Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. I. "TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH"; THIS SUPPOSES A CONFLICT. 1. You must contend against yourself. The main battle is fought on the field of your own heart. Your closest foes are the affections which struggle there. 2. Allied with your heart and habits stands the world. God has so mercifully made us that we hail as a light upon our path the beam of kindliness in the eye of a fellow man. Even this will be turned against you. 3. But self and the world are but visible weapons of an invisible hand. Behind them, setting their edge and thrusting them home, is your great adversary the devil. Watchful when you are drowsy, plotting when you are unsuspicious, laying snares when you are tripping heedlessly, bending the bow when you are exposing your breast, he is ever going about seeking to devour. II. HERE WE HAVE A PROMISE TO STIMULATE US TO OVERCOME. 1. Whatever this promise means, it must mean at least that the faithful Christian will be received into the immediate presence of his Lord. And this is a thought you must set well before you. 2. But as you linger on these words of promise your heart feels that they tell of more than merely of the abundant entrance. "I will grant to sit with Me in My throne." Ah I this seems, you think, to say that you shall be wondrously close to Him. 3. This seems to declare also that, if faithful, you shall share at last in the very honours which Invest your adorable Head. 4. But, lingering still on this rich promise, your heart gathers from it another assurance, and one that to us in our struggles is wondrous sweet. "In His throne," you repeat, "in His throne," what foe can approach me there? In this wide world I can find no inviolable rest. But "on His throne," surely eternal repose dwells there. III. HERE YOU HAVE THE EXAMPLE SET BEFORE YOU FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT. 1. Your Captain does not lead you to a warfare in which He is a stranger. You will meet no foe whom He has not met. 2. Consider, then, the example of Him who passed through every kind of temptation which can assail you, and in a degree of aggravation to which it is not possible that you should be liable. His victory is the pledge of yours, for His strength is your strength, and your only foes are His vanquished assailants. (W. Arthur, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. |
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