A New Name

"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 manna 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." ' – Revelation 2v17

A different kind of thought this morning. When I was in seminary many moons ago I took a course on Revelation. As a part of that course we had to study the difficult phrase of the book. One of those sections was this verse.

I still am not sure what the hidden manna, the white stone, or the new name are. I suspect that I am not going to know until I get to heaven. These are all given to the ‘overcomers.’ The overcomers of course are those who have overcome sin and the world through the power of Christ. All those who are not overcomers in Christ will fall by the wayside before we ever get there.

I am intrigued by the ‘new name’ aspect of this verse. I still don’t know what it is, but find it kind of special that Christ has a new name for me waiting in heaven. I really like my name. ‘Roger’ has a great history and a great meaning. It means ‘a mighty spearman’ and its usage is ancient.

As much as I like that name I am looking forward to the new name that Jesus has for me. Part of the fun of this is in the mystery. It gives us something else will look forward to. Others may still call me ‘Roger’ in heaven, but Jesus has a name for me that only He and I will know!