The way for the God-men to be the overcomers is first to love Christ and follow Him (John 21:15-17, 19b). The God-men as the overcomers must also pursue Christ and gain Him (Phil. 3:12-15), and they must be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection (v. 10). In everything we need to be conformed to Christ’s death. In everything we should be crucified. It should be “no longer I,” because the “I” has been crossed out (Gal. 2:20a). In ourselves it is impossible for us to be conformed to Christ’s death. However, we do have the resurrected Christ living within us. We should rely on the power of His resurrection that we may be conformed to His death in everything. Many times I realized that I was not conformed to the Lord’s death in my attitude toward my wife. After speaking just one short sentence in an unpleasant tone, I realized that I was not conformed to the death of Christ. I have repented for such sins nearly every day for many years.
The overcomers also need to live Christ and magnify Him by the bountiful supply of His all-inclusive Spirit (Phil. 1:19-21). Today the Spirit is not only the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who has the bountiful supply for us to live Christ and magnify Christ.
In order to overcome, the God-men also need to live with Christ and labor with Him (Gal. 2:20a; Col. 1:29). Finally, they should not live merely an individual Christian life but must live the Body life, a corporate life, and build up the Body of Christ for the fulfillment of God’s New Testament economy (Eph. 4:12, 16; 1:10).
God has prepared all kinds of blessings in the New Jerusalem. Every part, every aspect, and every item of the New Jerusalem is a blessing prepared by God for His chosen and saved ones. However, God realizes that many of His chosen and saved ones would not be faithful to Him. Hence, He has established the principle of the overcomers. God the Lord came in to call the saved ones to overcome all the things that oppose God. Most of the God-called and saved believers would not listen to this call. Therefore, in the millennium the overcoming believers will be rewarded by participating in the enjoyment of the kingdom, but all the defeated ones will miss the reward. Furthermore, because they are not mature in life, God will have to perfect them by disciplining and punishing them during the thousand years. The overcomers will enjoy the blessing of God’s complete salvation one thousand years earlier as a reward. Those who do not overcome will miss the one-thousand-year enjoyment of the blessing of God’s salvation, and they will also be punished by the Lord during that period so that they can be perfected and matured.
Some dear saints do not like to be a Christian who takes such a narrow way. They may not like it today, but sooner or later the Lord will force them to like it. We have been chosen by Him (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:2); it is not up to us. We must overcome. If we do not overcome today, we will have to overcome tomorrow. In a school all the students must graduate. If they do not study well, they will not graduate with the rest of their class. Nevertheless, eventually they still need to graduate. Therefore, they have to remain in school for another period of time and must be forced to study until they graduate.
In the thousand years of the millennium the items of the eternal blessing of God’s complete salvation will become a reward to the overcomers. In the present age the overcomers dine with the Lord, that is, feast with the Lord, as a reward (Rev. 3:20b). At the earliest appearing of Christ, the overcomers will be given the morning star, signifying the precious Christ in His earliest appearing (2:28).
In the millennial kingdom the overcomers will enter richly into the kingdom of Christ (2 Pet. 1:11; Matt. 19:23; Acts 14:22; 2 Thes. 1:5; Heb. 12:28; James 2:5; cf. 1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) and will partake of the wedding feast of Christ, which will last for one thousand years as a day (Rev. 19:9; Matt. 25:10). They will also have their names confessed before the Father and His angels by the Lord (Rev. 3:5c) and will not have their names erased out of the book of life, to have their names erased out of the book of life in the kingdom age signifying a kind of discipline in the kingdom age (v. 5b). They will not be hurt of the second death, to be hurt of the second death probably signifying also a kind of discipline in the kingdom age (2:11).
In the age of the kingdom the overcoming God-men will be rewarded with the participation in the consummation and enjoyment of the New Jerusalem as the Paradise of God in its initial stage in the millennium (2:7). The New Jerusalem will have two stages: the initial stage of one thousand years as a reward to the overcomers, and the consummated stage in the new heaven and new earth for eternity for all the completed, perfected, and matured believers.
In the millennium the overcomers will share in the joy of the Lord (Matt. 25:21, 23) and will also be crowned with the crown, the crown of life and the crown of righteousness (Rev. 3:11; 1 Cor. 9:25; Rev. 2:10; James 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:8). They will also sit with the Lord on His throne (Rev. 3:21) and will have authority over the nations (2:26-27). Moreover, they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with Christ (20:4-6; 2 Tim. 2:12) and will eat of the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in its initial stage in the millennial kingdom (Rev. 2:7). The overcomers will also eat the hidden manna (2:17a) and be clothed with white garments (3:4-5a). They will be pillars in the temple of God and never go out anymore (3:12a) and will also be given a white stone with a new name written upon it (2:17b). The overcoming God-men will have the name of God and the name of the city of God—the New Jerusalem—and the Lord’s new name written upon them (3:12b). They will be given the responsibilities in the coming kingdom (Matt. 24:47; 25:21a, 23a) and will also enjoy the kingdom rest (Heb. 4:1, 9-11).
In the millennial kingdom the overcomers will enjoy the salvation of the soul, which is the aggregate of all the above-mentioned items (Matt. 16:25; Luke 9:24; Heb. 10:39; 1 Pet. 1:9-10). This salvation will be the common portion of all the saints, not in the thousand-year kingdom but in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
(The God-Men, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)