Revelation Chapter Two, A White Stone

Revelation 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden mana to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”’

We come now to the third time our Lord says that he who has an ear (whoever is actually listening) let him hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to His churches. Yes, Christ is speaking, but as we read in chapter one, John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. The Holy Spirit provides the inspiration for men to pen Scripture, 2 Peter 1:21.

We also know that God the Holy Spirit is the one that appoints overseers in the church, Acts 20:28. Overseers, or shepherds, or bishops, or elders, (all terms being synonymous in the Bible) are the leaders within the church. To them and to the entire church congregation Christ speaks these things. No member of the church is exempt from the message, because every member of the church is a contributive part in the church’s functionality. In our country we have mass produced Churchians, people who's only understanding and exposure to Christianity involves faithful church service and little else. It is an emotional salve or a social occupation inherited from their parents. But the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the church, and every gift given is for the edification (building up) of said church; or more precisely the people that comprise the church.

We are to listen to what is being said, especially as the Day approaches, since, “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables,” 2 Timothy 4:3, 4. Darwinian Evolution is one such fable. Many people who profess faith in the God of the Bible also profess belief that evolution is how life started; the patent incompatibility of evolution and Scripture is too plain to remain ignorant of. If Darwin's theory (or his later successor’s) proves true, then Scripture is a sham. If Scripture is true, then Darwin is a liar, and those who support him bow before the altar of a false god. We are to hear, truly hear, what Scripture is telling us about objective and ultimate reality.

The third overcomer promise arrives, and is founded entirely on the premise of our salvation through Christ alone. Jesus mentions the manna Israel ate in the desert forty years, but He refers to the hidden manna; which is Himself of course. “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” John 6:32, 33. Those who consume Christ receive in themselves eternal life. Unlike the Jews that ate the manna in the wilderness and died, those who eat the true bread, or the hidden manna, live forever by virtue of its nutriment.

The white stone will apparently be engraved with a new name for every believer in Christ. Now I do not mean the church alone, for the Old Testament saints will enjoy the privileges of God’s salvation with us: “God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us,” Hebrews 11:40. God renamed several people in the Bible, and if we were to examine their lives we will catch glimpses of what it means to be renamed by Christ. It seems fitting that our old names will be done away with since, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17. Also, “For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind,” Isaiah 65:17.

The first person to receive a new name was Abram, which means “exalted father”. His name became Abraham, which meant “father of a multitude or father of nations”. Abram’s wife also had her name changed, formerly known as Sarai, or “my princess”, with the Hebrew being a more personal title. She became Sarah, “princess or noblewoman”, with a more formal, universal bearing. Jacob, the “heel catcher” became Israel, “one who perseveres with God”. Others are Simon who became Peter, Simon meant “one who listens or hears”, while Peter meant “rock or stone”, something substantive. Saul, meaning “asked for” became Paul, which means “small or humble.”

We will be perfected and glorified in Heaven. Sin will be done. Our old names, connected to our lives on this earth and the sin that warred with us until death, will be changed. God will change them, and that change will undoubtedly reflect in the name given to us. God will name His own children; that makes sense, since our own parents who begot us named us, as we name our kids, etc. The concept of no one knowing our name goes along with the idea that we are made new. We have so transformed when we enter Heaven and Christ’s presence, becoming like Him, (see 1 John 3:2) that we are indeed new creations in Christ Jesus. So much so that our Lord gives us new names as we begin our new lives, unending, unmired by sin and death, in tireless, joyful service to the God who redeemed us with His own blood on the cross.