Amen, amen. You guys can have a seat, and it is so good to see you here this evening. And we are so glad that you are here. And if you're excited to be at church, can you say amen this evening? And we could have been in a lot of places, and we have chosen to be here.
I'm glad. I think you made the right choice for being here. And I'm looking forward to diving back into God's word with you. We don't always say this, but I do want to welcome those that are online. I had somebody who is not physically able to make it to church.
She kind of messaged me and just reminded me that every single week she's watching. And sometimes we forget about it. We think about everybody here. And I'm grateful for some of the resources that we can throw online to welcome them. And so I'd encourage you anytime Pastor Bailey or Lomax or anybody suggests that we write cards and stuff, those things mean so much to the people that cannot make it.
And so.
So, I'm grateful for that. And so, if you are watching online, we are thankful for you and glad you are tuning in. Here this evening.
Well, it's been a couple weeks since we've been in our series through the book of Revelation. We had last week was VBS week, and then the week before that, I was out of town on vacation and we had some missionaries in. And so it's been a couple weeks.
So I am going to review just a little bit before we dive into our new text here tonight. But before we do so, because I know everybody kind of from time to time slipping in, maybe out of the rhythm and routine, if you did not grab an outline on your way in, there's two sheets, and we are providing a timeline of the book of Revelation. And so if you already have one of those, you don't have to keep grabbing that every week. That's just if you don't have one or if you've lost yours or whatever. And so Pastor Bailey has those.
If you didn't grab an outline or you need one of those, slip up your hand high enough for him to see it, long enough for him to recognize it. You're not in trouble. Don't get nervous. We're not going to have to see you after class or anything like that. And but we just want to help.
You stay engaged and follow up. And I just, because I get it. Anytime we're dealing with some things that are sometimes heavy, it's nice to have an outline for us to take notes and things.
So I understand that. And I want you to stay engaged as much as. Possible. This is week number four of our series. We've entitled this series through Revelation.
It's called The Returning King. And we are in week number four.
So if you have your Bible, you can join me in Revelation chapter number two. And I'll give you a little bit of it's on your notes, some just kind of rapid-fire stuff, just kind of in review to help us out here this evening.
So you know some of these things if you've been with us or been tuning in. But the first thing, the author of the book, hopefully you'll know this. It's John the Apostle. It was written around 98 AD. This book was written while John was exiled to the island of Patmos.
And so he is exiled there. He's not on vacation there. He's there really as a prisoner. That was kind of Rome's prison camp, if you would. And they would take all their prisoners there because they could silence them and they can do anything that they wanted to them there.
And so they felt if we take people that proclaim Jesus Christ and exile them to an island, then their influence in the name of Jesus could not go forward. But little did Rome know that thousands of years later we would be reading this because God was able to reveal himself to John on this island. And so he's the author of the book. The purpose, the second thing there, the purpose of Revelation is this. This answer is not up on the screen.
So listen. It says, to give us hope. in anticipation about the imminent return of Jesus. To give us hope, in anticipation about the imminent return of Jesus. In other words, he can come back at any time.
No one knows the time. No one knows the date. If somebody says that they do, you run the other way, okay? And so they don't. Nobody does, but he's going to come, and it's going to be surprising.
It's going to be unannounced. And so he is coming any time. It could be any day. It could be tonight. And I think it's very possible he is going to come before we finish our study through the book of Revelation.
All right. The name Revelation, it's from a Greek word, apocalypsis. Where we get the word apocalypse. And the word revelation literally means an unveiling or a revealing. An unveiling or revealing.
And so the book is all about Christ. It's all about the revelation, if you would, of Christ, revealing him and also the events to come and how things are to play out when he returns. And so don't forget, as we look through this, I know it's fun to get caught up in all the specific events that are happening and things like that. Don't forget, the book of Revelation is all about Christ. It is all about exalting Christ.
And that is the core of not only the whole Bible, but specifically Revelation.
