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The Overcomers – Part II
Overcoming is the first step to becoming. Overcoming is resting in the Spirit of God proactively so that the old fallen nature, that Adamic nature can be removed. Overcoming is recognizing, believing and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are in the new creation man and not the old sinful nature. Jesse Penn-Lewis wrote many years ago: "Calvary means that Christ not only bore on that Tree your sins, but that He carried to the Tree the sinner – carried you there. When you come to the point of recognizing that God does not patch up the old life, but calls on you to reckon it crucified…you will find that the new life has in it all the characteristics which belong to it." (More Than Conquerors, Jesse Penn Lewis, England)The climax of the overcoming life, as C.A.Fox states in the Spiritual Grasp of the Epistles , "…gravitates, strange to say, back to the Cross; and when we have learned the power of His resurrection, we are only thereby fitted to become conformed to His death." It is only as we spiritually seek the depth of Christ, seek to know Him to the utmost, that we are able to reveal the life of Christ. This revelation is accomplished by bearing the dying of the Lord Jesus in us – the world attacks our flesh and we must reveal the life of God in this flesh as we are crucified. For the world looks for a savior and every time that they attack the saint, the overcomer recognizes that this life is hid in God in Christ and bears the dying dart of the unbeliever, as Christ, so that the life of Christ is revealed. The more we overcome, the more we reveal the death of the cross, which is the Life of God. The greatest deception of believers occurs when they move away from the root of the faith, which is abiding in the cross. The overcomer joys in the victory which he/she finds in the working of the Life in them via the cross."Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus…"(2 Corinthians 4:10). This verse means that there is a processing, an ongoing effort by God in you to bring you to death. It is not a dying to sin because that was already accomplished in your life when you received Jesus as your Savior. No, it is not that. Rather it is full identification with the Master. He is working in you so that you might experience the process of His life – dying, crucifixion and resurrection life. It is then He is glorified in you. The new life can only be manifested if you know the old life has already been removed. Let’s talk about full identity. "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him."(Matthew 27:42) In order to save others Jesus remained on the cross. The overcomer remains on the cross for a similar purpose – to save others through the revelation of Christ in the overcomer. Oh, you have the power of the resurrection working in you because you have experienced Jesus as your Savior and baptizer in the Holy Spirit. But the very life of Christ that you have is making you conformable to His death. Thus the power of God in your life is working to keep you on the cross, so that you might be able to bear the cross, and the world might see the dying of the Lord and experience the life that empowers you to remain on the cross.You remain on the cross. You feel emptied out. You have your own trials and tribulations and then someone comes to you seeking help. Ah, yes, the opportunity of God! For out of your emptiness Christ steps forth and ministers from you. Just as Jesus depended on God to sustain Him on the cross, so you depend on the ascended Lord to sustain you. While there, in the midst of your own need, even as Jesus was in His, you minister to the person, for the person and even in place of the person because you are identified with Christ. They come to you not because of who you are! They come to you because they see Jesus! What an overcomer you are. "Ye are wise in Christ" 1 Corinthians 4:10 states about some, while Paul states he and other leaders are "..fools for Christ." Why the difference? There are some running around today proclaiming who they are in Christ and the wisdom that they have besides the position they seem to hold as bishops over so many. These babes are the ‘wise in Christ.’ For they are carnal even though they seem to be spiritual. They joy in the knowledge that they have, but they have not been made a fool of for Christ. A fool for Christ is the overcomer who seeks to be crucified rather than be lifted up in front of others. Some glory in reigning with Christ, when the real overcomer is dying with Christ. Union with the Lord, which is the path the overcomer takes, requires a death identification rather than a self-promotion or self-effort to obtain a place of reigning with Christ. The throne of the overcomer (Revelation 3:21) is a fruit of the crucified walk with God, a cross walk, if you will.The overcomer is the one who has come to the place in his/her life that the trials which attend to the outer man and the flesh, do not remove them from the cross. Jesus was nailed to the cross, a crown of thorns placed on His head, all of which attacked the flesh. Yet He remained on the cross not permitting the flesh to control where He lived, for He lived in the spiritual realm. The flesh could not pull Him down. So too it is with the true over-comer. So, then we come to the second level of overcoming found in the book of Revelation. Having eaten of the Tree of Life Who is Christ, and residing in the Paradise of God, the spiritual realm within us, and knowing that the old man, that carnal nature, that Adamic nature is dead, we progress to a new level of spiritual insight. "He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." (Revelation 2:11)The church at Smyrna is to whom the letter is written. From the word ‘Smyrna’ we get the English word ‘myrrh.’ The wise men brought to Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh in that order. It shows forth the divinity (gold) of Christ, the anointing (frankincense) and the cross (myrrh). If we are to ascend into the nature of our Lord then we must first experience trials and tribulations (myrrh, that is suffering), the work of the cross. It is fitting to note that the second level of overcoming deals specifically with trials, tribulations, etc. In fact, it is covered here more so than any other of the levels of overcoming. The church was poor in the literal sense but rich in the spiritual sense. While poverty is not a sign of spirituality, sometimes poverty can increase spiritual growth because the individual is dependent on the spirit for maintaining earthly provision. At times, then, poverty could be a spiritual trial. The synagogue of Satan, those who say they are Jews and are not can be found in any group of people and even within yourself! For the warfare that we fight is a spiritual battle between the LAW of the Jews and the GRACE of faith. Jim Bakker, of PTL fame, recently stated in Christianity Today of 12/98 the following about his Christian faith : "I grew up in an era of law. But either we believe in grace or we don’t. So I have to accept the grace in the story (the movie the Apostle) even though it is fictional, if I am going to accept grace for myself. And to forgive me is the hardest thing I have to do today. I have no problems forgiving others." He was raised where Christianity was a legalistic set of do’s and don’ts. But Christianity is grace in action. In fact, it is the only religion that preaches grace in the world and abhors self-effort. The synagogue of Satan is those that make Christianity legalistic. For the Law is to bring us to Christ, and it is not to bind us. Guilt comes from the Law. Freedom is found in Christ through grace. The trials/tribulations are a direct result of the battle in one’s mind, the battle of Armageddon if you will, which struggles between law and grace.Some say that the devil mentioned in verse 10 is referring to the Roman Emperor of the time. Perhaps, on the natural plane that is true. The verse states that there will be ten days of tribulation. It is interesting to note that history records 10 emperors of Rome who persecuted the Christians. But regardless of the literal, let us look at the spiritual. For the number ‘ten’ in Scripture always refers to personal testing. Each of us who are determined to know Christ to the fullest are going to be tested. The crowd (500 people), waiting for the Lord after forty days, dwindled to 120 when He appeared in glory on the day of Pentecost. Almost 80% had left before the Lord returned. If it had been a few days longer how many more would have left? The overcomer is of a different breed than most because the overcomer is willing to die for principle. Many will compromise, hedge a little, cut a deal. But the overcomer wants the fullness of God and will not settle for second best. It is all or nothing. This focus, this vision, this quest, is what will be the salvation of the world. For God is looking for one man fashioned in the image of His Son who will stand in grace in this hour. We note that the feast of Unleavened Bread and the Laver (see the chart from the first message) are two correlating things with the second level of overcoming. The feast of Unleavened Bread is a part of the feast of Passover. It is the ‘second stage’ of the feast of Passover. The people had to eat the meal in a hurry since they were going to leave Egypt with haste that very night. Thus, normal production of food would not be provided, shortcuts had to be done. Yeast was left out of the bread that was being made for the family and those partaking of Passover. ""Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." So states Exodus 12:15. Any overcomer who allows his soul to seek things of the flesh, will be cut off, that is, judged by God. For the high calling in Christ Jesus requires that we settle not for a lower plane. What of the men of Hebrews 11 who lived by faith not receiving the promises (Hebrews 11:13) but pressed on? We must press on and not stop for the leaven that creates death. Paul writes that one can be corrupted even by the little things: "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" (1 Corinthians 5:6) He goes on to say in the next two verses: "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The old nature must be purged. To purge something has within it the implication that it will be removed, even like a bowel movement purges us of contaminates. Our life is like Christ’s in that we are in the new creation man and must rid ourselves of the old nature.The King James Version of Ephesians 6:24 reads : "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity…" The word ‘sincerity’ there means incorruption. In 1 Corinthians 5:6 sincerity means pure as tested by sun light. Thus, the bread of life, which we are since we are part of Him, is to be unleavened, that is, with purity found in it, incorruption found in it. Also this bread is to have ‘truth.’ I once was discussing with a Methodist minister the ‘truth’ of Scripture. He insisted that ‘truth’ is a ‘what’ or a ‘thing’ but I kept telling him that Jesus was the "way, the truth and the life." The truth was not a ‘what’ but a ‘who’ that is to say a person. Thus the unleavened bread must be a relationship between the eater and the one who is the bread. Since you and I have been called to be the bread broken for the rest, we must know that overcoming is the only way that we could experience the giving nature of Christ. Not a bone of His body was broken, but the Scripture states: "Take, eat, this is my body broken for you." What body? Not Jesus’ literal body. No, my friends, it is you and I, the corporate body of Christ that is being served to the world. We are the bread of life to a starving world for they see Jesus in us.Now in the outer court of the Temple was the Brazen Altar, as we have discussed and also the second vessel, the Laver. There have been many people who have tried