21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Sitting on someone’s throne just doesn’t have the same meaning for me as it does for those whose cultures have a supreme ruler like a king. The role of President of the United States carries a lot of weight. Sitting in his chair in the Oval Office behind his desk has tremendous symbolic power. But the power is not in the person, but in the Office of the President. We change Presidents when we vote them in and out. Whoever sits in that chair, having been duly elected to the office, receives the symbolic power. But we know it is a temporary power, one that passes to the next duly elected person. The moment after the next President takes the Oath of Office, the previous President looses all that power. They become a symbol of what was. We give them honor because they used to sit in the position of power. In our spiritual lives, if we overcome, we get to join an exclusive group of others who have overcome. The greatest person who overcame was Jesus Himself. If we overcome, that is, not give up before the battle is completed, then we get the rewards of a victor. We get to join Jesus. Although we don’t deserve to sit on Jesus’ throne with Him, we get to anyway. He deserved to join His Father and so He did. So how do we qualify to sit with Jesus? We must overcome. This implies that we continue in our faith journey, that we continue to draw closer as time passes, that we put off our old sinful habits, and that we pick up new godly ones in their place. It means that we resist moving away from the Lord when we don’t understand exactly what is happening in our lives. We draw closer during our times of asking ‘why’ instead of pulling away. When those difficult times come in our spiritual life we seek Him all the more diligently. Even if we feel anger, we seek His face. That overcoming simply demonstrates that the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf, the sacrifice that we have trusted in, was not without having the desired effect in our lives. That sacrifice was not wasted on us.
The Arnold Journey 