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.
21. To him that overcometh ] The construction is as in Rev 2:26, Rev 3:12, “He that overcometh, I will give him.” For the sense, compare the former of these passages; but the promise of sharing Christ’s inheritance (Rom 8:17) is even more fully expressed here.
as I also overcame ] See St John’s Gospel, Joh 16:33.
with my Father in his throne ] See Rev 5:6, Rev 7:17. In the Jewish Cabbala (of which the oldest parts are ascribed to a date little later than St John, and perhaps embody still older traditions, though it received its present form quite late in the middle ages) we hear of Metatron, apparently a Greek word Hebraised for “Next to the Throne,” or perhaps “in the midst of the Throne,” a sort of mediator between God and the world, who is identified with the four Living Creatures of Ezekiel’s vision. The Cabbala as it now exists has more affinity with Gnostic mythology than with scriptural or Catholic Christianity: but it is deserving of notice, as the outcome of tendencies in Jewish thought that might have developed, or found their satisfaction, in the Gospel. St John’s Lamb “in the midst of the Throne” is perhaps just as far comparable with the Cabbalistic Metatron, as his doctrine of the personal “Word of God” is with Philo’s. It is hardly wise to ask whether “My Throne” and “His Throne” are quite identical; for the doctrine that the faithful stand to Christ in the same relation as He to the Father, see St John’s Gospel, c. Joh 17:21-23, and 1Co 3:23; 1Co 11:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
To him that overcometh – See the notes on Rev 2:7.
Will I grant to sit with me in my throne – That is, they will share his honors and his triumphs. See the notes on Rev 2:26-27; compare the notes on Rom 8:17.
Even as I also overcame – As I gained a victory over the world, and over the power of the tempter. As the reward of this, he is exalted to the throne of the universe Phi 2:6-11, and in these honors, achieved by their great and glorious Head, all the redeemed will share.
And am set down with my Father in his throne – Compare the notes on Phi 2:6-11. That is, he has dominion over the universe. All things are put under his feet, and in the strictest unison and with perfect harmony he is united with the Father in administering the affairs of all worlds. The dominion of the Father is that of the Son – that of the Son is that of the Father; for they are one. See the notes on Joh 5:19; compare the Eph 1:20-22 notes; 1Co 15:24-28 notes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 3:21
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me.
The Christian raised to the throne of Christ
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.)
The condition of celestial kingship
This is the promise of the ascended, victorious, crowned, and almighty Saviour to men whom He would have imitate and reproduce the life which He lived while upon the earth. This promise implies that life is a struggle with foes which assail it for the mastery. This truth has its illustrations in all forms and spheres of life. Many fail where one succeeds. The higher you rise in any sphere in life the smaller do the classes become. There are more Canadian thistles than Yosemite pines. There are more ants than eagles. There are more men who can read and write than can weigh the planets in scales and call them by name, paint a Madonna, build a Parthenon, write an epic. So there are more men who succeed in temporal pursuits than attain grand Christian characters and live a Christlike life. The first great truth implied in our text is, if men would live that higher life which is governed by the principles of the gospel and in the eternal world sit down with their Lord and Master on His throne, they must resist the temptations which assail them, vanquish the foes which would destroy them. The dangers which beset each one in this life-battle are special. The rock on which your neighbour struck, the reef on which your friend lies stranded, may not imperil your safety because you are steering in another direction. There are men whose integrity money could not buy, in whose keeping the uncounted millions of the mints and treasury of the nations would be safe. But there are others who are ready at any moment to part with reputation, character, aye, sell their very souls for its possession. Take spirituous liquor. There are some to whom in any form it is as distasteful as vitriol, as poisonous as croton oil. There are others–God pity them!–in whom the appetite is so fierce, powerful, overmastering, that if they saw a glass of rum on one side of the mouth of hell, and they stood on the other side, they would leap across, at the risk of falling in, to get it. There are two things which differentiate and specialise each human beings danger. The first is natural constitution. No one denies the law of heredity, that physical resemblances, mental aptitudes, and moral qualities are transmissible, and sometimes travel down family and national lines for centuries. But while a man may inherit tainted blood and receive a legacy of disabilities from his progenitors, it does not relieve him from personal responsibility. What are the weak points in your character? In the presence of what temptations do you most easily surrender? Along what lines does your constitutional predisposition to wrongdoing lie? As you confront these weaknesses the command of the great Saviour of souls is, Overcome. On this your salvation depends. The second thing which differentiates and specialises each mans peril is providential circumstances. John Stuart Mill was carefully trained by his father in childhood and boyhood in the principles of atheism. Young Mill had no voice in determining the character of his childhood instruction. But did that fact relieve the future philosopher of responsibility in adhering to and teaching others the principles of atheism? Your greatest peril may lie wrapped up in some providential event which you had no voice in shaping and which you must meet. It may be money. It may be family alliances. It may be social relationships. It may be a business crisis–such a business crisis as sometimes reveals the whole moral mechanism of the man. I know not whether your inherited qualities of mind and moral aptitudes are helps or hindrances to you in lifes battle. I do not know the revealing tests to which a searching Providence may subject you. But I do know that special dangers lie along your pathway and menace your eternal well-being; dangers which you must conquer if you would enter yonder pearly gate and sit down with your Lord on His throne. The text affords glorious encouragement in the blessed assurance that it is possible for men in this life-battle to overcome. The success possible in the text rests on surer foundations than human resources or individual reserve power. It rests on the truthfulness and sincerity of Jesus. He does not mock men by laying down impossible conditions of salvation. That God is on the side of the man who is struggling to preserve his purity, maintain his integrity, and vanquish what is wrong both within him and without him, is a truth taught with increasing clearness from Eden to Calvary. Observe the greatness and grandeur of the reward of him who overcomes: To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne. Can you conceive of a greater incentive to be offered man than this promise of eternal participation in the regal splendours of heaven? Turning to the practical suggestions of this subject, notice that religion is a personal matter which has to do with individual character. Each one must overcome the obstacles which lie in his pathway. Yea can never understand how much Christ is to men until you realise your danger, feel your helplessness, and experience His saving power. You can never appreciate the towering sublimity of His peerless life until you attempt to walk in His footsteps and regulate your life by the same principles which controlled His life. The essence of the Christian religion is life, life shaped and controlled by supreme love to God and love for fellow-men equal to the love cherished for self. (T. McCullagh, D. D.)
The conquerors reward
I. The character of the Christian. It is that of a soldier–a successful soldier. His life is a warfare. It was such unquestionably in the days of the apostles. And what is the case now? The antipathy of the carnal mind may be restrained or softened by the influence of knowledge and the force of conviction, but the fact is still patent that we must take up our cross if we will win the crown. Our enemies within, whatever they may be without, am neither few nor weak. And to subvert our eternal salvation is the one thing in which they are all united. We have, therefore, the greatest need of caution and courage. One thing must be ever borne in mind, namely, our constant dependence upon God. As long as we abide beneath the wing of Omnipotence we are secure.
II. The reward which shall be adjudged to the successful warrior. He shall sit down with the Saviour on His throne.
1. The promise may be understood to shadow forth the future dignity of the conquering Christian. He shalt sit down with his Lord, and on the same throne. The faithful unto death shall thus be exalted above the angels of God.
2. The imagery in the promise is intended to indicate the future holiness of the saints. Wherever God is there is purity itself.
3. The promise before us is expressive of the future happiness of believers. There we shall behold a sky without a cloud, light without shadow, and flowers without a thorn. (American National Preacher.)
The victory and the crown
I. The battle. Common life in this world is a warfare.
1. It is inner warfare, private, solitary, with no eye upon the warrior.
2. It is outer warfare. The enemies are legion.
3. It is daily warfare; not one great battle, but a multitude of battles. The enemy wearies not, ceases not, nor must we.
4. It is warfare not fought with human arms.
5. It is warfare in which we are sharers with Christ.
II. The victory. Here it is spoken of as one great final victory, but in reality it is a multitude. As are the battles so are the victories.
III. The reward.
1. A throne. Not salvation merely, or life, but higher than these–glory, honour, dominion, and power. From being the lowest here they are made the highest hereafter.
2. Christs throne. He has a seat on the Fathers throne as the reward of His victory, we have a seat on His as the reward of ours. We are sharers or partakers with Christ in all things. We share His battles, His victories, His rewards, His cross, and His crown. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The great victory
I. A life of Christian holiness is possible.
II. It is not to be sustained without vigorous and persevering efforts.
1. The natural inaptitude and aversion of the unrenewed heart to the things of God and eternal life.
2. The world is against us.
3. The life of man is often the scene of distress.
III. The encouragements to a holy and Christian life held out to us in the religion of Jesus are manifold and great.
1. In this arduous undertaking we are not left without assistance.
2. Multitudes of our fellow-men have already accomplished salvation, and are for ever with the Lord.
3. Whatever of warfare and pain may attend the Christian life they who maintain it are already the happiest of men.
4. Viewed aright it is matter of encouragement that the strife will soon be over.
5. What a vast reward awaits the faithful. (James Bromley.)
The Christian conqueror
The word used here for conqueror does not imply one who has conquered. It is literally, He that is conquering I will give to him to sit with Me. While the battle is raging he shall have My peace, while he is but starting he shall be at the goal–as the boy has his prizes and his scholarships not because he is a finished scholar but because he is longing and learning to be one. And as this continues all through life to be the law of life, so in the kingdom that is coming effort is victory and victory is only encouragement. (Abp. Benson.)
