11. I Defeat the World

I am changing the translation from “overcome” to “defeat” whenever there is an object being defeated. The reason why will be part of this study. – For all who have been conceived out from God defeat the world; and this is the victory that has defeated the world – our faith.

I suddenly realize that “the world” is a larger term that contains inside itself our three enemies, the death story, manipulative humans, and whispering demons. The defeat of physical death itself is not inside “the world” and comes last, after the world is broken.

Describing the World. And that’s the point, the world must be broken.

Here is a description of “the world.” – And you, being once dead [living in a false story separate from Christ] inside of your own sin and disconnection from God, in which you formerly walked according to the world-cosmos of this age, according to the influences of the authority of the air, the spirit now energeoing inside the sons of refusal, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the desires of the flesh… (Ephesians 2:1-3).

Knowing “good and evil” is the source of the world, for it is how humans create their false stories, “I, not Christ.”

Break the Lie. The world is the interrelationship between demons and humans wherein the humans refuse God (who still energeoes them), preferring the energeoing of demons. And the point of connection between the energeoing demons and the humans in angry opposition against God is the first definition of death, that is, a false story.

Strike the false story and the connection is broken. The beast cannot be defeated so long as it gains its false story from the dragon, and Satan cannot be bound with chains so long as humans keep hold of his power to rule. They are all lying. – Break the lie.

Sons of Refusal. And what is it that breaks the lie? Well – our faith. That is, our confidence in the True story of sharing life with God, that is, Christ.

Think of that. – The spirit now energeoing inside the sons of refusal. – This is as unnatural as you can get. Jesus is still sustaining them; they remain alive and even in existence, only by the Spirit of God. But they refuse to know such a thing; rather, they draw their knowing from unclean and lying spirits speaking words which they then weave into their fake self-story.

The root of all evil is the refusal – I, not Christ.

The False Death-Story. Life is knowing the One True God. Death is refusing to know God, who alone is True, but “knowing,” rather, all sorts of untrue nonsense about self. Demons are then used by these sons of refusal to provide self-exalting stories and the feelings that go with them.

Faith is us giving God permission to enter our knowing that He shares life with us – and refusing all other voices. Anti-faith, then, is refusal towards God and permission for other “knowing’s” to enter. Therefore, casting down the accuser out of our heavens and ridding ourselves of the false death-story happen together.

The Entrance of Word. Yet both of those happen only with the entrance of Christ Jesus into our knowing as our very and only life. – Christ lives inside of your heart through faith.

My enjoyment of God my Father sharing life with me is my victory over death. Ridding ourselves of the false death story happens only with the entrance of Word, of knowing that which is True. This is why we have another “ask and believe” inside of this passage on overcoming. The entrance of life into us, the Lord Jesus, is the entrance into us of every detail of God’s Desire, that is, His Word.

A Progression of Thought. It would be helpful to us to list a progression of thought in this passage.

1. We know that we love one another and God, because we keep guard over His commandment, which is – love one another. 2. Love one another is not burdensome – My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 10). 3. Our faith is the victory that defeats the world, because we believe into Jesus. 4. We are talking about the church coming out from Jesus’ side into the earth.

Our Path. 5. God has given us age-unfolding life inside of His Son; we possess the Son; we possess the life. 6. Inside of that Life, we actively believe into the name and character of Jesus. 7. We speak boldly as we ask God to fulfill His Word in us and we believe we already have all that we ask. 8. We pray for our brothers and sisters that they might be given the same LIFE. God gives that Life to them.

This truly is the foundation of Revelation Chapter 12. And it is the path upon which God has led us thus far.

Speaking Christ. I know that I love the children birthed out from God because I love God and I keep, guard, and watch over His commandments. God’s commandment is that I love my brothers and sisters reciprocally. I keep God’s full completion; God loves His Church through me.

