THE PALM BRANCH IS THE SYMBOL OF VICTORY

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. * * * These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:9, 14).

"When this cruel war is over," and the last enemy, death, has been conquered, and every tribulation has been passed through triumphantly, then we shall come forth on the victor's side, clothed with white robes, and waving our palm branches gloriously, having overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

When Jesus made that triumphal entry into Jerusalem, just before His crucifixion, the rejoicing followers acknowledged His kingly victories, and did homage by preparing His way, and "took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord" (John 12:13).

Not only did the palm branch have the significance of victory in the Bible, but certain countries have used it as a token of victory and rejoicing, a symbol or evidence of superiority or success. In our present day, "to bear the palm" means to come off victoriously. This expression has evidently been borrowed from the ancient symbol.

What other tree in all the world could so well be used to signify victory? When we think of its beauty, its perpendicular straightness, its perennial freshness, its sweet and abundant fruitfulness even in old age, its almost incomprehensible utility, its successful development where other trees fail, its natural propensity to ascend heavenward, its marvelous hardiness with its internal and upward growth, does it not stand to reason that the palm branch should be the most fitting type of Christian triumph and joyous victory? No other tree could be used so well to symbolize the victory of him who is fighting under the banner of King Emmanuel.

Now, if we are to flourish like the palm tree, then we shall flourish with victory.

We are taught in the Word that "we are more than conquerors through him that loved us" (Rom. 8:37). This means that the palm tree saint can fight and win and be ready to fight again.

David's fight with Goliath illustrates it. He marched out against his enemy and God's enemy with five sling stones, and the first throw something entered Goliath's head that made an impression which he never got over. And then the stripling, shepherd lad had four more stones to kill four more giants if necessary.

In the economy of God's grace He never arranged for us to be succumbers, but rather overcomers. Read the marvelous promises of Revelation for those who overcome. There are seven of them, and note the ascending scale.

1. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

2. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."

3. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."

4. "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. * * * And I will give him the morning star."

5. "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."

6. "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name."

7. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne."

Wonderful stepping stones to the throne! Seven steps and into glory!

Let us examine them in their order:

1. He eats of the tree of life. Death has slipped away and eternal life has come. He is living forever now. We eat of earth's food to live here, and we eat of the tree of life to live forever.

2. He has promise of a safe passage and a proper landing. He shall not be hurt with the second death. Insurance in the King's Insurance Company, secures a positive guaranty against the second death. Wrapped in the asbestos robes of full salvation, makes one immune from the fires of perdition.

3. He eats again; but now it is hidden manna. Hidden manna was inside the holy of holies. Thus, he reaches the "second blessing" properly so-called. Now arises special persecution and calumny; but the great Judge in casting the ballot for the condemned, puts in the white stone for acquittal: hence, he receives the white stone at this stage. "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31).

4. Power, the positive side of holiness is now particularly manifested. Also, the night of trouble, trial, testing, temptations, and tears will pass away. The "morning star" is seen. He is looking toward the sun-rising, toward the morning when the Sun of righteousness shall appear.

5. Now, the "white raiment" of a holy life shines forth particularly. His outward life and testimony give him away. His hidden life manifests itself outwardly and differentiates itself from all other life. The inward glory is shining out to the surface, and his life is seen and felt. In proportion to the inward glory will the outward effulgence be manifested. Jesus, on the mount of transfiguration, let the inward glory out through His garments, and they became garments of light.

Now comes the announcement that his name will not be blotted out of the book of life. While it is possible to pass the point in sin, where the soul fixes its destiny for damnation, so it seems that there is a point in the progress of spirituality and grace and overcoming, that fixes the soul's destiny for glory. His name is confessed before God and the angels. The veil is getting very thin here, between the overcoming pilgrim and paradise. In fact he is living mostly in heaven now.

6. He is now counted a pillar in a peculiar sense. Like the pillars of ancient Egypt and Babylon where great monarchs carved their names, battles, victories, marvelous achievements, and chiseled their pedigree and dynasty, so God takes this time-honored, battle-scarred, self-sacrificing pilgrim at this stage and makes him an illustrious pillar in the temple of God, and writes in his favor his victories and exploits, his overcoming life. He is to go no more out. As some are sealed for eternal damnation in this life, so he is sealed for eternal glory.

"I will write upon him." Yes, God will carve upon him victories and conquests. He will write upon him the city of God—his sure destination. Like the address on a sealed letter, with the government of the country back of it to see that it arrives safely at its destination, so with God's "epistles," "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise," with the address of his destination plainly written thereon, and with the government of all heaven interested in seeing him through, we see the overcoming saint nearing the Great White Throne. The end is near; he is overcoming to the last. He has been ascending the steps, till now he sees inside the pearly gates, and one step more will put him inside.