Overcoming
To him that overcometh. There is a tendency very common which these words may be taken to warn us against–that of settling down to the daily round of our lives without appeal to anything high or holy in purpose. Do not listen for a moment to those who tell you that the struggle is not worth engaging in. To him that overcometh. Men have tried different ways to accomplish this. A favourite way in the history of the early Christian Church was to withdraw actually from the world, to seek the solitude of some cave or monastery. Others who would think it very wrong to do this, spend the greater part of their leisure in attending religious meetings and reading their Bibles, and tell you that the chief end of man in this world is by these methods to prepare for the next. Both of these attempts to overcome the world are based on a misconception. The text says to us that we are to overcome the world even as I (Jesus) overcame. Now in what way did our Saviour overcome the world? Not after the manner of the religious ascetic. His life was in the main lived among ordinary men and women in the ordinary vocations of life. If the life of Jesus had been that of a hermit or a monk, He would never have been called a friend of publicans and sinners. If, again, He had been a constant attendant at religious meetings, noonday, and evening, or had divided His life between keenness for this worlds success in money-making and eagerness for the salvation of His soul for the next, He would never have been put to death. No, it was because He was so zealous to overcome the world–the world of religious selfishness and of worldly selfishness alike–it was because He was devoting Himself amid the ordinary pursuits of life to bring about the kingdom of God. It is, of course, not to be forgotten that there are means, such as the reading of the Bible, attendance on public worship, prayer, and fellowship with those who are like-minded, which, if rightly used, will help us for the battle we have to fight. It is by forgetting that these are only means that men become hypocrites, and the form of religion becomes the all in all. When we realise what Christ meant by the world and what He meant by the kingdom of God, we will take a more enlightened view of what our duty is, and we will strive more eagerly to achieve the victory. Think of how many men and women are hindered from overcoming the world–that is, sin in all its forms–by the conditions under which they are made by a selfish society to live. How can men and women hope to realise the Christlike life if they are forced to toil from morning to night, and then to sleep in badly ventilated houses, only to rise again to the same round of unrelieved drudgery? Those who to-day are endeavouring to bring about a better state of affairs, who are trying to realise to some small degree that part of the kingdom of God which consists in better houses and more healthful surroundings for the toilers in our midst are doing quite as much to enable men to overcome the world–the world of vice, of drunkenness, of coarseness–as those who attend to what are considered more strictly the needs of the soul. There is another idea in the text: To him that overcometh. That is the battle. The reward follows: I will give him to sit down with Me in My throne. It was because Christ had so completely overcome–had so unreservedly rendered up His own will to the will of His Heavenly Father–that we find such a royal, kingly sense of self-conquest pervading His entire life. Jesus Christ could not have brought so much of the kingdom of God into this world, He could not have foreseen with so much confidence a time when it would be universally established, had He not had it reigning within Himself. Throughout His life there was an air of kingly majesty that makes Him as secure as if He sat and reigned upon a throne, while all around Him seemed to indicate defeat and disaster. Whence did this come but from His oneness with the Father? Whence can we hope to receive it but from the same high, never-failing source? (W. Martin.)
A commonwealth of kings
When Cyneas, the ambassador of Pyrrhus, after his return from Rome, was asked by his master, What he thought of the city and state, he answered, that it seemed to him to be a state of none but great statesmen, and a commonwealth of kings. Such is heaven–no other than a parliament of emperors, a commonwealth of kings: every humble faithful soul in that kingdom is co-heir with Christ, hath a robe of honour, and a sceptre of power, and a throne of majesty, and a crown of glory. (J. Spencer.)
The future dominion of victors
So you intend to be a reformer of mens morals, young man, said an aged peer to Wilberforce. That, and he pointed to a picture of the crucifixion, that is the end of reformers. Is it? I have read in an old Book this, I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. That is the end, not death, but dominion. And if we be faithful, doing our duty, the end shall not be exhaustion, but sit with Me on My throne. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
The Christian promise of empire
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me on My throne. These words bear the stamp of their environment. They were written at a time when the ideal of all men was the possession of a throne. Alike to the Roman and to the Jew the dream of life was the dream of dominion. The son of Israel contemplated his Messiah who should make him ruler over all nations. The son of Rome was eager to complete his almost finished work of universal empire. But from another point of view it was in striking contrast to both. Who were the men that claimed to be the recipients of this promise? A baud of obscure slaves. To the proud Roman leading his armies to victory, to the proud Jew counting his ancestors by hundreds, there must have been something almost grotesque in the claim. Must it not to the age in which they lived have appeared the presumption of insanity? Nor is it only to a Roman age that the claim of this passage seems to suggest the idea of presumption. Must it not appear so at all times to every man? The throne, as I have said, is a throne of judgment. How can any human soul aspire to such a seat? Is not the state of the Christian one of humility? Does not the amount of the humility increase in proportion as the Christianity grows? Have not the most purely spiritual souls been precisely those most conscious of their sin? It is in the incipient stages of the Christian life that we find ambition. But let us look deeper. I think we shall find that we have altogether mistaken the meaning of the passage, and that the John of the Apocalypse is nowhere more like the John of the Gospel than in his present claim to Christian empire. So far from being influenced by the old feeling of presumption, he is actuated by the direct desire to avoid that feeling. His position is that, instead of being presumption to claim a seat on Gods judgment throne, it is presumption that prevents the Church of Laodicea from having a right to claim it. If that Church would adopt more humility, it would be more entitled to a place on the throne. Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. What is the state of mind here indicated? It is poverty unconscious of itself. It is the description of a Church which has no elements of strength within it, but which believes itself to be strong just because it has never been tried. Accordingly in verse 18 He says, I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. Nothing could reveal the weakness but exposure to the fire And first, let us consider that, as a matter of fact, every man has seated himself on a throne of judgment. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is not the occupation of a throne. It is that the occupation of the one is legal, and the occupation of the other usurped. Every man by nature has constituted himself the judge of other men. But to all such the seer of Patmos exclaims, Come down from that throne; you have no right to be there; you have not overcome. He tells them that until they have felt the temptations of their own nature they are in no condition to judge others. Now, the next question is, what would be the effect of what is here called overcoming–of vanquishing the temptation? It would clearly be to transform a throne of judgment into a throne of grace. For, be it observed, the value of overcoming is not the victory but the struggle. There are two ways in which a man may reach freedom from temptation–by innocence or by virtue, by never having known or by having known and vanquished. If mere freedom from temptation were the goal, we ought to be content with the first. What makes the overcoming better than the innocence is the fact that in struggle we learn our weakness, and that in learning our weakness the throne of judgment becomes a throne of mercy. And now the passage takes a remarkable turn. To the inspired ear of the seer of Patmos the Christ who offers the conditions of empire is heard declaring that He Himself has reached empire by conforming to these conditions, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father on His throne. There is something startling here. There seems at first sight to be no analogy between the case of Christ and the case of ordinary men. Now, Jesus was tempted; that is one of the cardinal features of the gospel. He was tempted in such a way as to make Him feel the inherent weakness of humanity; that is one of the cardinal features of the Epistle to the Hebrews. But He was tempted also without sin. The idea clearly is that His right to judge others rests morally on the fact of His own struggle the struggle with the thought of death. In His dealings with man He acknowledges no power but the sympathetic. And what is the root of universal sympathy? Is it not universal experience? If I would have sympathy with all nations, I must know experimentally the weakness with which all nations contend. Jesus emerges from the conflict with death wider in His human capabilities, stronger in His hold on man. He is able to promise rest to the labouring and the heavy-laden because He has known a kindred labour and felt an analogous ladenness. He has made the law of the Christian life the law of His own spirit: I also have overcome, and am set down with My Father on His throne. (George Matheson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. To sit with me in my throne] In every case it is to him that overcometh, to the conqueror, that the final promise is made. He that conquers not is not crowned, therefore every promise is here made to him that is faithful unto death. Here is a most remarkable expression: Jesus has conquered, and is set down with the FATHER upon the Father’s throne; he who conquers through Christ sits down with Christ upon his throne: but Christ’s throne and the throne of the Father is the same; and it is on this same throne that those who are faithful unto death are finally to sit! How astonishing is this state of exaltation! The dignity and grandeur of it who can conceive?
This is the worst of the seven Churches, and yet the most eminent of all the promises are made to it, showing that the worst may repent, finally conquer, and attain even to the highest state of glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne; I will give him great honour, dignity, and power; he shall judge the world in the day of judgment, 1Co 6:3, the twelve, tribes of Israel, Mat 19:28; he shall be made partaker of my glory, Joh 17:22,24.
Even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne; but they must come to my throne as I came to it. I overcame the world, sin, death, the devil, and then ascended, and sat down with my Father in his throne: so they that will sit down with me in my throne of glory, must fight the same fight, and overcome, and then be crowned, sitting with me in my throne.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. sit with me in my throne(Rev 2:26; Rev 2:27;Rev 20:6; Mat 19:28;Mat 20:23; Joh 17:22;Joh 17:24; 2Ti 2:12).The same whom Christ had just before threatened to spue out of Hismouth, is now offered a seat with Him on His throne! “Thehighest place is within reach of the lowest; the faintest spark ofgrace may be fanned into the mightiest flame of love” [TRENCH].
even as I alsoTwothrones are here mentioned: (1) His Father’s, upon which He now sits,and has sat since His ascension, after His victory over death, sin,the world; upon this none can sit save God, and the God-man ChristJesus, for it is the incommunicable prerogative of God alone; (2) thethrone which shall be peculiarly His as the once humbled andthen glorified Son of man, to be set up over the whole earth(heretofore usurped by Satan) at His coming again; in this thevictorious saints shall share (1Co6:2). The transfigured elect Church shall with Christ judge andreign over the nations in the flesh, and Israel the foremost of them;ministering blessings to them as angels were the Lord’s mediators ofblessing and administrators of His government in setting up Histhrone in Israel at Sinai. This privilege of our high calling belongsexclusively to the present time while Satan reigns, when alone thereis scope for conflict and for victory (2Ti 2:11;2Ti 2:12). When Satan shall bebound (Re 20:4), there shall beno longer scope for it, for all on earth shall know the Lord from theleast to the greatest. This, the grandest and crowning promise, isplaced at the end of all the seven addresses, to gather all in one.It also forms the link to the next part of the book, where the Lambis introduced seated on His Father’s throne (Rev 4:2;Rev 4:3; Rev 5:5;Rev 5:6). The Eastern throne isbroad, admitting others besides him who, as chief, occupies thecenter. TRENCH notices;The order of the promises in the seven epistles corresponds to thatof the unfolding of the kingdom of God its first beginnings on earthto its consummation in heaven. To the faithful at Ephesus: (1) Thetree of life in the Paradise of God is promised (Re2:7), answering to Ge 2:9.(2) Sin entered the world and death by sin; but to the faithful atSmyrna it is promised, they shall not be hurt by the second death(Re 2:11). (3) The promise ofthe hidden manna (Re 2:17)to Pergamos brings us to the Mosaic period, the Church in thewilderness. (4) That to Thyatira, namely, triumph over the nations(Rev 2:26; Rev 2:27),forms the consummation of the kingdom in prophetic type, the periodof David and Solomon characterized by this power of the nations.Here there is a division, the seven falling into two groups, fourand three, as often, for example, the Lord’s Prayer, three and four.The scenery of the last three passes from earth to heaven, the Churchcontemplated as triumphant, with its steps from glory to glory. (5)Christ promises to the believer of Sardis not to blot his name out ofthe book of life but to confess him before His Father and the angelsat the judgment-day, and clothe him with a glorified body of dazzlingwhiteness (Rev 3:4; Rev 3:5).(6) To the faithful at Philadelphia Christ promises they shall becitizens of the new Jerusalem, fixed as immovable pillars there,where city and temple are one (Re3:12); here not only individual salvation is promised to thebeliever, as in the case of Sardis, but also privileges in theblessed communion of the Church triumphant. (7) Lastly, to thefaithful of Laodicea is given the crowning promise, not only the twoformer blessings, but a seat with Christ on His throne, even as Hehas sat with His Father on His Father’s throne (Re3:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
To him that overcometh,…. The lukewarmness, and self-confidence, and security of this state:
will I grant to sit with me in my throne; at the close of this church state, which will be the last of this kind, consisting of imperfect saints, Christ will descend from heaven with the souls of all the righteous, and raise their bodies and unite them to them; which, with the living saints, will make one general assembly and church of the firstborn, all perfect soul and body; among these he will place his tabernacle, and fix his throne; and they being all made kings as well as priests to him, shall now reign on earth with him, and that for the space of a thousand years: and this is the blessing promised the overcomers in the Laodicean state, that when Christ shall set up his kingdom among men, and reign gloriously before his ancients, they shall sit on the same throne with him, or share with him in his kingdom and glory; see Re 5:10;
even as I also overcame; sin, Satan, the world, death, and hell:
and am set down with my Father in his throne; in heaven, at his right hand; which is expressive of equality to him, distinction from him, communion with him, and of the honour and glory he is possessed of; but it is not on this throne that the saints will sit, only Christ sits on the same throne with the Father in heaven; it is on Christ’s throne on earth, or in his personal reign there, that the saints shall sit down with him; and which honour they shall all have, all that are more than conquerors through him, and are made kings by him. And when this reign is over, then will follow the second resurrection, or the resurrection of the wicked, when will come on the judgment of the people, as Laodicea signifies; and when these, with the devils, will form themselves into the Gog and Magog army, and attack the beloved city, the church of glorified saints on earth, under Christ their King, which will issue in the everlasting destruction of the former; and thus these seven churches bring us to the end of all things.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He that overcometh ( ). Absolute nominative again as in 3:12, but resumed this time by the dative as in 2:26.