I am conceived out from God; I overcome the world. My faith is the victory that overcomes the world. I place myself utterly into Jesus; I place Jesus upon all that I am; I overcome the world. I am rid of the false story of death, of a life separate from the Son and the Father, for I believe that Jesus is the Son out from God and I see His Church.

I believe into the Son; I possess the testimony of the Spirit inside of me. God has given me the life unfolding the ages. I possess the Son; I possess the Life. I actively believe into the name and character of the Son of God. I possess all the Life of God, and I see my Church.

I am confident; I speak boldly. I ask all things according to God’s desire. I ask for all Word fulfilled. God hears me; I receive from God all that I ask. I ask God for life for my brothers and sisters. I receive that LIFE and give it to them. My brethren live – the Church!

The Boxes on the Page. As we look across this passage, we see a number of possibilities for boxes on the page, except that we have covered some of those already. For this present page, I want to set the foundation for Revelation 12, and so our boxes will be a beginning definition for overcome/defeat, followed by “I See the Church.” Then we’ll have an “Ask and Believe” box into the name and character of Jesus, speaking His Word boldly. But we will make that “Ask and Believe” box larger, for second, we will ask for LIFE for the Church according to God’s desire.

Increasing Our Definition. Defining overcome/defeat must be focused. We will then be expanding on these points all through John’s vision. In this first definition, we will not explain what we defeat, including “the world,” rather, we will simply assume those things in the wording.

Yet we are increasing our definition of the world again, that “the world” is the larger umbrella term that includes inside itself our three specific enemies. First there is the death story we humans tell ourselves about ourselves inside. Second is the beast, that is, all outward pressure from humans, and third the accuser, that is, all inward pressure from angels, pressing us into the false story.

God’s Illustrations for Me. And so the illustrations the Lord gave me to understand my life story are so very apt.

First is the picture of Odysseus, shooting his arrow straight through every axe hoop lined up, that I have brought every single event of my life into line, that Christ Jesus might pass through everything, one seamless story of Christ. Third is the picture of Simon Kenton running the gauntlet, running for his life, which for us is with angels lined up on one side speaking words of accusation and humans lined up on the other side pressuring us to curse God and die.

We refuse them all, no matter the sting of the blows.

Fleeing Death. The second picture is the most important. This is Eliza fleeing the dogs of death, holding her baby, for us the precious Words of Christ and all who love Jesus. One dog is angels speaking accusation, the other dog is humans with their mockery and unbelief. But the real death for us is the broken ice beneath our feet, our own death desire to condemn others and to hold them in contempt.

What carried Eliza across into liberty? – Her love for the son she carried. What carries us across into liberty?

As the Day of Atonement. Our love is two-fold, something very clear in this passage. First is our love for the Word of Christ planted in our hearts, every Word God speaks, now our very and only life. And second is our love for one another and for all with whom we have interacted throughout our life, our love for the Church, all believers in Jesus all across the earth.

Yet this run is also like the Day of Atonement, for we run first for ourselves, refusing the death story that we might live and not die, and second, we run for all our fellow believers, that they might know the same Life we love. Thus our greatest enemy, just before liberty, is the icy waters of contempt.

Defining Overcome. Overcome (transitive): 1. To get the better of; to surmount; conquer; subdue; as to overcome difficulties or dangers; to overcome enemies in battle, hence to render helpless or exhausted. 2. To go to the end of; to get or pass over or through; to complete; accomplish (obsolete). 3. To go beyond; exceed; outstrip (now rare). 4. To come or pass over; to spread or flow over; to come over suddenly or without premonition. 5. To come over so as to control or dominate (rare).

Overcome (intransitive): 1. To gain the superiority; to be victorious.

Defining Defeat & Victory. Defeat (verb transitive): 1. To undo; disfigure; weaken; destroy (obsolete). 2. To render null and void, as a title; to frustrate, as hope; to deprive, as an estate. 3. To overcome or vanquish, as an army; to check, disperse, or ruin by victory; to overthrow.

