Peace in Jesus – He Overcame So We Overcome

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Peace in Jesus – and Nothing Else – He Overcame, So We Overcome 

by Ray E Horton

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but trust, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

I love the reassuring words of Jesus here, a part of His final discourse to the disciples before the cross. Other translations say, “but take courage,” or “but be of good cheer,” or “but take heart.” Because He has overcome, we can take courage, and for another reason as well. We have received His overcoming Spirit.

Because He has overcome, we too overcome

John writes to the young men, that BECAUSE they have known Him, THEY “have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:13-14). A little farther down, speaking of the spirit of antichrist, which we experience even today, John says, “YOU are from God, little children, and have OVERCOME them; because greater is He who is in YOU than he who is in the world.” Because He has overcome, we too overcome. He has given us the Holy Spirit and power as a part of our inheritance from His death and resurrection.

Who is he who OVERCOMES the world, but HE WHO BELIEVES that Jesus is the Son of God?

Then in 1 John 5:4 he says, “for EVERYONE born of God OVERCOMES the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” He then says in 1 John 5:5, “Who is he who OVERCOMES the world, but HE WHO BELIEVES that Jesus is the Son of God?”

And because “salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come and the accuser of our brethren has been cast down” (Rev. 12:10), then we “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Vs. 12). We ourselves do overcome, using the spiritual authority of the Word of God, but it’s all because He overcame and by His grace.

Yes, we do experience the tribulation of the world, usually in the form of persecution for His names sake, but, because of His blood and the word WE speak forth, we are able to overcome and have the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.

We are still learning to live by faith

Do we always see the victory? Well, by faith, yes!  But the victory is not always manifest – sometimes we do get sick, and bad things do happen to us.  But we are still learning to live by faith and not by sight. So, in the midst of circumstances, we “look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2).

I write all this because believers can often get in the ditch on one side of the road or the other, Grace focus, not understanding faith, or Faith focus, not understanding Grace. We need them both, His part, and our part. But, praise God, by the blood of the Lamb, He has equipped us for our part. We recognize it’s all because of Him, but we don’t walk defeated, because we also recognize that He has given us His Spirit and the power to overcome in this life.

And yes, our peace is not in our selves, or what He has given us, our anything else, but in Him alone. And we receive that peace as we pray, “anxious for nothing, but with thanksgiving… And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).