The Lord will not only make us into pillars, but He will write three names upon us: the name of God, the name of the New Jerusalem, and His new name. To write a name on something is to give it a designation. If I were to ask you your name, what would you say? Would you have the boldness to say, “My name is God”? To say this is not blasphemous, because the Lord promised to write the name of God upon us. Suppose I am the one on whom the Lord has written God’s name, and you ask me my name. I would say, “Please read what is written upon me—G-o-d. This is my name, my designation.” Some of the opposers may criticize me for saying this. But do not accuse or blame me of being blasphemous. I am just one who is being written upon—He is the Writer. You must blame Him.
The Lord will also write upon us the name of New Jerusalem. How much of the New Jerusalem is written upon you? Perhaps others can only see upon you the letters N-e-w J-e-r. But eventually, after a certain period of time, every letter of the name New Jerusalem will be written upon you.
Finally, the Lord will write His new name upon us. Because the Lord is always new, He certainly does not have an old name, but a new name. What is this new name of the Lord? It is the very Christ whom we experience. Only after we have had the adequate experience will we receive this new designation. By all this we can see that the greatest blessing is for the Lord to make us like God, to make us a part of the New Jerusalem, and to make us an expression of Christ in a new way.
We in the churches must see that the Lord’s greatest blessing is that He promises us to make us become something. The way in which He accomplishes this is to work Himself into us. The writing of the name of God, the name of the New Jerusalem, and the new name of the Lord upon us actually refers to the working of God into us, to the working of the New Jerusalem into our being, and to the working of the attributes of Christ into us as His new expression. Eventually, through this working, these three new names will be written upon us. The working of His element into us is the writing of these names upon us.
Consider the example of petrified wood. Firstly, we have a piece of ordinary wood. As water flows through it, it carries away the natural wooden element and replaces it with a solid mineral element. As this process transpires, the wood is gradually petrified. After the completion of this process, we may write upon that piece of wood the words petrified wood. This designation describes what has been wrought into the very fiber of the wood.
I say again that the writing of these three names describes the working of the divine element into our being. Therefore, the greatest blessing in the church life is not that the Lord will give us something, but that He is now working Himself into us to make us a part of the New Jerusalem. Through this working, we may have something of God as well as some new experience of the all-inclusive Christ. We may not have outward blessings. Although the Lord takes care of us, we do not consider this outward care to be the real blessing. The true blessing is that He is making us a pillar in the temple of God on which are written three wonderful names.
Most Christians cannot tell you what the significance of 3:12 is because throughout the centuries the matter of God’s eternal purpose being carried out through God’s building has been greatly neglected. Even today in Christianity you can hardly hear a word about God’s building. Many misunderstand the word building, taking it to mean the same as edification. For many, to build up is simply to edify. Although many stress edification, no one cares for the practical building of the church of God which issues in His eternal dwelling place. Nevertheless, what is the ultimate consummation of the Bible? When we come to the last two chapters of the Bible, we do not find religion, morality, ethics, or edification—we see a city, the New Jerusalem. Many Christians think that the New Jerusalem is a heavenly mansion. Apparently they have never noticed that this city will come down from heaven (21:2). While most Christians are eager to go to heaven, God’s desire is to come down from heaven. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of God’s working in both the old creation and in the new. Every book must have a conclusion. Although a book may contain many things, the final word is the most important word. What is the conclusion of the Bible? It is God’s ultimate consummation, the holy city, New Jerusalem, as God’s eternal habitation. The epistle to the church in Philadelphia is the highlight among the seven epistles. This epistle reaches the high point of God’s eternal purpose, the New Jerusalem. It reaches the ultimate consummation of the entire Bible, for both the Bible and this epistle consummate with the New Jerusalem. Hence, this epistle is not only the highlight of the seven epistles, but also comes up to the high point of the whole Bible.