Defeat (noun): 1. An undoing or annulling; destruction (obsolete). 2. Frustration by rendering null and void, or by prevention of success; as the defeat of a plan or design. 3. An overthrow, as of an army in battle; loss of a battle; repulse suffered; discomfiture; - opposed to victory.

Victory: 1. The overcoming of an enemy in battle, or of an antagonist in any contest; a gaining of the superiority in any struggle; conquest; triumph; - the opposite of defeat.

Expanding the Meaning. Wow. There is critical truth found in these definitions far more specifically than I knew.

Beating an opponent in a fight is not sufficient for victory. We must render the title and claim of the evil one to be null and void. Part of the definition of “overcome” gives us the picture of the river of life flowing out, the knowledge of God covering the earth. Then there is “overcome” as completion. And finally, there is the “frustration” of the enemy’s designs, that is, PROTECT THE CHURCH.

Overcome/Defeat. My faith in Jesus, that He is every Word God speaks already fulfilled inside of me, is my victory over all that opposes God. Even as I rejoice in the river of life flowing through me, so I undo and destroy the death story I once knew, that I had a life separate from Jesus.

I render all claims of the evil one to be null and void. I deprive him of his grasp over the Church; I prevent all of his designs. I frustrate the intentions of evil people to dominate and rule over the Church. I vanquish the beast and his armies; they cannot steal from or deceive Christians anymore. Evil men and evil angels are helpless before me as I bring the Word of God to all completion into the lives of my brethren. The Life flowing out from me spreads out over this world of death, swallowing all death up into life.

John’s Testimony of the Church. This is the one who has come through water and blood; not inside of water only but inside of water and inside of blood. And the Spirit is the One testifying, the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. The Spirit, the water, and the blood: these three are together into one [the Church].

“This is the one” refers directly in the context to – those who have been conceived out from God and who overcome the world. (The false translation breaks this.) John is clearly referencing what he saw, the blood and water coming out from Jesus’ side into the earth, that is, the Church, just as Eve came out from Adam’s side. This is what he swore in testimony was true.

I See the Church. I see the Church, coming out from Jesus’ side upon the cross. I see the Blood and the Water flowing out together, mixing into the dirt of the earth, the very Bride of Christ. I see the Lord Jesus coming into His Church by the Spirit of Truth on the day of Pentecost. I see that Jesus is all inside of all who belong to Him. I hear the Spirit testifying; I see the Word impart all that is Christ; I see the Blood of Covenant. I see the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood come together into one, the Church of Jesus Christ, now upon this earth.

A Transfer of Life. We have already looked at the “death sin,” so let’s set that aside. We are looking at all believers in Jesus through “no consciousness of sins,” that is, through the Blood.

This passage, 1 John 5:9-17, then joins with John 5 to become an incredible picture of, not a three-step transfer, but a four-step transfer of LIFE. Jesus said that God possesses Life in Himself, and that God gives this same Life to Jesus. Then Jesus turns and gives the same Life to whomever He wants. That’s three-steps. But then we turn and ask God to give us the same Life that we might give that Life to our brethren!

The Giving of Life. Then look at this progression. This is really cool, for I have never seen this before in this passage.

1. Because we are conceived out from God, we overcome the false death story with all its contempt for others through believing into the name and character of Jesus. 2. We now know that we possess the same Life of God through Jesus Sent into us and we ask, in all boldness, that God will complete every Word He speaks inside of us. 3. In that same boldness of authority, we now see the Church, drawn out from Jesus’ side, our brothers and sisters all across the earth – through no consciousness of sins.

We Give God-Life! In that same boldness, we ask God to GIVE US HIS SAME LIFE that we might give that Life to our brethren. 4. The implication is clear, now that we possess LIFE from God belonging to our brothers and sisters, we turn and give that LIFE to them.

Just as Jesus gives God-Life to whomever He wishes, we also give that same God-Life to whomever we want. Yet John’s warning means that we are not foolish in this giving of precious God-Life, we do not “cast our pearls before swine.” We allow God to direct our giving of His Life, that we give it only to those who will be True.

