The concept that the overcomers are being judged in advance is important to understand. Those who are following the Lord closely are being judged now. We have passed Pentecost and are moving into the Day of Atonement, to speak symbolically.

You may have noticed that God is bringing sins to your attention that you thought were long gone out of your life. Here you are, a Christian for twenty years, filled with the Spirit, and now the Spirit is dealing with you concerning sin.

Exactly! You are right on target. Confess the sin, turn away from it, and God will forgive you. It is an eternal judgment. You will not hear about it again unless you keep doing it.

The one hundred forty-four thousand are not part of the multitude of believers who wash their robes during the great tribulation. Rather they are the bond-servants of God serving Him with a perfect heart. They already have been judged so "Dan" is not mentioned.

You can be one of these if you wish, but you had better get busy and start serving the Lord like you mean it.

Then we see the victorious saints as one of the two lampstands of Revelation, Chapter Eleven. The other Lampstand is Christ.

The churches are as seven lampstands in the first three chapters of Revelation. Now the saints drawn from the seven churches appear as one witnessing lampstand.

The victorious saints are portrayed as a Son, a male child, in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation. The birth of the male child illustrates the travail of spirit and soul we undergo as Christ is formed in us. When with the help of the Spirit of God we finally break through the weights that would prevent us from attaining victory we have a stronger sense of being risen with Christ than ever before. From now on our experience becomes more that of maintaining what was born in intense prayer and dedication than it is one of continually struggling to gain victory.

The goal of the victorious saint is to live always in Christ at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. As He is, so are we in this world.

The next time we see the overcomers they are standing on Mount Zion. This is particularly important. Zion was the location of the Ark of the Covenant when the remainder of the Tabernacle was at the high place of Gibeon. This prophetic portrayal means a warlike remnant of the Church will rule with Christ during the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

Several major symbols of the Old Testament, not the least of which is the story of Gideon, tell of a remnant taken from the Church in order to gain victory over the enemy. Later the remainder of Israel (God's elect) will share the spoils.

The description of God's firstfruits in the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation shows several things about the overcomers these who have the Father's name written in their forehead. One is they are not in spiritual bondage to anyone except Christ. Another is there is no guile in their mouth, which is a mark of spiritual maturity.

Yet another distinguishing characteristic is they follow the Lamb wherever He goes. We see this also in I Thessalonians: "So shall we ever be with the Lord."

When we see the overcomers again they are standing on the sea of glass, perhaps that same sea of clear glass that is before the rainbow throne. These are the victorious saints and they possess throne authority. There is fire in the sea of glass because it is time for the wrath of God to be exercised wrath smoldering since it first came into Satan's heart to rebel against the Father.

They are singing the song of Moses and also the song of the Lamb. This signifies they are the fruit of all the covenants of God.

To be continued.