May 2: BELONGING
“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:12-13
As the church of Philadelphia received no rebuke whatsoever from Jesus, one may wonder why Jesus says, “He who overcomes…” Let us remember that He said the same to Smyrna (2:11) whose persecution for their faith was extremely acute, often leading to martyrdom. Torture and killing had been the ‘constant companion’ of the Smyrna church. Assassination of character is the ‘constant companion’ of the Philadelphia church. In our broken world, rejection, ridicule, and worse signify that Christ’s followers will be overcoming Satanic attacks until the end. Until I can look the darkest evil directly in the face without it injuring my view of God’s character, I have not yet come to know Him intimately.
The portable temple constructed during the desert wanderings of the children of Israel was replaced by a magnificent structure in Jerusalem at the zenith of Israel as a nation under Solomon’s reign. Outside the entrance, Solomon added a pair of very impressive pillars of bronze, naming one Jachin, meaning “He Shall Establish” and the other Boaz, meaning “In Him Is Strength” (1 Kings 7:13-22). These two “witnesses” were to be constant reminders of Israel’s total dependence upon God Almighty. Like all of us, they needed to be established with a clean slate (forgiven and justified by Him), and they needed the strength that only He can give to persevere until the end (sanctified by Him). But Israel’s dependence did not last. They lowered their focus to the things of earth, and in a mere few centuries, Israel—as a nation—had forsaken its faith.
In moving onto the turf of unfaithfulness, Israel forfeited God’s protection. Their enemies swarmed upon them, carrying them off to foreign lands. The promise, he shall go out no more, means the overcomer will never again be carried off by an enemy. The overcomer belongs completely to God, is a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, and belongs to Jesus. This ‘belonging’ describes a full-fledged and eternal citizenship in God’s kingdom, encompassing all of creation, thoroughly cleansed and forever free from sin: He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. (Nahum 1:9)
The name of Jesus has been so trampled, insulted, misused, misrepresented, maligned, and even stolen by religious impostors (Isaiah 4:1), that the unrepentant wicked will enter the second death (Revelation 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8), never having heard, known, or spoken the Lord’s new name. Believer, count today—and this very minute—as a privilege to hear what He has to tell us now!
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 2:7a, 11, 17a, 29; 3:6,13,22