Revelation 2:7 (ESV)
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who CONQUERS I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
Revelation 2:11 (ESV)
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who CONQUERS will not be hurt by the second death.’
Revelation 2:17 (ESV)
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who CONQUERS I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
Revelation 2:26 (ESV)
The one who CONQUERS and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,
Revelation 3:5 (ESV)
The one who CONQUERS will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Revelation 3:12 (ESV)
The one who CONQUERS, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
Revelation 3:21 (ESV)
The one who CONQUERS, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
John is being charged to write a letter to all the seven churches. Note:
Revelation 1:10-11 (ESV)
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
He obviously has a theme in his writing to each of them. Even though each of them have a different message, the communication is alliterated to allow us to see what the Spirit of God wants to accomplish. He wants us to be “conquerors” in our faith. The word used is the Greek word, “nikaō.” It actually means to be victorious or triumph. The related noun of the word is where the sports company gets its brand name, “nike.”
God wants us to be over-comers. He wants us, through the power of the risen Savior (later referred to Revelation as the “Lamb of God”) and the power of the Holy Spirit to “conquer” the sins and ills of this life. He is not passive in His desire for us. God is highly active to not just require that we are “conquerors” but that He works in us, by His power, to become the conquerors.
In the seven above passages John is telling us the reward for those who overcome. This is our hope. Go back and read each of the seven “conquer” verses and rejoice in what will happen as we overcome. We know that as we allow the power of God in us we can overcome the world around us. If we do, we will be rewarded.
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