THE OVERCOMER’S PORTION
C. A. Coates
In connection with Zebulun, Issachar, and Dan, I think we see indicated the way by which Satan seeks to divert men from the blessings which have been brought in by grace in victorious power. The same power that took man away from innocence is active still to move men away from the blessings of grace. You see in the early chapters of the Acts how quickly selfishness and self-interest came in to divert souls, and the same thing has continued to work wherever the light of Christian blessing has gone. Where the light of Christianity has come people are not so much diverted by violence and corruption as by self-interest.
Those who were invited to the great supper—a supper figurative of the festivity of heavenly grace—would not come because they were held by their own interests, not wrong things. The wrong was that they attached more importance to their own interests than to the feast of heavenly grace. This is the great snare of multitudes in Christendom, and the form in which the power of evil holds them. Even of believers Paul had to say, “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s”. If our own interests become dominant with us we shall most surely be diverted from all that is established in a risen and glorified Christ.
I make these remarks in connection with Zebulun. Read verse 13. The sea is never spoken of in Scripture in a good sense. It is a figure of the restless and disturbed state of things which sin has brought about. In the new earth there will be no more sea. Then Zidon is a type of the world.
So that I think here we have suggested the thought of people becoming engrossed in business, and in pursuing their own interests coming down to the level of the world! How ruinous is this to soul prosperity! How many have we known whose spiritual career has been blighted by the pursuit of their own interests! Do you think a man can prosper in divine things if business and money-making are his chief interest? Beware of letting your heart become a “haven for ships”, and of having your “border unto Zidon”!
It may be said, ‘We have to get our living, and to provide for our families, and so on’. Yes, that is quite right, but the point is. What rules in your heart? Does business take precedence of divine things with you? With some business is the absorbing interest, and the Lord’s things are put in a corner, but this is the highroad to spiritual poverty.
Then in Issachar I think we see a figure of those who want to have an easy time of it in the world. “He saw that rest was good”. He would like to please God, and at the same time keep on good terms with men. But these are “two burdens” which no man can carry at the same time. The one who thinks to have an easy time in this way will find out his mistake. Many have tried to carry these two burdens, but no one ever succeeded. Peter tried it once, and had to smart for it (Galatians 2).
In Dan we see the final issue of decline and departure. The man who is ruled by self-interest and a desire for ease here is likely to become an adversary of the truth in a time of crisis and difficulty. A Demas often becomes an Alexander (2 Timothy 4: 10, 14). How solemn it is to think of this! And we are all liable to turn aside in this
way. If we realise this, what effect will it have upon us? It will surely cast us upon God.
When the patriarch Jacob came to this point he broke off, as it were, to exclaim, “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord”. In prophetic picture the declension and departure of the people was before him and the question seemed to arise, Will there be no recovery? Are they to be altogether drifted away from what is of God? In presence of this he exclaimed, “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord”. Ah! it is this we need, whether for preservation or recovery. The power of God’s salvation becomes a special necessity in an evil day—a day of departure and apostasy.
The more conscious we are of the power of evil against us the more we turn to God for His salvation. In view of the dark days which were coming at Ephesus Paul said, ‘I commend you to God’. To Timothy he said, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”. There was a moment when all forsook him, but at that moment the Lord stood with him and strengthened him. He proved in the evil day the power of divine salvation. And if we are to stand and overcome in an evil day it must be in the power of God’s salvation. God can deliver His saints from all evil. If I have a tendency to be occupied with my own interests, or to settle down here, I need God’s salvation to preserve me. His salvation comes in to deliver us from the power of what is evil so that we may enjoy the wondrous, things which He has freely given to us.
The result of God’s deliverance coming in is seen in the next three tribes. First, the saint is made an overcomer. “Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last”.
When we have tried to go on in our own strength we have been overcome, but when we wait for God’s salvation He
makes us overcomers.: If a saint has been overcome, and afterwards becomes an overcomer, it is clearly by the special grace of God. We see this in many of God’s saints and servants—
Job, Jacob, David, Peter, Paul. Each overcame at the last. If a saint “fall, he shall not be utterly cast down—for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand”, Psalm 37: 24. So he can say, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the. Lord shall be a light unto me”, Micah 7: 8. What precious grace is this!
If we are conscious of the power of evil that seeks to move us away from our true blessings we shall cry to God for His salvation, and the effect will be that He will make us overcomers. God is able and willing to do this. If we have been overcome again and again, that shows how necessary it is to wait for God’s salvation.
Then the overcomer enjoys his portion according to God’s purpose and grace. “Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties”. We get satisfaction; we enjoy the fatness of God’s house; and can dispense it to others. A satisfied heart is a wonderful example of what God’s grace and power can do for man. But there must be the overcoming before there can be the overflowing. When Paul was in prison his bread was fat, and he yielded “royal dainties”. So that all the saints ever since have been nourished and sustained by the spiritual food sent out from that prison at Rome.
The overcomer and the satisfied one is the one who walks in true liberty. “Naphtali is a hind let loose”. As we enjoy what is of God we are set free from what is of man, and of the world and the flesh. God would have us to be free from all the selfish motives and evil influences that work in the hearts of men. Then we can give “goodly words”. The words that come out of a free and satisfied heart are sure to be “goodly words”.
From ‘ The History of God’s Ways’ in ‘ The Food of Life’. Most quotations are from the A.V.