victory

Our church has been studying the second half of 1 Cor 15 last week and this week, and the repetition of the word "victory" caught my attention:

1 Cor 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
55 "Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?"
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

The Greek word for "victory" in this passage is νῖκος ("nikos", Strong's G3534, which comes from the root word nike), which only appears four times in the New Testament, and I "coincidentally" read the other occurrence earlier last week:

Matt. 12:20 A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.

Matt. 12:20 quotes Isaiah 42:3, but in Isaiah, the last line is "In faithfulness he will bring forth justice", so perhaps from Matthew's perspective, victory and justice are connected.  Yeah, I like justice, too.

When I think of "victory", I think of Romans 16:20: "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. ...", as well as Jesus's statements to the seven churches in Revelations 2-3:

2:7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
2:11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
2:17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
2:26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 27 that one 'will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery'—just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give that one the morning star.
3:5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.
3:12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.
3:21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.

It sounds like a pretty good thing to be "one who is victorious".  The Greek word for "victorious one" is νικάω ("nikao", Strong's G3528) which is sometimes translated as "overcomer" or "conqueror".  But obviously, if it is good to be a conqueror, it is even better to be "more than a conqueror"!

Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Yeah, that sounds the best - "hypernikao" - more than a conqueror!  Wait, what does that even mean?  If you are a conqueror, aren't you already at the top of the food chain?  How can you be more than a conqueror?  Well, in the context, the Apostle Paul is telling us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  No one can accuse us or condemn us.  Trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword - not even all of these together - can separate us from the love of God.  And then Paul quotes Psalm 44:22 (Rom. 8:36):

Ps. 44:22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

That doesn't sound like my idea of victory.  It sounds more like a humble and open-handed submission to the mysterious will of God.  The Sons of Korah elude to something like that earlier in the same chapter (Ps. 44); we know that God promises victory for us (Jesus calls it "abundant life" in John 10:10), that the victory comes from Him, that we are involved in the battle, and that we will experience suffering through trials and difficulties but that He redeems these experiences for our good:

3 It was not by their sword that they won the land,
    nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
    and the light of your face, for you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God,
    who decrees victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push back our enemies;
    through your name we trample our foes.
6 I put no trust in my bow,
    my sword does not bring me victory;
7 but you give us victory over our enemies,
    you put our adversaries to shame.
8 In God we make our boast all day long,
    and we will praise your name forever.

We know that we will ultimately be victorious over sin and death, but it is not an effortless or painless path to arrive there.  Overcoming the world and the evil one are mentioned several times in 1 John 2-4, and the connection between victory and faith is clearly stated in 1 John 5:

2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Perhaps faith is no more evident than when facing death.

Rev. 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power
    and the kingdom of our God,
    and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
    who accuses them before our God day and night,
    has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him
    by the blood of the Lamb
    and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
    as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
    and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
    because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
    because he knows that his time is short."

So, we live open-handedly with our lives, trusting that if the Father ordains for us to demonstrate our faith in the face of death, we will do so with joy because we love Him so much and the Holy Spirit is with us.  And after we have passed through the portal of death from perishable to imperishable and from mortality to immortality, we will join with Christ in mocking death when He casts death into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).  And we will celebrate for eternity the victory that He has given us as children of God:

Rev. 21:6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

Father, thank you for your promise of victory and eternal life.  Jesus, thank you for your promise of abundant life, which includes power over sin and death in this life and the life to come.  Holy Spirit, I put my faith in your goodness, and I want to be obedient and faithful as you lead me to be an overcomer and more than a conqueror through Christ. Holy Spirit, I want to be so sensitive to your presence and leading.  Help me take the next steps of faith today. I love you.