Revelation 1:7-8 - Called to Be Overcomers Not Losers

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." In these verses we learn that the overriding theme of the Book of Revelation is the return of Jesus Christ to defeat all evil and to establish His reign. It is definitely a book of victory and His people are seen as "overcomers". It is so sad to observe today, that most of the people who call themselves “Christians”, are living like “losers”. But God has not called us to be “losers” but to be “overcomers”! Remember in the previous verse (Rev. 1:6), that John told the church that we have been called to be “kings and priests”, not a bunch of losers! So many of us are living in despair. We are discouraged, defeated and even depressed when we should be joyful, overcoming and victorious followers of Jesus Christ despite what we are facing or might be going through! In each of John’s messages to the seven churches we read that he encouraged them to be overcomers and were given a special promise and blessing if they did! Seven times Jesus says, “To him who overcomes….” To the church of Ephesus, Jesus promised: “…To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." (Revelation 2:7) To the church of Smyrna, Jesus promised: “…He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." (Revelation 2:11) To the church of Pergamos, Jesus promised: “…To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it."(Revelation 2:17) To the church of Thyatira, Jesus promised: “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.” (Revelation 2:26) To the church of Sardis, Jesus promised: “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Revelation 3:5) To the church of Philadelphia, Jesus promised: “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. 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 out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.” (Revelation 3:12) And to the church of Laodicea, Jesus promised:  “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”  (Revelation 3:21) John also emphasized this same theme in 1 John, of overcoming the devil, the spirit of antichrist and the world: “…I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.” (1 John 2:14) “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5) You might be asking how you can be an overcomer instead of being overcome by the evil of this world! Paul gives us the answer in Romans 12:21 – “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good!” Today, by God’s grace you can determine to be an overcomer and not a loser! It’s your choice!