By J. Sidlow Baxter
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne.”–Rev. 3:21.
In this promise our Lord is referring, of course, to His Messianic throne and His millennial reign. When He comes again, in power and glory, then will He lift His resistless rod over the nations, and unfurl the banner of world-wide empire. The evil one shall be interned in the bottomless abyss. Evil shall be completely subjugated. Righteousness and peace shall be dispensed to the nations. Christ Jesus shall reign upon the Davidic throne which has been promised and covenanted to Him. A chastened and renewed Israel will send His messengers of enlightenment and peace throughout the earth. Science and invention, scholarship and art, shall all devote themselves to noblest ends. War shall be done away, and the throne of David’s greater Son shall be supreme.
It will be wonderful to live under that reign, yet it will be even more wonderful to reign with Him; and this is what Jesus promises. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne.” What a promise!
But the promise is to “the overcomer.” Are all believers “overcomers”? Let him think twice who would answer a dogmatic “Yes” to this question. The letters to the seven churches, at least, suggested otherwise to an unprejudiced reader. Our standing in Christ is no artificial position of immunity. As there are degrees of punishment [in hell] so there are degrees of reward [in heaven]. One is made ruler over ten cities, another over five. “One star differeth from another star in glory.”
Let our eager prayer ever be that we may be among the “overcomers.”
Taken from Awake My Heart by J. Sidlow Baxter (p. 323). Copyright 1959 by J. Sidlow Baxter. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. Available at your local Christian bookstore.
