The promises to the overcomer are not rewards that will be given to the saved "first man" but are the natural endowments of the "second man." To neglect, or to be unwilling to participate in, the discipline of the victorious Christian life is to forfeit one's birthright, one's appointed place in the Kingdom.

To not overcome, to not participate in the required personality changes, is to prevent the individual from entering his prepared place. The Lord Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us in the house of God, in Himself, in the Body of Christ. It is not possible we can remain unchanged and then rule with God. God's love and mercy are not the issue. It is our capability and eligibility that are in question.

Christ would not be Lord of all if He had not obeyed God, if He had not overcome the enemies and forces that came against Him. His being denied the rulership would have had nothing to do with God's love for Him. It would have been an issue of His ability to rule over all the works of God's hands without failing to do the Father's perfect will in every instance.

The promises to the overcomer are not directed toward entering Heaven when we die. None of the promises to the overcomer have to do with mansions in Paradise. Rather, the promises are transformations of what we are in personality coupled with our ability to function in our designated position as a king, priest, prophet, teacher, witness, and servant of God.

To not have our lampstand removed from its place; to eat of the tree of life; to receive a crown of life; to not be injured by the second death; to eat of the hidden manna; to be given the white stone of Divine approval and marriage; to be given the new name, the name that describes what we have been chosen to be according to the eternal purpose of God; to rule the nations with a rod of iron; to be given the morning star, which is the dawning of the Day of the Lord in our personality, the emerging of the Person and rule of Christ in us—these have little to do with eternal residence in Paradise. They are the attainment to the kind of personality that will rule with God forever.

The righteous indeed shall live forever in God's Paradise. But there are roles and opportunities in the Kingdom to consider.

Each saint has the opportunity to experience the personality change necessary for those who have been chosen to rule in the Kingdom of God. Here is the opportunity to suffer, to be denied our most fervent desires for long periods of times, to walk in paths we do not understand, to be denied what normally would be ours to do or possess, to be misunderstood—and sometimes cast out—by our fellow believers, to be pressed, pressed, pressed into Christ.

God has purposed that His entire creation will be filled with Christ and centered in Him. We are the firstfruits of this purpose. Therefore we are being required to die to what we are, to our most fervent loves, and to be raised again as part of Christ's resurrection.

To be continued.