Achieving Victory With JesusSample

Being acknowledged by Jesus before God the Father

“The one who conquers […] I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Revelation 3:5)

The last promise to the faithful believers in Sardis echoes words Jesus spoke earlier, in Luke 12:8. “Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God.” This assurance is repeated here because it applies strongly to the situation of these Christians in Sardis. As a minority, they were openly confessing Jesus' name, and that was not easy. In Luke 12, the Lord Jesus seriously considers that some people who confess His Name will be killed for it. No wonder these people need encouragement!

Jesus says that He will openly declare before God the Father and the angels in heaven that faithful believers belong to Him. He will not be ashamed of them.

As a cautionary counter-example, Jesus mentions in Matthew 7 people who do not do His will. When they finally have to account for their lives before God, they suddenly claim to be Jesus' followers. But He knows better, and will say, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!”

You, too, will one day stand before Jesus' throne. Does that thought frighten you, or do you actually look forward to meeting Him personally?