72. CROWN OF LIFE

72. CROWN OF LIFE 
Revelation 2:10.  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

The idea of the Crown of Life promised here is not taken from the ornamental headdress worn by kings as a symbol of their status, power and authority. It is rather from the idea of the crown of a plant, which is indeed a crown of Life.The crown of a plant is that amazing cell or clump of cells from which the plant grows and increases. It is the life-producing part which reaches upward toward the light of the sun and downward to the water and nutrition of the earth, and multiplies itself continually. Some plants will die if this crown is destroyed. Others will create new crowns at the leaf junctures. In any case, the plant grows only from the crown. 
The crown signifies the source of life. A prominent and enduring motif of this symbol is the fleur de lis, combining the idea of the plant crown and the king’s crown. The idea of the king’s crown no doubt originated from the plant crown. It indicates a life source, or eternal life. When associated with mortal kingship, it is therefore a form of idolatry, since it is ascribing attributes of deity to a mortal man. Only in Jesus do we have the eternal life signified by the crown.
*The PBS NOVA program on January 8, 2014 was about the search for new worlds in outer space that might support “Life as we know it.” So the question arose in my mind as to what LIFE really is. Can we know it? Where is it? And:  How do we get to the true Crown of Life?

What is LIFE? We have the answer in our Bibles. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE, John 14:6. Can we know it? Yes, but Life is more than the life we know naturally. Natural, physical life is terminal; it is only one facet of true LIFE, for true LIFE is eternal. We can know this greater LIFE: “And this is LIFE eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou has sent,” John 17:3.

 Is it possible for us to know God and have this eternal LIFE?  Yes. It is a gift of God: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:23.

      As God the Father gave Life to Jesus, so Jesus gives it to those who accept Him. John 17:2: “As Thou, [Father], hast given Him, [Jesus], power over all flesh, that He [Jesus], should give eternal life to as many as Thou [Father] hast given Him, [Jesus].” 

“(For the LIFE was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us),” IJohn 1:2.

How do we get it? John 3:15-16: “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Sadly, some will not accept this great gift of eternal life: “And ye will not come to me that ye might have life,” John 5:40.

John 6:53-58, 63: “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. (54) Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (55) For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed, (56) He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (57) As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (58) This is the bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever…. (63) It is the Spirit that quickeneth, [giveth Life], the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are LIFE.”

Where is this eternal LIFE? Is it somewhere in outer space? No. Romans 10:5-8: “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law: That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. (6) But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above (7) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (8) But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the Word of faith, which we preach.”

 They will search in vain through all of outer space, which is good and right in its own way, but will not find real, eternal, absolute, infinite and ultimate LIFE except in Jesus Who offers us the Crown of Life.  
[*] material following the asterisk is added to that from my book.

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context. My Book is available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma and is also available online at www.amazon.com  or www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net