THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Overcomers
Message Two—The Overcomers Typified in the Old Testament
Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:16; Gen. 3:15; 5:21; 14:19; 1 Kings 19:18; Psa. 45:14; S.S. 3:7; Dan. 1:8
I. 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—Exo. 32:26; Rev. 12:5:
A. 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.
B. These strong ones are considered a collective unit fighting the battle for God’s interest and bringing God’s kingdom to earth.
II. The stars [in Genesis 1:16] signify the overcoming saints:
A. The shining of the overcoming saints as the heavenly stars is needed particularly in the time of the church’s degradation—Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 20-21; Dan. 12:3; cf. 1:20.
B. [The greater light-bearer in Genesis 1:16 indicats] the sun, signifying Christ; the overcoming saints were also likened to the sun by the Lord Jesus—Matt. 13:43a; Psa. 136:8.
III. The seed of the woman [in Genesis 3:15] is enlarged to include the overcoming believers, the stronger part of God’s people, signified by the man-child in Rev. 12:5:
A. The Lord as the leading Overcomer is the Head, center, reality, life, and nature of the man-child— Rev. 3:21.
B. The man-child as the following overcomers is the Lord’s Body.
IV. Enoch was delivered from God’s judgment and was taken by God to be an overcomer in that age, even though that generation and everything in it was ungodly, Enoch separated himself to walk with God—Gen. 5:21; Jude 14-15.
V. Because Abraham, an overcomer, had gained the victory over God’s enemies and was standing with God on the earth, God could be referred to not only as the God of heaven but also as the Possessor of heaven and earth—Gen. 14:19, 22; 2 Chron. 36:23; Neh. 1:5; 2:4, 20.
VI. God told Elijah that He had left Himself seven thousand faithful ones in Israel who had not bowed down their knees to Baal and had not kissed him with their mouth; these faithful ones, the overcomers, were still standing on God’s side—1 Kings 19:18.
VII. [In Psalms 45:14,] the virgins signify the overcoming saints, who will be invited to the marriage dinner of Christ—Rev. 19:9.
VIII. In Song of Songs 3, Christ’s lover is among the sixty mighty men, indicating that she is a leading overcomer, fighting for Christ in order to keep Him at rest during the fighting—v. 7:
A. She is the victory of the overcoming Christ, full of the power of the overcomers among God’s elect that carries Christ even in times of difficulties.
B. These overcomers are experts in war, fighting with their weapons at the time of alarms—v. 8; cf. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:10-20; 1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 4:7.
C. [In Song of Songs 6,] when the overcoming lover of Christ becomes one with God to be God’s dwelling place, to the enemy she is as terrible as an army with banners.
1. A terrible army signifies that the overcomers of the Lord terrify God’s enemy, Satan, and become terrible in the eyes of God’s people.
2. This army fights the battle for God’s kingdom in the degradation of God’s people to become the overcomers who answer the Lord’s call—Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21.
3. Eventually, the overcomers will be a bride collectively to marry Christ; after their wedding, this bride will become an army to fight alongside Christ, her Husband, to defeat Antichrist with all his followers—19: 7-9, 11-21.
4. The corporate Christ—Christ with His overcoming bride—will become a great mountain to fill the whole earth, making the whole earth God’s kingdom—Dan. 2:35.
IX. Daniel and his companions became the overcomers among the remnant of God’s defeated elect—1:8:
A. Because of the captivity of God’s elect in Babylon, apparently God was defeated in His interests on earth; actually, He preserved His worship and testimony through the young overcomers.
B. The elect were defeated, but the young overcomers were victorious; their victory was God’s victory; because of this victory God could boast to Satan that in the midst of Babylon, God still had some overcomers who were victorious over Satan’s devices.
C. Eventually, it was through the overcomers among God’s captured elect, such as Daniel and his companions, that God was able to turn the age and bring a remnant of His captured people back to the land of Canaan—see footnote 1 on 1 Kings 19:18.
