A Revelation Invitation

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: …
“‘To the one who conquers … 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 2:12a,17c ESV)

P.G. Precious Girl. This is the pet name I use with my firstborn daughter. Since before she can remember, I’ve called her Precious Girl. During especially intimate, childhood moments I would whisper in her ear, “Are you my precious girl?” To which she would teasingly reply, “Nooo.” And every time I have responded affectionately, “Yes, you are.” The two of us have played that game for years.

Eventually little girls grow up as my daughter did. At the end of her senior year of high school upon receiving her yearbook, she was checking it out with a friend who suddenly asked, “Who’s P.G.?” Unknown to my daughter I had purchased a line in the yearbook several weeks earlier. Looking over her friend’s shoulder she read: “P.G. – Yes, you are.” Because there was no one in their class with the initials P.G., her friend wondered who this mystery person was. Not so my daughter. She knew immediately who P.G. was and who had authored the message.

For the rest of their lives, whenever she and her classmates read those messages in the back of their yearbooks, there will be this one with a name that no one knows except her to whom it was given. It’s not that she changed her name, but rather I had given her a special name that no one other than I called her. This is a bit like what Jesus promised in his letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. Instead of a yearbook, a white stone with a new name written on it is given to the one who conquers. Not that we have changed our given names. But we have been given this new name representing the special, intimate affection that Jesus has toward us who are ready to share in his suffering and overcome. With that new name it no longer matters what anyone else thinks of us. It’s irrelevant whether others slander our reputation because we know Jesus’s opinion of us. We know we’ve received a new name, a new identity, from our Savior, one which will never be spoiled.

Jesus, you know me in such an intimate way. I treasure that. It gives me security and confidence to live a life that pleases you no matter how the world treats me. I will endure whatever the world dishes out knowing how precious I am to you. Amen.