Revelation 2:17

Revelation 2:17

The New Name.

I. The new name is Christ's and ours. It is His first; it becomes ours by communication from Him. (1) It includes revelation: "I will give him a new name" a deeper, a more inward, a fresh knowledge and revelation of My own character, as eternal love, eternal wisdom, all-sufficient, absolute power, the home, and treasure, and joy, and righteousness of the whole heart and spirit. (2) On this new revelation of the name of Christ there follows as a consequence assimilation to the name which we possess, or transformation into the likeness of Him whom we behold. The gift of the name is such an inward revelation of Christ in His glory and perfectness as presupposes full sympathy with Him as its condition, and implies a still more thorough conformity to Him as its result. (3) Then there is a third idea implied in the promise, if the new name be Christ's, and that is possession or consecration. His name is given; that is, His character is revealed, His character is imparted, and further by the gift He takes as well as gives: He takes us for His own even in giving Himself to be ours. It is a sign of ownership and authority to impose one's name. We belong to Him in the measure in which we are like Him. He possesses us in the measure in which we possess His name that is, His revealed self.

II. Look at the other thought which is here, namely, that this new name is unknown, except by its possessor. The text seems to imply that though there shall be no isolation in heaven, which is the perfection of society, there may be incommunicable depths of blessed experience even there. We must possess to understand; we must stand before the throne to apprehend; and after countless ages we shall have to say, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be."

III. The text gives the condition and the true cause of possessing this new nature. The new name is won and given; it comes as the reward of victory; it comes as a bestowment from Christ: "To him that overcometh will I give." No heaven except to the victor. The victor does not fight his way into heaven, but Christ gives it to Him.

A. Maclaren, Sermons in Manchester,vol. iii., p. 75.

Revelation 2:17

I. Note the large hopes which gather round this promise of a new name. (1) The new name means new vision; (2) it means new activities; (3) it means new purity; (4) it means new joys.

II. Look at the connection between Christ's new name and ours. Our new name is Christ's new name stamped upon us. On the day of the bridal of the Lamb and the Church the bride takes her Husband's name.

III. Note the blessed secret of this new name. There is only one way to know the highest things of human experience, and that is by possessing them.

IV. Note the giving of the new name to the victors. The renovation of the being and efflorescence into new knowledges, activities, perfections, and joys, is only possible on condition of the earthly life of obedience, and service, and conquest.

A. Maclaren, The Unchanging Christ,p. 223.

References: Revelation 2:17. Homilist,3rd series, vol. iii., p. 50; Homiletic Magazine,vol. ix., p. 304.Revelation 2:18. Expositor,1st series, vol. iii., p. 48. Revelation 2:21. Homilist,3rd series, vol. iii., p. 233.Revelation 2:23. S. Minton, Christian World Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 280. Revelation 2:25. Homilist,3rd series, vol. vi., p. 161.Revelation 3:1. Expositor,1st series, vol. iii., p. 204; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iii., p. 303.Revelation 3:2. J. H. Thom, Laws of Life,p. 281.Revelation 3:4. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. ii., No. 68; Ibid., Morning by Morning,p. 343.Revelation 3:7. Ibid., Evening by Evening,p. 167.