“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 2:17
When
Jerusalem was taken over by the Chaldeans, King Josiah hid the ark of the
covenant, which contained the tables of the commandments, a pot of manna, and Aarons
rod. Prior to that, these were in the tabernacle behind a second veil in an
area called “Holiest of All”. The priest
would go in there once a year carrying blood as a sacrifice to offer for the
forgiveness of the sins of the people that were committed in ignorance (Hebrews
9).
Jesus
is now that “Holiest of All”, our sacrifice for all sins, who overcame the laws
on the tablets of stone, who is our “Bread of Life”, who is our blood
sacrifice.
The
white stone has two meanings. Judgments
were passed on people using black or white stones. A white stone was an in innocent verdict, and
a black stone was a guilty verdict. Those that overcome sin through belief in
Christ are forgiven all their sins, and given a white stone.
But
it’s not JUST a white stone. It has a
name engraved on it. This also has
ancient meaning.
Those
who were winners in the public games (think Olympics, but far before) were
given a white stone with their name inscribed on it. It was an honor bestowed on them that gave
them the privilege of being taken care of by the public for the rest of their
lives. It acted as the keys to the city,
an open invitation to sit with Kings and great officials, to be fed, clothed, given
transportation, and provided for in every way.
This was called as “Tesserae”.
The white stone we will receive grants us the provisions of life at the
cost of someone else, namely Jesus Christ.
We have become children of God through His sacrifice, heirs to all that
He has to offer.
Will all the names on the stones be the
same? No, for God knows His children
individually. Each of us will be given a
name that only we know by God. Oh, I
cannot wait to hear what He calls me, but I most definitely know that He knows
my name.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please let me know your thoughts about the article by leaving a short comment. I appreciate all your feedback.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.