Overcomers

Ever since writing about the beast system - and then teaching it at our Erev Shabbat fellowship - I've been pondering what it will mean for us to overcome in that time. There are many places in Scripture where Master Yeshua tells us what is promised to those who overcome in this life. Here are a few of them:

"He who overcomes will...be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels." (Rev. 3:5)

"He who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name." (Rev. 3:12)

"To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." (Rev. 2:17)

1.Overcomers will be dressed in white. This, of course, refers to the "fine linen" we are given to wear when we meet our Bridegroom; and the linen is defined for us in Rev. 19:18 as "righteousness" We are clothed in Yeshua. "I delight greatly in YHVH; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation (Yeshua) and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns herself with her jewels."

2. Overcomers will have their names written in the Book of Life. (If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire - Rev. 20:15). And not only will overcomers' names be recorded in the Book of Life, but the name of God (YHVH) and the name of His City (Yerushalayim) will be written on them as well! They are marked as His own, and they have a new residence - the City Abraham was looking for, whose maker and builder is God!

3. Overcomers are given some of the "hidden manna." In John 6:49-50 we are told, "Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. " This hidden manna is Yeshua! He will keep us in our wilderness trials because of our trust in Him; and though we die, yet shall we live. And He will give us a white stone. In ancient times a white stone was used during trials to pronounce a person "not guilty." To receive a white stone is to be absolved of all guilt and set free! But what of the "new name?" I believe it must correspond also to Isaiah 56:5-6 where YHVH says, "...to those who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my Covenant, to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off."

These are precious promises! These are images of our belonging to the family of YHVH, loved and protected by Him, washed clean by His blood and clothed in His righteousness, holding fast to His Covenant and keeping His Sabbaths in the way that pleases HIM, and even receiving new names that signify our inheritance in His Kingdom!

How ever shall we do it? When persecution and violence overtake the land and things become so much harder than we can now imagine, how will we overcome? I like Oswald Chambers' take on it best. In fact, I've tried to live by his explanation for some years now. He writes, “God does not give us overcoming life. He gives us life as we overcome. "