Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 285

October 12;    I John 5:5;      235/260(IV);      ‘World Overcomer’

1 John 5:5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

What a powerful verse.  ‘World’ is the world system at any time in history, which is opposed to and set against the things of God.  If you believe Jesus is the Son of God, in other words, if you are born again, you, through Jesus have overcome the world.  We know that when Adam sinned, his sin cursed the earth and the dominion God the Father gave to Adam, Adam yielded that dominion to the devil.  Satan is now the legal god of this world and that is the reason we see such hatred, misery, sin and perverseness.  When Jesus came to earth, He left deity in heaven and functioned on this earth as a Man.  Jesus told us that He was our Example and since He functioned as a Man empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can also be empowered by the Holy Spirit and function in life in a similar way that Jesus our Example did.  Jesus came to earth not only to be our Example, but to die for us bearing our sins and sicknesses on the cross.  When Jesus was crucified for us, the devil thought that he had won.  He had no idea that dying on the cross was exactly what Jesus came to do.  Prior to the crucifixion, the Lord Jesus told us that no one could take His life, He freely gave it as a sacrifice for us.  Jesus also told us that He had the power to lay His life down and to take it back up again, which He did on the third day after the crucifixion.  When Jesus rose from the dead He took the authority, that Adam gave satan away from him and gave it to those who believe on Him.  We overcome this world by the victory Jesus won when He was here.