So don't miss that. Our interpretation, this is very important that you understand this, depending on your church background. And so our interpretation of the book of Revelation, you can argue with me on this, and that's fine. And we can agree to disagree on some things. But there's three real interpretations of how people interpret the book.
Some people Interpret it in an allegorical way.
Some people do a historical way. But the way that we are interpreting the book, and this is the way that I interpret this book, is a literal interpretation. And so it's important that you understand that.
So as we work through these things, the literal interpretation is saying this, that Revelation chapter number four, which we're not there yet, we're still in the church age, which is where we are today. Revelation chapter 4 and anything after that will be fulfilled in a literal way. And so that is what we mean by interpreting the book. Literally, the timeline of the book of Revelation, I think we have a picture of it up on the screen, and this is what we are able to look through as we work through this. You have a big one there that you can kind of keep in your Bible.
Revelation 1 through 3 are about the church age, and that is where we are living in today. And then when we get into Revelation chapter number 4, that is futuristic events. And so this is kind of our timeline of where we are going to work through. And it gives you what the entire book of Revelation is kind of referring to as we work through this together. The passage that we're on, we're talking about the seven churches.
And so, one more note before we jump in, just a couple reminders about the seven churches. John, in his vision, he sees these seven menorahs, if you would, these seven golden candlesticks. And he sees them, and it's just a reminder that the seven candlesticks represent the seven churches. It's very specific, and nothing in scripture is there by accident. And so don't forget that, because Jesus would come onto the scene and say that the church is the light of the world, and the church should be like a city set on a hill that giveth light to everywhere around it.
And so when you look around the world and you see the darkness that is plaguing the world that we live in, you don't just scream at the dark. You don't just Facebook your way through the dark. No, you turn on the light, right? And that's a reminder that for us, as we see the darkness, that's when the church should be shining the brightest. And that's what this is.
And so when he sees that, it is this reminder that these candlesticks represent the seven churches because they are. To be the light of the world. Number one on your notes, just a couple of reminders about the churches, then we'll get into the church that we're going to look at today. An introduction to the letters of the seven churches, just a few things. These were literal churches.
That existed in the first century. You'll see a picture, I believe, up on the screen right here.
So these are the churches that we're looking at. And in fact, the letter that we have here, or the book of Revelation, they really go in a clockwise direction.
So God reveals these and sends a specific note to each one of these churches, starting with Ephesus, then to Smyrta, Pergamos, Thyratyras, Sardis, Philadelphia, and then he will end with Laodicea. These places are right off the Aegean Sea, which you can see up on the screen. And they all existed in the first century, which this area was known as Asia Minor. It's now modern-day Turkey, is the area that you see here up on the screen. But they were literal churches.
Number two, these letters are applicable to churches today.
So every one of these letters really contains very practical application. For our church, for our specific church.
So, as we work through these things, we can learn from them. And then these letters represent time periods in church history. And so, you can kind of see that played out in each one of these churches. And you can see, if you look at the last couple of thousands of years, different periods of church history, and how these letters kind of represent some of those things.
So, just some background stuff to kind of catch you up to speed to give us some runway as we jump into our text here today. But today, we get to look at our third letter, and this is the letter to the church at Pergamos. Uh the letter To the church at Pergamos.
So Revelation chapter number 2, 12 through 17 is our text here today. I'm going to read it straight through and then give you some thoughts here tonight. It says this, verse 12, and to the angel of the church in Pergamos.
Now, if you remember, the word angel means messenger. And so that word is talking about the leader. In this case, it would be the pastor of the church.
So he's talking directly to the pastor of the church at Pergamos. Write, these things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. We'll come back to that. But if you remember, every one of the letters to the seven churches contain a specific name for Christ, a specific name that talks about his character to every one of the churches that we mentioned. Verse 13, I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is.
Now holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith. even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr. who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. Verse 14, but I have a few things against thee. because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolatians, which thing I hate? Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that, verse 17, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. And will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name, written which no man knoweth, saying he that receiveth it.