X. Zion within Jerusalem typifies the body of overcomers, the perfected and matured God-men, within the church as the heavenly Jerusalem—Heb. 12:22; Rev. 14:1-5:
A. Zion typifies the overcomers as the high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, the beauty, and the reality of the church—Psa. 48:2, 11-12; 20:2; 53:6a; 87:2.
B. The overcomers as Zion are the reality of the Body of Christ and consummate the building up of the Body in the local churches to bring in the consummated holy city, New Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies as God’s dwelling place, in eternity—Rev. 21:1-3, 16, 22.
C. In the new heaven and new earth the entire New Jerusalem will become Zion, with all the believers as overcomers—Rev. 21:7 and note 1.
XI. In the millennial kingdom the Jews will be priests on the earth, and the overcoming believers will be priests in the heavens—Isa. 2:2-3; Rev. 20:6.
XII. At that time the holy city, New Jerusalem, will comprise only the overcoming Old Testament and New Testament saints but not the Israelites who will be saved at the Lord’s coming back—Zech. 8:20-23.
Ministry Excerpts:
GOD CALLING THE OVERCOMERS FOR
THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS ECONOMY
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. (Truth Lessons, Level 4, Vol. 1, lsn. 19)
THE OVERCOMING BELIEVERS THE ENLARGED SEED OF THE WOMAN
The seed of the woman is the incarnated Jesus Christ, who as the very God was born of the virgin Mary to be a man, as prophesied in Isa. 7:14, fulfilled in Matt. 1:23, and confirmed in Gal. 4:4. Thus, the promise here indicates that God Himself would come to be a human seed to bruise the head of the damaging serpent. Ultimately, the seed of the woman is enlarged to include the overcoming believers, the stronger part of God’s people, signified by the man-child in Rev. 12:5 (see note 2 there). The man-child, the corporate seed of the woman, includes the Lord Jesus, the individual seed of the woman. Psalm 2:8-9, Rev. 2:26-27, and Rev. 12:5 indicate that the Lord Jesus as God’s Anointed, the overcomers in the churches, and the man-child will rule the nations with an iron rod, thus proving that the Lord Jesus, the overcomers, and the man-child are one. The Lord as the leading Overcomer (Rev. 3:21) is the Head, center, reality, life, and nature of the man-child, and the man-child as the following overcomers is the Lord’s Body. (Gen. 3:15, footnote 3, Recovery version)
THE JUDGMENT OF THE SERPENT WILL BE CARRIED OUT
BY THE OVERCOMERS
The bruising of the serpent’s head by the seed of the woman is the destroying of Satan, the one who has the might of death, by the Lord Jesus through His death on the cross (Heb. 2:14 and note; 1 John 3:8). While the Lord was destroying the serpent on the cross, the serpent bruised His heel, i.e., wounded Him by nailing His feet to the cross (Psa. 22:16).