To sit (). First aorist active infinitive of . This promise grows out of the prophecy that the saints will share in the Messiah’s rule, made to the twelve (Matt 19:28; Luke 22:29), repeated by Paul (1Co 6:2f.), enlarged in Re 22:1-5 (to last forever, 2Ti 2:11f.). James and John took this hope and promise literally (Mr 10:40) not metaphorically.
As I also overcame ( ). First aorist active indicative of , looking back on the victory as over in the past. In Joh 16:33 before the Cross Jesus says (perfect active), emphasizing the abiding effect of the victory.
Sat down (). “I took my seat” (Heb 1:3) where Christ is now (Rev 22:3; Col 3:1). Cf. 1John 5:4; Rev 2:27. Each of these seven messages begins alike and ends alike. Each is the message of the Christ and of the Holy Spirit to the angel of the church. Each has a special message suited to the actual condition of each church. In each case the individual who overcomes has a promise of blessing. Christ the Shepherd knows his sheep and lays bare the particular peril in each case.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
He that overcometh. See on chapter Rev 2:7. ===Rev4
CHAPTER IV
The Revelation proper now begins.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “To him that overcometh,” (ho nikon) “The one conquering or overcoming,” to the individual overcoming, even in a sinful church or congregation; Rom 14:11-12; Rom 12:21; 1Jn 4:4; 1Jn 5:4; Jas 4:7-8; the beggar on earth, yet in the Lord will live in royalty as a king in glory, 2Co 8:9; Rev 5:9-10.
2) “Will I grant to sit with me in my throne,” (doso auto kathisai met’ emou in to throno mou) “I will give or assign to him to sit with me in my throne; throne-positions of reigning with Christ are contingent upon personal obedience and service to Jesus Christ in and thru the church, no matter what others do, 1Co 3:8; 1 Corinthians 13-15; 1Co 15:24-25; Eph 3:21.
3) “Even as I also-overcame,” (hos kago enikesa ) “Just as I overcame; I who was dead and am alive forevermore, Rev 1:18; He overcame his foes and ours, the last enemy, death; He is our pattern, here and hereafter, Mat 26:64; Rom 8:11.
4) “And am set down with my Father in his throne,” (kai ekathisa meta tou patros mou en to throno autou) “And sat (down) with my Father in his throne; Christ now sits with His father in heaven on his Father’s throne, but Christ will also one day sit upon another Throne, in Jerusalem, on earth, to fulfill definitively the following prophecies, Luk 1:32-33; Mat 19:28; Act 2:30; Act 2:34-35; Act 15:14-16; 1Co 15:24-25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(21) To him that overcometh … .He will share Christs throne as Christ shared His Fathers throne. Here are two thrones mentioned. My throne, saith Christ: this is the condition of glorified saints who sit with Christ in His throne. But My Fathers (i.e., Gods) throne is the power of divine majesty. Herein none may sit but God, and the God-man Jesus Christ. The promise of sharing the throne is the climax of an ascending series of glorious promises, which carry the thought from the Garden of Eden (Rev. 2:7) through the wilderness (Rev. 2:17), the temple (Rev. 3:12), to the throne. The promise bears marked resemblance to the language of St. Paul to the Ephesians (Eph. 2:6). This crowning promise is made to the most unpleasing of the churches. But it is well that thus the despondency which often succeeds the sudden collapse of self-satisfied imaginations should be met by so bright a prospect. Though their religion has been proved an empty thing, there is a hope which may well drive away despair. The highest place is within the reach of the lowest; the faintest spark of grace may be fanned into the mightiest flame of divine love.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. To him that overcometh The last and most glorious promise to the victor.
With me in my throne The throne being extended like a sofa, and competent to contain many sitters.
Overcame For us, we conquering in his victory, reigning with his sceptre, and sitting upon his throne. For, while we form a vivid image of this co-session of the saints with Christ, we are to understand it only as an image of the truth that through Christ’s merits and mercy the saints are to be raised to a glory under his headship, of which priesthood, white garments, kingdom, sceptres, and thrones are the symbols, not the exact literality.
Father throne Note on Rev 21:1.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘He who overcomes, I will give to him the right to sit down on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.’
The Laodiceans had much of this world’s goods but they were not royalty. He can offer them so much more than their so-called riches. Here those who overcome are offered not only royalty, but the royalty of the King of Kings, for they can share His throne and reign with Him.
He Himself shares the throne of God, something He alone can do because of Who He is, the true God. They cannot share that. But the one who overcomes will be privileged to share His throne, the throne that was given to Him as the glorified God-man, and they can reign with Him for ever, a further guarantee of eternal life, and more!
So Jesus shares the throne of Godhead, for He is Lord of Lords, and He possesses the throne of glorified Man, for He is King of Kings (Rev 19:16).
This guarantee to the overcomer may reflect Luk 22:29-30. ‘I appoint to you a kingdom, just as my Father appointed to me. That you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. And you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’. And also may reflect Mat 19:28, ‘in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’. These promises, set in earthly terms, promised the disciples that their faithfulness would result in advancement beyond their wildest dreams. They would share with Him the Messianic Feast, and would be set as judges over the people who have rejected them and their Lord.
But in Matthew He then goes on to say that all who sacrifice earthly possessions and relationships for His sake will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life (Mat 19:29). This demonstrates the connection of eternal life with the above ideas, showing that these promises will be fulfilled in Eternity.
Here in Revelation a similar promise is made to overcomers, for to share a throne is to participate in the authority of that throne. Thus they too will reign with Him. As we have already seen, the promises to overcomers are of sharing in the heavenly; the heavenly Paradise, the heavenly manna, and the heavenly Temple. So this throne and this reigning must also be seen as heavenly and not earthly. Just as when interpreting the Old Testament, we must take the spiritual meaning behind the promises and not press the literal words.
The final words of the chapter underline all that has been said.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 3:21. Will I grant to sit with me in my throne, The accomplishment of this promise is declared, ch. Rev 20:4. We only observe, that notwithstanding this angel is described with the worst character of all the seven, yet the most glorious of all the promises is applied to him; to shew, that, upon repentance, the way to glory lies open to him by overcoming, as well as to the rest. Now, though the attributes of the promises be mentioned, distributing to each of the seven angels, some one, some another, different, as to the symbols, from the rest; yet all these, in the application, as the titles of Christ are to be taken, shall be collectively bestowed and concentered in each of those respective persons who have obtained them by overcoming. De Dieu observes, that the thrones in the east are broad and wide, something like a bed, raised a little above the earth, and adorned with tapestry; so that, besides the seat peculiar to the king, others, whom he designs to honour, have sufficient room to be seated on the throne with him. See ch. Rev 5:9-10.
Inferences.Alas! how common is the character of the church of Sardis, and of those who have only a name to live, while they are dead? But the more general the prevalence of such an indolent temper is, the more let us emulate the distinguished honour of those few names in Sardis, which had not defiled their garments; that we may walk with them; and with Christ, in white raiment; that we may arrive at that happy state of everlasting purity, of everlasting festivity, of everlasting triumph, which our divine Master has encouraged us to expect. We know not how unexpectedly he may come upon us: let us be always ready, always strenuous in maintaining a holy war against the enemies of our salvation; and then we shall conquer, we shall triumph; our name shall remain in the book of life; it shall be confessed by Christ before his Father and his holy angels: we shall share with him in his triumph over all the rebellious nations, in that day, when we shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel: we shall for ever wear the lustre of the morning star; yea, we shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father.
On the other hand, let us not indulge in a vain conceit of our own wisdom, and riches, and sufficiency; but let us thankfully hearken to that kind invitation, which our Lord gives the Laodiceans, to come and purchase that of him, without money, and without price, by which we may be truly and substantially enriched; that by which we may attain to real knowledge and true discernment; and may be clothed with ornaments and glories, which shall render us amiable in the eyes of God. How long has our compassionate Saviour been waiting upon us! How long has he stood knocking at the door! And O, for what guests hath he been excluded, who have filled our hearts and taken the throne in them, while the entrance has been denied to the Lord of glory and of grace! Let us humble ourselves in the dust before him, and entreat that he would now enter as into his own habitation; that he would do us the honour to sup with us; that he would cause us to sup with him; opening to us the stores of his love and bounty, and causing our souls to rejoice in his salvation. “Awaken us, O blessed Jesus, to give thee a most cheerful admittance; and rather shew thy love to us by chastisements and rebuke, than suffer us to forfeit it, by continued insensibility and negligence. Holy and true, who hast the key of David, exert thy power in opening our hearts: and O, set before us an open door of service; and give us to use it to the utmost, for thy glory. Strengthen us to keep the word of thy patience, and make us unshaken in our attachment to thee, in every hour of temptation, which may come upon the earth, that none may take away our crown.”