Before we're going to dive in, I got a lot. I'm just going to be honest with you. I don't like to say these things because you're going to get nervous and you're going to forget what I'm going to say after this. I'm not kidding you that I'm bringing my notes. I always keep track of this, and this is just fun for me.
This is the most words on any document that I have in a sermon that I've ever written before.
So I don't know if that means we're going to be here a really long time or what, but I have more pages than I've ever brought up to any sermon that I've preached. But I do have a lot of stuff. There's a lot there in these verses, but the city of Pergamos. Or Pergenum was known for a couple things. And I'll just kind of work through this quickly before we get into our text a little bit more.
The city was known for a couple of very specific things that are really referenced here in different ways. They were known for culture. And they were known for education. Pergamos became the capital city of the Roman province there in Asia Minor before it was handed over to the city of Ephesus. Pergamos was about 50 miles north of Smyrna.
We saw that on the map earlier. And it was located about 15 miles off of the Aegean Sea. It was a wealthy city. And they were really, it was considered in that day in the first century. It was like the center for learning and medicine.
You could almost say that Pergamos, they were obsessed with learning and obsessed with reading. I mean, it was the home of one of the largest libraries in the first century. And they loved learning. And let me just say this. There's nothing wrong with learning.
I think you should read. I think you should learn and you should study. And those things are so important. But truthfully, it can become an idol in and of itself if you're not careful. And that's kind of what the early, what Pergamos was known.
Known for there in the first century. Not only that, they also were very pagan in the city itself. It was home to many different temples, to different little g false gods.
Some that you would even be familiar with if you're familiar with church history at all. People like Zeus had a large temple that was worshipped there. In fact, if you go to, I've never been there, but. If you go to Berlin, Germany, they took kind of what Zeus's temple was like, and it's there in a museum there. I actually believe it's shut down right now, but it's supposed to open in a few years because they're renovating it.
But you can see the temple of Zeus of what was in Pergamos is actually there in Berlin, a mock-up of that. And so there were a lot of different little G false gods that they worshipped there in the city of of Pergamos. And so it was a pagan city. And what you see here, you see how truly pagan it is? In verse number 13, two specific things that I wanted to mention here about the city.
It says That Pergamos was where Satan's seat was And then at the end of the verse, it says that Pergamos was where Satan. dwelled. How would you like for that to be on the sign of your hometown? Hey, welcome to Pergamos. Home of Satan.
Right. You would hate that. That would be a terrible thing to put on your town and the sign entering into the city in which you live. But here, I think it is a reminder that this was a. a very pagan place.
So much to the point that Christ, when he's delivering this letter to this church, mentions not just once, but twice, that this was really the dwelling place of of our greatest enemy. The dwelling place of our enemy, so much to the point that this is where he dwelt. But not only did he dwell there. He ruled there. His seat was there.
This was, he controlled this area. And I will say this: I don't understand fully what that means when it talks about the enemy sitting there and the enemy dwelling there. And so, but here's what I'll tell you: is that if we're not careful, the enemy wants to make our church and he wants to make your life and your home his home. If you're not careful, there's a warning here that we need to be on guard against because here Satan can reside there. If you say, okay, if Satan was known to live there, where is Satan living today?
Don't answer that because some of you say Washington or something, you know, and we don't know where he is residing today. But here's what I'll tell you: there's a warning here that you need to remember that the enemy wants our community and our city and our church to be his home. And what I'll tell you is this: when you look across culture, you can almost see some churches have adopted. The enemy's tactics. And you've got to be very careful about that because he is trying to get footholds into our families, in our community, and in our city, which will ultimately infiltrate itself into the local church.
And what you see here is Perdimos was struggling with that very. Very thing.
Now, I mentioned earlier that every one of these letters have a title about Jesus.
