Long before the “miracle on ice” in which the 1980 United States hockey team beat the powerful Soviet Olympic machine, there was David and Goliath.
The Bible gets a lot of its reputation from the stories of little people who won against big odds.
But what if we are one of the countless underdogs who don’t win?
Even more importantly, what are we to think when, in the last book of the Bible, we find the resurrected Christ promising everlasting life only to those who overcome the challenges facing them (Rev 2-3)?
The warnings of these two chapters make it sound like our eternal life depends on whether we renew our first love (2:1-7); overcome our fears (2:8-11); resist compromise (2:12-17); remove error from our churches (2:18-29); remain spiritually alert (3:1-6); strengthen our weaknesses (3:7-13); and avoid the mistake of thinking we are so blessed that we have no needs (3:14-22).
But how could the last book in the Bible make overcoming a condition for our eternal well-being when so much of the New Testament emphasizes that we are not saved by our own accomplishments– but rather by believing in what Christ has done for us (John 3:16; Rom 4:5; Eph 2:8-10, Titus 3:5)?
What Do We Need to See?
First, it’s important to see how the Apostle John views those who have entrusted themselves to Christ. In his introduction to the Revelation he doesn’t write as if followers of Jesus are in a “probationary” relationship. Instead he writes, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever” (Revelation 1:5-6). By making his triumphal affirmation in the past tense, John makes it clear that he is addressing people who have already been forgiven and welcomed into a special relationship with God.
With this introduction in mind, it’s also important to remember what the Apostle John had explained about overcomers years earlier in his first New Testament letter. Long before his exile to the remote island of Patmos (Rev 1:9-11), John had written, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5).
So why then would the resurrected Christ make it sound like we need to overcome the odds against us– to be with him forever (Rev 2-3)?
This must be our Lord’s way of helping us to see that, unless we depend on Him to overcome on our behalf, we have no real basis for confidence or hope.
All of the overcoming that matters must be done by Christ– first for us (to give us a spiritual birth into his family), and then through us (for our spiritual growth).
Thankfully, no one loves an underdog as much as Christ does. And no one has done as much to assure victory for those of us who entrust ourselves to Him, knowing that we could never win with God on our own merits.
If you have a moment now or later… I hope you’ll join the conversation by logging in and making a comment about what the resurrected Christ was saying about those who do or don’t “overcome.”
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