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TO HIM WHO OVERCOMES

Revelation 2:1-29Key Verse: 2:7b “To him who overcomes I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which isin the paradise of God.” Last week the Risen Jesus gives his message to Apostle John. This week Apostle Johndelivers Jesus’ message to the leaders of the churches. The main message is to overcome.Let us overcome many things in 2009 as we are getting closer and closer to the paradise of God.

1. Jesus, a good shepherd (Rev. 2:1-29)

In chapter 2, the Risen Jesus appears to be a good shepherd who speaks to his wanderingsheep in Asia Minor. Jesus wants to lead them to the true green pasture, the paradise of God. Jesus speaks to their hearts that he knows them intimately. Thank God for Jesus’ broken shepherd heart toward the churches in Asia Minor!Jesus is also our good shepherd. Jesus says to his disciples in John 10:14, “I am the goodshepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep knows me.” Jesus knows us; he knows thenumbers of your hair this afternoon, maybe 100,000 hair follicles. Jesus knows that I wantGerman shepherd as my pet. Who can understand you and me completely? Only Jesus can.For this reason, we are happy that we belong to Jesus our good shepherd. Jesus also saysto his disciples in John 10:4, “When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” Jesus brought us out fromthe fence of sin and death and he went ahead of us, through his life of serving, suffering,and dying on the cross. After his death, God raised him according to his promise and Jesusis now sitting at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords. In this way Jesusknows the way to the kingdom of God. Therefore, we must listen to Jesus if we are seriousabout going to heaven. I learned that there are many different kinds of sheep; for example,Rambouillet, Columbia, Suffolk, Hamphsire, Southdown, Targhee, Scottish Blackface,Leicester Long-wool, Navajo-Churro, Karakul, Mouflon, and so on. What kind of sheep areyou? Are you a stubborn one, weak one, or wild one? We all are different from each other.But we are one flock under one shepherd Jesus. Therefore, let us listen to Jesus and hisvoice in this chapter.

2. Jesus’ message (Revelation 2:1-29)

Look at verse 1, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of himwho holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven goldenlampstands:” Jesus is like a shepherd who holds his sheep with his right hand and carries

them. Now he calls them, “Yoo! Hoo! Come here, fluffy!” The sheep hears his voice, “Baa,baa.” Read verses 2 and 3, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. Iknow that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to beapostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have enduredhardships for my name, and have not grown weary.” They were pretty good; actually theywere really good. They had been God’s powerful workmanship, doing good works faithfully.Yet Jesus pointed out that they had lost their first love. The church did not necessarily relyon him desperately any more. The wave of trials was on its way and Jesus knew that theycouldn’t survive with their own strength, even with their heroic acts of faith. So, hecounseled them strongly, in verse 4 and 5, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsakenyour first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the thingsyou did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from itsplace.” Jesus urged them to forget what was behind and to press on toward what was aheadby holding on to him tightly. Jesus wanted them to remain in him just as he had remainedin them. Otherwise, they could not overcome the world.Jesus is our bridegroom and we are his beautiful brides. We fall in love with him at thecross. Then we must continue to love him by taking up our cross of mission daily. But ourlove grows colder and colder, even to the point of forsaking our first love. Some of us mightthink it is okay to forsake our first love. Then, hear Jesus’ warning in verse 5b, “If you donot repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” We should neverthink that it is okay to forsake our first love. If we forsake our first love, despite all the goodworks in the past, we will lose everything, especially eternal life. We cannot claim eternallife based on our good works in the past. For example, Moses lived the most intense life of shepherding the rebellious Israelites. Humanly speaking, he deserved entering the PromisedLand. Yet he himself could not claim the Promised Land and eternal life based on his greatshepherd life. Rather, he had to depend on God’s grace and finish his life of faith at MountSinai, just looking over the Promised Land. He had to hold on to his first love to Jesuspurely to the end. St. Paul lived a hard-working life for the sake of the gospel. He seemed tobe worthy of eternal life because of his incredible spiritual legacy in doing the work of God.Yet he himself could not claim the healing of his weak eyes and eternal life based on hisgreat evangelism among the Gentiles in the past. God said to him, “My grace is sufficient foryou” (2 Cor. 12:9). Let us overcome our entitlement mentality based on our great strugglesand efforts in the past. Let us remain in Jesus and his grace and love to the end. Let us dothe thing we did at first gratefully and faithfully. Let us continue to pray for America to be akingdom of priests and a holy nation. Then Jesus promises that we will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God.Look at verse 8, “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of himwho is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.” During Group Bible studyyesterday, this image of Jesus was our favorite. Jesus is faithful: He is same yesterday,today and tomorrow. When Jesus saw Christians in Smyrna, his heart was broken; theywere like Emperor Penguins who survive the winter in Antarctica, the terrifying weather.

Look at verses 9-10a, “I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich! I knowthe slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Donot be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you inprison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.” Yesterday after Group Biblestudy, I felt very cold and had to take NyQuil, pray and sleep. I suffered a little bit. But thechurch in Smyrna was suffering 1,000 times more than what I suffered yesterday; theysuffered false accusation, imprisonment, and persecution for ten days. I cannot endure myflu for a day. But they had to endure persecution for quite a long time, maybe for years.Who could comfort and encourage them? It was Jesus, the One who also endured all thedifficulties, even the pain of crucifixion; he says in 10b, “Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Because we feel an edge in our hearts in theface of difficulties and challenges in 2009, we are happy to hear Jesus’ words of encouragement. Let us memorize this verse and make it alive in our hearts, “Be faithfuleven to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” If we decide to be faithfulto Jesus and overcome this hard-knock world, we will not be hurt at all by the second death.Look at verse 12, “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.” Here Jesus shows us a spiritual battle goingon in Pergamum between the children of God and the children of Satan. The warriors of faith in Pergamum had been fighting well there, defending their faith at the heart of theenemy, Satan. Yet they suffered some loss of the ground when the enemy penetrated thedefense line through the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sinby eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. In fact, theycompromised with the teaching of the Nicolaitans. They had to drive the enemy backthrough repentance. Otherwise, the commander-in-chief Jesus would come and would fightagainst them with the sword of his words. We too are in a spiritual battle. The only way towin the battle is to depend on the words of God, the sword of Jesus’ words. In a battle, it iscrucial for soldiers to have effective weapons. Therefore, we should not look around otherineffective weapons as we engage in our spiritual battle. We must have the words of God.For this reason, we must go back to the Bible. I am telling you that Bible study is veryimportant; to tell the truth, Bible study is indeed a matter of life and death. Let us read 17, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him whoovercomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with anew name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” I pray that we may all enjoymemorizing the Bible and meditating on the Bible and write sincere Bible testimonies untilwe can taste some of the hidden manna and receive a white stone with a new name on it.Look at verse 18, “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of theSon of God whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.” Jesus is full of grace and truth. Here Jesus appears to be the Spirit of God which looksthrough the hearts and minds of fallen men; his eyes can penetrate into anything likeblazing fire and his feet can stand against anything like burnished bronze. The Christians inThyatira seemed to have a clean and holy life based on their deeds, love, faith, service,