He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
He who conquers will receive everything in the new heaven and new earth where God lives with His people and sorrow, death, crying and pain are gone. To inherit all things is to receive all the blessings of the new creation and the eternal riches of the world to come, including the restoration of the dominion the first Adam lost. God Himself will dwell with the conqueror as his God and Father forever, and the conqueror will belong to Him as a son and daughter of the royal family and heir of the everlasting kingdom. This inheritance is conditional and not universal, belonging only to those who thirst for the water of life, repent and turn to obedience, and resist and conquer sin to the end. The victory is won through Christ, who opened the way by His sacrifice and conquest in human nature, by joining Him in faith and obedience, partaking of the divine nature, and forming a character like His until self is conquered.
Vision Setting Context
The promise belongs to the vision of a new heaven and a new earth where God dwells with His people and the former things have passed away. There sorrow, death, crying and pain are gone, all things are made new, and those who overcome inherit all the blessings of the new creation as children received by God as their God and Father. That inheritance has been provided so every soul may receive it, and overcoming is the way to enter the lasting relationship with God in life with Him.
It points to a purified new earth where the curse of sin is removed and all things fully satisfy when no longer blighted by sin. Even now the beauty of nature points toward that inheritance, which sustains waiting and watching for the appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven. There the overcomers inherit all things in the new heavens and the new earth as daughters and sons of God, members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, and heirs of the pure and holy everlasting kingdom, with God Himself as their God and Father.
That sonship stands in contrast to the fate of the fearful, the unbelieving, the impure and others who face the second death. In the earth made new God's kingdom is made up of saints, not sinners, and those who refuse to repent and forsake impurity will fall with the wicked when judgment is executed.
The promise belongs to the closing chapters of Revelation made known concerning the last events of this earth's history, to be read carefully now together with Revelation 3, 16, 18 and 22. It calls for thorough humbling of soul before God, earnest seeking with heart and mind and soul, deep searching of heart, cleansing of the soul temple, refining and transformation of the heart, removal of a wrong spirit, and diligent cultivation of the heart so fruit appears in proportion to light given. Such clearness is urgent because the perils of the last days are present and deception works to confuse minds, while confusion may be death and pressing to the mark of the high calling with straight paths leads to overcoming and inheriting all things as sons of God.
The outcome is certain truth secured by the command to write it, the result Christ died to bring to pass through humiliation, sacrifice, suffering and death on the cross. It belongs to those who have done their best in overcoming by living on the plan of addition, as part of the future condition represented in the opening of the chapter. Beyond the present conflict with deception and testing of character lies final triumph, when the glory of God reflects brightness on the overcomers. That outcome is certain in prophecy and can be seen now by faith, giving real comfort that keeps faith from failing while longing for Jesus to come quickly and for the promised experience to be realized.
Inheritance of All Things
To inherit all things is to receive all the blessings of the new creation, provided so that every soul may receive them and possessed at last as eternal glory. That inheritance is heavenly, not earthly, among the eternal riches of the world to come, beyond earthly measure and secured by God for those who make Christ their friend, give their lives to Him, follow Him, pursue through Him perfection of character, receive from Him and share with others, and remain perseveringly faithful to the end. It is the restoration of the dominion the first Adam lost through sin, to be restored by the second Adam according to the eternal purpose of God, so that overcomers receive the earth made new with all things again put in subjection under them, where they reign forever and ever and the whole earth is filled with the glory of the Lord.
It points to the future glorified life in which God's people imitate Christ's life and character, see His face, and bear His name in their foreheads, while the Lord leads them to the tree of life and teaches them what they do not yet understand. There they enjoy life in the kingdom of glory, a life that measures with the life of God, whose greatness must be realized to know the value of the soul. It is a heaven of bliss free from all dissension, selfishness, poverty, sickness, and oppression, with eternal life for the redeemed who are elevated, pure, and one with Christ, having in Christ endured the penalty of the law and fulfilled its righteousness, developed a character that is the counterpart of the character of God and bears His likeness, linked in closest relationship with Christ, departed from every kind of iniquity, and here striven to form characters after the divine similitude conformed to the image of Christ.