Whatever our trials may be, let us rejoice in this, that they will be only for a short duration; for our Lord is coming quickly: whatever our combat may be, let us arm ourselves with faith in those glorious promises, which our Lord makes to them that persevere and overcome.
Have we not experienced the pleasure of filling a place in the house of God on earth? But this sacred satisfaction, and the holy season which affords it, are quickly over; let us long for the blessed time, when, if faithful, we shall be fixed as immoveable pillars in the temple of God above. And O, may we now continually wear engraven on our hearts, the name of our God, and of his heavenly city, and the new name of our triumphant Redeemer, as a token for good, that we shall bear the inscription in bright and everlasting characters above. But even this most expressive promise was not equal to all the purposes of a Saviour’s love: that nothing, therefore, might be wanting to enkindle the most generous ambition, he has been pleased to speak of our sitting down with him upon his throne, as he is seated on his Father’s throne, if we overcome. O, who would grudge to resign, not merely the accommodations of life, but even an earthly throne, in the hope of one so much more radiant, exalted, and permanent! Fear not, little flock of faithful saints! It is your Father’s, and your Saviour’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom; and he animates you to pursue it with such compassionate earnestness, as if he could hardly enjoy it himself, unless it were communicated to you.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The fifth epistle is directed to the church in Sardis.
1. It comes from him that hath the seven spirits of God, who, as the divine Mediator, hath all the variety and fulness of the gifts and graces of the Spirit to bestow; and who hath the seven stars, guiding and directing his ministering servants, and giving them all their light and influence.
2. The contents are melancholy. [1.] I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead; amidst all thy specious appearances of religion, I know that thy professions in general are hypocritical, and many who have a name among the members of the church, are really dead in trespasses and sins, and others cold and lukewarm. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, before all vital godliness be utterly departed: for I have not found thy works perfect before God; they are but as the carcase, when the spirit is fled; thy duties lifeless; thy services insincere. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. Note; (1.) A form of godliness will avail nothing if the power of it be lost. (2.) They who feel their souls under decays, need to watch with holy jealousy, and cry to God for quickening influences to revive his work in their hearts. (3.) The way to recover from our backslidings, is to consider how we departed; what God’s word has said of the sin and danger of such a conduct; to repent of our unfaithfulness; and still to cleave to those promises that preserve the soul from despair, and encourage us to return to God. [2.] He sharply threatens them: If therefore thou shalt not watch, but goest on careless and secure, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Note; Christ’s appearing at death or judgment will be very terrible and surprising to the backslider in heart; when too late he will be startled from the slumbers of security. [3.] He encourages the few faithful among them: Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, cold and careless as the generality of the professors are, which have not defiled their garments; who have kept themselves unspotted from the world, and maintained a becoming purity of doctrine and manners amidst abounding ungodliness; and they shall walk with me in white, as sacred priests and triumphant conquerors, decked with glory, honour, and immortality; for they are worthy, and meet for my inheritance among the saints in light.
3. The conclusion. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; shining in splendid robes of righteousness and victory; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels, in the great day of my appearing to judge the world. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Note; They who fight manfully and faithfully under Christ’s banner, will be acknowledged by him with most distinguished favour and honour, when he shall come to reward their fidelity.
2nd, The sixth epistle is directed to the angel of the church of Philadelphia. We have,
1. The preface. These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, who by nature is essential truth and holiness, the substance of all the prophecies and promises, the true Messiah; he that hath the key of David, on whose shoulders the government rests; he that openeth the gates of the grave and the kingdom of heaven to his faithful people, and no man shutteth; no creature can exclude such saints of God from his eternal glory; and shutteth up the wicked in the dreadful prison of eternal torment, and no man openeth, or can open the gates of the impassable gulph, to release the damned from thence.
2. The contents. [1.] I know thy works, and regard them with delight and approbation: behold, I have set before thee an open door. that my word should run, and have free access, and be glorified; and no man can shut it, I give thee a power and opportunity of spreading my gospel, which none of thy enemies can shut against thee; for thou hast a little strength, and a measure, though it be small, of grace and spiritual attainments; and hast kept my word with fidelity and steadfastness, and hast not denied my name, nor revolted from the profession of the faith amid the wiles of deceivers, and the persecutions of avowed enemies. Behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, (which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie,) behold, with thankfulness and delight, I will make them, who, under pretence of zeal for Judaism, corrupt the doctrines of Christianity, and whose practice is as vicious as their principles are erroneous, to come and worship before thy feet; abased into the dust, and brought to take shame to themselves; and to know that I have loved thee, with distinguished favour and regard. Note; Sooner or later the bitterest persecutors of God’s faithful people shall be made to know how dear they are to him, and be covered with everlasting confusion in the view of their malice against them. [2.] A gracious promise is given to the faithful. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, and maintained the profession of the unadulterated gospel, amid the malignant opposition of envenomed foes, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, that thou shalt not apostatize from the truth under those fiery persecutions, which shall, under the bloody Heathen Emperors of Rome, come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth, and shew who are true and false professors. Note; (1.) They who steadily cleave to Christ, shall be kept in the most dangerous days. (2.) We must prepare for temptation; it will come, and if we are unprepared, we shall be in imminent danger. [3.] He adds a glorious encouragement. Behold, I come quickly; the time therefore of suffering cannot but be momentary; hold that fast which thou hast, with holy resolution, cleaving to the word of truth, that no man take thy crown; or, by fraud or violence, seduce or intimidate thee from the faith of the gospel, and rob thee of the reward of fidelity. Note; A sense of the speedy coming of Jesus for our help, is the greatest support under every affliction.
3. The conclusion. Him that overcometh, who is through my grace finally a conqueror, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; he shall be admitted into the eternal presence of God in glory, and there shall be ever with the Lord, enjoying that beatific vision. And I will write upon him the name of my God, to whose grace he is indebted for the conquest, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God; even that new Jerusalem which shall soon be represented to thee, O John, in a most glorious vision: and I will write upon him my new name, acknowledging him for my faithful saint, and bringing him to share in all the glories of my kingdom. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; and well worthy is it of our deepest and most serious attention.
3rdly, The last epistle is directed to the angel of the church of Laodicea. We have,
1. The preface. These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, whose testimony is infallible, who neither can nor will deceive his people, or fail of the accomplishment of his prophecies; the beginning of the creation of God; the author of life and being to every creature; the head of vital influences to his believing people, having in all things the pre-eminence, and possessing universal dominion in heaven and earth.
2. The contents. [1.] A melancholy account is given of their state. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot, but lifeless and lukewarm: I would thou wert cold or hot; either be sincerely zealous, or make no profession, rather than disgrace it by an unsuitable conduct. [2.] A threatening is added. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth, as loathsome and nauseous. [3.] The cause of their declension is remarked. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; endowed perhaps with spiritual gifts, abounding probably in worldly wealth, and thoroughly self-righteous and conceited; and thus they flattered themselves with high imaginations of their own excellence; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; insensible to thy spiritual wants and poverty; ignorant of all true wisdom; destitute of real grace and righteousness; and exposed to the storms of divine wrath. Note; (1.) Nothing is more fatal to the soul, than a vain conceit of our own excellencies. (2.) Many flatter themselves as confident of heaven, whose ways lead down to death and hell. [4.] He gives them the kindest advice. I counsel thee to buy of me, that is, to come to me to receive freely out of my fulness the supply of every want, gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; the gold of my spirit, wisdom, and grace, and all the spiritual measures which I bestow on my faithful followers; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear: apply to me for an interest in my infinite merit and sanctifying grace, that thou mayest be absolved before God, and adorned with every virtue and heavenly disposition which can render thee lovely in his sight: and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see the things which make for thy everlasting peace, and all the mysteries of gospel-grace, no longer blinded by ignorance, prejudice, and worldly lusts. Note; They who would be spiritually rich, and wise unto salvation, must come to Christ to buy out of his fullness; and, blessed be his name, the purchase is to be made without money and without price; for he freely gives to the miserable and the destitute. [5.] A gracious encouragement is given them to repent. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; the reproofs of my word, and the corrections of my providence, are the rod of love: be zealous therefore; cast off this lukewarm spirit; let the fire of zeal and love kindle in your hearts; and repent of your past unfaithfulness. Behold, such is my patience and condescension, I yet stand, waiting to be gracious, at the door of your hearts, and knock: if any man hear my voice, attend to my calls and warnings, and open the door in faith, to receive me with eager welcome into his soul, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me, honouring him with my presence, and love, and blessed communion. Note; Christ, by his providences, word and Spirit, knocks at the door of our hearts; and they who welcome him in, and cleave to him perseveringly, shall find him not only as a guest that tarrieth for a night, but whose communion shall make them blessed to all eternity.
3. The conclusion. To him that overcometh the corruptions of his nature, and the temptations of the world, will I grant to sit with me in my throne; even as I also overcame, and am sat down with my Father in his throne; to such infinite and transcendent glory and dignity shall he be exalted in the great day of my appearing, and shall come to reign with me triumphant over every foe for ever and ever. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; for these things are written for our learning to the latest ages; and blessed are they who attend to the warnings, reproofs, exhortations, encouragements, and instructions here revealed, and feel their mighty influence.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 3:21-22 . Cf. Rev 2:26-27 . The embraces the temptations and perils lying in the peculiar circumstances of the Church, [1635] but is not limited thereto, so that it can correspond to the Lord’s conflict and victory in suffering. [1636]
The promised reward , . . . , i.e., participation in Christ’s royal dominion, [1637] is here, just as at the close of all the epistles, to be expected as the victory over the world, sin, and death, [1638] only in eternity, and not in this life, since the , . . . , has occurred to the Lord through his ascension. [1639] Entirely wrong is Calov.’s distinction between the throne of God the Father, whereon Christ sits, and the throne of Christ, whereon the believer is to sit with him, The throne of God and of the Lamb is one; [1640] the glory of the victor is communion with the Father and the Son. [1641] The promise to the victor is here made so strong, not because the struggle which the Laodiceans had to maintain against their own lukewarmness is regarded the most severe, [1642] but because it is natural and suitable, that, in the last of the seven epistles, such a promise should be expressed as would combine all the others, and designates the highest and most proper goal of all Christian hope, and the entire Apocalyptic prophecy.
