identified on the side of Jesus because of the overwhelming love seen in Him. And as I choose to come over to Jesus' side my testimony, the witness of both my life and my words, will become reflective of the real truth about God. My witness will be part of the evidence entered into court and will be presented in favor of God's claims about His character to refute the lies and all the false witnesses of those who choose to believe the father of lies and the accuser of the brethren.