THE OVERCOMER
[p. 279] THE OVERCOMER
John 14:21 - 24; Genesis 43:15-17; Genesis 43:25-34; Genesis 44:12 - 14; Genesis 45:12 - 15
I wish to speak this evening about the overcomer. The Lord spoke of Himself in this term; and so, as in all else, He affords us a lead. We learn from Christ how to overcome. Having set out the thought, He introduced it in all the addresses in Revelation 2 and 3, so that it has special reference to times of departure from divine ways and principles. It has special reference therefore to our times. The peculiar reward in each letter to the assemblies is for the overcomer; and then, what I wanted to enlarge on is that the overcomer becomes a link by which the Lord intervenes for recovery in any given phase of the Church’s lamentable history. The overcomer is the link which the Lord recognises, and through which He intervenes for general recovery.
Now, I read from John 14, because the passage refers to the time of departure, when the commandments of the Lord were being generally disregarded, and when His word was not kept; when His words or sayings were neglected. Under these circumstances the overcomer is of special interest to Him. He is, in a word, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”; for John is but a type in this respect; and his wonderful effectiveness in recovery is set before us to encourage us to be overcomers. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved, and I have not a doubt that throughout the whole history, distressing as it is disgraceful and dishonourable in every aspect, there has been in all the phases of the departure a disciple whom Jesus loved.
Thus, as we come down to our own circumstances, when failure happens (as, alas! it does, even with [p. 280] those who have the light of Christ and the assembly) an overcomer is the link, whether it be in a small locality, or district, or country. And the overcomer — however unostentatious he may be, however passive — loves the Lord, and holds himself aloof from those who disregard his commandments. He might have to suffer with them, like Caleb and Joshua of old, who adhered to the light, and yet traversed the wilderness with the people of God who were caused to traverse it for forty years instead of eleven days because of their self-will. He is willing to do that.
We hear of no complaint from either Caleb or Joshua that they had to suffer, not for their own self-will, but for the self-will of their brethren; but they shone with divine lustre as they entered into Canaan. God honoured them; they were before God in their souls. They were without complaint. They suffered with their brethren. Moses had given them a wonderful lead; he elected to suffer affliction with the people of God. Whatever their ways, they were the people of God, and he elected to suffer with them. So these two overcomers suffered for forty years with their brethren; but God honoured them.
So I wish to elicit from the scriptures in Genesis the confirmation of what I have said, for Joseph, being a type of Christ, gives us a lead. A great principle in God’s ways is to give a lead, and in Christ He has One who sets out every thought He intended to be developed in His people. Every thought that God intended to be developed in His people is set out in Christ; and in Joseph we have a type of Christ, as overcoming. In Benjamin we have a type of the believer who, having such a lead, overcame. Benjamin is the overcomer in this remarkable prophetic outline of Christ and His brethren.
As Joseph appears in the household of Jacob,
Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away”. Genesis 30:25. As Christ (figuratively) came into his horizon he was impressed with the need of moving; so he moved and came into the land of Canaan and to his kindred, as it is said. Then again, Joseph is honoured in that as Jacob meets Esau, and his wives and concubines and children passed before Esau and did obeisance to him, Joseph and Rachel pass before him, and Joseph is placed before his mother. It is the Little Child of Matthew and His mother, for Christ must take pre-eminence in every position. Then again, we find Joseph, at the age of seventeen. Genesis 37:2 says, “These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph”. The Spirit of God lights upon Joseph instead of Reuben; Joseph has the pre-eminence in the mind of the Spirit.
And now he immediately proceeds to prove his qualifications — his moral qualifications for the pre-eminence which the Holy Spirit accorded to him; for in the ways of God everything must be based on moral grounds. There is the purpose of God, and there is His sovereign work, but in His ways everything must be based on moral grounds. That is how He works out His ways. Hence it says that “Jacob loved Joseph”. The overcomer is always loved. This is his portion. As the Lord says, “The Father loveth the Son”. John 3:35, John 5:20. The overcomer is always loved.
