He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. (Revelation 2:17, ESV)
Nicknames abound in professional golf. Phil Mickelson is called “Lefty,” and Earnie Ells is known as the “Big Easy.” Contemporary nicknames are usually reflective of external characteristics. Mickelson hits from the left side while Ells, who stands at 6’3” and weighs 225 lbs., swings the club so smoothly he makes it look easy.
While contemporary nicknames reflect outward qualities, Biblical name changes represent a completely altered internal and external life. The new name, which God declares, signifies a new identity and purpose. A purpose that God has providentially preordained.
This new life is far different from the one associated with the person’s original name. For example, Abram becomes Abraham: “Father of many,” whose seed will eventually produce the Messiah. Simon is Peter, the “Rock,” who will be foundational for the universal church.
New names in the Bible provide a new identity and redirect a person on a new and unexpected journey. Their journey of faith plays a part in God’s redemptive plan for their generation and for generations to come.
Incredibly, renaming individuals is not a practice of the past but will continue until the end of time. In Revelation 2:17, the risen Christ speaks directly to the church members in Asia Minor. Jesus says, “…To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’.” The end of days will mean condemnation for some but the fulfillment of an intended identity for others.
The poet and writer George McDonald suggests that when an individual reads Revelation 2:17, it is taken differently by different minds. The symbols used—a white stone and new name—address the subjective mind, and as symbols in the Bible are meant to do, allude to a greater spiritual reality.
The symbols call on the reader to meditate on the possibilities and to go to God in prayer for an explanation. The symbols in the verse beg the question, “What is my new name, Lord? “Who am I to you?”
McDonald sees in the whiteness of the stone—purity; in the substance of the stone—indestructibility; and in the form of the stone—a means by which it is passed from God to man. The “new name” represents the Holy Spirit’s work in an individual’s life, conforming him into the image of Christ.
This completed Christ image is not generic or standardized but unique to the one born anew of the Spirit. It is, finally, not the fallen distorted self but the regenerated authentic self, originally intended at conception and known fully and completely by God.
What’s in a name? It is a mystery known only by God and the one with which the experience is shared. While the symbolic words help us understand partially what is to come, to be engaged by the living God on such an intimate level is more than we can comprehend on this side of eternity.
As the Paul Apostle explains in 1 Corinthians 13:
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part will disappear…For now, we see only a reflection in a mirror; then we shall see [God] face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 12:9-12)
Prayer: You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13-14)