Victory

 

For whatever is born of God overcomes [nikao] the world [kosmos], and this is the victory [nike] that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?      1 John 5:4-5

Merriam-Webster defines victory as: 1. the overcoming of an enemy or antagonist and 2. achievement of mastery or success in a struggle or endeavor against odds or difficulties. In both cases, it is a triumph over some enemy, either a person or persons, or some challenge of life. The above verses suggest enemies against every believer represented by the world, the cosmos, the organized system that governs the physical world in which we live. John explains in an earlier passage that any love for the world or anything in it is an insult to one’s relationship with God: 

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.        1 John 2:15-17 

So, faith is the assurance in who Jesus is and what He accomplished, allowing every believer to overcome or experience victory over the world and its various proteges. This faith brings him to the place where he does God's will. This faith can be characterized by living with a purpose or resolve that agrees with that of Jesus Himself. 1 Peter 4:1-2 says, Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose [intention, resolve], because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. Suffering in identification with Christ becomes the avenue into the will of God. Faith is a choice to accept the plan of God, even suffering for a higher cause.

Life Through Death 

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried [aorist passive indicative] with Him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united [implanted] with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with [rendered useless] so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed [liberated] from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so, consider [logizomai – recognize as true] yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.       Romans 6:1-11

Paul speaks to the believer’s victory over sin as a byproduct of the newly minted life he finds in his baptism (by the Holy Spirit) into Christ Jesus through His death. Therefore, Paul says we have been buried (past tense, accomplished for the believer) with Christ through baptism into death, meaning our position in Christ identifies itself with His death and burial, to be raised from death, thus confirming a newness of life as our perfect position.  The believer has been liberated from the power of the sin nature; he is no longer being controlled by the natural inclination to remain in opposition to God and His plan. The victory occurs when he recognizes as true that he is dead to the power of sin and begins to act accordingly. This is the beginning of God’s life fully manifested in the believer’s experience. Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (Psalm 55:22). 

Enter In 

Steve Green wrote a fantastic song addressing this issue. The words are profound and help the believer understand that his identification with Christ’s death defines this victory over sin.

Nothing chills the heart of man like passing through death’s gate

Yet to him who enters daily, death’s a glorious fate

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to be a holy bride

And daily cross death’s threshold to the holy life inside

 

Chorus:

Enter in, enter in,

Surrender to the Spirit’s call to die and enter in

Enter in, find peace within

The holy life awaits you; enter in

 

The conflict still continues raging deep within my soul

My spirit wars against my flesh in a struggle for control

My only hope is full surrender, so with each borrowed breath

I inhale the Spirit’s will for me to die a deeper death

 

Bridge:

If mourners should lament, let them weep for those alive

For only when self-will is killed can my soul survive

The believer’s response to his willingness to identify with Christ’s death is surrendering to the Spirit’s call to die and enter in. Christ’s death is the door into this holy life as the believer’s self-will is finally placed under the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. Victory over sin = victory over self! In Hebrews 2:14-15, Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.   

Sit, Walk, Stand 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.        Ephesians 1:3-6

When addressing the church in Ephesus, Paul begins by spelling out the many victories that were accomplished by the work of Christ yet invisible to the believer's natural vision. Spiritual blessings are in the viewpoint of each believer who recognizes his life as “in Christ,” including the principles of being chosen, that He sees us as holy and blameless in our position, and that we are His adopted sons as daughters. Watchman Nee wrote a great book about this letter to Ephesus entitled, “Sit, Walk, Stand.’ In it, he emphasizes that before the believer can walk with God, he must know where he is seated, with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Having a clear comprehension of this perfect position is foundational to a successful walk. 

We Overwhelmingly Conquer

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer [hupernikao – utterly defeat] through Him who loved us. For I am convinced [persuaded] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.               Romans 8:35-39 

Paul was convinced that God’s love for each believer in Christ supersedes all these things: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. In addition, no other circumstance or enemy, including the believer himself, can separate him from God's love. They have all been utterly defeated by the person and work of Christ.  When Jesus Christ becomes Lord in the believer’s life, the love of God is confirmed as personal, a revelation of the love within God’s family, originating within the Trinity. This amazing love convinces and persuades the believer of his accepted position in Christ.   

Triumph in Christ 

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.          2 Corinthians 2:14-17

Paul's words in verse 14 are based on a Roman triumphal procession; the victory parade awarded a conquering general in which enemy prisoners were forced to march. God the Victor had vanquished His enemies through Christ, and Paul, Christ's captive, was now marching in His parade! The evidence of the believer’s conviction of faith is manifested as a sweet aroma, a fragrance of Christ’s life to both the one who chooses to believe and the one who rejects Christ. In speaking of those who peddle the Word of God, Paul contrasts his own sincerity in communicating the truth of God’s Word versus those false teachers who corrupt the Word for personal gain. Paul may have had in mind Isaiah's description of Jerusalem's unscrupulous Israelites who "diluted" their wine with water to increase their profits. We deliver our message with a deep consciousness that the eye of the all-seeing God is on us, that we can conceal nothing from Him, and that we speak on His behalf.

An Important Mission 

There is a story about an old man who, once a week, would walk near an abandoned pier on the seashore with a bucket filled with shrimp to feed the seagulls. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker did this until he died in 1973. The reason? In 1942, during World War II, Rickenbacker was on an important mission when his airplane got lost and ran out of fuel, forcing the captain and his crew to ditch their plane in the sea. The men battled the elements for nearly a month, but the worst of their tribulations was the lack of food. After eight days at sea, the men were out of food. Years later, the captain would recall how, on one Sunday afternoon, after the men had prayed for salvation and sang hymns of praise, he covered his face with his hat and began to drift off to sleep. Suddenly, something fell on his head. It turned out to be a seagull, hundreds of miles from its natural habitat. The men were able to catch the seagull and eat it. They used its intestines to catch fish, which they survived on until they were rescued. That one seagull that fell from the sky like manna in the desert saved Rickenbacker and his crew. And he never forgot it. That’s why the captain fed seagulls every week until his death. By doing so, he expressed gratitude for the miracle he had received so long ago. Psalm 79 concludes: “Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation, we will proclaim your praise.” 

Like Eddie Rickenbacker, believers in this world are on an important mission: to represent the character and nature of God to the world. To truly understand His character, the committed believer will come to realize the quality of his position in Christ and the miracle it represents. Fallen man is able to walk with His God in spite of his humanity. Eddie saw the miracle of his own salvation as a watershed moment in his life, and it caused a deep gratitude toward God and His plan. Feeding the seagulls each week was the expression of that gratitude and the victory it represented. When the believer places his faith totally in who Jesus is and what He accomplished, he is living the life given by Christ to each one on that special Easter weekend.

The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord.       Proverbs 21:31