The inheritance is a place in the city of God, the beautiful new earth and New Jerusalem, the Father's home of happiness and peace, worth striving for and open to everyone so that every child and every adult can have a place there. To inherit is to receive the eternal substance and enter through the opened gates into the holy city as conquerors, with rightful inheritance and place in God's family, to eternal life with Jesus where understanding beyond what was known on earth will be opened, in entrance and fellowship with the family of the redeemed. That entrance belongs only to those who turn by repentance and conversion to a life of obedience to God, keeping the ten holy precepts given by God Himself from Mt. Sinai that declare the principles ruling in heaven and the terms of entrance into the city, a work aided for youth brought up rightly by determined labor of fathers and mothers to see souls saved, with angels assisting in schools in educating boys and girls and the Holy Spirit working with all human effort.
The reward includes immortality and life forever, given as the Christian warfare advances despite opposition through humbly confessing failure, ceasing to trust self, trusting God more firmly, and trying again. Overcomers gaining victory over self-confidence and personal weaknesses through faith and God's grace and power will wear a crown of glory in God's kingdom, enter God's city as conquerors and sons of God rather than condemned criminals, and inherit the promised kingdom prepared for the blessed, receiving crowns while the righteous are given white robes and eternal glory. The victor's reward is pictured as white robes, crowns of glory and everlasting life, a robe of righteousness, and palm branches, with the faithful standing around the great white throne when suffering and warfare are over, the very hope that gave persecuted believers courage. The treasures of God's kingdom outweigh every earthly possession, making the things of this life secondary and calling believers to live as pilgrims whose actions show their hope in heaven, presenting to sinners turning from sin the goal of a nobler, higher life. Heaven is a prize worth striving for, prepared for by overcoming and putting away worldly habits, and the redeemed rejoice together in the New Jerusalem in an overcoming that includes helping others and encouraging them to seek it so they too may be there.
God and His Children
The promise is that those who overcome will inherit all the blessings of the new creation, and God Himself will be their God and receive them as His children, an inheritance provided so that every soul may receive it. It belongs to the renewed creation where God dwells with His people and makes all things new, and there they will enjoy His personal presence throughout eternity. That home with God awaits His children as their inheritance, where the Lord is Father to His people and they are His children after the wickedness of the wicked has ended.
Those who overcome will inherit all things and belong to God as His sons and daughters, in lasting relationship with Him in the promised new creation where God dwells with His people and sorrow, death, crying, and pain are gone. Overcoming is the way to receive this inheritance, and the promise of sonship stands in contrast to the fate of the fearful and unbelieving and others who face the second death. In the purified new earth where all things are made new and the curse of sin is removed, overcomers inherit all things in the new heavens and the new earth as daughters and sons of God, members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, and heirs of the pure and holy everlasting kingdom, with God Himself as their God and Father. Present nature points toward that inheritance, which will fully satisfy when no longer blighted by sin, and the promise sustains waiting and watching for the appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven. Those who overcome through divine power become partakers of the divine nature and members of God's royal family, children of the heavenly King, who will behold the glories of the eternal world given to God's saints.
After being tested and tried, those who remain loyal and obedient to His commandments are pronounced trustworthy members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, and as overcomers receive all things as their inheritance with God as their God. This is God's covenant with His people, that loyalty under trial issues in declared trustworthiness and sonship.
Sonship comes through Christ, who opened the gates of Paradise so that those who receive and believe in Him are given power to become children of God in the blessed future when God dwells with His people and the former things have passed away. It is the outcome Christ died to bring to pass through humiliation, sacrifice, suffering, and cruel torturous death on the cross, that overcomers receive all things as sons of God. That promise belongs to those who have done their best in the work of overcoming by living on the plan of addition, and it is part of the future condition represented in the opening of the chapter and secured by the command to write it as certain truth. Christ conquered the enemy while bearing human nature and enduring temptation, humiliation, suffering, and death, and by following His example people may share this inheritance.
The promise is a place in the royal family in the city of God, where those who meet will know no more partings. Whether a person becomes a member of the Lord's family rests with them, by obedience to all the commandments of God. The glories shown awaiting the saved should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life, to search the Scriptures where eternal life is found, and to purify themselves, so as to be numbered among God's commandment-keeping redeemed, for to fail of this hope is terrible loss.
Overcoming Is Conditional
Inheriting all things and having God as God and being His son is conditional and not universal. The promise belongs only to those who thirst for the water of life, feel their need of it, and seek it at the loss of all things else. It belongs only to those who resist and overcome sin, whom God claims as His children.
