What Does the Overcomer in Revelation Mean?

By Xuezhi

    When they hear about “overcomers,” most Christians think those who labor and work for the Lord, who can keep the Lord’s name, who can sit in prison for years without denying the Lord, and who experience all kinds of persecutions and tribulations and yet can still stand witness, are the overcomers referred to in Revelation. Is that view correct? What, exactly, do the overcomers in the Bible refer to?

Christian Song "God's Hopes for Mankind Have Not Changed" | God Wants to Gain a Group of Overcomers

Contemporary Worship Songs "God's Hopes for Mankind Have Not Changed" | God Wants to Gain a Group of Overcomers

Ever since He created man in the beginning,

God has yearned for a group, a group of overcomers,

a group that will walk with Him and are able to understand,

comprehend and know His disposition.

Regardless of how long He still has to wait,

regardless of how hard the road ahead,

no matter how far off the objectives He yearns for,

God has not altered nor given up on His expectations for man.

This wish of God has never changed.

This wish of God remains the same.

This wish of God has never changed.

This wish of God, this wish of God will never fade.

The Light of Life Shining in the Devil’s Dark Den

Lin Ying    Shandong Province

　　My name is Lin Ying. I’m a Christian in the Church of Almighty God. Before I believed in Almighty God, I always tried to work with my own ability for a better life. But things ran counter to my wish; I got into trouble and was frustrated everywhere. Having fully experienced life’s hardships, I felt exhausted mentally and physically and felt extremely miserable. Just when I was distressed and helpless, a sister preached Almighty God’s end-time gospel to me. I read God’s words, “When you feel tired and when you slightly feel a sense of desolation of this world, do not feel perplexed and do not weep. Almighty God, the Watcher, is ready to embrace your coming at any time.” (from “The Sighs of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) I couldn’t help shedding tears. The motherly words of Almighty God greatly comforted me. I felt that I, like an orphan wandering for years, returned to the bosom of my family and was no longer lonely and helpless. From then on, I thirstily read God’s word every day. Through having meetings and fellowshipping with the brothers and sisters in the Church of Almighty God, I saw that they were so kind and honest. There was no jealousy, dispute, or intrigue among them. No matter who met any difficulty, others would sincerely fellowship about the truth and help him solve it, without making bargains or seeking rewards. What they lived out was God’s love. There, I received the release and happiness that I had never had. I deeply felt that the Church of Almighty God is a holy pure land and became certain that Almighty God is the only true God who can save men from the abyss of misery. Just when I was enjoying God’s love, the CCP government arrested and persecuted me illegally, breaking my joyful and pleasant life.

　　It was deep in the night on August 12, 2003. I had been asleep. Suddenly, I was woken up by a violent knocking on the door and heard someone shouting, “Open the door! Open the door! We’re the police!” Before I could put on some clothes, I heard some thumping sounds and the door was suddenly kicked open. Six extremely ferocious policemen broke in. I asked them in a panic, “What do you want?” The head of the vicious policemen shouted, “Don’t play dumb!” And then he waved his hand and roared, “Search carefully!” Several policemen began to ransack boxes and chests here and there like bandits. Immediately, the pots and pans, clothes, quilts, foodstuffs, and so on were thrown all over the floor. It was a complete mess in the house. After searching my house, the vicious policemen pushed and pulled me into a police car. They also took away my newly-purchased CD player worth 240 yuan, 80 yuan in cash, and a bucket of books of God’s word. I had never imagined that the scene which I only saw on TV actually happened to me then. I was very scared and my heart was thumping, so I prayed to God unceasingly. Suddenly I remembered Almighty God’s words, “Do not fear this or that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers there are, you should be stable before me and not be hindered by anything, letting my will be carried out smoothly. … Remove your fear. With me as your rear guard, who can block the way? Remember! Remember!” (from “The Tenth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words gave me great comfort, making my heart gradually calm down. I realized this: The One I believe in is the Ruler who created the heavens and the earth and all things. All things and all matters are in God’s hand, and satan and the devils are all under God’s feet. As long as I truly rely on God, satan can do nothing to me. Now is the crucial moment God is waging a war against satan, is the time God needs me to stand testimony, and is the time for me to experience God’s word and gain the truth. I must stand the ground and practice according to God’s word and never give in to satan!

God's Expectation of Mankind Has Never Been Changed

I

Ever since He created man

in the beginning,

God has yearned for a group,

a group of overcomers,

a group that will walk with Him

and are able to understand,

comprehend and know His disposition.

Regardless of how long

He still has to wait,

regardless of how hard

the road ahead,

no matter how far off

the objectives He yearns for,

God has not altered nor given up on

His expectations for man.

This wish of God has never changed.

This wish of God remains the same.

This wish of God has never changed.

This wish of God, this wish of God

will never fade.

Questions and Answers on the Way of the Lord’s Arrival (Secret and Open)

The Lord’s promise is that He will come again to take us into the kingdom of heaven, and yet you testify that the Lord has already been incarnated to do the work of judgment in the last days. The Bible clearly prophesies that the Lord will descend with power and great glory on clouds. This is quite different from what you’ve testified, that the Lord has already been incarnated and secretly descended among men.

Answer: You say that the Lord promised man that He would come again to take man into the kingdom of heaven, that is for sure, because the Lord is faithful, He will invariably make good on His promises. But we need to first be clear that the Lord's coming again through incarnation in the last days to do the work of judgment is directly related to how we are raptured into the kingdom of heaven. If we study the Bible closely, evidence of this is not hard to find. In several different passages from the Bible, it is clearly prophesied that the second coming of God is the incarnation. For instance: “Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not” (Luk 12:40). “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luk 17:24-25). All of these prophecies speak of the Son of man or the Son of man comes. This phrase the Son of man refers to One who is born to a human and has normal humanity. So the Spirit can’t be called the Son of man. For instance, because Jehovah God is Spirit, He cannot be called the Son of man. Some people have seen angels, angels are also spiritual beings, so they cannot be called the Son of man. All those that have the appearance of man but are composed of spiritual bodies cannot be called the Son of man. The incarnate Lord Jesus was called the Son of man and Christ because He was the incarnate flesh of God’s Spirit and so became an ordinary and normal man, living in the company of other men. So when the Lord Jesus said the Son of man and the Son of man comes, He was referring to God’s coming through incarnation in the last days. Especially when He said, “first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation,” this proves even more explicitly that when the Lord comes again, He comes by becoming flesh. If He didn’t come in fleshly form but rather as a spiritual body, He certainly wouldn’t experience any suffering and certainly wouldn’t be rejected by this generation, that’s undoubtable. So, the Lord Jesus’ return is definitely in the form of the incarnation and comes to do the work of judgment in the last days.