Who is an Overcomer (Elect)?

WHO IS AN OVERCOMER?

The Jubilee

The Jubilee year was called every fifty years and was a time for forgiveness.  It stood as a reminder of God's providence and mercy.  The dedication of a year for this emphasis provided the community with a time to come back into right relationship with one another and with God. 

It was a season of total forgiveness and the complete evisceration of all debts:  legal, monetary, and criminal.  All land was restored to its rightful owner; all slaves and indentured servants due to unpaid debt were set free with no recurring penalties for that particular debt.  There is just one problem with the Jubilee – it was never honored or enacted by the Israelites of Canaan.

Leviticus 25:10 NET  So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, and you must proclaim a release in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee; each one of you must return to his property and each one of you must return to his clan.

An Overcomer

The translation of any Greek or Hebrew Biblical word to “overcomer” is not found in the scriptures.  A better word that is easily understood is “forgiver”.  An overcomer is essentially a person who forgives or lives by the principles and standards of the Jubilee as written above.  It is a person who is living or growing up into the Kingdom of God which is the laws and standards of Jesus Christ.  It is one who is coming into a state of maturity in Him. An Overcomer is putting on His Father’s mind and is coming to agree with what God does in the earth and how He accomplishes those goals. He is learning to say “Amen” to all that God does, bearing witness to Him in all things, and not disagreeing with Him. An Overcomer is one who is coming to understand the Father and His ways.

We cry out to God for mercy, knowing the total inadequacy of any personal righteousness or ability to hear His voice as we should.  We desire the authority of God only as a tool to better serve others, to have a greater ability to bring the blessings of God to the needy in the world.  It is not authority we seek, but responsibility.  The authority He gives is only a means to an end. Reputation is something we do not aspire to attain, for we have found that this is the first step toward pride that God must remove in order to teach us to serve God first.

God teaches the Overcomers that personal reputation is not needed to enable us to spread the Gospel.  Obedience is more important than reputation or performing good works, although good works are things to aspire.  One must learn that God is totally in control of all things and that He does not really need us to do His work.

The Elect

The word “elect” is used in sixteen cases within the New Testament, seven times in the Gospels by Jesus Christ although some are parallel examples. 

Use of the word “Elect” by Christ

but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

they shall gather together his elect from the four winds

And shall not God avenge his own elect

Word Study Dictionary:

eklektós; fem. eklektḗ, neut. eklektón, adj. from eklégō (G1586), to choose, select. Chosen, select. In the group of three important biblical words, eklektós, eklégō, and eklogḗ (G1589), choice or election, selection involves thoughtful and deliberate consideration.

The apostle Peter places a different wrinkle on the word Elect (eklektos).  The NET translation gives the following:  “who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”, replacing the word elect with the word “chosen”.  Many versions use the word “chosen” and others don’t use either word.

For now, we will consider the words “elect and chosen” to be synonyms.  Then is added “according to the foreknowledge of God”.  In my personal manner of thinking, nothing occurs that is not the foreknowledge of God.  God knows everything from the beginning to the end before it ever happens.  He is not surprised and never off guard.

1 Peter 1:2 KJV  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Some associate foreknowledge with predestined which means to determine in advance as many did the unsuccessful election of Hillary Clinton.  However, with God, the definition is somewhat different.  With the foreknowledge of God, it may only appear that certain events are predestined because they are foreknown with complete accuracy.  As Romans 8:29-30 reveals, God foreknew the Overcomers or the Elect and therefore He could predestinate them to be conformed to the image of His Son.  Of course, all that is written in these two verses were foreknown in the mind of God from the moment of creation.

Romans 8:29-30 KJV  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  (30)  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The time prior to the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ may be shorter than we think.  To be an elect Overcomer it is necessary to learn to be a forgiver and that is not always an easy task.  It is my opinion that only the elect Overcomers of the present and of past ages will be participants in the first resurrection.  The others who are alive at the time will be allowed to live during the Millennium although they will eventually die to be part of the second resurrection.  Those written in the Book of Life will perhaps be given a few symbolic stripes and then be glorified.  Others may be given additional symbolic stripes or retained as a slave under the Godly tutelage of a glorified Overcomer until the “Jubilee of all Jubilees” occurs.  This is the metaphoric symbolism of the “Lake of Fire” which is the judgment of the “fire of God’s Law”.  God’s Law is fire.  God appeared as fire to Moses.  The Lake of Fire is the fire of God’s judgment and the fire of God’s Laws.

Contrary to popular American belief, not everyone with a church membership will be raptured (harpazo / gathered up).  Having the salvation provided by Christ is the first step but will not necessarily result in rapture.  Obtaining the down payment of the Holy Spirit as in the upper room during the Acts is the second step but will not necessarily result in rapture.  Having a forgiving nature, trusting that God is always in control, and growing in the character of Christ until His appearance is the final step and should result in being gathered up as the elect of God.

The rapture (Latin translation of the Greek word Harpazo) will not result in a mass of individuals being whisked away to Heaven forever.  They may be in the presence of God for 8 days but their purpose is to be the priests and rulers on the earth under the leadership of Christ.