EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/12/2025 9:17 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Part 8 “How to Recognize an Overcomer”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 5:1-5
Message of the verses: “1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is
born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe
His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments;
and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God
overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the
world — our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he
who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
I
continue quoting from John MacArthur’s sermon in this Spiritual Diary.
“In
Revelation 20, again at the end of the book, verse 6, “Blessed and holy is the
one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has
no power.” And we participate in the first resurrection. What is the first
resurrection? It’s the resurrection of the just. It has several parts: Christ, the firstfruits who
was risen from the dead, the church at the Rapture, and then the Old Testament
saints at the end of the Tribulation. All three of those, the resurrection of
Christ, the resurrection of the church, the resurrection of Tribulation saints
and Israel, that constitutes the first resurrection. The resurrection unto
life, Jesus called it. The second resurrection is the resurrection of all the
ungodly of all the ages at the Great White Throne at the end of the millennial
kingdom, and all of them are given bodies suited for hell and cast forever in
the Lake of Fire. Those who are part of the first resurrection will never
experience the second death. What
have we been promised? We have been promised heaven, the paradise of
God, eternal life, and never to die again.
“The
third promise to the overcomers is in chapter 2 verse 17. And this is given at
the end of the letter to the church at Pergamum or Pergamos. This is the postal
route, by the way, through Asia Minor. Each of these towns was on the postal
route, actual towns with real churches. But certainly they symbolize these
great truths for all believers. Verse 17, “To him who overcomes” – here we come
back to the overcomer again. Who are the overcomers? Those who continue to
believe, manifest love and obedience. “To him who overcomes, to him I will give
some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and a new name
written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”
“This
is most interesting. Jesus writing to the church here in Pergamos, acknowledges
that there are some who, “Hold fast My name and did not deny the faith,” in
verse 13. There are obviously others who have not held fast and have denied the
faith. But to those who
overcome, first I will give you the hidden manna. Let me talk about that
for a moment. A pot of manna – you remember what manna was. It was the bread
that God provided for Israel in the wilderness wanderings, and you remember it
was the direct provision of God. He literally had the manna there every morning
when they came out to pick up and eat it that day, and the next morning there
was more and the next and the next, except on the Sabbath. And the pot of manna
was kept in the Ark of the Covenant and placed in the tabernacle and the temple
as a memorial to the feeding of God’s people in the wilderness.” Just so you know the word Manna actually
means “What is it?” That is what they
ask when they saw it so that is what God named it.
“When
you read here about the hidden manna, what does this mean? I think it is referring to all
that is ours in Christ. Do you remember when Jesus in John 6 was
talking, He said, “You
remember Moses in the wilderness and Moses fed you in the wilderness,”
but Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” I am the bread of life. I am the true
manna that comes down from heaven. John 6:31 is
worth reading in this regard. “Our father,” said the Jews, “ate the manna in
the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’
Jesus therefore said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, it is not Moses who
has given you the bread out of heaven. It is My Father who gives you the true
bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of
heaven and gives life to the world.’” And then verse 35, “I am the bread of
life.” And so here our Lord Himself says to the overcomer, “I will give of the
hidden manna.”
“What
can that mean? I think it
means that when we get to heaven you’re going to receive, as it were, Christ
Himself. We’re going to enter in to a dimension, into a relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that can only be hoped for and frailly
imagined in this life. We are going to enter into the richness of the fullness
of the one who is our very life, the fullness of blessing in the eternal
presence of Jesus. Why hidden? Because now He’s hidden. Isn’t He? He’s hidden
from us, whom having not seen we love. But some day the manna, the bread of life will no longer
be hidden.
“Some
of the old Hebrew legends – kind of interesting – said that when the temple was
destroyed, the Solomonic temple, either Jeremiah – this is legend – but either
Jeremiah, the rabbi said, or an angel buried the Ark in the earth, along with
the pot of manna until Messiah’s time. And the rabbi said when the Messiah
comes, He will unearth the Ark and He will again feed His people. Well it
wasn’t far off. This time in our lives we have received our Christ, and we
commune with our Christ. But
in terms of His fullness, He is hidden, but some day will be fully
revealed to us in all His glory as the true bread.
“Then
He says in verse 17, “I will give him a white stone.” Literally a diamond. I’ll
give an overcomer a diamond. In the little bit of reading I’ve done in ancient
times about the athletic events of that time – we often think about them
receiving a sort of a wreath around their heads made of leaves, but there was
often more than that. The winners of great events were often given a diamond as
their prize and that white stone or that diamond, according to some historians,
acted as a pass to get them into a celebration that was restricted only to the
winners. It was the post-Olympic event that you wanted to be at because only
winners were there, and you had to have the crystal gem to be admitted to the door.
It was the symbol of your victory and your entrance into the great celebration of
overcomers. And that may well be what our Lord is referring to here. I’m
going to make sure that you as a winner, you as a victor have that diamond that
admits you to the eternal celebration.
3/12/2025 9:32 PM
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