Joseph goes to his brethren, sent by his father, “and he was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives”. He was distressed at their conversation. He was not drawn into it; he was not defiled by it; he was an overcomer. How easily young men become drawn into evil conversation; how easily they join in it and become defiled by it. Instead of overcoming evil with good, you are overcome by the evil; and you fall; but Joseph did not fall. “He carried their evil report back to his father”, we are told; and then, although hated [p. 282] by his brethren, his father honoured him — he made him a vest of many colours, suggestive of the varied glories of Christ as answering to His Father’s affections. But the moral state is present, and Joseph stands out against the hatred of his brethren, and he announces the mind of God.
As we are standing against evil — overcoming evil, we are sure to get light from God. The two things go together — the overcoming of the evil and the reception of light. The light assures you and forms you in your path of separation from evil. Joseph has two wonderful dreams, one of them indicating the power of life. His sheaf stood up; it had been cut down. That is to say, the Lord, as here in this world, was like corn growing out of the earth, standing up; but when the corn is cut down and bound into a sheaf, we have a type of Christ dead, but alive again — it stands up. There is the power of inherent life. He had life in Himself. That is the light Joseph had in his first dream. He had the power of life in him, and the sheaves of his brethren bowed down to his sheaf.
He is distinguished now not only on moral grounds, but distinguished as typifying the Son of God: “Marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”, Romans 1:4. That is the light Joseph had. How confirmatory it was! How establishing it was! Hence he stood up against the withering rebuke of his brethren; the withering hatred, the bitter north wind of hatred. He stood up against it. Then he had a second dream. “The sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me”. That is Christ in heaven, not only risen now, but “angels and principalities and powers made subject to him”.
This was the light Joseph had in his soul, and even his father rebuked him. He stands out alone, solitary, at the age of seventeen, with all the light [p. 283] of God in his heart, a wonderful model for us; a wonderful model for young men, surely. Think of the moral grandeur of that lad of seventeen standing up against the hatred of his ten brothers, and even the rebuke of his father! He is an overcomer — a type of the Lord Jesus, who stood out to the last, witnessing “a good confession before Pontius Pilate” 1 Timothy 6:13 — before him who represented the whole power of the world. He stood out a witness to the truth, as He says, “Even as I also have overcome” Revelation 3:21; and again, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”, John 16:33.
Well now, Benjamin, in this remarkable history, is a type of the believer overcoming. He is indeed a passive overcomer; but nevertheless he is an overcomer. He had no part in the evil deeds of his ten brethren in their hatred against Joseph. He remained with his father as the object of his affection. Our Joseph is gone; He has suffered rejection, suffered death; but He witnessed a good confession. Beyond the reach of Satan’s power, His example remains, and He looks for overcomers — passive or active. Wisdom requires passiveness as well as activity. There is a time to be passive in overcoming, and there is a time to be active. Wisdom is to decide. Benjamin is a passive overcomer. There is not a shade of doubt upon his character; not the least hint that he had anything to do with the wickedness of his brothers.
Years later his ten brothers go down to Joseph in Egypt, but he speaks roughly to them; they have not brought Benjamin. And I would say to you who are in special need of the Lord’s help for recovery, if you are to get the Lord’s recognition — if you are to be brought into His house, so to say — bring Benjamin; be sure to bring Benjamin. You may say, ‘There is no Benjamin in our locality’. Then, great is your disadvantage. The ten brothers [p. 284] came down. Joseph knew them, though they did not know him. The Lord has his eye on every one of us. I think of Him tonight as He looks abroad on Christendom — He knows everyone. “The Lord knoweth them that are his”, 2 Timothy 2:19. As anyone returns seeking to get benefits from Him, they receive rough terms, until they bring Benjamin. These are the terms of love at this particular juncture.
