The Book of Revelation has much to say about the victorious Christian life and the Day of the Lord. The stage is set for the concept of godly behavior, and judgment to come, by the appearance of Christ.

When Jesus returns to earth He will examine every creature, searching out and destroying sin and the works of the devil. All ungodliness will be exposed to the white heat of the purity of the Godhead.

All fleshly motives, words, thoughts, deeds, will be consumed by Divine fire. This is the day of fire. This is the great Day, the Day of Christ, the Day of the Lord, the Day of God, the Day of Judgment, held in terrifying remembrance by every demon. The attention of God's creatures is directed continually by the Spirit, by the Scriptures, and by conscience toward That Day!

The overcoming requirement.

Of particular importance to our doctrine concerning the relationship of godly Christian living to the Day of the Lord are the expressions concerning overcoming found in Revelation, Chapters Two and Three. From our point of view, the concept of the victorious Christian has not received nearly enough emphasis by Christian teachers.

The New Testament writings teach consistently that the promises of God concerning rulership and priesthood in the age to come are for him who overcomes. It appears that this concept has been ignored. We have gotten around the overcoming requirement by defining "he who overcomes" as he who makes a profession of the Christian faith.

Overcoming, in the New Testament sense, is victorious living in Christ. The overcomer is the Christian who, at each point in time, prays and obeys through every temptation and trial set before him or her.

This is not to say that an overcoming Christian cannot stumble or be deceived. He can, assuredly. But stumbling and deception are exceptional periods in his life.

When the overcomer makes mistakes he corrects them, under the supervision of the Holy Spirit of God, and fights on. He is a Caleb, a Joshua. By faith he lays hold on the promises of God and is not discouraged easily.

He recovers from setbacks and proceeds with his life of dedication to and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He withholds nothing—absolutely nothing—from God. (It is impossible to overcome when there is an idol in the heart.) His life actually is a living sacrifice.

Through the blood of Christ and the word of his testimony, continually stating his trust in the faithfulness of God, the victorious Christian emerges as a conqueror in the wrestling match against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Each day he says a final no! to the world, the flesh, and Satan.

The victorious Christian life is not referring to a bearded prophet working out an extraordinary consecration while hidden away in a cave in the wilderness. Perfect, complete obedience to God is our "reasonable service." No believer should be entertaining ideas about ruling with Christ or receiving the rewards of the overcomer unless he is consecrated absolutely to Christ. There is no middle ground, no place of compromise.

To be continued.