The ungodly and unrepentant are excluded and will not be placed in heaven as holy, happy angels. In the earth made new God's kingdom is made up of saints, not sinners. Those who refuse to repent and forsake impurity will fall with the wicked when judgment is executed.
Only those who turn by repentance and conversion to a life of obedience will inherit. That obedience is obedience to all the commandments of God, keeping the ten holy precepts given by God Himself from Mount Sinai. Those precepts declare the principles ruling in heaven and the terms of entrance into the city through its opened gates into the New Jerusalem, to a life of happiness and peace in the Father's home and to the eternal substance. Whether a person becomes a member of the Lord's family rests with them, and after being tested and tried those who remain loyal and obedient are pronounced trustworthy members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. The glories awaiting the saved should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life, to search the Scriptures where eternal life is found, and to purify themselves so as to be numbered among the commandment-keeping redeemed, for to fail of this hope is terrible loss.
Inheriting as sons of God requires overcoming in the final crisis. Overcoming means keeping the single object of final and eternal salvation and immortal life constantly in view, enduring to the end, restraining from sin, and cultivating spiritual mindedness. It means striving with all energy to copy the pattern of Christ, beholding His character and purity by faith until transformed into His image and brought into close harmony with Him, becoming without spot or wrinkle in order to meet the Lord in peace, and maintaining indomitable purpose not to dishonor God. It means refusing to worship Satan or to receive the mark of the beast or of his image. Whoever has a part in the city of God will be a victor and an overcomer, and because the end is near this requires walking humbly with God and living so that personal influence leads other minds heavenward.
Everyone who enters the pearly gates of the city of God will enter there as a conqueror. The greatest conquest each one must win is the conquest of self.
How Overcoming Is Won
Overcoming is won through Christ's grace by obedience and faith, and eternal life is gained by joining Christ and becoming partakers of the divine nature, so that the good accomplished through that union is fully known when the overcomers enter the city of God as His children. Christ conquered the enemy while bearing human nature and enduring temptation, humiliation, suffering, and death, and by following His example people may share this inheritance. When defeat comes through Satan's opposition, advancing still means humbly confessing the failure, ceasing to trust in self, trusting God more firmly, and trying again, until immortality and life forever are received.
Overcoming includes victory over appetite through integrity, determined effort, and moral power exercised in Christ's name, for overcoming Satan's temptations including the pull of appetite is necessary to share Christ's throne. It means winning the battle against hurtful desires and perverted appetite, so that those who overcome enter God's city as His children rather than as condemned criminals and dwell with Christ in the eternal kingdom. It includes gaining victory over self-confidence and personal weaknesses through faith and God's grace and power, and the overcomers will wear a crown of glory in God's kingdom. Those who refuse to overcome and knowingly ruin their God-given powers through indulgence lose heaven, while those who overcome as Christ overcame receive the overcomer's reward and inherit the blessings of heaven.
Overcomers develop a character that is the counterpart of the character of God and bear His likeness, being one in character with Christ, elevated, pure, and one with Christ, having in Him endured the penalty of the law and fulfilled its righteousness. This is formed by beholding His character and purity by faith until transformed into His image and brought into close harmony with Him, striving with all energy to copy the pattern of Christ in order to become without spot or wrinkle and meet the Lord in peace. To gain this inheritance they must link up in the closest relationship with Christ, depart from every kind of iniquity, and here strive to form characters after the divine similitude and be conformed to the image of Christ. The final overcomer is marked by a life formed by Christ in which love is made perfect, selfish motives are driven out, and gratitude, love, and loyalty become the motives of the heart, turning from evil to doing good, learning Christ's virtues, and no longer letting worldly standards or worldly motives shape thoughts or character. That future glorified life makes everlasting life worth every effort to reach the highest standard possible, imitating Christ's life and character, seeing His face and bearing His name, while the Lord leads His people to the tree of life and teaches them what they do not yet understand.