So here, Jesus' title to the church at Pergamos is this. He who hath the sharp sword with two edges. You see this in verse number 12 when it's talking about Christ who has the sharp sword with two edges. No doubt, this is an expression that is reminding the church as well as the messenger, the angel, of who should be in charge of the church. It is a reminder of the judicial authority of Christ over the church.
Let me tell you this: I'm grateful that I'm your pastor. But I am not the head over this church. I'm not the head over this church. Christ is the head of this church. And that's what's so important to remember here.
And so he is the one with the sword.
So it's a reminder of his judicial authority, not only over the church, but also, I think it's leading into verse 13: his judicial authority over. The enemy himself. And it's a reminder about that. The affirmation: every one of these churches are going to receive an affirmation. Commending them of something that they've done well.
Some of them receive a criticism, some do not. But here we have an affirmation and a criticism.
So the affirmation to the church at Pergamos is found in verse 13. And you see it here because it says that thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith. And so you can put this next to that part on your notes. They were loyal to Christ. And they refused to deny him.
The church at Pergamos was loyal to Christ and refused. to deny him. It is so much to the point, and I think this is so interesting because it's a reminder that Christ sees you. When you take a stand for faith, I mean, he mentions a guy here that we know nothing about, Antipas. And he mentions him as a faithful martyr.
This was somebody there in the church at Pergamos who apparently, as pagan culture tried to creep itself into the church, that Antipas stood for the faith and stayed faithful to the name of Jesus, and it actually cost him his very life as a result of that. And so they were loyal to Christ and refused to deny him. But there was some criticism here in verse number 14. The criticism to the church of Pergamos, really, two specific things.
Some. Uh it says held to the doctrine of Balaam.
Some held to the doctrine of Balaam. You know, this is mentioned a couple of times in the New Testament. If you're in my Bible fellowship class on Sunday, we just talked about the doctrine of Balaam just a few weeks ago. And really, the name Balaam became a catchword, if you would, for false teachers.
So he's referring to false teaching. And if you go back to the Old Testament, Numbers chapter 12 through 14, you remember the story of Balaam. Balaam was a false prophet. And so Balak, who was the king of Midian at the time, wanted to wage war against, or really he wanted to curse the nation of Israel. You remember that story?
And so Balak wanted to curse the nation of Israel.
So what he did was he hired this false prophet named Balaam to curse them. Balaam was in it for the money.
Okay, that's what he's known for. He was in it for that.
So he charged Balak a fee, and he said, If you charge me this fee, I will curse the nation of Israel for you. And so, on his way there, he had the donkey, and an angel appeared three different times to the donkey. Do you remember this? And when he appeared to the donkey, the donkey would get so scared and different things and stop going. And so, you know, Balaam would get mad.
He'd hit the donkey and stuff like that. And then on the third time, when he hit the donkey, the donkey kind of wedged him against a wall or whatever. And he got mad, and the donkey actually started talking back to him.
Okay. And so.
It'd be like you at your house if your pet dog does something it shouldn't do or whatever, and you kind of give it a little pat, you know, like don't do that or something, and they start talking back to you. Wouldn't that be wild? But here's what's even more wild about that story. Balaam, it doesn't even say he was surprised that his donkey talked back to him. He just started talking back to his donkey.
And some of you, like, that's how we treat our animals, aren't we? You know, it's like, you think your animal's really talking to you.
So we talk right back to them like they understand us, right? Way begins this conversation with him because the donkey's saying, I've been a great donkey for you and different things. And so he says that. And here's what happens. When he eventually gets to Balak, the king of Midian, and he begins to proclaim a curse on the nation of Israel, God puts a blessing in his mouth.
And so he tries to curse them. And every time he opens up his mouth, a blessing for the nation of Israel comes out. I've been praying this way that this would happen to me when I get into traffic. That as I want, okay, I'm not going to say that, but maybe it will. And so, but the point is, is like here, Balaam is really an example of a false teacher.