Ask and Believe I. Jesus, You say that I am conceived out from God and that I do not know any separation from You or from my Father. You tell me to ask God that He fulfill all the details of His Desire inside my life experience. I know that God’s Desire is His Word fulfilled.

Therefore, Lord Jesus, I continue to ask with all boldness that God would fulfill every Word that He speaks to full measure inside my life and inside my interactions with my local church. More than that, I ask that You would give me all Victory over the world, all Victory over the death story, all Victory over accusation; and all Victory over contempt. I walk in the full knowledge of that Victory.

Ask and Believe II. God, my Father, I ask, with assertive boldness, that You would give me Your very LIFE that I might give that same Life to my brothers and sisters. I receive Your life, Oh God, and I give it to those whom I love, that they might live!

Part of Such Victory. Earlier I said that we would look at why we should say “defeat” when nikao is transitive. There is a firm belief among unbelieving Christians that the defeat of this world, of the accuser and of the beast, will NOT come through Christians now on this earth and will NOT take place now in this age. Rather, everything waits for a someday “Jesus,” a “Jesus” not here with us and definitely NOT living as His Church.

I have not held to that way of thinking since I was twenty-years old. I never knew how I could be part of such Victory, but I longed to be part of it with all my heart.

Thy People Shall Be Willing. And so “overcome” has come to mean nothing more in the  Christian mind than “sticking it out,” that is, “trying your best,” until death takes you to Jesus someday.

Here is the word the Lord spoke to me when I was twenty. – “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed.” That sword is a Personal Living Spirit Word entering into me, the Lord Jesus, removing from me every whiff of the death story of accusation, refusal, and contempt.

Be of good cheer, for I have defeated the world. – And we also – defeat the world for the sake of the Church.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “I Know Him Who Is True.” This is the final page for 1 John. – Read 1 John 5:18-21 several times. This is just four verses, but very important. Following this, then, will be one page each for 2 John and 3 John.

We know that the Son of God is presently and actively come [is present, has already arrived] and has given us an understanding, a through-mind, so that we might know Him who is the true; and we are inside of Him who is the True, inside of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are speaking of the true God and the life that unfolds the ages.

Let’s Pray Together. When we get to John’s vision, we will turn our prayers into more aggressive war. Here we want to continue to ground ourselves in Jesus inside of us, that is, metamorphy. Yet we will also ask God for LIFE to give to a specific person.

“Lord Jesus, we continue to place ourselves inside of You. We know that You are every Word God speaks, and we know that You are written, as that Word, all through the pathways of our hearts. Lord Jesus, cause us to KNOW the full measure of Your Word fulfilled, that we might KNOW the Father. Life is knowing the Father; Lord Jesus, cause us to LIVE!

“Father, we are in awe at the treasure of Your Word, for You are giving to us written Word never before known. For that reason, Oh Father, we have no idea what it means to ask You to give us Your God-Life for our brothers and sisters, that we might turn and give that same Life to them.

“Yet we laugh with all joy, for we know that this wondrous giving of Life, of our giving to others the Knowledge of God, has been Your intention from the beginning. This is not a knowing of mental ideas, but the dynamic energeoing of Your Living Spirit Word; it is the Word of Jesus’ power sustaining and energeoing all. God our Father, continue to teach us what You mean by this giving of Life, that we might win Your Church.

“And Father, I think of one specific person _______ (put a single name in the blank), a brother or a sister who is struggling inside the darkness of his or her own death story, loving You, wanting to know You, but afraid without cause. Father, I ask that You would give me the Life of the Lord Jesus, the Faith of the Son of God, the knowing of every Word fulfilled, this precious sharing of my every moment with You, that I might give that same Life to _______.

And Father, having received that very Life that You give me because I ask, I turn and give that Life to ______, that he or she might Live, that he or she might KNOW You, that ______ might run with all joy into the Holy of Holies, into a Life shared with You. I know that it is so.”