To Jesus who loves us: Rev 1:5

While exiled to the island of Patmos, John, writing to the seven churches in Asia, opens his letter with praise to their common savior. He writes in praise, “To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood” (Rev. 1:5 NASB 2020). In this passage, there are two participles that further describe who Jesus is. The first is an aorist participle which describes a one-time past action. John says that Jesus “released us from our sins,” a one-time past action. The other is a present participle, which describes an ongoing activity. This is the case where John says that Jesus “loves us.” This phrase could also have been translated, “the one who is loving us.” Jesus’ love for us was not a one-time event. Jesus did not only love us when he came to give his life for us. Neither did he love us only when he forgave and released us from our sins. Jesus continues to love us today, and he will love us tomorrow and the next day. Jesus' love for us is both continual and active. We can trust in his love day-by-day, knowing that we can never exhaust his love for us. What comfort and hope this revelation ought to give us, and what motivation to share that same never-ending love with the people around us.

David Robison

Overcoming: Rev 2-3

While exiled to the island of Patmos, John received a lengthy revelation of Jesus Christ. As part of that revelation, Jesus gives him seven messages to seven churches in Asia. Included in each of these seven messages is a blessing for those who overcome in this life. Here are the blessings pronounced by Jesus upon the overcomer:

“To the one who overcomes, I will grant to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God) (Rev. 2:7 NASB 2020).

“The one who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death” (Rev. 2:11 NASB 2020).

“To the one who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it” (Rev. 2:17 NASB 2020).

“The one who overcomes, and the one who keeps My deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the patter are shattered, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star” (Rev. 2:26-28 NASB 2020).

“The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Rev. 3:5 NASB 2020).

“The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; 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 My new name” (Rev. 3:12 NASB 2020).

“The one who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21 NASB 2020).

What is interesting in all these cases is that the Greek word translated as “overcomes” is in the present tense, which, in Greek, indicates an ongoing activity. These verses could have been translated as “to the one who is overcoming” or “the overcoming one.” This is even more interesting when compared to what John previously wrote in his first letter to the church. John wrote, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them [the antichrists]; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 NASB 2020). Here, the verb is in the perfect tense, which indicates a one-time past action whose effects are still being felt today.

When we come to Christ, we are placed on the winning team. The book of Revelation tells an epic story where, as believers, we overcome and win in the end. However, this does not mean that we do not face daily battles, battles in which we are called to fight and overcome by the grace of God. While we have won the battle, we still must secure that victory through daily skirmishes with the enemy. We have both overcome, and are overcoming, through our daily lives through the power of God that lives within us. Our daily victories flow from the grand victory we won over the enemy when we first became believers. What comfort this ought to give us as we fight our battles and learn to overcome day-by-day.

David Robison