And so here, when he says that many in the church at Pergamum held to the doctrine of Balaam, he's saying that they adopted false teaching. False teaching was beginning to creep its way into. Into the church. The second thing was the doctrine.
Some held to the doctrine of the Nicolatians. And I mentioned this in our first week in our series. This word is really a couple of words put together. In fact, Nicao, it means to conquer, and then laos means the laity. And so the idea behind this is they would conquer the laity.
So, in other words, these that held to this doctrine would try to be the leaders over the church, and they felt that they were the head of the church. And it says that God hates that. He hates this false doctrine that they are the leader.
Now, Pergamos. It's from a Greek word. That's very important because I think this is kind of what he's meaning. You got to look deep to understand some of this stuff. Pergamos is from a word gamos, which really means marriage.
And I think what you could say, Pergamos, if you were to kind of boil down their major problem of what Christ is trying to rebuke them of, here's what it was. They were a church that tried to marry their church with the pagan culture. And that's what was happening in the church at Pergamos. And here's what I'll tell you: is this, is we always have to be on guard against that. And here's what that looked like in the early church: they would adopt different beliefs from the culture in which we live in.
And what we have to be careful in today, in our local churches, we can't adopt worldly viewpoints on different issues and things like that. We can't use this mentality. We got to look and act and behave and believe like the world in order to win the world. That's never going to work. That's not a good tactic to try to win the world because when you come to them and you're trying to show them hope to rescue and restore the broken soul that they are in, you can't live like them.
You've got to show them something different, something better. for them in order to rescue them. And what was happening here in the church at Pergamos was they were marrying those things. But he did give a criticism, but I want to kind of land the plane with the reward To those that overcome, there's a reward to those that overcome in verse number 17. It's really three things that is a reward, and these things are true for this church, it's true for us as believers.
The first one is this: the first reward that he mentions to the overcomers. Is this. The first one is: Overcomers will eat. Of the hidden manna. In verse 17, he says that to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.
Now, manna in the Old Testament, we know provided nourishment and it sustained the nation of Israel when they were kind of wandering around in the wilderness. Like this bread-like substance that would show up on the ground every morning that they were there, and it provided the nourishment that they needed to sustain themselves when they were in their wilderness wandering years. Manna was always a reminder of the provision of God.
So, anytime you see manna in Scripture, it is a reminder of how God provided himself. And so, in the Old Testament, it was manna from heaven that he provided for them.
Well, fast forward to the New Testament, Jesus is on the scene, and when he's talking, he says this when he was teaching: he says, Now I am the bread of life. And what he's trying to say is this: is that in a relationship with him. In a relationship with him, you have all of the provision that you will ever need. You have all of the provision that you're ever going to need in a relationship with God. You can't find that provision in everything else, but when you come by faith in what Jesus has done for you, what you find is this: manna that will forever.
Sustain you because he is the bread of life. The phrase hidden manna can mean a lot of different things. And if you read a ton of books, which I've read a lot on the book of Revelation in the last couple of months, here's what I think it's referring to. And if you have a different opinion about this, that's fine. There's a lot of great people with different opinions, and that's fine.
I think he could be referring to the marriage supper of the Lamb. I really do when he's talking about this. Because here's what I'll tell you: there is coming a day when us as followers of Christ are going to sit and we're going to eat at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And here's the thing: is like when you think about this, manna is always the provision of God. But the thing is, is like for us now, God has provided everything in Jesus that we need and given us the Holy Spirit, the God that lives within us and dwells in us.
But one day there's coming a day where we're going to eat at the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is a reminder that we will eat and forever fellowship with him. He will forever be in our midst. And so overcomers will eat of the hidden. Manna with him one day, but secondly, overcomers will be given a white stone. Verse 17, they will be given a white stone.
So he says the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone.
Now, there's a lot of different interpretations of this one as well. And I promised at the beginning of our series that I will give you different interpretations, and then I'll let you in on kind of what I think it means. But here's what I want you to know: there is so much about the book of Revelation that is about the future, and I never want to come across arrogant as if I know all the answers. I don't. And here's what I want you to understand.