to describe the Laver. Some have said it was a dish of large size. Others have said it had water in the top and a faucet or spigot at the middle so that the water from the top could run out over the bloody hands of the priest to cleanse the priest before entrance into the Holy Place. Thus, all the water would not be contaminated. Details are just not found in the Scriptures. But as Jesus was our pattern, He was baptized, immersed, in the Jordan River so too it follows that we walk the same spiritual path. Why? Each person is part of the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Each person has to be cleansed, and his or her need of cleansing is different, individualistic, if you will. The ministry of cleansing is personal and a holy moment. As God began restoring the light of Scriptures, it was Wesley who suggested this second experience be called "sanctification." Wesley noted it followed the personal experience of being saved by an experiential faith as Luther had declared. There was almost 200 years difference in time between the revelations of God to these two men. But truth enlarges and is not on our timetable. The other thought that could be compared to the Laver is that of the Anabaptists who appeared earlier than Wesley. They expressed the truth of water baptism, immersion, as "baptizo" in the Greek truly means. This caused a division with Luther, Calvin and others. But the truth is truth and will divide those who settle and put down tent stakes. Does the Laver relate to water baptism? I think that the answer can be undeniably yes. In foreign countries where the population is predominately Moslem, Christian water baptism will cause one to be disinherited from his family and open to be killed in some of the countries. If one is Jewish and gets saved, there is no real problem until he is water baptized and in the stricter Jewish beliefs one is disinherited and treated as dead. So, water baptism is a more serious step for some than others and thereby a greater testimony. Now the animal sacrificed was cleansed at the Laver before it was offered. In particular its feet and legs were cleansed. This reveals a cleansing of the "walk" of the person, a change from the old way of doing things and a new beginning. Much as Moses took his sandals off when on Holy Ground to see the burning bush, so the feet were cleansed. One could consider Jesus washing the disciples feet within this context for He considered them "clean" except for the feet, the walk. The dust of Adam (Adam being made of the earth) had to be removed, if you will, because we have our citizenship from above. Never did a priest die in the Holy Place/Holy of Holies. The priest was cleansed before he went into the two areas. There was no rope on the priest to pull him out if he died in the Holy Place or Holy of Holies. It is not in the Scriptures but rather is some old wives’ tale! The priesthood was cleansed, sanctified before they went into these rooms. Like the Brazen Altar, this vessel too was made of brass (copper). It speaks of judgment (Exodus 30:17-21). The interesting point is that ‘brass’ is used only in the outer court and not on the interior of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In these two rooms, an ascending order of spirituality, there is the putting on of Christ, represented by the gold, and there is no recognition of the old nature at all. Ponder that and your walk. If you are still dealing with the old nature, even though anointed with the Holy Spirit, you are ministering outside the Tabernacle when you should be progressing inside. Now, we see in Exodus 30:26-28 that all the vessels were anointed with oil. This speaks of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that draws (John 6:44) us to Christ (Brazen Altar). None can call Him Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3), and this chapter deals with the gifts of the Spirit, active today, and speaks of the Holy Place realm. The Holy Spirit is active in all levels. Now the Laver also speaks of the baptism of the Spirit contrary to what normal Pentecostal preaching states. Pentecostals have told the Baptists for years that they do not have the Holy Ghost, but that is not totally correct. Jesus after the washing of the disciples feet and the Last Supper, breathed on the men and they received the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). The disciples did not receive the ‘power’ of the Holy Spirit until Pentecost but they had the Spirit. We must also include what Peter states - that the prophets were filled with the Spirit (1 Peter 1:11). The Holy Spirit can be within you, but Pentecost is the breaking forth of the Spirit out of you for the benefit of others. Just let me state now, but we will deal with the third level of overcoming later, that the waving of the firstfruit during Passover is the first taste of the Holy Spirit found inside the Tabernacle at the Table of Showbread. We cannot forget that the Laver speaks of sanctification. If a spiritual house is not built on holiness it will fail. Many will proclaim that God is Love and that is true. But above all things God is Holy. His love comes out of His Holiness and that is what makes His Love pure. Many have been the saints that cry ‘God is love’ and then use such ‘love’ for license, liberty and lasciviousness. There is a two-fold problem here. First, they know not the nature of God. Secondly every spiritual house has four pillars to it, and the second pillar is holiness. The whole spiritual house of cards will come tumbling down if the person does not truly understand the holiness requirement. No man can see God without holiness. We cannot forget 1 Thessalonians 5:23 which states : "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Note that holiness is to be imbedded in every cell of our fiber – spirit, soul and body. The Laver is on the superficial basis a symbol of the holiness that we are to manifest and a token outwardly of the change – water baptism. But on a deeper spiritual basis, we are to come into a oneness, union identification with the Lord Jesus, to such a degree that we are ‘the righteousness of God in Christ’ (2 Corinthians 5:21). This identification with Christ is so intimate and so real that there cannot be any desire nor lust because you realize you are living in Him and not in the fallen Adamic nature any more. Those that think they are living in that realm and have an ‘easy going love’ which allows them to be lustful or have the liberty to do what they wish are still carnal and deceived. In fact, they are not in the union of identification that they think they are.The second level of overcoming speaks that we shall conquer the second death. Reading in Revelation 20:6, 14 as well as 21:8 will give some reference to this ‘second death.’ Perhaps what Ray Prinzing writes in Revelation, a Positive Book, page 193 would be worth noting here. He states the first death is "…descending from the purity of the realm of the spiritual, to awaken to the realms of the flesh, to mind the things of the flesh. As long as we remain carnally minded, we remain in a state of this death, for 'to be carnally minded is death'(Romans 8:6). Bluntly spoken, in the first death, we die out to God and His righteousness, and come alive to self and its pleasures." This result, inherited from Adam and active in all of us, causes us to be earthly minded. Ray explains the second death so well that I must just quote it from pages 194-195. "For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of dead. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Two Adams, each a beginning of a race. "The first is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." The first brought mankind into death, and the second brings us into life. All Bible statements prove the two deaths are absolutely UNLIKE. The second death undoes all the work of the first death, in the same manner that the last Adam undid all the work of the first Adam. Not to nullify the purpose being wrought out by the plan of God in the firsts, but to bring a release from all the negative aspects of the firsts, into MUCH MORE – the glory and victory of His positives. In so many ways, "He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second." (Hebrews 10:9) Creation was made subject to vanity for a purpose. Sin was allowed to exist for wise ends and when those ends have been secured it will have to cease to exist. The PURPOSE is not nullified, but the ‘means’ whereby the purpose has been executed shall be done away. Discipline is a means to an end, but not an end in itself, for it leads us into the "afterwards, yielding the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11). The first Adam of God was righteous, and became alive unto sin. The last Adam of God was righteous and died unto sin – "For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God" (Romans 6:10) and so fulfills all righteousness. The first Adam made all men sinners; the last Adam makes all men righteous. The lives and deaths of the two Adams are thus greatly contrasting the one to another. The second death is a transition from corruption to incorruption, from present mortality to immortality. Transformed from the carnal mind to the spiritual mind. It is a transformation wrought by DYING out to the one realm, to come alive in the higher realm. The SECOND DEATH IS PREPARED TO PURGE OUT AND BURN AWAY ALL SIN AND ITS RESULTS, and in doing so cleanses all of God’s universe." End quote So, the second death is dying out to what the first death lowered us into. Said another way, the second death delivers us to LIFE, just the opposite of what the first death did – delivered us to DEATH. The overcomer is one who is seeking the resurrection of Philippians 3:10. This ‘out’ resurrection is only used once in Scripture and that is in this location. Like Paul states, he had not obtained what all hoped for – a physical change, but he was pressing into God to be a partaker of the out resurrection. This is a walking in the Life of God in a fullness while inhabiting a physical body of death. This out resurrection Paul obtained to - left for dead twice, bitten by a venomous snake, shipwrecked, etc. Each time he was raised up by the resurrection life within himself. For he walked in the fullness of God. Even his opinions (1 Corinthians 7:6, 12, 25) are canonized in the Scriptures! He came in the victory of the second death. We are in the fullness of Christ, if we would but accept and walk in it! Consider: For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; Colossians 1:19 KJV "For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divines fullness – the sum total of the divine perfection, powers and attributes – should dwell in Him permanently." Amplified Bible For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9 KJV "For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead), continues to dwell in bodily form – giving complete expression of the divine nature." Amplified Bible And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 KJV "[That you may really come] to know – practically, through experience for yourselves – the love of Christ, which far surpasses, mere knowledge (without experience); that you may be filled (through all your being) unto all the fullness of God – [that is] may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself." Amplified Bible And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. John 1:16KJV "For out of His fullness (abundance) we all received – all had a share and we were all supplied with – one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift." Amp. Bible Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: Ephesians 4:13 Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Ephesians 1:23 And I am sure … I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Romans 15:29.KJV SELAH – Hebrew word meaning: sit and ponder these things
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