There are two very important
principles presented in Revelation 3:3,11 which are profoundly interesting,
clear, simple, easily grasped, and full of power when understood— two distinct
things which characterize the overcomer. The first is the truth that has been
communicated; the second is the hope that is set before us.

 

We find these two things
illustrated in Israel’s history and in the history of the church of God—what He has given us, and what is held out before us. These two things are to form your
character and mine. We are not to be influenced by the character of things
around, or the present condition of the people of God; but we are to be
influenced by what God has given, and what He will give. We are
apt to be discouraged and disheartened by the state of things around, and to
surrender everything because of the ruin, and thus get paralyzed. But if you
get hold of these two things, or rather if they get hold of you, they will
enable you to stem the tide, and to be an overcomer. You are to remember what
you have received and heard, and cherish the hope of glory.

 

We find illustrations of this in
Old Testament times. All the great reformatory movements in Israel were characterized by this very thing. It was so in Jehoshaphat’s time and in Hezekiah’s
time. The Lord calls back His people to the original standard—to what they had
received at the first. Hezekiah goes back to Moses as his authority to maintain
the divine standard in the celebration of the passover. Many might have said,
"Oh, it is all hopeless; your national unity is gone." Even Solomon
had left abominations behind him. The devil suggests to lower the standard
because of the ruin, but Hezekiah did not listen to that. He was an overcomer.
A tide of blessing rolled in, such as had not been known since the days of
Solomon (2 Chron. 30).

 

So again in the days of Josiah:
A child was on the throne, a woman filling the prophetic office, Nebuchadnezzar
almost at the gates. What did Josiah do? The book of the law was read. Instead
of lowering the standard on account of the state of things, he acted on the
Word of God—that was his standard of action, and he kept the passover in the
first month. The result was that there had not been such a passover kept since
the days of Samuel.

 

Thus it was with Hezekiah and
Josiah; and we have a still more beautiful example of it in Ezra and Nehemiah.
In those days a feast was kept which had not been observed since the days of
Joshua the son of Nun. It was reserved for that poor little remnant to keep
that feast. They were over-comers; they went back to God and to what He had
given at the beginning.

 

Again, Daniel, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego gained a magnificent victory when they refused to eat the
king’s meat. They would not yield one hair’s breath. Were not they overcomers?
They might have said, "God in His governmental dealings has sent us into
captivity, so why should we refuse to eat?" But no, they were enabled to
hold up the standard of God in the midst of the ruin around.

 

It was the same with Daniel. He
took the loftiest ground, and gained a splendid victory. It was not to make a
show that he opened his windows and prayed toward Jerusalem, but to maintain
the truth of God. He prayed toward God’s center, and he was called the servant
of the living God. If these had surrendered, they would have lost their
victories, and God would have been dishonored.

 

All this bears upon us in a very
distinct way today. It makes the Word of God of unspeakable value to us. It is
not a question of setting up our own opinion or authority, but we are called on
to maintain the truth of God, and nothing else; and if you do not get hold of
that, you do not know where you are. It might have been said to Josiah when he
broke down the high places built by Solomon (2 Kings 23:13), "Who are you
to set yourself up against Solomon and the institutions set up by a great man
like him?" But it was not a question of Josiah versus Solomon, but
of God versus error.

 

Now, let us consider the second
great principle, namely, that our character is also to be formed by what is
before us —the coming of the Lord. But mark here, the church of Sardis, instead
of being cheered by the Church’s proper hope, the Bright and Morning Star, is
warned, "If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a
thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." This is
how He will come upon the world—as a thief. We belong to the region of light;
our proper hope is the Morning Star, which is only seen by those who are
watching during the night. The reason why Sardis is warned instead of cheered
by the hope of His coming is that it has sunk down to the world’s level—low,
lifeless, sapless Christianity—and it will overtake them as a thief. This is
what Christianity is threatened with, and what you are threatened with if you
let yourself go down with the stream like a dead fish. The Lord is awakening
the hearts of His people to a deeper sense of this. He is giving them to see
that nothing will do save downright reality. If we have not this, we have
nothing. It is one thing to have doctrines in the mind, and another thing
altogether to have Christ in the heart and Christ in the life.

 

He is coming for me, and I have
to watch for the Bright and Morning Star. Now let my heart rise up, and
overcome the condition of things around. If I find saints in that condition, I
seek to rouse them out of it. If you want to instruct saints, you must bring
them back to the truth you have received, what God gave at the beginning. Build
on what God has given you, and on the hope that is set before you. I find it a
great thing to say to any one, "Are you prepared to abandon everything
that will not bear the test of the Word of God—to take your stand on
that?" Hold fast the standard of the truth of God, and do not accept
anything less, even though you may be alone in it. If a regiment were cut to
pieces, and only one man left, if he holds the colors, the dignity of the
regiment is maintained. It is not a question of results, but of being true to
Christ, to be really alive in a scene which is characterized by having "a
name to live, while dead." We want something more than mere profession. We
want more power and freshness, more living devotedness to the Person of Christ.
We are called to overcome. The hearing ear is found only with the overcomer.
May our hearts be stirred up to desire it increasingly.