In God's Armor, Track 15. A devotional on Romans 8:37.
The Scripture
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:37, KJV)
"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony." (Revelation 12:11, KJV)
The Heart of It
The album is nearing its close, and this song sings the outcome of the whole war. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Paul writes that single sentence at the end of a list of everything that can go wrong - tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. He does not say we conquer instead of these things. He says in all these things. The victory is not the absence of the battle; it is the love that holds us all the way through it.
And what a strange phrase - more than conquerors. A conqueror wins the fight. What is more than that? Perhaps this: a conqueror wins by his own strength and can lose by it too, but the believer's victory was won by Another and can never be taken back. We overcome, not by our might but by His love. The triumph is secure before the trial begins, because it rests on Him that loved us - loved, past tense, proven at the cross, settled forever.
Paul then dares the universe to break that love: neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every enemy this album has named - the principalities, the powers, the rulers of darkness - appears in that list, already defeated. Nothing on the list can cut the cord. Nothing off the list exists.
John sees the same victory from heaven's side: they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. The saints do not overcome by being impressive. They overcome by pleading a blood that is not theirs and telling a story that is - the simple testimony of what the Lord has done. And they are not alone. A great cloud of witnesses surrounds us, the faithful gone before, who finished the same fight in the same strength. They overcame, and so will we.
So this song is sung with heads lifted. The saints arise, the saints will sing. Christ the King has overcome, and those He loves overcome in Him.
More Witnesses: Latter-day Scripture
The Book of Mormon gives the same assurance to every soul in the middle of the trial: "Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day" (Alma 36:3). Supported in them, not spared from them - Paul's very teaching - and then lifted up at the last. That is what more than a conqueror looks like from beginning to end.
And the Doctrine and Covenants speaks the promise to a suffering saint in the darkest of places: "If thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes" (Doctrine and Covenants 121:8). All thy foes - none excepted. The Lord who counted the enemies in Paul's list counts them still, and the triumph He promises covers every one.
How the Song Carries It
The verses are spoken with the calm of a verdict already rendered: "in all these things we overcome, not by our might but by His love. The saints have conquered through the Lamb, by blood below and grace above." The second verse widens the frame to the cloud of witnesses - "the faithful gone before us stand. They overcame, and so will we, held fast within the Father's hand."
The pre-chorus sings Paul's defiance gently - "nor death nor life can stand between my soul and love that reigns unseen" - and the chorus rises as the album's victory hymn: "we are more than conquerors, through the One whose love is sure." Then the bridge throws the doors open: "lift up your heads, O saints of God, the victory is won. Sing with the host of heaven's throng, for Christ the King has overcome." The outro leaves only the essential words standing: "More than conquerors. Through Him who loved us."
The Lyrics
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.
In all these things we overcome,
Not by our might but by His love.
The saints have conquered through the Lamb,
By blood below and grace above.
Nor death nor life can stand between
My soul and love that reigns unseen.
We are more than conquerors,
Through the One whose love is sure.
The saints arise, the saints will sing,
In Him the victory is secure.
A cloud of witnesses surrounds,
The faithful gone before us stand.
They overcame, and so will we,
Held fast within the Father's hand.
Lift up your heads, O saints of God,
The victory is won.
Sing with the host of heaven's throng,
For Christ the King has overcome.
More than conquerors.
Through Him who loved us.
A Blessing
Whatever you are in the middle of - the tribulation, the distress, the long trouble with no end in sight - hear the word again: in all these things, more than conquerors. Not around them. In them. Nothing you are facing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Lift up your head, plead the blood of the Lamb, and keep telling your testimony. The victory is already won. Go in peace.
Scripture References
- Romans 8:35-39
- Revelation 12:11
- Hebrews 12:1
- Alma 36:3 (Book of Mormon)
- Doctrine and Covenants 121:8