Gaining the reward that costs all requires being counted worthy to abide the day of His coming and to stand when He appears, which calls for self-denial and sacrifice for Christ's sake and not only desire for reward, for those who partake of Christ's sufferings will share His glory. It will cost all to follow Christ and obey the truth, and the reward is all things, gained through personal victorious experience by the faith which overcomes the world, with unconquerable perseverance and never-failing endurance. Overcoming requires patient, determined effort, self-denial, perseverance, discipline, and conflict, following Christ who overcame temptation on their behalf, including resisting Satan's temptations, relying firmly on God, carrying Christ's cross daily, and living faithfully. It includes escaping Satan's snares, fighting the good fight, and finishing the course with joy while serving God, even unto receiving eternal life and a crown of glory as conquerors entering the city of God. Soldiers of Christ must work in concert in union and counsel and prayer for one purpose instead of moving independently until the Christian warfare is over and the victory is gained.
Overcoming belongs to youth who are brought up in a right manner, and the crown of life is what they are to gain, which requires determined work for one another, with fathers and mothers taking hold of the work to see souls saved. Parents are to hold fast to their children through living faith and teach them by their own Christlike conduct, modeling and teaching obedience to the testing, purifying truth and staying on the narrow path rather than joining the world's way, so that their children may also become overcomers. Children and youth must be taught the things of God and prepared to meet temptation, understanding that they have a part to do if they would win heaven and enjoy eternal life. Parents and teachers should help them prepare through godly example and education in the things of God, and those who serve God acceptably receive Christ's righteousness. Angels of God assist in schools in educating boys and girls, and the Holy Spirit works with all human effort toward that overcoming and entrance into the city to receive crowns and share in its joy and triumph.
Faithfulness includes using the abilities God gives in His service, for yielding to idleness weakens willingness to work, while faithful effort leads to victory and the faithful conqueror receives eternal life and glory. Believers are to live as pilgrims whose actions show their hope in heaven, holding the treasures of God's kingdom, which outweigh every earthly possession, as making the things of this life secondary. Because the end is near, sharing the promise requires walking humbly with God and living in such a way that personal influence leads other minds heavenward. Preparing for that eternal home as a prize worth striving for includes overcoming and putting away worldly habits, and others should be encouraged to seek it too. Overcoming includes helping others so they too may be there, that the redeemed may rejoice together in the New Jerusalem, and those who remain faithful may help save others through self-denial, good words, and a consistent Christian life by using means to win souls, and they will not lose their reward at the final distribution of rewards.
Call to Seek Eternity
Everlasting life is worth every effort to reach the highest standard possible, for those who overcome will inherit all things in a glorified future in which they imitate Christ's life and character, see His face, and bear His name. That inheritance is heavenly, not earthly, and is received by those who make Christ their friend, give their lives to Him, and follow Him, which is the goal for which believers gather, seek to understand truth, and prepare to be sanctified through belief in it. It is a place in the city of God and is worth striving for, open to everyone so that every child and every adult can have a place there. Heaven is a prize worth striving for, and preparing for that eternal home includes overcoming and putting away worldly habits, while others should be encouraged to seek it too, as the Lord leads His people to the tree of life and teaches them what they do not yet understand.
Who will overcome is not yet revealed, yet the inheritance remains open to all. Meanwhile angels minister throughout the earth, comforting the sorrowing, protecting those in danger, and seeking to win hearts to Christ, sharing in the inheritance of the saints in light promised to overcomers. No one is neglected, because God cares equally for every soul.
The promise gave persecuted believers hope and courage amid suffering, for those who remain faithful and overcome will receive the victor's reward pictured as white robes, crowns and palm branches, standing around the great white throne. Beyond the present conflict with deception and testing of character lies final triumph, when the glory of God reflects brightness on the overcomers. That outcome is certain in prophecy and can be seen now by faith, giving real comfort that keeps faith from failing while longing for Jesus to come quickly and for the promised experience to be realized.
The perils of the last days are upon us, with Satan working to keep minds confused and to deceive if possible the very elect, so clearness now matters because confusion may be death. Pressing to the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus and making the paths straight leads to overcoming and inheriting all things as sons of God. This requires thorough humbling of soul, earnest seeking with heart and mind and soul, cleansing and refining and transformation of heart, removal of a wrong spirit, deep searching of heart and cleansing of the soul temple, and diligent cultivation of the heart so that fruit appears in proportion to light given. The glories awaiting the saved should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life, to search the Scriptures where eternal life is found, and to purify themselves so as to be numbered among God's commandment-keeping redeemed by obedience to all His commandments, for to fail of this hope is terrible loss.