Hence Joseph’s house is not in evidence at all when the ten brothers came down on their first journey for food, for they are not seeking Joseph; they are seeking food. Many are like them today — thinking only of themselves and of their benefits, having no thought of Joseph. But he is thinking of them, and he knows them, though they do not know him. And so his house is not in evidence to us, but his prison is. ‘What!’ you say, ‘a prison?’ Yes, beloved friends, a prison. Most of us have had to be put in prison. Most of us have had to be spoken to roughly. But it is in the skilfulness of love he is acting, and this has an end in view; so instead of his house, it is a prison. First of all he intimates that they are all to go there except one. Then he says, “I fear God”. He wants you to live; He does not want you to die. But your will is to go; that sin is to be discovered; hence the prison walls. Simeon is to go there; the others return.
And now they come back a second time, and they have Benjamin with them. If one were to have the ears of all the Lord’s people on the earth tonight, one would say the Lord is ready to receive you if you come back, but you must bring Benjamin, otherwise rough terms and a prison await you. The Lord knows how to limit us. He knows how to hedge us about and to limit us as we become exercised, so that our wills are broken, and we realise a little how we have treated Him — for we have treated Him shamefully. The prison is intended to break down [p. 285] our wills and to bring our sins to remembrance, for God requires what is past. The Lord will go down to the bottom with us and have everything searched out; hence the prison. But now they bring Benjamin; and directly he is seen the house is in evidence, and Simeon is brought out of prison. It is very beautiful, as you will observe (Genesis 43:16), “And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home”.
It is the skilfulness of love — the prison is past. Benjamin is brought; the overcomer is in evidence, and Joseph says, “Bring these men home”. There is a home for you. Then he says, “Slay, and make ready, for these men shall dine with me at noon”. Now look at that! So they dine. Joseph comes home at noon. Some of us are very neglectful of Christ; He is so little in our minds. We think He is somewhere away in the heavens, inactive. No, beloved, He is a Man of affairs, a Man of great affairs.
He works — it may be mediately. He works through one and another like Paul, but He works; and He comes home at noon. You have been neglectful of Him, but He is not neglectful of you. It may be that in the early noon Joseph had been thinking of them and devising how to reach them. You see, this is the service of Christ. He is a Man of affairs. Think of what is in Christ’s hand at the present time. All the powers in heaven and upon earth are subjected to Him; and He is Head of the whole of humanity. Is that nothing? It is immense to Him. He has removed in His death all the liabilities that lay upon us, and He is now the active Head of humanity. It is a wonderful thing to be a man, to have such a Head as Christ. He is devising how to help us — how to help men.
Joseph comes home at noon, and they are to dine with him. But still there is a distance. It is, to my mind, like Revelation, the book of distance; but it [p. 286] is the book of love, for it is written by the loved one, John. Christ is seen girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. His love cannot flow out. Why? Because of your state, your carelessness; yea, not only that, but because of your associations. You have been following with those who hate Christ; as was said of Jehoshaphat — he was associated with those who hated Jehovah. He loved Him himself, but was associated with such men; and you are not going to escape; you are to be made to feel it, so the distance remains.
Joseph sits by himself, the Egyptians by themselves, and the sons of Jacob by themselves. There are three groups sitting down. Nevertheless they are in Joseph’s house. They have come into the place of his affections, and they are beginning to realise it; those affections are extending into their hearts. Joseph sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. You see how the Spirit of God reminds us that the overcomer is not neglected. He has had to suffer with the others, but now he is coming in for recognition, for God is infinitely fair and righteous. Thus Benjamin is honoured even in the time of distance — he has five times more than the others.
How often we see that in a handful of brethren, despised in a town. One goes into their little meeting and finds that they have five times more than those outside who are active and more renowned in the world. I do not deny that people at a distance do get something from the Lord, but I do say that these few brethren who love the Lord and seek to keep His commandments get five times more, and it is “to him that hath it shall be given”. Luke 19:24.
