Revelation Chapter Two, Keeping His Works

Revelation 2:26 “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations–[27] ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like a potter’s vessels’--

The overcoming promise does appear to have a secondary requirement attached apart from merely being an overcomer. The Lord wanted to stress that keeping His works until the end was vital to achieve this particular blessing.

However, Revelation 3:21 is closely attached to this verse, which states, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” No other criteria is mentioned in Laodicea, save for overcoming, which we have established already involves faith in Christ being our Savior. What do we make of this? The passage quoted is from Psalm 2:7-9. The Father tells the Son that the nations are His inheritance, and with the rod of rulership He will dash them to pieces. This is the root of the promise our Lord says He will fulfill for the faithful in Thyatira. Paul, when addressing the Corinthian church about suing fellow Christians, told them, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?...Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3. The world is of course the world system the Devil controls: “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one,” 1 John 5:19. If we do not belong to God, we belong to Satan as a fellow rebel; we stand convicted of collusion with the enemy. If unsaved, we are God’s enemy.

These are the nations that we will rule over beside Christ. During the thousand year reign we shall be seated with our Lord on His throne, judging the nations of the earth. The term power in the Greek and in this context more accurately means authority. Christ will give us authority, and the saints will have the immense privilege of ruling beside Him. Of course, there is a blessing in keeping His works until the end.

And yes, the works done in His name are His works; what we do for Him, He is doing through us. He told His disciples that He is the True Vine, and we are the branches, see John 15:1-8. The branch, simply by being attached to the vine, bears fruit naturally, but it is not the branch producing the fruit. The vine is the producer of the fruit, and each branch is an extension of the vine, part of the vine, and a recipient of the vine’s vitality. So yes, when the Lord says that we ought to keep His works until the end, He is speaking quite literally. They are His works, certain good works the Holy Spirit has given each of us to accomplish in His name, and by His strength, Ephesians 2:10, Zechariah 4:6.

And we are to keep these works until the end. The end of what? Our lives, of course. Our lives should be a lifelong testimony of the goodness and grace of God at work in us and through us, toward the rest of mankind. We should be compassionate, selfless, caring, loving, patient, willing to endure and refraining from the appearance of evil. The fruit of the Spirit should flourish in our lives, and we should help our fellow saints, be much in prayer and always concerned with the things of the Lord. As the Son was on earth before His ascension, now we are to be through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit who was sent as another Comforter while Jesus prepares a place for us in Heaven. It is not coincidence that verse 25 precedes this passage. We are informed to hold fast what we have until the Lord comes. For us this may either be death or Rapture, but the Lord will come for us, and we are commanded to not relinquish what we have done in His name. And to the overcomer who holds fast what he has, or keeps Christ’s works until the end, they shall sit on the throne of the Son, just as the Son overcame to sit on the Father’s throne.