He who conquers will receive everything in the new heaven and new earth where God lives with His people and sorrow, death, crying and pain are gone. To inherit all things is to receive all the blessings of the new creation and the eternal riches of the world to come, including the restoration of the dominion the first Adam lost. God Himself will dwell with the conqueror as his God and Father forever, and the conqueror will belong to Him as a son and daughter of the royal family and heir of the everlasting kingdom. This inheritance is conditional and not universal, belonging only to those who thirst for the water of life, repent and turn to obedience, and resist and conquer sin to the end. The victory is won through Christ, who opened the way by His sacrifice and conquest in human nature, by joining Him in faith and obedience, partaking of the divine nature, and forming a character like His until self is conquered.
Vision Setting Context
The promise belongs to the vision of a new heaven and a new earth where God dwells with His people and the former things have passed away. There sorrow, death, crying and pain are gone, all things are made new, and those who overcome inherit all the blessings of the new creation as children received by God as their God and Father. That inheritance has been provided so every soul may receive it, and overcoming is the way to enter the lasting relationship with God in life with Him.
It points to a purified new earth where the curse of sin is removed and all things fully satisfy when no longer blighted by sin. Even now the beauty of nature points toward that inheritance, which sustains waiting and watching for the appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven. There the overcomers inherit all things in the new heavens and the new earth as daughters and sons of God, members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, and heirs of the pure and holy everlasting kingdom, with God Himself as their God and Father.
That sonship stands in contrast to the fate of the fearful, the unbelieving, the impure and others who face the second death. In the earth made new God's kingdom is made up of saints, not sinners, and those who refuse to repent and forsake impurity will fall with the wicked when judgment is executed.
The promise belongs to the closing chapters of Revelation made known concerning the last events of this earth's history, to be read carefully now together with Revelation 3, 16, 18 and 22. It calls for thorough humbling of soul before God, earnest seeking with heart and mind and soul, deep searching of heart, cleansing of the soul temple, refining and transformation of the heart, removal of a wrong spirit, and diligent cultivation of the heart so fruit appears in proportion to light given. Such clearness is urgent because the perils of the last days are present and deception works to confuse minds, while confusion may be death and pressing to the mark of the high calling with straight paths leads to overcoming and inheriting all things as sons of God.
The outcome is certain truth secured by the command to write it, the result Christ died to bring to pass through humiliation, sacrifice, suffering and death on the cross. It belongs to those who have done their best in overcoming by living on the plan of addition, as part of the future condition represented in the opening of the chapter. Beyond the present conflict with deception and testing of character lies final triumph, when the glory of God reflects brightness on the overcomers. That outcome is certain in prophecy and can be seen now by faith, giving real comfort that keeps faith from failing while longing for Jesus to come quickly and for the promised experience to be realized.
Inheritance of All Things
To inherit all things is to receive all the blessings of the new creation, provided so that every soul may receive them and possessed at last as eternal glory. That inheritance is heavenly, not earthly, among the eternal riches of the world to come, beyond earthly measure and secured by God for those who make Christ their friend, give their lives to Him, follow Him, pursue through Him perfection of character, receive from Him and share with others, and remain perseveringly faithful to the end. It is the restoration of the dominion the first Adam lost through sin, to be restored by the second Adam according to the eternal purpose of God, so that overcomers receive the earth made new with all things again put in subjection under them, where they reign forever and ever and the whole earth is filled with the glory of the Lord.
It points to the future glorified life in which God's people imitate Christ's life and character, see His face, and bear His name in their foreheads, while the Lord leads them to the tree of life and teaches them what they do not yet understand. There they enjoy life in the kingdom of glory, a life that measures with the life of God, whose greatness must be realized to know the value of the soul. It is a heaven of bliss free from all dissension, selfishness, poverty, sickness, and oppression, with eternal life for the redeemed who are elevated, pure, and one with Christ, having in Christ endured the penalty of the law and fulfilled its righteousness, developed a character that is the counterpart of the character of God and bears His likeness, linked in closest relationship with Christ, departed from every kind of iniquity, and here striven to form characters after the divine similitude conformed to the image of Christ.
