Revelation 2:17 “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\u00a0new name written<\/strong>, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”<\/p>\n Is this scripture saying that those who go to heaven will receive a new name? \u00a0And that we will no longer be called by these earthly names?<\/p>\n\t When dealing with the book of Revelation, you must always keep in mind that it is written in figurative or symbolic language. That is what the word “signified” means in “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants–things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John<\/em>” (Revelation 1:1). Thus Revelation is a book that gives a message through images painted with words. In order to understand the message, you must first understand what the various images represent.<\/p>\n The meaning of the white stone is hotly debated. The only other mention of a white stone appears in Acts 26:10, “This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.<\/em>” “Cast my vote” literally means putting in a white stone. In those days anonymous voting was done with small stones. If you favored something, you placed a white stone into a container. If you opposed something, you placed a black stone into the container. The result was determined by counting the white versus the black stones.<\/p>\n If this is what was in mind, then Jesus was saying that he would judge in favor of the Christians in Pergamum if they overcame their problems.<\/p>\n In regards to the new name, the Greek is a bit clearer than the English. The new name is not a new name for the person, but the new name of the giver. “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And 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<\/em>” (Revelation 3:12). And, “His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself<\/em>” (Revelation 19:12).<\/p>\n Where voting by pebbles was anonymous, Jesus is stating that the person who is given his vote will know who it was that voted in his favor. “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 10:32-33).<\/p>\n The fact that no one else knows this new name alludes to a personal and intimate relationship between Jesus and each one who overcomes. “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him<\/em>” (Matthew 11:27).<\/p>\n Thus we see that only faithful Christians, those who have overcome sin, will have the Lord’s favor and only these Christians will truly know the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Revelation 2:17 “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\u00a0new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” Is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[46,102],"class_list":["post-16972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-heaven","tag-revelation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24436,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-christians-new-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":16972,"position":0},"title":"What is the Christian’s new name?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When we accepted Christ we were given a new name and identity. What is our now or name? Answer: The phrase \"new name\" is only stated three times in the Bible: \"The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, And all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6739,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-seven-spirits-of-god-in-revelation\/","url_meta":{"origin":16972,"position":1},"title":"What are the seven spirits of God in Revelation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are the seven spirits of God in the book of Revelation? Answer: The book of Revelation is written in symbolic or figurative terms according to its author. \"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants--things which must shortly take place. And He sent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65303,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-revelation-of-jesus-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":16972,"position":2},"title":"The Revelation of Jesus Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants--things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John\" (Revelation 1:1 NKJV). Since this book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, it seems clear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-reference-to-a-new-earth-given-so-we-can-understand-heaven-better\/","url_meta":{"origin":16972,"position":3},"title":"Is the reference to a new earth given so we can understand heaven better?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The new heaven and the new earth in Revelation is being taken literally by my friend.\u00a0 I know it's referring to the spiritual earth.\u00a0 My grandson and I studied this scripture last night (Revelation 21:1-2).\u00a0 He brought up the fact that in Rome, the Christians were oppressed and God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7972,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-the-book-of-revelation-refers-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":16972,"position":4},"title":"What do you think the book of Revelation refers to?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Just out of curiosity, what are you teaching on the Book of Revelation?\u00a0 Are you teaching it\u2019s referring to Jerusalem(AD 70) or Rome?\u00a0 Or\u00a0 ...? Answer: First, the book of Revelation is quite clear that it is dealing with things that would take place shortly after its writing. \"The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95669,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/revelation\/","url_meta":{"origin":16972,"position":5},"title":"Revelation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton When something has been unknown and mysterious in the past, and then God reveals a thing that was once unknown, you call that a \"revelation\". The last book of the Bible was not intended to be too secretive and mysterious; else it would not \"reveal\" anything.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n