Through the Lord’s death on the cross, Satan, the old serpent, was judged, cast out (John 12:31; 16:11). That judgment will ultimately be carried out by the overcomers as the man-child, the corporate seed of the woman (Rev. 12:9 and note 1). (Gen. 3:15, footnote 4, Recovery version)
ENOCH TAKEN BY GOD TO BE AN OVERCOMER
After knowing God’s will, Enoch prophesied concerning the flood when he was sixty-five years old. This must have caused him to anticipate the fulfillment of the prophecy and thus walk with God daily. Even though that generation and everything in it was ungodly, Enoch separated himself to walk with God. Finally, he was delivered from God’s judgment and was taken by God to be an overcomer in that age. (Truth Lessons, Level 4, Vol. 1, lsn. 20)
Because Abraham, an overcomer, had gained the victory over God’s enemies and was standing with God on the earth, God could be referred to not only as the God of heaven (2 Chron. 36:23; Neh. 1:5; 2:4, 20) but also as the Possessor of heaven and earth (vv. 19, 22). See note 253 in Matt. 11. (Gen. 14:19, footnote 2, Recovery version)
ELIJAH BEING NOT ALONE
BUT WITH SEVEN THOUSAND FAITHFUL OVERCOMERS
Elijah had told God that the children of Israel had forsaken His covenant, thrown down His altars, and slain His prophets and that he alone was left (v. 14). God told Elijah that He had left Himself seven thousand faithful ones in Israel who had not bowed down their knees to Baal and had not kissed him with their mouth (v. 18). These faithful ones, the overcomers, were still standing on God’s side. Eventually, God punished Israel by sending them away from their fathers’ house as captives. It was the overcomers who brought them back. One of the overcomers, Daniel, prayed with his window open toward Jerusalem. Through his gracious prayer God brought Israel back to their fathers’ land. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 10)
THE OVERCOMING SAINTS BEING KING’S PALACE
Palace signifies that the overcoming saints will enter the New Jerusalem, Christ’s palace (Rev. 3:12), with rejoicing and exultation. This psalm mentions first the abode (v. 13) and then the palace. When Christ becomes our abode, we become His abode—a mutual abode (John 15:4). Because Christ is the King and we are the queen, eventually this mutual abode becomes the palace, signified by the New Jerusalem, which is actually the Triune God wrought into the believers and mingled with them to be one entity, the mutual dwelling of God and His redeemed for eternity (Rev. 21:3, 22 and note 222). (Psa. 45:15, footnote 1, Recovery version)
Verses 16 and 17 [of Psa. 45] praise Christ the King in praising His sons. Here fathers signifies Christ’s forefathers in the flesh, sons signifies the overcomers of Christ as His descendants, and princes signifies the overcomers of Christ as His co-kings, who will reign with Christ over the nations (Rev. 2:26; 20:4, 6).
This psalm [Psalm 45] presents a complete view, a full picture, of Christ’s beauty, which is in Christ Himself (vv. 1-8), as unveiled in the four Gospels; in the church, His wife (vv. 9-15), as revealed in the Epistles; and in all His sons, the overcomers as the princes (vv. 16-17), as seen in Revelation. (Psa. 45:16, footnote 1, Recovery version)
CHRIST’S LOVER BEING A LEADING OVERCOMER
TO FIGHT FOR CHRIST
In the church age the lover of Christ, signified by the bed, and Christ, signified by the one who sleeps in the bed, are in a union of love. The bed is for rest and victory in the night, signifying the church age, during the time of spiritual warfare, signified by the sixty mighty men who surround the bed. Christ’s lover is among the sixty mighty men, indicating that she is a leading overcomer, fighting for Christ in order to keep Him at rest during the fighting. She is the victory of the overcoming Christ, full of the power of the overcomers among God’s elect that carries Christ even in times of difficulties. These overcomers are experts in war, fighting with their weapons at the time of alarms (v. 8; cf. 2 Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:10-20; 1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 4:7). (S.S. 3:7, footnote 1, Recovery version)
THE OVERCOMERS AMONG
THE REMNANT OF GOD’S DEFEATED ELECT
Daniel fought the battle by countering the devil’s temptation with bold rejection (vv. 8-13). God honored Daniel’s fighting (vv. 14-20), and Daniel and his companions became the overcomers among the remnant of God’s defeated elect. Because of the captivity of God’s elect in Babylon, apparently God was defeated in His interests on earth. Actually, He preserved His worship and testimony through the young overcomers. The elect were defeated, but the young overcomers were victorious. Their victory was God’s victory. Because of this victory God could boast to Satan that in the midst of Babylon, God still had some overcomers who were victorious over Satan’s devices. Eventually, it was through the overcomers among God’s captured elect, such as Daniel and his companions, that God was able to turn the age and bring a remnant of His captured people back to the land of Canaan. (Dan. 1:8, footnote 1, Recovery version)