Friday, January 29, 2021
“Anyone with ears to hear must
listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some
of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and
on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one
who receives it.” Revelation 2:17
There are a lot of opinions as to what the new name means. Whether it is symbolic or literal, it carries
deep meaning. It may be a literal,
lingual name, a name which sounds different.
Abram became Abraham. Saul became
the beloved apostle Paul.
However, I believe that it is more.
I believe the “white stone” is that certain something Jesus places deep
down inside us when we are saved. In
ancient times friends sometimes gave each other gifts of small white marble,
cut to fit a hand, engraved with words of kindness. It was something to stimulate the memory of kindness
associated with a meaningful relationship.
This is the kind of quiet understanding God’s salvation
brings, an assurance, knowing that Jesus is Lord, and you
are His. It is the newness of
relationship that you cannot really explain, touch, smell, or know apart from a
personal relationship with Jesus. It is
based on more than victorious actions; it is based on
every good possibility God already knows about you. John Wesley described it as his heart being strangely
warmed.
In the days when John wrote Revelation, if a child fell ill and the
situation worsened to the point of fearing for life and the doctors could not
help, the father would stand over his child and give him a new name. It wouldn't be just any name, but one of a
great and valiant warrior. It would be
the name of a respected and strong individual, one whose name carried authority. The child would become a new person in that
name, and the disease must capitulate. This
is overcoming, allowing Jesus to take complete control of your life at the
cross, with His blood, with His love, with His power. The disease of sin no longer has
control. When you surrender to that
power daily, there is nothing the world can do; you are an overcomer in Christ.
For You Today
If you are a child of God in any true
sense of the word, it is because you have been stood-over and a white
stone of a new name has been placed within your being. The blood of Christ, spilled at Calvary’s
cross, has been applied to your life.
And you have accepted that new name, and
you bear it gladly.
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For another post on Revelation 2 see Getting to the Heart of the Matter
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