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.

Only the Chosen Remnant

ONLY THE CHOSEN REMNANT

Isaiah 10:20-22 NET  At that time those left in Israel, those who remain of the family of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. Instead they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.  (21)  A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.  (22)  For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you.

Isaiah

The book of Isaiah contains an abundance of material on many future subjects such as:  the coming Messiah; the Millennium kingdom; the wrath of God; and the return of a remnant.  This future material is generally mixed within designated chapters with short term prophecies regarding:  the invasion of Assyria to northern Israel and later to southern Judah; and the coming invasion of Babylon to Judah.  Occasional it is debated if a particular section of scripture concerns a near term prophecy or a far term prophecy regarding the end-times.

The Remnant

The Isaiah 10:20-22 scripture above is placed after an Assyrian confrontation prophecy which appears to be immediately followed by an end-times wrath of God prophecy just prior to the prophecy scripture presented above.  For all practical purposes, no remnant returned to Israel after the Assyrian conquest.  The population was either destroyed or taken as exile captives.  Isaiah lived to see the captivity of the nation of Israel, when the Assyrians destroyed Samaria and carried the ten tribes into exile up near the Caspian Sea.  This prophecy of a returning remnant may have given hope to some of Israel. It spoke of a future time when the return of Israel would occur, and the prophet Isaiah tells us specifically that only a remnant would return.  Of course, we now know the remnant will be ancestors far removed from the original captives and they will be subjects of the Kingdom of God.  Although the “sand on the seashore” represents an innumerable amount of people, it is a sad state that only a small remnant will return.  Disobedience and the lack of faith in God appears to be the constant story of the people of the earth.

An historical period when the people of Israel “will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel” has not occurred to my knowledge.  This spiritual event will only begin in the Millennium.  Isaiah writes the nation will be destroyed with “complete destruction, one that is decreed”.  Although the population of Israelites will be “as numerous as the sand on the seashore” only a remnant will return.  The “sand on the seashore” quote can be sound in Genesis 32:12 is a promise to Abraham and ultimately represents all believers who kneel to the King of the Kingdom.

But you said, 'I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count".  (Genesis 32:12 NET)

The current population of Jews is large but perhaps not quite as large as the sand of a seashore.  However, concerning the Jews “only a remnant within them will return.” This remnant will be a small portion of the current population, which is verified by Isaiah. These are the ones who will receive the promise of God (and I should add - the promise through Jesus Christ). The Apostle Paul understood and verified this when he wrote in Romans 9:27, “And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, "Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved” (NET).

Other Isaiah scriptures speak of a returning remnant.  Isaiah 11:11-12 is noticeable in that it mentions the four corners of the earth.  The preceding material of this chapter is definitely Millennial in nature.

At that time the sovereign master will again lift his hand to reclaim the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the seacoasts. He will lift a signal flag for the nations; he will gather Israel's dispersed people and assemble Judah's scattered people from the four corners of the earth.  (Isaiah 11:11-12 NET)

Prophets Speak of a Remnant

Other Old Testament prophets also speak of a returning remnant.  Joel 2:32 occurs immediately after a passage concerning the wrath of God as does the Obadiah 1:17 passage.  Zechariah 8:11-12 concerns a Millennial peace.

It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive, just as the LORD has promised; the remnant will be those whom the LORD will call.   (Joel 2:32 NET)

But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape, and it will be a holy place once again. The descendants of Jacob will conquer those who had conquered them.  (Obadiah 1:17 NET)

But I will be different now to this remnant of my people from the way I was in those days,'says the LORD who rules over all, 'for there will be a peaceful time of sowing, the vine will produce its fruit and the ground its yield, and the skies will rain down dew. Then I will allow the remnant of my people to possess all these things.   (Zechariah 8:11-12 NET)

Will the idea of a “remnant” of believers be a novel construct after the wrath of God and the beginning of the Millennium?  Paul speaks of Elijah the prophet exclaiming, "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!"  Paul continues with, “But what was the divine response to him?  "I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal." So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.  (Romans 11:3-5 NET)  There has always just been a remnant of believers, and as written by Paul, there is currently a “remnant chosen by grace”.

Dr. Stephen Jones – God’s Kingdom Ministries:  Paul reminded his readers, and all of us today, that during the days of Elijah only a remnant of 7,000 remained faithful from several million Israelites which are referred to as those chosen by grace.

In other words, there is no justification to say that all Israelites are chosen. Neither are all Israelites part of the remnant. Only the remnant is chosen according to God’s election. An unbelieving Israelite has no right to call himself one of God’s chosen people. His genealogy has nothing to do with it. His faith is the evidence that he is chosen.

Christian Zionism today is based on the faulty belief that Jews who have no faith in Jesus Christ are yet “God’s chosen people.” Some contend that as long as they have faith in God, it is sufficient, even if they reject Jesus Christ. Nothing can be farther from the truth, for Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. Furthermore, 1 John 2:23 tells us, “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also”.

No Jew who denies Jesus as the Christ “has the Father.” This was not written by an anti-Semite. It was written by the apostle John by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The idea that Jews can be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ is one of the more recent heresies being popularized by some popular Christian Zionists.

Do Jews Need Christ?

God has not rejected the Israelites.  Actually God has not rejected anyone.  The nation of Israel refused to submit to the righteousness of Jesus, just as religious, self-righteous people refuse to submit today.  Paul used himself as an example, but does that mean submitting to Jesus is the only route to salvation?  From a New Covenant perspective the question must be answered as “yes”.  Does that mean repentance and submission to God the Father no longer is valid as some current Jews consider?  Again, from a New Covenant perspective the answer would be “yes” again. 

So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

(Romans 11:1 NET)

Some may argue that true repentance and submission to God the Father under the Old Covenant may actually be valid for the Jews of today.  That thought appears to contradict New Testament scripture, but who knows the mind of God and who speaks for God?  No one that I am aware of.