[1635] Rev 3:16 sq.
[1636] Cf. Rev 5:5 .
[1637] Cf. Rev 1:9 , Rev 22:5 ; 2Ti 2:12 .
[1638] Vitr.
[1639] Cf. Heb 12:2 ; Phi 2:9 .
[1640] Rev 22:1 .
[1641] Cf. Joh 17:22 ; Joh 17:24 .
[1642] Ebrard.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2505
THE VICTORS REWARD
Rev 3:21. 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.
WE have seen at the close of every epistle a promise to him that overcometh. In truth, we all need encouragement in our warfare. It is the hope of profit or of honour that produces industry among all classes of the community: it prompts the philosopher to consume the midnight oil in study; the merchant to risk his property on the tempestuous ocean; and the soldier to brave the dangers and fatigues of war. The same principle may well be extended also to spiritual concerns, and animate the Christian in the pursuits of religion. His reward indeed is infinitely greater than any which this world can afford, and may therefore justly stimulate him to the most indefatigable exertions. The utmost that the labours of man can attain on earth, is, a royal title, and a temporal kingdom; but the Christian victor has a crown of glory laid up for him, and a participation of that very kingdom, which is possessed by Christ himself. The Judge of quick and dead pledges himself to bestow this reward on all his faithful followers. His words lead us to consider,
I.
The Christians character
Every Christian is by profession a soldier; he has enlisted under the banners of Christ; and fights till he has vanquished all the enemies of his soul
The world is not able to detain him in bondage
[As for the pleasures of the world, they have no charms for any person who knows the value of his own soul. It requires scarcely any more self-denial to renounce them, than for a philosopher to put away the toys of childhood. A regard for its honours is not so easily overcome. The Christian would gladly at first retain his reputation among his former acquaintance; and sometimes perhaps makes undue sacrifices rather than forfeit his good name: but when he finds how impossible it is to be faithful unto God without incurring the censure of the ungodly, he learns at last to bear the reproach of Christ, and to rejoice that he is counted worthy to suffer shame for his sake. The interests of the world still subject him to many and strong temptations, even after that he has both done and suffered much for Christ; but when he has weighed both the world and his own soul in the balance of the sanctuary, he determines to forego every interest rather than endanger his eternal salvation. Thus he evinces that he is born of God by overcoming the world [Note: 1Jn 4:4.].]
The flesh also gradually loses its ascendency over him
[Our inbred corruption is a more powerful enemy than the world, inasmuch as it is nearer to us, and ever with us. But the Christian maintains a conflict with it. He never is so perfect in this world but that he still carries about with him a body of sin and death. The flesh lusts against the Spirit to the latest hour of his life; but if any unhallowed appetite arise, he resists it to the uttermost, and will in no wise yield to its solicitations: or if it betray him into any unworthy conduct, he will mourn over it, and cry to God for grace and strength to resist it; and will never be at peace, till it is utterly mortified and subdued. A mans besetting sin is that which will, for the most part, give him most trouble to the end of his days. Thus through the Spirit he mortifies the deeds of the body, and crucifies the flesh with its affections and lusts [Note: Rom 8:13. Gal 5:24.]. True, crucifixion is a lingering death: but still he has nailed his besetting sin to the cross: and it shall never regain its power, though it will still continue to pour forth its venom against Christ to the latest hour of our lives.]
Nor can the devil with all his hosts prevail against him
[Satan is yet a greater adversary to the Christian than even flesh and blood [Note: Eph 6:12]; but the good soldier will not turn his back. He girds on the whole armour of God, and goes forth in the strength of the Lord God. Satan, like Pharaoh, (of whom he was the perfect archetype) casts every impediment in his way, and multiplies his thoughts of this world, to divert his attention from a better [Note: Exo 5:6-9.]. When he cannot prevail to keep the Christian from the path of duty, he will endeavour, like that hardened monarch, to limit him in the prosecution of it [Note: Exo 8:25; Exo 8:28; Exo 10:11; Exo 10:24.]. When that fails, he will contrive, if possible, to lead him astray, and to fix his attention on controversy, or politics, or something of inferior concern. When that will not succeed, he will labour either to puff him up with pride, and thus bring him into the condemnation of the devil; or to cast him down with despondency, and thus cause him to desist from his purpose. But the Christian repels all his fiery darts, resists him manfully till he makes him flee, and finally bruises him under his feet as a vanquished enemy. This accords with the description given by St. John, Young men, ye have overcome the wicked one [Note: 1Jn 2:13.].]
After having successfully maintained his conflicts, the Christian receives,
II.
His reward
As a view of the recompence that awaits us cannot fail of animating us in our warfare, it will be proper to contemplate it with care
Our Lord declares it in terms the most glorious that can be conceived: The Christian shall reign with him
[Christ is seated in heaven on a throne of glory: but he does not occupy that throne alone; he admits his victorious followers to a participation of it. Nothing less than this is deemed a sufficient reward for them. It were an unspeakably great reward, if we were only permitted to behold him upon his throne; but he assures us that we shall be exalted to sit thereon together with him, and thus to share both his honour and felicity. Such honour have all his saints; and he, as the arbiter of life and death, pledges his word, that he himself will bestow this reward upon them. How blessed then must they be! how poor a recompence would earthly kingdoms be in comparison of this!]
But the comparison which he here institutes, alone can put the promise in its true light
[Christ was once conflicting with his enemies, just as we are; but he overcame them upon the cross, triumphed over them in his resurrection, and led them captive in his ascension; and is now set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Let us view him then on his Fathers throne, and we shall see what glory is reserved for us. Like him, we shall rest from our labours: never harassed either by sin or sorrow any more. We shall dwell in the immediate presence of him whom we love; no longer viewing him at a distance, by the eye of faith, through the medium of the word; but beholding him face to face, seeing him as we are seen, and knowing him as we are known. We shall moreover receive all the happiness of which our natures are capable. He who was once a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief as his constant companion, now enjoys both in body and soul all the blessedness of the Godhead. In this we shall resemble him as far as any thing finite can resemble what is infinite. Our capacities of happiness will be enlarged beyond our highest conceptions, and every one will be as blessed as his capacity will admit of. Nor is Christs exaltation merely a pattern of ours. He is our forerunner; and the exaltation of the Head is a pledge and earnest that all the members shall in due time be glorified together with him.]
Application
[If such be the felicity of all Christian soldiers, who will not enlist under the banners of Jesus? Who will not join himself to the Captain of our salvation, and give up his name to be enrolled among the worthies of our David? Let all of you, my brethren, flock to his standard, like doves to their windows. Gird on your spiritual armour, and go forth to the fight. You have a Commander who can not only lead you and direct you in the battle, but can shield your heads, and heal your wounds, and strengthen your arms, and ensure you the victory. Soldiers, quit yourselves like men; be strong. Fight the good fight of faith, and trust in him for a successful issue of your conflicts. It is but a little time that you shall have to engage; and though you go forth only with a sling and a stone, Goliath shall fall before you. Only go forth in dependence upon your God, and you have nothing to fear. But O what have you not to hope for? What blessed triumphs! What glorious spoils! What everlasting shouts of victory! Look at those who have gone before you in the combat; see them on their thrones, crowned with crowns of righteousness, and shouting with shouts of triumph. Soon, very soon, shall you be numbered amongst them. Let none of you then turn your backs. If any man turn back, says God, my soul shall have no pleasure in him [Note: Heb 10:38.]. Fight on a little longer, and you shall not only be conquerors, but more than conquerors. The completest victories that an earthly hero can gain, will afford him matter for weeping as well as for joy. But your victories shall be unalloyed with sorrow, and crowned with everlasting gladness. War then a good warfare, and fight till you overcome. So shall you receive your promised recompence, and reign with your God for ever and ever.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
21 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.
Ver. 21. To sit with me in my throne ] The thrones of those eastern kings were large and capacious, after the manner of a couch, set on high and covered with tapestry, so that besides the king’s own room, others whom the king would honour might sit by him in the same throne. (Lud. de Dieu. in loc.) And hereunto our Saviour seemeth here to allude. This honour he promiseth to him that overcometh, as Alexander the Great by his last will left his dominions , to the worthiest of his princes, to him that should best deserve it.
And he with me ] Christ is no niggardly or beggarly guest. His reward is with him, he brings better commodities than Abraham’s servant did, or the Queen of Sheba, gold, raiment, eyesalve, &c.
Even as I also ] That is, because I also overcame, by virtue of my victory, for . See the likeJoh 17:2Joh 17:2 ; Luk 4:36 . It is by Christ that we do exceedingly overcome, Rom 8:37 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
21 .] He that conquereth (see above, ch. Rev 2:26 , and Rev 3:12 , for the construction), I will give to him to sit (in the blessed life of glory hereafter: such promises cannot be regarded, as this by some, as partially fulfilled in this life: for thus the following analogy, . . ., would fail. The final and complete act is also pointed out by the aor. ) with me (cf. Joh 17:24 , , ) on my throne (have a share in My kingly power, as ch. Rev 2:27 , Rev 20:6 ), as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne (the aorr. refer to the historical facts of the Resurrection and Ascension. By the latter, Christ sat down at the right hand of God, or of the throne of God, as Heb 12:2 . No distinction must be made between the throne of the Father, on which Christ sits, and that of Christ, on which the victorious believer is to sit with Him: they are one and the same, cf. , ch. Rev 22:1 ; and the glory of the redeemed will be a participation in that of the Father and the Son, Joh 17:22 ).
Doubtless the occurrence of this, the highest and most glorious of all the promises, in this place, is to be explained not entirely from any especial aptness to the circumstances of the Laodicean church, though such has been attempted to be assigned (e. g. by Ebrard because the victory over luke-warmness would be so much more difficult than that in any other case), but also from the fact of its occurring at the end of all the Epistles, and as it were gathering them all into one. It must not be forgotten too, that the forms a link to the next part of the book where we so soon, ch. Rev 5:6 , read . .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 3:21 . . . ., To share Christ’s royal power and judicial dignity it a reward proffered in the gospels, but Jesus there ( cf. Mar 10:40 ) disclaimed this prerogative. God’s throne is Christ’s, as in Rev 22:1 . = the moral purity and sensitiveness ( cf. Rev 3:18 and on Rev 2:7 ) which succeeds in responding to the divine appeal. The schema of God, Christ, and the individual Christian ( cf. on Rev 2:27 ) is characteristically Johannine ( f. Joh 15:9 f., Joh 17:19 f., Joh 20:21 ), though here as in Rev 3:20 (contrast Joh 14:23 ) the eschatological emphasis makes the parallel one of diction rather than of thought.