The inheritance is a place in the city of God, the beautiful new earth and New Jerusalem, the Father's home of happiness and peace, worth striving for and open to everyone so that every child and every adult can have a place there. To inherit is to receive the eternal substance and enter through the opened gates into the holy city as conquerors, with rightful inheritance and place in God's family, to eternal life with Jesus where understanding beyond what was known on earth will be opened, in entrance and fellowship with the family of the redeemed. That entrance belongs only to those who turn by repentance and conversion to a life of obedience to God, keeping the ten holy precepts given by God Himself from Mt. Sinai that declare the principles ruling in heaven and the terms of entrance into the city, a work aided for youth brought up rightly by determined labor of fathers and mothers to see souls saved, with angels assisting in schools in educating boys and girls and the Holy Spirit working with all human effort.
The reward includes immortality and life forever, given as the Christian warfare advances despite opposition through humbly confessing failure, ceasing to trust self, trusting God more firmly, and trying again. Overcomers gaining victory over self-confidence and personal weaknesses through faith and God's grace and power will wear a crown of glory in God's kingdom, enter God's city as conquerors and sons of God rather than condemned criminals, and inherit the promised kingdom prepared for the blessed, receiving crowns while the righteous are given white robes and eternal glory. The victor's reward is pictured as white robes, crowns of glory and everlasting life, a robe of righteousness, and palm branches, with the faithful standing around the great white throne when suffering and warfare are over, the very hope that gave persecuted believers courage. The treasures of God's kingdom outweigh every earthly possession, making the things of this life secondary and calling believers to live as pilgrims whose actions show their hope in heaven, presenting to sinners turning from sin the goal of a nobler, higher life. Heaven is a prize worth striving for, prepared for by overcoming and putting away worldly habits, and the redeemed rejoice together in the New Jerusalem in an overcoming that includes helping others and encouraging them to seek it so they too may be there.
God and His Children
The promise is that those who overcome will inherit all the blessings of the new creation, and God Himself will be their God and receive them as His children, an inheritance provided so that every soul may receive it. It belongs to the renewed creation where God dwells with His people and makes all things new, and there they will enjoy His personal presence throughout eternity. That home with God awaits His children as their inheritance, where the Lord is Father to His people and they are His children after the wickedness of the wicked has ended.
Those who overcome will inherit all things and belong to God as His sons and daughters, in lasting relationship with Him in the promised new creation where God dwells with His people and sorrow, death, crying, and pain are gone. Overcoming is the way to receive this inheritance, and the promise of sonship stands in contrast to the fate of the fearful and unbelieving and others who face the second death. In the purified new earth where all things are made new and the curse of sin is removed, overcomers inherit all things in the new heavens and the new earth as daughters and sons of God, members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, and heirs of the pure and holy everlasting kingdom, with God Himself as their God and Father. Present nature points toward that inheritance, which will fully satisfy when no longer blighted by sin, and the promise sustains waiting and watching for the appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven. Those who overcome through divine power become partakers of the divine nature and members of God's royal family, children of the heavenly King, who will behold the glories of the eternal world given to God's saints.
After being tested and tried, those who remain loyal and obedient to His commandments are pronounced trustworthy members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, and as overcomers receive all things as their inheritance with God as their God. This is God's covenant with His people, that loyalty under trial issues in declared trustworthiness and sonship.
Sonship comes through Christ, who opened the gates of Paradise so that those who receive and believe in Him are given power to become children of God in the blessed future when God dwells with His people and the former things have passed away. It is the outcome Christ died to bring to pass through humiliation, sacrifice, suffering, and cruel torturous death on the cross, that overcomers receive all things as sons of God. That promise belongs to those who have done their best in the work of overcoming by living on the plan of addition, and it is part of the future condition represented in the opening of the chapter and secured by the command to write it as certain truth. Christ conquered the enemy while bearing human nature and enduring temptation, humiliation, suffering, and death, and by following His example people may share this inheritance.
The promise is a place in the royal family in the city of God, where those who meet will know no more partings. Whether a person becomes a member of the Lord's family rests with them, by obedience to all the commandments of God. The glories shown awaiting the saved should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life, to search the Scriptures where eternal life is found, and to purify themselves, so as to be numbered among God's commandment-keeping redeemed, for to fail of this hope is terrible loss.
Overcoming Is Conditional
Inheriting all things and having God as God and being His son is conditional and not universal. The promise belongs only to those who thirst for the water of life, feel their need of it, and seek it at the loss of all things else. It belongs only to those who resist and overcome sin, whom God claims as His children.
