We have been looking at Paul’s amazing writings in Romans 8 and its application for our daily spiritual journey in recent weeks. Last week we saw God’s great love for us as the source of great security in the Lord Jesus Christ. We continue with our study by reading, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter”. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us,” (Rom.8:35-37 NKJV). The phrase, “more than conquerors” in the original language is an intensive compound. This means the words are charged with meaning. Really the best translation here is that we “overwhelmingly conquer”. So whatever the task that is set before us we can conquer because of the love of Christ working in our lives. The source of our victory is not we ourselves, but God’s love working in and through us to deliver us from any destructive attacks of Satan. We are super conquerors not in our own selves and abilities, but through the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t merely resist or maintain our ground, but even in the very midst of sorrows and troubles, we can draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves us beyond time and eternity.
Only Jesus can turn the martyr's cross into the victor’s crown. It is totally within His power to do that and remember that Christ is holding on to “us”. The “us” in verse 37 refers only to God’s particular people, who have come through faith into the household of God. The victory is achieved through the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and made us part of God’s family. We may not always be victorious in every spiritual battle that we face, but even in defeat, we can learn valuable insights that could never be gained by conquest. We must be willing to surrender ourselves and our future into God’s hands. The ultimate reward will far surpass whatever earthly or temporal losses we may suffer. We must balance the physical reality of this life with the spiritual reality of eternal life. On the cross, Jesus looked completely defeated, but that was not reality in the spiritual realm. Jesus taught us that in order to have life we must lose our own life, that being great means being a servant, and that even in defeat Jesus can bring about amazing victories. Paul’s going to list a number of things that we have victory over in the coming verses, but never forget that the source of our victory is not our own ingenuity or our own reasoning, but it is the love of Christ working in our hearts for our good and for God’s glory. Understand that Jesus Christ can work through our deepest trials to perform His will and His work in our lives. Shalom.
In the King’s service,
Pastor Rich Sivo
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