Revelation 2:26 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Revelation 2:26

Comments

For Thyatira, overcoming lay in continuing to do good works and refusing the temptations that were so tantalisingly set before them. Endurance to the end is what the Lord insists on. The doctrine of eternal security was never intended to make Christians rest on their laurels. The battle is real and the enemy must be overcome. Victory is assured but must not be not taken for granted. The assurance of victory should result in increased vigour in the battle, not in a fatalistic disengagement. We are to regard our salvation as contingent upon our perseverance, but at the same time we are assured that perseverance is the gift from God. All is designed to make us dependent on the Lord, and yet to strive to the uttermost. We are given in Christ the victory which he has won for us. He who overcomes will receive this, yet what is our overcoming compared to his? Christ lets us participate in his fight with Satan but limits what Satan can do to us so as to match our strength.

Application

How will we receive power over the nations and rule them with an iron rod? Most of the old commentators agree that this means that we will be in that place of privilege when the day of judgement comes. We will be gathered out from among the people, and we will be with Christ in the judgement over the world, seeing it going under the final judgement of God. It has already been stated that he is ruler over the kings of the earth (1:5), and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father. Yet there is another sense in which we reign even now, for our prayers are heard in heaven and we reign with Christ as those prayers are answered. Little do the kings of the earth realise what great power the saints have over them. The Lord sets up and removes nations in answer to the prayers of his people. Those who seem powerful are actually disposed of for the benefit of the insignificant Christians.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Revelation 2:26 Commentary and Bible Study