The White Stone and the New Name

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. REVELATION 2:17

Among the promises to the seven churches in the book of Revelation is one that has puzzled interpreters for centuries: to the one who overcomes, Christ will give a white stone, with a new name written on it, which no one knows except the one who receives it. MacDonald made it the subject of one of his most beautiful sermons, The New Name, and he found in it what he called the essence of religion.

What a name is

MacDonald was not much interested in what the white stone itself might have meant in the ancient world. He cared about the name. An ordinary name, he said, is only a label, a way of telling one person from another. A true name is something else. “The true name is one which expresses the character, the nature, the being, the meaning of the person who bears it.” It is a person’s own symbol, the picture of his soul. And only God can give such a name, because only God truly sees what a person is.

But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. ISAIAH 43:1

Why is the name given only to the one who overcomes? Not because God does not know it until then. He knows from the beginning, as surely as He sees the oak in the acorn, what each of His children is to become. But the child could not understand the name until he had become what it means. “Such a name cannot be given until the man is the name.” The giving of the new name, MacDonald concluded, is God telling a person, at last, what God has always thought of him — the divine word of approval spoken to one soul alone.

Each one known

From this MacDonald drew a teaching about the uniqueness of every soul. Because each person has a name that no one else knows, each person has a relationship with God that no one else can share. “With every man he has a secret—the secret of the new name.” There is in every person, he wrote, “an inner chamber of peculiar life into which God only can enter.” No husband or wife, no friend, no minister, can come into it. God made each of us to know Him in a way no one else can, and to show something of Him that no one else can show.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. PSALM 139:14

He saw this as the answer to two opposite dangers. One is the pride that wants to be like no one else, admired for its own distinction. The other is the fear of being lost in the crowd, one more face among millions. The truth, MacDonald said, is that each soul is precious to God precisely in its own particularity; and because each sees something of God that the others do not, each has something to bring to the others. The many different children of God are not rivals. They are a family, and each needs what the others have seen.

Overcoming

The promise is to him that overcometh. MacDonald did not let his readers forget that. The new name is not a reward for simply existing. It is given to those who have fought the long fight against sin and self and have, by God’s grace, won. The name is the blossom of a life; and a life, if it is to blossom, must grow.

Weighing it

The New Name is a lovely sermon, and its central teaching — that God knows each of His children personally and completely, and that He will at last show each of them what He has always seen in them — is a precious and scriptural truth. The Good Shepherd calls His own sheep by name.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. JOHN 10:3

Readers should notice that MacDonald’s interpretation of the white stone is his own, and he said so himself, admitting that others might read John differently. Interpreters have long differed about this verse, and his reading is one among several. What matters more is the ground of the promise. The one who overcomes in the book of Revelation overcomes by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony. The new name is the gift of the Lamb who was slain to those He has redeemed, and it rests on His victory before it rests on ours.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. REVELATION 12:11

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Do you believe that God knows you completely, better than anyone else ever will? Read Psalm 139 slowly.

2. Is there a part of you that you have never brought to God because you thought no one could understand it? Bring it now.

3. Thank God for a fellow believer who has shown you something of God that you had not seen.

4. Are you tempted to be admired for your distinction, or afraid of being lost in the crowd? Bring that temptation or fear to the God who calls you by name.

5. Read Revelation 2–3 and note the promises to those who overcome. Ask God for grace to be among them.

A PRAYER

Lord, You have called me by my name, and I am Yours.

Thank You that You know me completely, and that there is a place in me where only You can come.

Keep me from pride and from fear. Let me see what You alone can show me, and give it gladly to my brothers and sisters.

Make me one who overcomes, by the blood of the Lamb, and give me at last the new name You have kept for me. Amen.