12/13/25 To those who Elevated

Revelation 3:19-22 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

To the one who is victorious

Jesus is speaking to the church of Laodicea here. This is a church with a stern rebuke. This is the only church Jesus threatens to vomit out because they are lukewarm in their affections for him. While there are many aspects of the7 church addresses I could have given in this series, there is more of a specific set of points Holy Spirit wanted me to teach to benefit those who are listening when drawing from the two that we have. The focus given was to start in verse 19, just as in the beginning of the series for chapter 2 we started with verse 26. Jesus addresses the one who is victorious, just as he did in chapter 2:26. It is real easy to misunderstand the link between the two chapters here. In all the churches he addresses the victorious, but he also does so in this book 7 other times after this. If you look up victorious in the book of Revelation you will see it is mentioned 9 times. The math does not add up. 7 churches from 9 means only 2 more mentions. Is this bad math? The fault of the preacher?

It is not victorious in the GR, it is the one who overcomes. Nikaó is the one who conquers, overcomes or prevails. You may be thinking, you haven’t overcome anything, conquered nothing, it is all Jesus. Hold on let’s go deeper. It is used 28X, not all of which relate to us. John 16:33, Romans 3:4 for example details Jesus’ victory, 1 John 2:13-14, 4:4, 5:4-5 pertains to our victory shared in Christ’s victory. Every instance mentioned in the addresses to the 7 churches pertains to the one who overcomes. This is a theology of perseverance, endurance which validates genuine faith which is why it has been mentioned throughout this series.

Sadly, some of you may think because of watered down preaching from mega churches, prosperity gospel & hyper grace movements that there are no challenges in life. The Christian walk was mean to be easy, effortless, materially profitable & painless. Yet, the truth of that is quite assured that it is difficult, it does take effort & self-control, is not simply walking in to material possessions & wealth & it is painful.

Famed preacher & chancellor of DTS Charles Swindoll once said, God cannot use you until he has hurt you. Pain for God’s children is all over the Bible, the most primary of which is Jesus the Messiah. His overcoming is the doorway that leads to God the Father because no one gets to the Father but through Jesus. We share in what he accomplished, as children of God & that is why is knocking at the door and calling out as he does, because you cannot get to the victory dinner without him.

To the one who is victorious is the one that held on to Jesus even in times of suffering & pain, or dealing with circumstances where there was one escape, Jesus himself.

I will give the right to sit with me on my throne

Jesus is still giving to those who have faith in him. Throughout your relationship with him, he will give you more than you know & realize. All you have to do is overcome like he did & he gives you something that many churches fail to teach the full ramifications of. The aspects of spiritual authority & being on the throne ties into the heavenly council. More on that in a bit.  There is a right given to sit upon the throne, which means that the one giving it has the rights to give it.

Seven messages to the churches (Revelation 2–3) attach specific rewards to “the one who overcomes”:
• Access to the tree of life (2:7)
• Immunity from the second death (2:11)
• Hidden manna and a new name (2:17)
• Authority over the nations (2:26)
• White garments and an unerasable name in the Book of Life (3:5)
• A pillar-status in God’s temple with divine inscriptions (3:12)
• Co-regency on Christ’s throne (3:21)

There is much to be gained by walking away from the world system in way of allegiance & walking hand in hand with the Savior of the world. If you have a sin problem, and you do just as I do, we need Jesus in our life to get access to the Father. Jesus concludes,

just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne

The throne is a cohesion of authority between Father & Son. The reward is given to those who overcome. Yet many will not get there, a new study shows 84% of Americans do believe that sin exists. And yet, despite the majority acknowledging sin’s existence, only half of Americans believe that everyone is a sinner—and a full third think they aren’t the problem!

Of course, we expect poor theology from those who don’t profess the name of Christ. But shockingly, the research found that 25% of those who claim to be born-again Christians don’t believe they are a sinner, and a whopping 7 in 10 say we’re all “basically good at heart.”

This is not the mindset & ideology of a true follower of Christ. If you want the reward, you have to deal with the sin condition with the help of Holy Spirit to get the throne. Keep in mind angels do not have this, the original creations of god do have some authority but check this out, what we deem as angels rule over regions, nations, and those who are victorious in Jesus displace them.

This ties to the message covering 2:26 at the beginning of the series. The stakes are high. The opportunity for overcoming through faith is great. Give Jesus your all.