Rise, Christian, and Conquer

From Gospel Translations

When we pass through the gates of glory, how many of us will wish we had faced more trials? Like soldiers returning home, will we secretly regret not having more stories to tell or scars to explain? Will eternity unveil the ease we chose, the risks we refused, the obedience we delayed? To stand tall in glory, we first bend low to carry a cross.

If only we had seen our trials for what they were sooner. A trial, like Goliath, is a giant none wants to face — but every man wishes he had slain. A man is something of a paradox, isn’t he? Not many wish to face these mighty ones, but ever since he first called a stick a sword, each dreams of treading foes underfoot. We stand in awe as David holds up Goliath’s head. We wish to be like that — but giants are very big. Very dangerous. No one would envy David if he were torn to pieces. Is it better to fight the champion, to face down the trial, than to remain at home in bed? It depends. Do we triumph or not?

We don’t know beforehand — so we don’t fight.

Should we really share the gospel with all our neighbors? Should we really invest our whole selves into the local church? Do we actually speak up to ungodly coworkers or classmates or professors who mock the Lord Jesus? During the days of David, the men of Israel fled for fear when they should have stood firm. We too have hidden from spiritual conflicts we should have risen to meet because the alternative was easier.

I have been slow to embrace trials and rejoice in my sufferings, even knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance character, and character hope — a hope that does not put me to shame because God’s love has been poured out by the Spirit into my heart (Romans 5:3–5). If only I had viewed tests not primarily as something to avoid but as something to overcome by faith in the living God. If only I truly grasped that overcoming a trial in God’s strength is better than not having faced the trial at all. If only I had loved a certain holy word more in my Christian life: conquer.

Trials Make Conquerors

Do you embrace the idea of conquering in the Christian life?

When the risen Christ walked among his early churches (as he walks among them still), his eye was very keen to observe and his heart very ready to address a particular kind of person in every assembly: “the one who conquers” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). To each of the seven churches, he summons and strengthens the one who would overcome, prevail, hold fast, keep strong, stand firm, and move forward — the victors in Christ amid a larger group in the church who only profess to know him.

Let us hear what he pronounces to them:

To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (2:7)

The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. (2:11)

To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone. (2:17)

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. . . . And I will give him the morning star. (2:26–28)

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. (3:5)

The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it. (3:12)

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (3:21)

The conqueror. Given access to the tree of life, unhurt by the second death, feasting on special food, granted a precious stone, a precious promise, a ruler’s staff. Clothed in white, his name in the book of life, and announced by Christ before his Father and his angels. He will be home in God’s presence, as a pillar in the temple, and he shall sit with Christ on his throne. This is his end after trials faithfully borne, temptations patiently resisted, and a long and costly obedience maintained by faith and the Holy Spirit.

How do these conquer? By repenting of that which is unpleasing in Christ’s sight. By keeping faith firm, love warm, and obedience true. By staying awake, hating the false, denying the flesh. They saw the unseen, believed God’s word, died for Christ’s name. They remained hot when others were cold and alive when others lacked life. They treasured what God treasured and hated what he hated. They would not compromise, would not turn back, would not avoid, hide, give in, even when others within the churches conceded. These conquer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

Nike

Nikē: that is the Greek word attached to these lofty promises.

These were the true athletes who attained the true crown. Eternity’s hall of fame contains the unlikely. That young man dying in some small tribe in India, clinging to his faith in Jesus. That little girl confessing Christ is King — shaming the cosmic powers in the heavenly places while being outcast by her family. That old prayer-warrior who upholds more works of God in the world than kings and princes. The average pastor with a small flock, shepherding them faithfully into glory. These are the Michael Jordans of eternity. They will have the most prized rings and crowns.

So, Christian, conquer. By the power of the Spirit, conquer unbelief, conquer compromise, conquer the world and Satan, conquer the lies of this age, conquer through the heat of persecution, conquer in the face of death, conquer against impossible odds, conquer in the church, conquer over the world, conquer through his love for us, conquer in this life, and be “more than conquerors” in the next.

Such, and such only, will eat from the tree of life that stands in paradise. They alone will have their names confessed by Christ to his Father; they alone shall walk in white, for they alone are worthy.

The Conqueror

Christ conquers in one way; we in another. His conquering is incomparable. As “no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll and break its seals” — not Michael, not Gabriel, not Moses, not David, not you or I — an elder approaches weeping John and points to the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, who has conquered (Revelation 5:5). Men of earth saw a rejected lamb slaughtered on a cross; heaven saw a victorious lion securing a people for his Father. None conquers like Christ.

And the risen Christ speaks to his churches about their need to conquer in him.

Salvation cannot be earned; it is the gift of God, that no man may boast. Your endurance, your fortitude, your unwillingness to faint in the day of adversity will never repay the Lord. But this does not negate the necessity of each. That salvation belongs to Jesus shall not contradict statements such as this: “By your endurance you will gain your lives” (Luke 21:19).

Legalism, the idea of our works earning acceptance with God, has been used by the enemy to remove vital effort, endurance, and (dare I say) manliness from the Christian life. The spiritual testosterone is low. Yes, we receive salvation as a gift, with an open hand, but our Lord then sets a sword in that hand and tells us to fight for King and eternal country. Hack without pity at your own flesh, temptation, and unbelief. We are (as William Carey said) to dare great things in God, expecting great things of God. We have a race to run, a battle to fight, a faith to keep. To “act like men” and “be strong” involves our acting and acting strongly (1 Corinthians 16:13).

We are not to rest upon the couch, with open mouth, expecting God to feed us salvation, as kings are fed grapes or chicks fed worms. The faith that unites us with Christ is a conquering faith — one zealous for good works, personal holiness, and extending his crown rights in a dark world.

Rise, Christian, and conquer. You stand on the battlefield that fulfills Shakespeare’s lines:

And gentlemen now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon these last days. (Henry V, 4.3.66–69, modified)

We suffer as soldiers today; we reign as conquerors tomorrow.