To the one who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Rev. 3:21, 22.
This promise contains something truly special that doesn't become obvious until you have looked at all seven overcomer promises in the seven letters to the churches. In stairstep progression each church receives more and more promises, perhaps to counter the increasing degeneration seen as one reads through the seven letters. The first church, Ephesus, has a single promise: the overcomer there will gain the right to eat from the tree of life.
The second church, Smyrna, gets two promises. Revelation 2:10, 11, offers the overcomer in Smyrna both the crown of life and the assurance that he or she will not be hurt by the second death.
Verse 17 offers the overcomer in Pergamum three things: the hidden manna, the white stone, and a new name, one that will be written on the white stone.
I think you can see where this is going. The fourth church, Thyatira, has a total of four promises in verses 26-28. The overcomer in Thyatira receives authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter, will dash them in pieces, and will also be given the morning star.
The overcomer in Sardis (Rev. 3:4, 5) walks with Jesus and dresses in white. Not only that--he or she has assurance that nothing will blot their names out of the book of life. Instead they will have their names acknowledged both before Jesus' Father and before His angels.
By now it should not surprise us that the sixth church, Philadelphia, receives no less than six promises from Jesus. According to Revelation 3:10-12 God will protect the overcomers from the hour of trial, they will be pillars in the temple of God, and they will never again leave it. That makes three. In addition, God will write His name on them as well as the name of the city of God and Jesus' own new name. Whatever that last item means, the promises are a total of six. And if you add up all the promises to the first six churches you get a total of 21 promises, seven times three!
Does that mean Laodicea is going to get seven promises? No. It actually has only one. But it is the promise to end all promises. In verse 21 the overcomer in Laodicea gets to sit with Jesus on His throne! That one promise incorporates all the 21 promises received by the other six churches. If you sit with Jesus on His throne, you have everything!
Just as Laodicea is the most hopeless of the seven churches, it is also the one that gets the best promise. The church who has nothing receives the promise of everything! "Where sin abounds grace does much more abound."
Lord, in my hour of greatest need, I claim Your greatest promise!
This promise contains something truly special that doesn't become obvious until you have looked at all seven overcomer promises in the seven letters to the churches. In stairstep progression each church receives more and more promises, perhaps to counter the increasing degeneration seen as one reads through the seven letters. The first church, Ephesus, has a single promise: the overcomer there will gain the right to eat from the tree of life.
The second church, Smyrna, gets two promises. Revelation 2:10, 11, offers the overcomer in Smyrna both the crown of life and the assurance that he or she will not be hurt by the second death.
Verse 17 offers the overcomer in Pergamum three things: the hidden manna, the white stone, and a new name, one that will be written on the white stone.
I think you can see where this is going. The fourth church, Thyatira, has a total of four promises in verses 26-28. The overcomer in Thyatira receives authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter, will dash them in pieces, and will also be given the morning star.
The overcomer in Sardis (Rev. 3:4, 5) walks with Jesus and dresses in white. Not only that--he or she has assurance that nothing will blot their names out of the book of life. Instead they will have their names acknowledged both before Jesus' Father and before His angels.
By now it should not surprise us that the sixth church, Philadelphia, receives no less than six promises from Jesus. According to Revelation 3:10-12 God will protect the overcomers from the hour of trial, they will be pillars in the temple of God, and they will never again leave it. That makes three. In addition, God will write His name on them as well as the name of the city of God and Jesus' own new name. Whatever that last item means, the promises are a total of six. And if you add up all the promises to the first six churches you get a total of 21 promises, seven times three!
Does that mean Laodicea is going to get seven promises? No. It actually has only one. But it is the promise to end all promises. In verse 21 the overcomer in Laodicea gets to sit with Jesus on His throne! That one promise incorporates all the 21 promises received by the other six churches. If you sit with Jesus on His throne, you have everything!
Just as Laodicea is the most hopeless of the seven churches, it is also the one that gets the best promise. The church who has nothing receives the promise of everything! "Where sin abounds grace does much more abound."
Lord, in my hour of greatest need, I claim Your greatest promise!
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