The scope and warmth of the promises to Laodicea seem rather out of place in view of the church’s poor religion, but here as elsewhere the prophet is writing as much for the churches in general as for the particular community. He speaks . This consideration, together with the close sequence of thought in Rev 3:19-21 forbids any attempt to delete Rev 3:20-21 as a later editorial addition (Wellhausen) or to regard Rev 3:20 (Rev 3:21 ) as an epilogue to the seven letters (Vitringa, Alford, Ramsay) rather than as an integral part of the Laodicean epistle. Such a detachment would be a gratuitous breach of symmetry. But, while these closing sentences are not a sort of climax which gathers up the menaces of 2 3., Rev 3:21 (with its throne-reference) anticipates the following visions (Rev 3:4-5 .). To the prophet the real value and significance of Christ’s life were focussed in his sacrificial death and in the rights and privileges which he secured thereby for those on whose behalf he had suffered and triumphed. This idea, already suggested in Rev 1:5-6 ; Rev 1:17-18 , forms the central theme of the next oracle.
The now pass out of sight till the visions are over. During the latter it is the who are usually in evidence, until the collective term is employed in the final vision ( cf. Rev 3:12 ). John knows nothing of any catholic . To him the are so many local communities who share a common faith and expect a common destiny; they are, as Kattenbusch observes, colonies of heaven, and heaven is their mother-country. Partly owing to O.T. associations, partly perhaps on account of the feeling that an (in the popular Greek sense of the term) implied a city, John eschews this term. He also ignores the authority of any officials; the religious situation depends upon the prophets, who are in direct touch with God and through whom the Spirit of God controls and guides the saints. Their words are God’s words; they can speak and write with an authority which enables them to say, Thus saith the Spirit . Only, while in the contemporary literature of Christianity the prophetic outlook embraces either the need of organisation in order to meet the case of churches which are scattered over a wide area and exposed to the vagaries of unauthorised leaders (Pastoral Epistles and Ignatius), or contention among the office-bearers themselves (a sure sign of the end, Asc. Isa. iii. 20f.), John’s apocalypse stands severely apart from either interest.
NOTE on Rev 1:9 to Rev 3:22 . We have no data to show whether the seven letters or addresses ever existed in separate form, or whether they were written before or after the rest of the visions. All evidence for such hypotheses consists of quasi-reasons or precarious hypotheses based on some a priori theory of the book’s composition. The great probability is that they never had any rle of their own apart from this book, but were written for their present position. As the Roman emperors addressed letters to the Asiatic cities or corporations (the inscriptions mention at least six to Ephesus, seven to Pergamos, three to Smyrna, etc.), so Jesus, the true Lord of the Asiatic churches, is represented as sending communications to them ( cf. Deissmann’s Licht vom Osten , pp. 274 f.). The dicit or with which the Imperial messages open corresponds to the more biblical of Rev 2:1 , etc. Each of the apocalyptic communications follows a fairly general scheme, although in the latter four the appeal for attention follows (instead of preceding) the mystic promise, while the imperative repent occurs only in the first, third, fifth, and seventh, the other churches receiving praise rather than censure. This artificial or symmetrical arrangement, which may be traced in or read into other details, is as characteristic of the whole apocalypse as is the style which when the difference of topic is taken into account cannot be said to exhibit peculiarities of diction, syntax, or vocabulary sufficient to justify the relegation of the seven letters to a separate source. Even if written by another hand or originally composed as a separate piece, they must have been worked over so thoroughly by the final editor and fitted so aptly into the general scheme of the whole Apocalypse ( cf. e.g. Rev 2:7 = Rev 22:2 ; Rev 22:14 ; Rev 22:19 ; Rev 2:11 = Rev 20:6 ; Rev 2:17 = Rev 19:12 ; Rev 2:26 = Rev 20:4 ; Rev 2:28 = Rev 22:16 ; Rev 3:5 = Rev 7:9 ; Rev 7:13 ; Rev 3:5 = Rev 13:8 , Rev 20:15 ; Rev 3:12 = Rev 21:10 , Rev 22:14 ; Rev 3:21 = Rev 4:4 ; Rev 3:20 = Rev 19:9 ; etc.), that it is no longer possible to disentangle them (or their nucleus). The special traits in the conception of Christ are mainly due to the fact that the writer is dealing here almost exclusively with the inner relation of Jesus to the churches. They are seldom, if ever, more realistic or closer to the messianic categories of the age than is elsewhere the case throughout the apocalypse; and if the marjoram of Judaism or (as we might more correctly say) of human nature is not wholly transmuted into the honey of Christian charity which is scarcely surprising under the circumstances yet the moral and mental stature of the writer appears when he is set beside so powerful a counsellor in some respects as the later Ignatius. Here John is at his full height. He combines moral discipline and moral enthusiasm in his injunctions. He sees the central things and urges them upon the churches, with a singular power of tenderness and sarcasm, insight and foresight, vehemence and reproach, undaunted faithfulness in rebuke and a generous readiness to mark what he thinks are the merits as well as the failings and perils of the communities. The needs of the latter appear to have been twofold. One, of which they were fully conscious, was outward. The other, to which they were not entirely alive, was inward. The former is met by an assurance that the stress of persecution in the present and in the immediate future was under God’s control, unavoidable and yet endurable. The latter is met by the answer of discipline and careful correction; the demand for purity and loyalty in view of secret errors and vices is reiterated with a keen sagacity. In every case, the motives of fear, shame, noblesse oblige , and the like, are crowned by an appeal to spiritual ambition and longing, the closing note of each epistle thus striking the keynote of what follows throughout the whole Apocalypse. In form, as well as in content, the seven letters are the most definitely Christian part of the book.
The scene now changes. Christ in authority over his churches, and the churches with their angels, pass away; a fresh and ampler tableau of the vision opens ( cf. on Rev 1:19 ), ushering in the future (Rev 6:1 to Rev 22:5 ), which as disclosed by God through Christ (Rev 1:1 ) is prefaced by a solemn exhibition of God’s supremacy and Christ’s indispensable position in revelation. In Apoc. Bar. xxiv. 2 the seer is told that on the day of judgment he and his companions are to see “the long-suffering of the Most High which has been throughout all generations, who has been long-suffering towards all those born that sin and are righteous.” He then seeks an answer to the question, “But what will happen to our enemies I know not, and when Thou wilt visit Thy works ( i.e. , for judgment)”? This is precisely the course of thought (first inner mercies and then outward judgments) in Revelation 2-3, Rev 2:4 f.; although in the former John sees in this life already God’s great patience towards his people, The prophet is now admitted to the heavenly conclave where (by an adaptation of the rabbinic notion) God reveals, or at least prepares, his purposes before executing them. Chapter 4 and chapter 5 are counterparts; in the former God the Creator, with his praise from heavenly beings, is the central figure: in the latter the interest is focussed upon Christ the redeemer, with his praise from the human and natural creation as well. Chapter 5 further leads over into the first series of events (the seven seals, 6 8) which herald the dnouement . Henceforth Jesus is represented as the Lamb , acting but never speaking, until in the epilogue (Rev 22:6-21 ) the author reverts to the Christological standpoint of 1 3. Neither this nor any other feature, however, is sufficient to prove that 4 5 represent a Jewish source edited by a Christian; the whole piece is Christian and homogeneous (Sabatier, Schn, Bousset, Pfleiderer, Wellhausen). Chapter 4 is a preliminary description of the heavenly court: God’s ruddy throne with a green nimbus being surrounded by a senate of and mysterious . Seven torches burn before the throne, beside a crystal ocean, while from it issue flashes and peals accompanied by a ceaseless liturgy of adoration from the and the , who worship with a rhythmic emotion of awe.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Revelation
VII. – THE VICTOR’S SOVEREIGNTY
Rev 3:21 .
The Church at Laodicea touched the lowest point of Christian character. It had no heresies, but that was not because it clung to the truth, but because it had not life enough to breed even them. It had no conspicuous vices, like some of the other communities. But it had what was more fatal than many vices – a low temperature of religious life and feeling, and a high notion of itself. Put these two things together – they generally go together – and you get the most fatal condition for a Church. It is the condition of a large part of the so-called ‘Christian world’ to-day, as that very name unconsciously confesses; for ‘world’ is the substantive, and ‘Christian’ only the adjective, and there is a great deal more ‘world’ than ‘Christian’ in many so-called ‘Churches.’
Such a Church needed, and received, the sharpest rebuke. A severe disease requires drastic treatment. But the same necessity which drew forth the sharp rebuke drew forth also the loftiest of the promises. If the condition of Laodicea was so bad, the struggle to overcome became proportionately greater, and, consequently, the reward the larger. The least worthy may rise to the highest position. It was not to the victors over persecution at Smyrna, or over heresies at Thyatira, nor even to the blameless Church of Philadelphia, but it was to the faithful in Laodicea, who had kept the fire of their own devotion well alight amidst the tepid Christianity round them, that this climax of all the seven promises is given.
In all the others Jesus Christ stands as the bestower of the gift. Here He stands, not only as the bestower, but as Himself participating in that which He bestows. The words beggar all exposition, and I have shrunk from taking them as my text. We seem to see in them, as if looking into some sun with dazzled eyes, radiant forms moving amidst the brightness, and in the midst of them one like unto the Son of man. But if my words only dilute and weaken this great promise, they may still help to keep it before your own minds for a few moments. So I ask you to look with me at the two great things that are bracketed together in our text; only I venture to reverse the order of consideration, and think of –
I. The Commander-in-Chiefs conquest and royal repose.
‘I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.’ It seems to me that, wonderful as are all the words of my text, perhaps the most wonderful of them all are those by which the two halves of the promise are held together – ‘Even as I also.’ The Captain of the host takes His place in the ranks, and, if I may so say, shoulders His musket like the poorest private. Christ sets Himself before us as pattern of the struggle, and as pledge of the victory and reward. Now let me say a word about each of the two halves of this great thought of our Lord’s identification of Himself with us in our fight, and identification of us with Him in His victory.
As to the former, I would desire to emphasize, with all the strength that I can, the point of view from which Jesus Christ Himself, in these final words from the heavens, directed to all the Churches, looks hack upon His earthly career, and bids us think of it as a true conflict. You remember how, in the sanctities of the upper room, and ere yet the supreme moment of the crucifixion had come, our Lord said, when within a day of the Cross and an hour of Gethsemane, ‘I have overcome the world.’ This is an echo of that never-to be-forgotten utterance that the aged Apostle had heard when leaning on his Master’s bosom in the seclusion and silence of that sacred upper chamber. Only here our Lord, looking back upon the victory, gathers it all up into one as a past thing, and says, ‘I overcame,’ in those old days long ago.