You don't either, okay? And so there's a lot, that sounded harsh. I didn't mean it that way or whatever, but I just want you to know there's so much futuristic stuff here. We can't totally explain everything, but I'll give you some thoughts.
So many people believe it's the white stone is. A couple different things. In this day and age, you would be given a white stone when you were victorious. Over something.
So many people think that that's what it is. You were given a white stone as an entrance ticket into different festivals. Jewish tradition would have that and stuff.
So some people think it's a reference, like this is your entrance into heaven, if you would, and stuff. And some people believe that.
Some people believe that it's talking about being acquitted for all the wrongdoing that you've ever done and things like that. And so, because during that day, a white stone would signify and portray innocence, and a black stone would actually portray you being guilty. And so some people believe that this is the moment that, like, we would call, you know, you're declared righteous one day by giving this white stone. Here's kind of what I think that it could be signifying. If you break it down, um.
The color white in scripture always refers to righteousness. It's one of the reasons why I wanted to sing the song Cornerstone tonight. And because it's always a reminder of righteousness. And when you think about this, I think that the white stone here is a reminder that one day you're going to be given a white stone that is going to be, because right now we have the righteousness of Jesus.
So, what that means is this: we don't have time to go deep into this, but the book of Romans really unpacks this as well as anything. But when you trusted Christ as Savior, what happens in that moment is that the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is imputed or placed into your life. It's placed into your account. In other words, now when God the Father looks at you, He sees the righteousness of Jesus. And with that, though, here's the tension: we still have the flesh.
Don't you hate that? Still have it, though. We all do wrong. We all think wrong things. We all do wrong things from time to time.
We still have that. And so when you think about a white stone's going to be given to you, I think what he's talking about is that one day we will no longer be, you know, the flesh will no longer be with us, that we will forever have the righteousness. We already have the righteousness of Jesus, but I think he's talking that one day we will stand before God forever and forever be proclaimed innocent. For anything and every wrongdoing that you've ever been. Or that you've ever committed.
And so we're given a white stone, but the third thing that he talks about overcomers is this. You're going to be given a new name. You're going to be given a new name in verse 17, and he says this. In the stone. A new name written.
which no man knoweth. saving, or except he that receiveth it. Let me just say this. If you don't like. Your name here on earth?
It only lasts so long, okay? All right, I used to growing up, so my name is this.
So I'm Joshua. Her boat Evans.
Okay. There's a reason I don't have that on my Facebook profile all the way through. And growing up, I heard all these different things: Herbie the Love Bug, you know, all this kind of stuff. And people would call me all these different things. And so I didn't care for my name.
But I grew to love that name because it's a family name. It's my grandfather's first name. Uh it's my dad's Middle name. It's my middle name. And I remember that when we had Cameron, we were in the hospital.
And I guess one of the nurses, whatever, came in, you know, right away, hey, what are you going to name this child? We weren't ready because Abby and I were like, really? Are we going to do this to him? You know, and so we took a while. I think she had to come in like four times before we were finally like, okay, we're doing it.
So his name's Cameron Herbert Evans. And it's a family, it's a family name. But I say all that kind of jokingly. I love the name now because I understand what it means. But when you think about your name, you might not like your name or whatever, but he says here that one day you're going to be given a new name.
Now the question is, what is that name? And I want to know what that name is because I'm very interested in that.
Well, there's a couple of passages in Revelation that I want you to see just as we close. And I'll give you kind of what I think that new name could be and what it's going to look like, okay? Because I don't know what it is, but kind of what it's pointing to. Revelation chapter number 3, it'll be up on the screen. Verse number 12, Revelation 3.
This is a letter to another church, and here's what he says: I will write upon him. The name of my God And the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven. From my God, and I will write upon him my new name.