The ungodly and unrepentant are excluded and will not be placed in heaven as holy, happy angels. In the earth made new God's kingdom is made up of saints, not sinners. Those who refuse to repent and forsake impurity will fall with the wicked when judgment is executed.
Only those who turn by repentance and conversion to a life of obedience will inherit. That obedience is obedience to all the commandments of God, keeping the ten holy precepts given by God Himself from Mount Sinai. Those precepts declare the principles ruling in heaven and the terms of entrance into the city through its opened gates into the New Jerusalem, to a life of happiness and peace in the Father's home and to the eternal substance. Whether a person becomes a member of the Lord's family rests with them, and after being tested and tried those who remain loyal and obedient are pronounced trustworthy members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. The glories awaiting the saved should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life, to search the Scriptures where eternal life is found, and to purify themselves so as to be numbered among the commandment-keeping redeemed, for to fail of this hope is terrible loss.
Inheriting as sons of God requires overcoming in the final crisis. Overcoming means keeping the single object of final and eternal salvation and immortal life constantly in view, enduring to the end, restraining from sin, and cultivating spiritual mindedness. It means striving with all energy to copy the pattern of Christ, beholding His character and purity by faith until transformed into His image and brought into close harmony with Him, becoming without spot or wrinkle in order to meet the Lord in peace, and maintaining indomitable purpose not to dishonor God. It means refusing to worship Satan or to receive the mark of the beast or of his image. Whoever has a part in the city of God will be a victor and an overcomer, and because the end is near this requires walking humbly with God and living so that personal influence leads other minds heavenward.
Everyone who enters the pearly gates of the city of God will enter there as a conqueror. The greatest conquest each one must win is the conquest of self.
How Overcoming Is Won
Overcoming is won through Christ's grace by obedience and faith, and eternal life is gained by joining Christ and becoming partakers of the divine nature, so that the good accomplished through that union is fully known when the overcomers enter the city of God as His children. Christ conquered the enemy while bearing human nature and enduring temptation, humiliation, suffering, and death, and by following His example people may share this inheritance. When defeat comes through Satan's opposition, advancing still means humbly confessing the failure, ceasing to trust in self, trusting God more firmly, and trying again, until immortality and life forever are received.
Overcoming includes victory over appetite through integrity, determined effort, and moral power exercised in Christ's name, for overcoming Satan's temptations including the pull of appetite is necessary to share Christ's throne. It means winning the battle against hurtful desires and perverted appetite, so that those who overcome enter God's city as His children rather than as condemned criminals and dwell with Christ in the eternal kingdom. It includes gaining victory over self-confidence and personal weaknesses through faith and God's grace and power, and the overcomers will wear a crown of glory in God's kingdom. Those who refuse to overcome and knowingly ruin their God-given powers through indulgence lose heaven, while those who overcome as Christ overcame receive the overcomer's reward and inherit the blessings of heaven.
Overcomers develop a character that is the counterpart of the character of God and bear His likeness, being one in character with Christ, elevated, pure, and one with Christ, having in Him endured the penalty of the law and fulfilled its righteousness. This is formed by beholding His character and purity by faith until transformed into His image and brought into close harmony with Him, striving with all energy to copy the pattern of Christ in order to become without spot or wrinkle and meet the Lord in peace. To gain this inheritance they must link up in the closest relationship with Christ, depart from every kind of iniquity, and here strive to form characters after the divine similitude and be conformed to the image of Christ. The final overcomer is marked by a life formed by Christ in which love is made perfect, selfish motives are driven out, and gratitude, love, and loyalty become the motives of the heart, turning from evil to doing good, learning Christ's virtues, and no longer letting worldly standards or worldly motives shape thoughts or character. That future glorified life makes everlasting life worth every effort to reach the highest standard possible, imitating Christ's life and character, seeing His face and bearing His name, while the Lord leads His people to the tree of life and teaches them what they do not yet understand.
