There is an important understanding that is necessary regarding overcoming. Overcoming
in the Bible does not mean that you always get out of trials or conquer the
trials by surviving them physically. For
us today, especially as Americans, overcoming is equated with winning. You overcome the odds, and win the Super
Bowl. You win the game by overcoming and
making the game winning shot.
In the New Testament overcoming can be a reference to dying well. In 2 Timothy 4.6 Paul says he is being poured
out as a drink offering and that the time of his departure from this earth is
at hand. In verse 7 he states that he
has fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. Paul goes on to say, “The Lord will rescue me
from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him
be glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18). There is no suggestion, and there never has
been, that Paul was anticipating being raptured to heaven before he was killed. Thus being rescued “from every evil attack”
is not a reference to Paul being raptured.
“The Lord will rescue me” meant there was no evil deed that would happen
to Paul which could make him deny his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Rather, Paul sees death as the means through
which he is rescued from evil and brought safely into Christ’s heavenly
kingdom.
Hebrews 11 holds up great people of faith; some
accomplished great feats through the power of the Lord. However, the list
starts with a person who was killed and ends with people of whom the world is
not worthy, who wandered in caves and were sawn in two. By faith some people
stopped the mouths of lions, and by the same faith some people died well.
In Revelation 2:10-11 the one who is faithful in the midst
of tribulation until death is the one who overcomes. They are the ones who
conquer and are given the crown of life.
Thus, a person who “overcomes” is one whose faith is not shattered to the
point where they deny Christ in order to get out of the testing or trials. The “one who overcomes” prefers death over
denying Christ as the means of finding release from the trials. For after all, Christ has overcome death and
he will bring us safely into his kingdom (1 Corinthians 15).
Now we don’t live in Egypt or Pakistan or North Korea. Death for our faith is not likely to happen. For us it is more ridicule and the temptation
to do ungodly actions and attitudes to get out of the midst of the trials that
we are in. For us it is
more the temptation to act like non-Christians to get ahead.
May we, with the power of the Holy
Spirit, be overcomers in this life.
Pastor Stephen