Brethren, the orthodox Christian is tempted to think of Jesus Christ in such a fashion as to reduce His conflict on earth to a mere sham fight. Let no supposed theological necessities induce you to weaken down in your thoughts of Him what He Himself has told us – that He, too, struggled, and that He, too, overcame. That temptation in the wilderness, where the necessities of the flesh and the desires of the spirit were utilized by the Tempter as weapons with which His unmoved obedience and submission were assailed, was repeated over and over again all through His earthly life. We believe – at least I believe – that Jesus Christ was in nature sinless, and that temptation found nothing in Him on which it could lay hold, no fuel or combustible material to which it could set light. But, notwithstanding, inasmuch as He became partaker of flesh and blood, and entered into the limitations of humanity, His sinlessness did not involve His incapacity for being tempted, nor did it involve that His righteousness was not assailed, nor His submission often tried. We believe – or at least I believe – that He ‘did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.’ But I also reverently listen to Him unveiling, so far as may need to be unveiled, the depths of His own nature and experience, and I rejoice to think that He fought the good fight, and Himself was a soldier in the army of which He is the General. He is the Captain, the Leader, of the long procession of heroes of the faith; and He is the ‘perfecter’ of it, inasmuch as His own faith was complete and unbroken.
But I may remind you, too, that from this great word of condescending self-revelation and identification, we may well learn what a victorious life really is. ‘I overcame’; but from the world’s point of view He was utterly beaten. He did not gather in many who would listen to Him or care for His words. He was misunderstood, rejected; lived a life of poverty; died when a young man, a violent death; was hunted by all the Church dignitaries of His generation as a blasphemer, spit upon by soldiers, and execrated after His death. And that is victory, is it? Well, then, we shall have to revise our estimates of what is a conquering career. If He, the pauper-martyr, if He, the misunderstood enthusiast, if He conquered, then some of our notions of a victorious life are very far astray.
Nor need I say a word, I suppose, about the completeness, as well as the reality, of that victory of His. From heaven He claims in this great word just what He claimed on earth, over and over again, when He fronted His enemies with, Which of you convinceth Me of sin? ‘and when He declared in the sanctities of His confidence with His friends, ‘I do always the things that please Him.’ The rest of us partially overcome, and partially are defeated. He alone bears His shield out of the conflict undinted and unstained. To do the will of God, to dwell in continual communion with the Father, never to be hindered by anything that the world can present or my sins can suggest, whether of delightsome or dreadful, from doing the will of the Father in heaven from the heart – that is victory, and all else is defeat. And that is what the Captain of our salvation, and only He, did.
Turn for a moment now to the other side of our Lord’s gracious identification of Himself with us. ‘Even as I also am set down with My Father in His throne.’ That points back, as the Greek original shows even more distinctly, to the historical fact of the Ascension. It recalls the great words by which, with full consciousness of what He was doing, Jesus Christ sealed His own death-warrant in the presence of the Sanhedrim when He said: ‘Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power.’ It carries us still further back to the psalm which our Lord Himself quoted, and thereby stopped the mouths of Scribes and Pharisees: ‘The Lord said unto My Lord, sit Thou at My right hand till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.’ He laid His hand upon that great promise, and claimed that it was to be fulfilled in His case. And here, stooping from amidst the blaze of the central royalty of the Universe, He confirms all that He had said before, and declares that He shares the Throne of God.
Now, of course, the words are intensely figurative and have to be translated as best we can, even though it may seem to weaken and dilute them, into less concrete and sensible forms than the figurative representation. But I think we shall not be mistaken if we assert that, whatever lies in this great statement far beyond our conception in the present, there lie in it three things – repose, royalty, communion of the most intimate kind with the Father.
There is repose. You remember how the first martyr saw the opened heavens and the ascended Christ, in that very hall, probably, in which Christ had said, ‘Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power.’ But Stephen, as he declared, with rapt face smitten by the light into the likeness of an angel’s, saw Him standing at the right hand. We have to combine these two images, incongruous as they are in prose, literally, before we reach the conception of the essential characteristic of that royal rest of Christ’s. For it is a repose that is full of activity. ‘My Father worketh hitherto,’ said He on earth, ‘and I work.’ And that is true with regard to His unseen and heavenly life. The verses which are appended to the close of Mark’s gospel draw a picture for us – ‘They went everywhere preaching the Word ‘: He sat at ‘the right hand of God.’ The two halves do not fuse together. The Commander is in repose; the soldiers are bearing the brunt of the fight. Yes! but then there comes the word which links the two halves together. ‘They went everywhere preaching, the Lord also working with them.’
Christ’s repose indicates, not merely the cessation from, but much rather the completion of. His work on earth, which culminated on the Cross; which work on earth is the basis of the still mightier work which He is doing’ in the heavens. So the Apostle Paul sets up a great ladder, so to speak, which our faith climbs by successive stages, when he says, ‘He that died – yea, rather that is risen again – who is even at the right hand of God- who also maketh intercession for us.’ His repose is full of beneficent activity for all that love Him.
Again, there is set forth royalty, participation in Divine dominion. The highly metaphorical language of our text, and of parallel verses elsewhere, presents this truth in two forms. Sometimes we read of ‘sitting at the right hand of God’; sometimes, as here, we read of ‘sitting on the throne.’ The ‘right hand of God’ is everywhere. It is not a local designation. ‘The right hand of the Lord’ is the instrument of His omnipotence, and to speak of Christ as sitting on the right hand of God is simply to cast into symbolical words the great thought that He wields the forces of Divinity. When we read of Him as enthroned on the Throne of God, we have, in like manner, to translate the figure into this overwhelming and yet most certain truth, that the Man Christ Jesus is exalted to supreme, universal dominion, and that all the forces of omnipotent Divinity rest in the hands that still bear, for faith, the prints of the nails.
But again that session of Christ with the Father suggests the thought, about which it becomes us not to speak, of a communion with the Father – deep, intimate, unbroken, beyond all that we can conceive or speak. We listen to Him when He says, ‘Glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.’ We bow before the thought that what He asked in that prayer was the lifting of one of ourselves, the humanity of Jesus, into this inseparable unity with the very glory of God. And then we catch the wondrous words: ‘Even as I also.’
II. That brings me to the second of the thoughts here, which may be more briefly disposed of after the preceding exposition, and that is, the private soldier’s share in the Captain’s victory and rest. ‘I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also.’
Now with regard to the former of these, our share in Christ’s triumph and conquest, I only wish to say one thing, and it is this. I thankfully recognize that to many who do not share with me in what I believe to be the teaching of Scripture, viz., the belief that Christ was more than example, their partial belief, as I think it, in Him as the realized ideal, the living Pattern of how men ought to live, has given strength for far nobler and purer life than could otherwise have been reached. But, brethren, it seems to me that we want a great deal more than a pattern, a great deal closer and more intimate union with the Conqueror than the mere setting forth of the possibility of a perfect life as realized in Him, ere we can share in His victory. What does it matter to me, after all, except for stimulus and for rebuke, that Jesus Christ should have lived the life? Nothing. But when we can link the words in the upper room, ‘I have overcome,’ and the words from heaven, ‘Even as I also overcame,’ with the same Apostle’s words in his epistle, ‘This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,’ then we share in the Captain’s victory in an altogether different manner from that which they do who can see in Him only a pattern that stimulates and inspires. For if we put our trust in that Saviour, then the very life which was in Christ Jesus, and which conquered the world in Him, will pass into us; and the law of the spirit of life in Christ will make us more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
And then the victory being secured, because Christ lives in us and makes us victorious, our participation in His throne is secure likewise.
There shall be repose, the cessation of effort, the end of toil. There shall be no more aching heads, strained muscles, exhausted brains, weary hearts, dragging feet. There will be no more need for resistance. The helmet will be antiquated, the laurel crown will take its place. The heavy armour, that rusted the garment over which it was braced, will be laid aside, and the trailing robes, that will contract no stain from the golden pavements, will be the attire of the redeemed. We have all had work enough, and weariness enough, and battles enough, and beatings enough, to make us thankful for the thought that we shall sit on the throne.
But if it is a rest like His, and if it is to be the rest of royalty, there will be plenty of work in it; work of the kind that fits us and is blessed. I know not what new elevation, or what sort of dominion will be granted to those who, instead of the faithfulness of the steward, are called upon to exercise the activity of the Lord over ten cities. I know not, and I care not; it is enough to know that we shall sit on His throne.
But do not let us forget the last of the thoughts: ‘They shall sit with Me.’ Ah! there you touch the centre – ‘To depart and to be with Christ, which is far better’; ‘Absent from the body; present with the Lord.’ We know not how. The lips are locked that might, perhaps, have spoken; only this we know, that, not as a drop of water is absorbed into the ocean and loses its individuality, shall we be united to Christ. There will always be the two, or there would be no blessedness in the two being one; but as close as is compatible with the sense of being myself, and of His being Himself, will be our fellowship with Him. ‘He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.’
Brethren, this generation would be a great deal the better for thinking more often of the promises and threatenings of Scripture with regard to the future. I believe that no small portion of the lukewarmness of the modern Laodicea is owing to the comparative neglect into which, in these days, the Christian teachings on that subject have fallen. I have tried in these sermons on these seven promises to bring them at least before your thoughts and hearts. And I beseech you that you would, more than you have done, ‘have respect unto the recompense of reward,’ and let that future blessedness enter as a subsidiary motive into your Christian life.