Okay. Revelation chapter number 19. Verse number 12. Says this, and he had a new name. This is talking about the second coming of Christ when he comes back.
He had a new name written. That no man knew But he himself. It's the second coming when he comes back. And then in Revelation 22, 3 and 4, that's talking about the new heaven and the new earth.
Okay, it says this. His name This one gets me. His name shall be in their foreheads. Here's the thing. I don't know what this is going to look like.
I can't completely unpack this. For you. But here's what I think it could mean, okay?
So on earth, you all have a family name.
So like for me, The name that kind of separates myself or identifies us is the name Evans.
Okay, so you have a family name, and when you get married, you kind of take that name and that kind of thing, and so that's what you do, and that becomes your family name. That's the name that shows belonging, that's the name that identifies. Um That identifies you. And here, it's almost as if what's going to happen, and this is, remember, it's futuristic, so we're all kind of like interpreting this and figuring out what this looks like. But it's like when Christ comes back, Talk about the second coming, not the rapture of the church.
Those are different.
So when he comes back to the second coming, he's going to come proclaiming a name that only himself knows. That only he knows. It could be a mystery to us. We don't know. I mean, we did a series on the names of God in our church a year ago or so, and we looked at all these different names of God.
But there's a name that He holds that we don't even know yet. That we, it's almost like a mystery that hasn't been revealed. And he's going to come and he's going to have this name that we don't even know. That it literally, Revelation 19, that it's a new name written. That no man knows but himself And then he's going to.
Gift This this name His name. By the way, Revelation 22. On Your forehead. Listen, I don't know what this name is. I mean, it says right here in Revelation chapter 2 that no man knows.
Like, we don't know what this is.
So, I can't tell you that your name's going to be this, and your name's going to be that, and your name's going to be this, and your name's going to be that, and your name's going to be this. But here's what I think it is: I think we are going to have a name that is going to be on us, on our foreheads, that's not your earthly family name. but is your heavenly Father's name. And what that is going to look like is it's a mystery to us because nobody knows it but He Himself, the one who knows all things. But when He comes back, He's going to be proclaiming this new name that only He knows.
And one day, when the new heaven is built and the new earth is built, and we are forever going to live in the presence of God the way that He originally designed for us to live in communion and fellowship with God, the one name that we are all going to be identified with. Is his Mysterious now, name that will forever be revealed. It's going to be a name that is going to be given to you, a new name that is going to be given to you. That is going to identify us. Forever.
living in the family of God. That's what the gift or the reward is to the. Ones who overcome. And the thing that gets me so much about this is that just the thought of one day he's going to be coming with this new name, and he's going to be coming to rule and to reign. And he will make it personal.
He's going to write on your forehead. Forever. Making you a part of the family of God.
Now, there's two churches: this church and the church at Philadelphia. That He mentions this new name. With And what's interesting is both of those churches, if you look at the church at Pergamos, what they were known for, God commended, or Christ commended that they were loyal to his name.
Well, the church at Philadelphia. Gets that same comment that they were also loyal. To the name of Christ. And what's interesting is those two churches that received the affirmation of being loyal to Christ and to His name. And not denying his name are the two churches that it says specifically: those that are overcome.
One day, because you were loyal to his name, you are going to one day receive a new name. Name. Listen. I don't know how else better to end that than just saying the lyrics of the song: there's a new name. Written down in glory.
And it's mine. Oh yes, it is. Mine. Can we sing that chorus real quick together? There's a new name written down in glory.
And it's mine. Oh, yes, it's mine. I don't know any more of it. And so that's it.
So, and I don't want to sing, I don't sing in front of people ever. I love singing, but I can't carry a tune worth anything. But here's what I want you to know: leave here with this in mind: the returning king is coming.
Soon. And when he comes back, you have good news that's in your future. You're going to be given a new name. We don't know what that is yet, but it's going to be a name that is going to forever identify you with Christ. And it's going to be a name that is forever going to identify you with the family of.