Gaining the reward that costs all requires being counted worthy to abide the day of His coming and to stand when He appears, which calls for self-denial and sacrifice for Christ's sake and not only desire for reward, for those who partake of Christ's sufferings will share His glory. It will cost all to follow Christ and obey the truth, and the reward is all things, gained through personal victorious experience by the faith which overcomes the world, with unconquerable perseverance and never-failing endurance. Overcoming requires patient, determined effort, self-denial, perseverance, discipline, and conflict, following Christ who overcame temptation on their behalf, including resisting Satan's temptations, relying firmly on God, carrying Christ's cross daily, and living faithfully. It includes escaping Satan's snares, fighting the good fight, and finishing the course with joy while serving God, even unto receiving eternal life and a crown of glory as conquerors entering the city of God. Soldiers of Christ must work in concert in union and counsel and prayer for one purpose instead of moving independently until the Christian warfare is over and the victory is gained.
Overcoming belongs to youth who are brought up in a right manner, and the crown of life is what they are to gain, which requires determined work for one another, with fathers and mothers taking hold of the work to see souls saved. Parents are to hold fast to their children through living faith and teach them by their own Christlike conduct, modeling and teaching obedience to the testing, purifying truth and staying on the narrow path rather than joining the world's way, so that their children may also become overcomers. Children and youth must be taught the things of God and prepared to meet temptation, understanding that they have a part to do if they would win heaven and enjoy eternal life. Parents and teachers should help them prepare through godly example and education in the things of God, and those who serve God acceptably receive Christ's righteousness. Angels of God assist in schools in educating boys and girls, and the Holy Spirit works with all human effort toward that overcoming and entrance into the city to receive crowns and share in its joy and triumph.
Faithfulness includes using the abilities God gives in His service, for yielding to idleness weakens willingness to work, while faithful effort leads to victory and the faithful conqueror receives eternal life and glory. Believers are to live as pilgrims whose actions show their hope in heaven, holding the treasures of God's kingdom, which outweigh every earthly possession, as making the things of this life secondary. Because the end is near, sharing the promise requires walking humbly with God and living in such a way that personal influence leads other minds heavenward. Preparing for that eternal home as a prize worth striving for includes overcoming and putting away worldly habits, and others should be encouraged to seek it too. Overcoming includes helping others so they too may be there, that the redeemed may rejoice together in the New Jerusalem, and those who remain faithful may help save others through self-denial, good words, and a consistent Christian life by using means to win souls, and they will not lose their reward at the final distribution of rewards.
Call to Seek Eternity
Everlasting life is worth every effort to reach the highest standard possible, for those who overcome will inherit all things in a glorified future in which they imitate Christ's life and character, see His face, and bear His name. That inheritance is heavenly, not earthly, and is received by those who make Christ their friend, give their lives to Him, and follow Him, which is the goal for which believers gather, seek to understand truth, and prepare to be sanctified through belief in it. It is a place in the city of God and is worth striving for, open to everyone so that every child and every adult can have a place there. Heaven is a prize worth striving for, and preparing for that eternal home includes overcoming and putting away worldly habits, while others should be encouraged to seek it too, as the Lord leads His people to the tree of life and teaches them what they do not yet understand.
Who will overcome is not yet revealed, yet the inheritance remains open to all. Meanwhile angels minister throughout the earth, comforting the sorrowing, protecting those in danger, and seeking to win hearts to Christ, sharing in the inheritance of the saints in light promised to overcomers. No one is neglected, because God cares equally for every soul.
The promise gave persecuted believers hope and courage amid suffering, for those who remain faithful and overcome will receive the victor's reward pictured as white robes, crowns and palm branches, standing around the great white throne. Beyond the present conflict with deception and testing of character lies final triumph, when the glory of God reflects brightness on the overcomers. That outcome is certain in prophecy and can be seen now by faith, giving real comfort that keeps faith from failing while longing for Jesus to come quickly and for the promised experience to be realized.
The perils of the last days are upon us, with Satan working to keep minds confused and to deceive if possible the very elect, so clearness now matters because confusion may be death. Pressing to the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus and making the paths straight leads to overcoming and inheriting all things as sons of God. This requires thorough humbling of soul, earnest seeking with heart and mind and soul, cleansing and refining and transformation of heart, removal of a wrong spirit, deep searching of heart and cleansing of the soul temple, and diligent cultivation of the heart so that fruit appears in proportion to light given. The glories awaiting the saved should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life, to search the Scriptures where eternal life is found, and to purify themselves so as to be numbered among God's commandment-keeping redeemed by obedience to all His commandments, for to fail of this hope is terrible loss.