We may gather all these promises together, and even then we have to say, ‘the half hath not been told us.’ ‘It doth not yet appear what we shall be.’ Symbols and negations, and these alone, teach us the little that we know about that future; and when we try to expand and concatenate these, I suppose that our conceptions correspond to the reality about as closely as would the dreams of a chrysalis as to what it would be when it was a butterfly. But certainty and clearness are not necessarily united. ‘It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him.’ Take ‘even as I also’ for the key that unlocks all the mysteries of that glorious future. ‘It is enough for the servant that he be as his Master.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
am set down = sat down. See Act 2:33, Act 2:34. Eph 1:20, Eph 1:21. Heb 1:8; Heb 8:1. The Lord now stands (Rev 1), and is about to come down in judgment.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
21.] He that conquereth (see above, ch. Rev 2:26, and Rev 3:12, for the construction), I will give to him to sit (in the blessed life of glory hereafter: such promises cannot be regarded, as this by some, as partially fulfilled in this life: for thus the following analogy, …, would fail. The final and complete act is also pointed out by the aor. ) with me (cf. Joh 17:24, , ) on my throne (have a share in My kingly power, as ch. Rev 2:27, Rev 20:6), as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne (the aorr. refer to the historical facts of the Resurrection and Ascension. By the latter, Christ sat down at the right hand of God, or of the throne of God, as Heb 12:2. No distinction must be made between the throne of the Father, on which Christ sits, and that of Christ, on which the victorious believer is to sit with Him: they are one and the same, cf. , ch. Rev 22:1; and the glory of the redeemed will be a participation in that of the Father and the Son, Joh 17:22).
Doubtless the occurrence of this, the highest and most glorious of all the promises, in this place, is to be explained not entirely from any especial aptness to the circumstances of the Laodicean church, though such has been attempted to be assigned (e. g. by Ebrard-because the victory over luke-warmness would be so much more difficult than that in any other case), but also from the fact of its occurring at the end of all the Epistles, and as it were gathering them all into one. It must not be forgotten too, that the forms a link to the next part of the book where we so soon, ch. Rev 5:6, read . .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Father
This passage, in harmony with Luk 1:32; Luk 1:33; Mat 19:28; Act 2:30; Act 2:34; Act 2:35; Act 15:14-16 is conclusive that Christ is not now seated upon His own throne. The Davidic Covenant, and the promises of God through the prophets and Angle Gabriel concerning the Messianic kingdom await fulfilment.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
him: Rev 2:7, Rev 12:11, 1Jo 5:4, 1Jo 5:5
to sit: Rev 1:6, Rev 2:26, Rev 2:27, Mat 19:28, Luk 22:30, 1Co 6:2, 1Co 6:3, 2Ti 2:12
even: Joh 16:33
and am: Rev 5:6-8, Rev 7:17, Dan 7:13, Dan 7:14, Mat 28:18, Joh 5:22, Joh 5:23, Eph 1:20-23, Phi 2:9-21
Reciprocal: 1Sa 2:8 – set them 1Sa 17:25 – the king 1Ki 2:7 – eat Est 5:1 – sat Psa 16:6 – I have Psa 18:29 – by thee Psa 45:15 – they shall Psa 91:15 – honour Psa 98:1 – his right Psa 101:6 – that they Psa 149:9 – this honour Pro 4:9 – a crown Pro 16:32 – and he Isa 6:1 – sitting Isa 22:23 – a glorious Jer 17:12 – General Eze 1:26 – the appearance of a man Dan 7:18 – the saints Dan 7:22 – judgment Hos 11:12 – ruleth Zec 3:7 – judge Zec 6:13 – bear Mat 8:11 – shall sit Mat 10:22 – but Mat 24:47 – That Mat 25:21 – I will Mat 25:31 – then Mar 16:19 – he was Luk 9:48 – he that Luk 12:37 – that Luk 18:30 – manifold more Luk 22:69 – on Joh 13:32 – shall Joh 14:2 – my Joh 14:3 – I will Joh 14:23 – make Joh 17:24 – I will Act 7:49 – Heaven Rom 5:2 – the glory Rom 5:17 – shall reign Rom 8:17 – heirs of Gal 6:9 – if Eph 2:6 – sit Eph 3:18 – able Phi 3:14 – press 2Th 2:14 – to 1Ti 4:8 – having Heb 1:3 – sat Heb 8:1 – who Jam 1:12 – the crown 2Pe 1:11 – an entrance Rev 4:2 – and one Rev 11:12 – And they Rev 22:1 – proceeding Rev 22:5 – and they Rev 22:19 – and from
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE CHRISTIAN CONQUEROR
He that overcometh I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne.
Rev 3:21 (R.V.)
This is the last of seven honours set before the Christian conquerors in the epistles to the seven Churches, and the throne of which this blessing speaks is itself described in St. Johns next vision. What are the plain realities which underlie the imagery? But we see at once that this throne means the centre of Creation, that the glory of it is as of One invisible, and except by His own will unknowable, and that in that heart and centre of all things lives One who has suffered, One who has died, One who is and who ever has remained sinless: the Lamb that has been slain and dieth no more is in the midst of the throne. Perfect sympathy with pain, perfect deliverance from evil, are there in absolute life and light, and the Lamb, the Victor-victim, speaks and says, He that overcometh I will give to him to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and sat down with My Father in His throne.
I. He that overcometh.When St. John wrote, people like that faithful martyr, Antipas, were overcoming by their own blood, and the whole apocalypse shows a world about to be red with martyrdoms. Yet even then the word overcoming is used in these seven brief letters in connection with trials and difficulties which were not necessarily to end with them. That was only the supreme method of solving such problems of life as were otherwise insoluble. There were final conflicts in those days in which the forces of God and of the world were grappled together in the lives of men: the spirits of light and darkness incarnated themselves in mens daily action in forms so violent that he who meant to give God the victory in His own life could often do it only by giving his own life over to the death. But if the extremity of the struggle is not now commonly suffered to work itself out to the same bitter endwith the knowledge of the onlooking world it never could be suffered nowyet similar and sometimes the same problems have to be solved in mens lives still, and still the Christian is called to overcome, and still he can often be victor only by being first a victim as the Lamb was, and if he overcomes, his place is still henceforth the centre of all things. He sits with Him on the throne in true sympathy with the pain of this world, and also having himself a share in this worlds deliverance from pain and from all evil.
II. The word used here for conqueror does not imply one who has conquered. It is not in the flush of triumph that Christ assures to us His throne: it is literally, He that is conquering, I will give to him to sit with Me. While the battle is raging he shall have My peace; while he is but starting he shall be at the goalas the boy has his prizes and his scholarships, not because he is a finished scholar, but because he is longing and learning to be one. And as this continues all through life to be the law of life, so in the kingdom that is coming effort is victory, and victory is only encouragement.
III. What, then, are these problems, which once could only be solved by readiness to die for the right solution, and which still present themselves for solutionfor solutions, on the rightness and wrongness of which, almost all, if not all, about us depends? There are the problems seemingly outside of our own lives; there are the expenses of civilisation to be metthe expenses of civilisation, about which it is so hard to say how far they are necessary and likely to continue; while it is essential that we should make the very utmost efforts, and yet none but holy efforts, to reduce them. Such problems when St. John wrote were all the awful wickedness of the age, the conventional false worships, which were then the cementing of the State and of all society, slavery, gladiator shows, one vast licentiousness of life. Men and women died freely in combating such things, for there was that within them which was a perpetual war with the spirit of these things. Among the problems outside us are such expenses of civilisation still: licentiousness of life, the classes that are sacrificed to it, the tender age of corruption. Again, the miserable, unclean, indecent abodes which are all that civilised towns and villages offer and grudge to their myriads or their hundreds. Again, our submissiveness to wealth, and our submissiveness to numbers, and our extreme difficulty in the way of simplicity of life or of speech; and now, even now, the ancient difficulty seeming to begin again, of how to live and talk and think Christianly among unbelievers. The duty and the necessity of taking some steps in solution of these problems has never ceased to be, and is not ceasing to be, most pressing. The circumstances which envelop some of them are as full of horror as ever they were in the old world; and yet some such horror seems to be the youngest offspring of progress. And so great is the obscurity on others of them that we cannot see whether they are accidental or essential to that progress. There are among us those whose earnestness to solve these problems at any cost to themselves, is not less than the eagerness which embraced death rather than not bear witness to the truth. And if it seems that Christian society with us is not with sufficient activity and pronouncedly enough scattering the remnants of heathenism and their freshest recombinations, that can only be because individual Christians are not active enough in combination and decided enough in their tone. It is the individual which rules the social after all. One who does his own honest part in healing the worlds sorrow and lightening the worlds burdens, and is not ashamed to say he does it for Christ, he is the overcoming one who helps to solve the worlds greatest problems. That is the part which must be greater in the world to come than it can be now. For we shall not find ourselves able to do these things except in the spirit of Christ.
Archbishop Benson.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Rev 3:21. Him that overcometh means one who is faithful under all trails and difficulties. Sit with me in my throne is another figurative expression, meaning that such a person will be regarded as having right to that fellowship with Christ in the kingdom, that is stated in 1 Corinthians 4 : S and 1Pe 2:9.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 21.
5. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne”–Rev 3:21.
Here is the constructive figure of a sitting court to which the faithful would be given admission to sit with Christ in his throne, to be associated with Christ in his spiritual rule. In Rev 2:26 this rule is said to be with “a rod of iron,” which, as previously stated, means the invincible power of the truth, or gospel of Christ. In 1Ti 2:11-12, the apostle taught Timothy that this rule is in process now, and that reigning with Christ is concurrent with living with him.
This enthronization with Christ simply stated means that as Christians are governed by the rule of Christ, in this compliance with his teaching they become a part of his government. The immediate imagery of this passage therefore is, that the faithful victors over the persecutions, having exemplified obedience to his rule, are seated with Christ the Conqueror in his ruling throne. This picture is culminated in the throne scene of the martyrs Rev 20:4, as shown in the commentary on the verses of that chapter.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 3:21. He that overcometh, to him will I grant to sit down along with me in my throne, etc. This promise is the highest of all that we have met in the seven Epistles. The throne of Jesus is the throne of God,I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; Father, that which Thou hast given Me, I will that, where I am, they also may be with Me (Joh 17:23-24). The promise is the apotheosis of victory, and as such it has evidently a reference not only to the church at Laodicea, but to the whole series of the seven churches, and of the promises addressed to them.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here our Saviour concludes this epistle, as he did the former, with a promise to the persevering Christian, To him that overcometh, namely, all the trials and temptations of this life, and keeps his faith, love, and obedience, entire to the end, I will grant, not in a way of merit, but of free gift and grace, to sit down with me in my throne, namely, to partake of the same power, and glory, and kingdom, that I as Mediator do now partake of.
Where observe, Christ here distinguishes between his own throne and his Father’s; the former seems to be his mediatorial,the latter his essential, throne; and he plainly tells us, that as he obtained his glory by overcoming Satan and the world, so must we; To him that overcometh will I grant– even as I also overcame: the way to heaven for Christ and all his members is the same; as he conquered and finally overcame on earth before he was crowned in heaven, so must they.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
3:21 {15} 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.
(15) The conclusion, consisting of a promise, as in Rev 2:26 and of an exhortation.