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To him that over-cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne -Revelation 3:21
The reference is to the triumphant believer. We who are Christ's will one day share His throne. Jesus shall reign, and so shall we in Him. His kingdom is ours, too. It is an assurance which would be altogether incredible did we not have it on the very highest authority - that of the risen, ascended, reigning Lord Himself. He says it, and it must be so. The promise is His, and the gift is His too.
Only He could make such a grant. No one else but the king can invite another to share His throne. And, as Dr Boyd Carpenter pointed out, "this crowning promise is made to the most unpleasing of the churches." Do we not glimpse hope for us with all our fickleness and failure? If Christians in Laodicea, of all places, could be roused from their lukewarm indifference, and fitted to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, is there anything too hard for God to put right, in us?
'With me' - that is the essence of Christian discipleship. At the outset of His ministry our Lord chose twelve men that they might be with Him. At the Last Supper He told them that they had continued with Him in His temptations. Already in the days of His flesh He had assured them that where He was, there would His servants be also. In His great intercessory prayer He had claimed this privilege for them: 'Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am: that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me.'
'With me' is the keynote of discipleship from beginning to end. When we see our position in Him, how we should be encouraged to lead royal life, such as befits the servants of the King.
The reference is to the triumphant believer. We who are Christ's will one day share His throne. Jesus shall reign, and so shall we in Him. His kingdom is ours, too. It is an assurance which would be altogether incredible did we not have it on the very highest authority - that of the risen, ascended, reigning Lord Himself. He says it, and it must be so. The promise is His, and the gift is His too.
Only He could make such a grant. No one else but the king can invite another to share His throne. And, as Dr Boyd Carpenter pointed out, "this crowning promise is made to the most unpleasing of the churches." Do we not glimpse hope for us with all our fickleness and failure? If Christians in Laodicea, of all places, could be roused from their lukewarm indifference, and fitted to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, is there anything too hard for God to put right, in us?
'With me' - that is the essence of Christian discipleship. At the outset of His ministry our Lord chose twelve men that they might be with Him. At the Last Supper He told them that they had continued with Him in His temptations. Already in the days of His flesh He had assured them that where He was, there would His servants be also. In His great intercessory prayer He had claimed this privilege for them: 'Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am: that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me.'
'With me' is the keynote of discipleship from beginning to end. When we see our position in Him, how we should be encouraged to lead royal life, such as befits the servants of the King.