7. Here he is in glory at last, and a place with Jesus in His throne. Exalted place! With Christ, the great Overcomer, he sits down with Him in His throne. It is more than finite minds can comprehend. Surely, it will pay to be true to Jesus and be a final overcomer.

When we read these wonderful promises to the overcomer, and see with what precision and certainty he is made to ascend the spiritual scale to glory, we scarcely wonder, that before we reach the close of Revelation we hear the sudden announcement: "He that overcometh shall inherit all things."

"And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4). The overcoming, victorious life is the only kind that satisfies the soul and qualifies for spiritual success in this world. The outside world is looking upon us, and if they do not see something in us beyond that which they see in themselves, there will be no inducement from our standpoint for them to make any change.

God has provided a life in which it is possible to "rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks." The psalmist said, "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." No person can, by mere volition, bring himself into a frame of mind to bless the Lord at all times and have His praise continually in his mouth. The harassing trials and nagging disappointments incident to earthly life are too many and too severe to admit of the everlasting praise life without the grace of God within. And many with a measure of God's grace have not become acquainted with the secret of continual praise. Let us look at two statements, one in the Old Testament, and the other in the New Testament.

"All these things are against me" (Gen. 42:36).

"All things work together for good" (Rom. 8:28).

The first statement comes from Jacob; the second from the Apostle Paul. Paul said he had learned whatsoever state he was in, therewith to be content (Phil. 4:11). Jacob was looking at the mere external, and judging accordingly. What were the things that were against Jacob? "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me." But Jacob, you are very much mistaken. The very things you say are against you, are all working together for your good. Joseph, right now is in Egypt, the governor of that land, and is not dead as you suppose. Simeon is all right under Joseph's watchful care, and Benjamin will be in the best of hands. Joseph went before, to be a loadstone to draw Simeon there, and Simeon is a loadstone to draw Benjamin there, and Benjamin will be a loadstone to draw you there and all the rest of the family to preserve you alive and to bring about God's wonderful plan and providence in the Hebrew nation. No; the trouble with Jacob was with his foresight; had that been half as good as his hindsight he never would have said what he did.

Perhaps Paul did not have so much to contend with in his day. Let us see. "In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches" (2 Cor. 11:23-28). In spite of all these, hear his overcoming, victorious faith say: "All things work together for good."

There is probably no department in the Christian life which is more desired and for which more prayer is offered, than the victory department. There are so many trials, disappointments and annoyances from day to day, that if one allows them to overcome him he is constantly confronting failure and chagrin. But to know that one is from day to day and moment to moment living in the praise and overcoming life, gives him a joy and satisfaction that is simply glorious in the extreme.

There are many Christians who go through the world in a sort of up-and-down, to-and-fro, in-and-out, zigzag way that is certainly discouraging. To have victory today and defeat tomorrow, keeps one on edge all the time, not knowing which way the battle is going to turn. A lesson from the Book of Joshua is encouraging. When he began that wonderful series of conquests just after crossing the Jordan into Canaan, it was victory after victory. Here is a sample of the records: "And he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho." Then follows like statements in almost the identical language except that the cities are different, showing that he took the last city and conquered it and its king in precisely the same manner as he did the one before. God had previously promised him that he should have just that kind of victory in Canaan. "Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites" (Joshua 3:10). Notice two things in this: It was to occur in Canaan, and there were to be seven nations conquered. Is not this typical of Holy Ghost victory in the sanctified life? Canaan is a type of holiness, and seven is the perfect number. God wants us to have perfect victory from day to day over all our foes, and He will supply that which will enable us to overcome.

So many so-called soldiers of the cross are living simply on the defensive with scarcely a thought of spiritual, aggressive warfare. Look at the great battles that have been won in the world's history. Were not most of them won by the aggressive side? Look at the whole armor of God as the inspired pen of Paul pictures it out in the sixth chapter of Ephesians; the helmet for the head, the breastplate for the vital organs of the body, the shield for the whole man, and a sword to do aggressive execution. We see the whole front of the man protected, but what about the back? There is no protection for that part of the body, for God's soldiers are not expected to turn their back to the foe. If they do, they are sure to be hit. When the writer was a boy, accompanied by other boys, he discovered an old Indian burying ground on the beach bluff near Santa Barbara, California. They had seen indications of such a place, and were diligently searching for the exact spot. Finally, they discovered some rib bones sticking out of the bank, where the constant washing of the waves had in time crumbled the bank down. With shovels in hand they went about the delightsome task of uncovering the dead, with the hopes of finding wampum, arrowheads, pottery or any other relics which might have been buried with their owner. Finally, a section of an Indian's backbone was unearthed, and upon examination it was found that an arrow head had pierced the vertebra, just missing the spinal cord, and was wedged in like a nail driven into a board. The question might be asked: "How did the arrow head get into that Indian's backbone?" Evidently, because the Indian was on the retreat, and his enemy shot him in the back.