Well now, in the next passage Benjamin has Joseph’s cup. You see we are drawing near to the end now. It was really an honour to Benjamin. He was the least. What you will observe in all [p. 287] these affairs is that the birthright is recognised — they are set down according to the order of their birth. But how out of keeping with the whole situation, talking about birth and priority when they were guilty of murder of the vilest kind. Joseph passes over the ten and has his cup placed in Benjamin’s sack. Happy Benjamin! Although for a time it seemed sorrowful, it was the recognition of Benjamin. It was the cup of Joseph — the cup in which Joseph ‘divined’ — “in Benjamin’s sack”; and this brought the whole underlying situation to light. It is really a question of the love of God coming in and searching us out, for God is faithful, and. He comes in in connection with Benjamin, the overcomer. But He searches out everything; every one of them is searched out.
And now Judah comes into evidence — the leader in their repentance. He is not an overcomer, but the leader in repentance. That is a great point. God, as I have said, always works on the principle of a ‘lead’, and Judah is the leader in repentance. So Judah and his brethren come into Joseph’s house, and Joseph is still there. He is not away now on business; he is at home, for the recovery of his brethren was the great business he had in hand. Then you have the disclosure, and as Joseph makes himself known to his brethren Benjamin is again honoured. He says to them, “Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck”, Genesis 45:12 - 14.
The overcomer is thus in complete correspondence with Christ. He weeps on the necks of the others, but they do not weep. Benjamin is the overcomer.
“The eyes of my brother Benjamin”, Joseph says. He singles him out, and then weeps upon his neck. There is correspondence between Christ and the overcomer. Jonathan was not an overcomer, as you will remember. He loved David, but remained with Saul; and so the weeping of David exceeded the weeping of Jonathan. “Benjamin wept upon his (Joseph’s) neck”, and then Joseph weeps upon all the others; they all came in for his embrace, but it differed from his brother Benjamin’s. After that “his brethren talked with him”.
There is now full recovery; full restoration and liberty to speak to Christ. So, dear brethren, I think you see how all this links on with John 14:21, as indicating the overcomer. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”. See now what he comes in for, for the Lord says, “He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him”. John 14:21. In other words, one thus described is lovable — he is an overcomer — he corresponds with Christ. Christ sees Himself reflected in that overcomer. Christ overcame; He kept His Father’s commandments; He carried out His Father’s will at the cost of His life.
So whether you are an old person or young person, man or woman, loving the Lord, keeping His commandments, you will reflect Himself, and you come under His eye as a lovable one; you come in for the overcomer’s share, and that is love. “I will love him”, He says, “and my Father will love him, and I will manifest myself to him”. John 14:21. Can anything exceed this? It is what an individual may come into. It is available to us as loving Christ.
And then He goes on, in answer to Judas: “If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). I think His ‘words’ [p. 289] there is what is spoken in general. He says to Philadelphia, “Thou hast kept my word”. He says further, “I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee”, Revelation 3:8,9. The overcomer comes in for love. There is nothing in the whole universe to be compared with love. Love remains, and the overcomer comes in for love, and he gets five times more than others, like Benjamin. He gets the love of the Father and the love of the Son, and They come to him and make Their abode with him. To my mind it is wonderful. The one who loves Christ and keeps His commandments is an overcomer, and comes in for love — the Father’s love and the Son’s love; and, moreover, They come and make Their abode with him.
Hence, dear friends, the incentive to be overcomers — not only to go in for this wonderful love of the Father and the Son — but to become the link for the recovery of others. I have not a doubt that is how, historically, the light we are now enjoying came about. There were those who loved the Lord and kept His commandments in spite of the opposition raised on every hand; hence the light came in, and it is coming in in relation to our overcoming. I believe the secret of the maintenance of the testimony right to the end depends now on overcomers. As we overcome we shall get light, and abundance of it, and we shall get love — the greatest thing of all; the Father’s love and the Son’s, and They will come to us and make Their abode with us.