Where is the victorious life, when life is spent simply in the humdrum of daily routine of selfish interests? No wonder people have an up-and-down experience. No wonder they never get anywhere outside of the treadmill of life. God wants us to branch out and bless the world and be conquerors. In the Garden of Eden we read about the wonderful river that flowed through it and watered it; but it was not self-centered nor self-contained; it branched out. So it is in sanctified human experience today; the Edenic stream of full salvation flows through the soul, but it does not stop there and center itself in the individual. The stream waters one's life and experience, but it flows out and on to bless others also. The Edenic stream started out as one stream, but the account tells us that it branched out into four streams and watered the world around. So it is with that soul who will let the Holy Ghost have His way with him. Out of his inmost being will flow rivers of living water. This fourfold Edenic stream went out in four directions, to the four quarters of the earth, so to speak. Four is the human number of the Bible, and when one gets the Holy Ghost, he is expected to branch out to the people everywhere and water the world with the precious water of life. Holiness is not self-centered. It consists of two elements—purity and power. If one has the thought of purity alone when he seeks the blessing, he has a one-sided idea of it. There is a power side which enables the possessor to conquer. Purity for the individual, and power for the world; or in other words, power for aggressive warfare.

Whoever became a conqueror that stayed always in one little, beaten path? The world is so big, the possibilities are so great, and the grace of God so boundless, that it looks as if we all ought to set our stakes for bigger results in the Christian life. One day we were passing along a street in a certain city and observed a gentleman constructing a very peculiar piece of frame work, and our curiosity was so aroused that we went over and asked him what he was building. He answered, "I am building a razzle-dazzle." He then explained what that was. He said that a razzle-dazzle was something like a merry-go-round, except that as it went round and round it also went up and down. We thought how many people in their so-called Christian life are riding the razzle-dazzle. They want to be going and moving, but they are going round and round, and not only that, they are going up and down, up and down, and never getting anywhere in their experience. Now, we never were much in favor of running off on tangents, but in this case we think it would be very advantageous to strike a tangent and take a bee-line for Canaan.

Many are hindered in their victorious life by the "little foxes which spoil the vines." Their spiritual wall which surrounds them seems to admit so many of the aggravating cares, that they find themselves frequently overcome thereby. "Salvation, will God appoint for walls and bulwarks" (Isa. 26:1). "But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise" (Isa. 60:18). When we remember that "God is our salvation," and "Our God is a consuming fire," and this God, the consuming fire, is the wall of salvation around us, we believe the wall is so high that the devil's little foxes can not jump over it; so thick they can not bore through it, and so deep they can not dig under it. This is surely a blessed protection for those on the inside. But the promised protection of God is still more. He will insphere His trusting child and make him doubly safe, and make his surrounding simply glorious. Notice the divine insphering: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever" (Psalm 125:2). Here is the Lord all around us. "Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved" (Psa. 16:8). The Lord is by our side. "Underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:27). The Lord is beneath us. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1). The Lord is over us. And we are also taught that we may abide in Him and He will abide in us. Think of this marvelous protection: the Lord all around us, by our side, underneath us, over us, in us and we in Him. Then shall we allow the trifling things of earth to conquer us and spoil our experience? How often we hear one say words like this: "I wouldn't give up my experience for all the world," and then possibly in an unguarded moment go down over something not worth a quarter. We once heard of a sailor that had braved the sea and storms for years, and finally got drowned in a bucket of water. While drinking he had some fit or accident which caused him to fall, so that his face was buried in the water and he was strangled to death. Be careful of the little things; they are sometimes more dangerous than the bigger ones. A brother was once accosted by one of the Lord's workers and asked how he was getting along in his Christian experience. He replied that he got along very well usually through the day, but when he went home from his work in the evening, his wife nagged at him so much that he invariably lost out. He would be blessed along through the day, but when that nagging spirit of his wife got started, even though he would hold out for some time and keep the victory, yet as sure as he would open his mouth, the victory was gone. He told the worker that he had an experience like a pelican. He then described how the pelican would start out in the morning and load up its big pouch with fish, and then in the evening it would start for home, whereupon the little birds would get after it and peck it first on one side of the bill and then on the other, till the poor pelican would throw its head around from one side to the other, and finally its mouth would fly open and out would go the fish, which was just what the birds were after. He said he had a pelican experience; that he would get along well through the day, but the constant annoyance of the wife in the evening would finally cause him to open his mouth, and away would go his victory. Many a blessing has been lost, simply by opening the mouth. It is much harder sometimes to keep the mouth shut than to open it. "So he openeth not his mouth," was the attitude of Him who was our example.