Revelation 3:12, commentary and pictures

To the one who overcomes, Christ promises a firm and lasting place as a pillar in the temple and kingdom of God, never to go out again into separation, temptation, or danger. Upon him will be written the name of God, the name of New Jerusalem coming down from God, and Christ's new name, marking full belonging to God, citizenship in the heavenly city, and oneness with Christ. This overcoming is possible only in the name and strength of Jesus, through His blood and the word of testimony, by patient endurance, holding fast, obeying the commandments, and following His example. The fulfilled promise is seen in the sealed 144,000, perfectly united and secure as God's purchased possession, with His name and the city's name on their foreheads and Jesus' new name as a glorious star. Going no more out means entering God's city to remain forever, seeing His face and living in eternal salvation after the warfare is ended.

Message Setting in Philadelphia

This is Christ's closing promise to the overcomer in His message to Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13, spoken by Him who is holy and true and has the key of David. It is given to all who have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches, and in these words there is no soothsaying but plain, sure truth. It promises the overcomer a permanent place as a pillar in the temple of God, never to leave, marked with the name of God and the name of the city of God, which is New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, and with Christ's new name.

It belongs to the messages to the seven churches in Revelation 1-3, which God sent an angel from heaven to deliver. They give the history of Satan's effort to bring dissension into the church, a difficulty that must be met today. It is part of a special message in Revelation 3:6-13 that must be given to the professed Christian churches, whose eternal interest is involved, for it is a message of life or death to churches that are not obeying the truth and are living in transgression of the law of God. In every church will be found those who are addressed by it, and the call, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, is addressed not to the common sinner and not to those who make no profession of piety, but to the churches themselves. Revelation 3 teaches that Christ will always have a church and that faithful witnesses who honor His name and testify to His word will stand firm when tested, while those who refuse to shine for Christ are faithless and the faithful take their places, with warning to remember, repent, and do the first works calling the church back to faithfulness.

Revelation 3:7-12 gives most decided warnings and presentations that reach to the close of this earth's history, calling all to have spiritual discernment to know what is truth and to hold fast what they have received and heard and not let go and lose established truth. Revelation 3 is to be read as part of the highest education that can be given to man, instruction coming from God Himself for truly sanctified souls who live the Word of God and are taught of God in obedience to all of God's commandments. It is part of the message Christ has borne to the churches, spoken by God through no human messenger and by the Holy Spirit to the churches, given as a warning in a crisis that must be heard with a determined purpose to understand and to heed, because all will very soon wish they had heard it. It belongs to the message of the first three chapters of Revelation warning to prepare to meet the Lord in the clouds of heaven coming with power and great glory, rebuking indifference to the signs foretold by Christ and giving evidence that the end of the world is right upon us. It belongs to the last part of Revelation 3 that describes the condition of Seventh-day Adventists in the present hour, and to a chapter that is a lesson of warning to be taken heed because the time is at hand while a most trying time lies ahead with perils thickening until the close of this earth's history.

The chapter is to be studied diligently because it points out the danger of losing hold upon the things heard and learned from the Source of all light, and no listening is to be given to interpretations that would loosen truth, since human interpretations and received fables spoil faith, confuse understanding, and make faith in Jesus Christ of none effect. With the rest of the chapter, including the message to the Laodicean church, it was sent from heaven by His angel to be read and studied, and belongs to the church in Los Angeles and to churches generally, calling for a deep work of grace in the heart, for awaking, for doing the work God has given them to do, and for giving the unconverted evidence of belief in truth of heavenly origin by practicing the truth professed and by living lives that answer Christ's prayer in John 17. Its warnings call for watchfulness, repentance, and a perfected work of conversion, showing that outward qualifications can be undermined by self-love, self-deception, and neglect of fellow believers. Christ weighs actions without error, and hardness of heart and lack of brotherly love reveal that His love is not abiding in the soul.

Pillar in God's Temple

The one who overcomes will be made a firm, lasting, immovable pillar in the temple of God and of His kingdom, with a permanent and secure place in God's presence. That pillar shall go no more out, never to leave again, never to depart from that abiding place. The reward is belonging to God and citizenship in the heavenly city, with the name of God and the name of New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from God and Christ's new name written upon him, together with a crown of glory that does not fade and reigning with Christ in the heavenly courts. It is gained by overcoming through the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony, by pressing forward in the Christian warfare and holding fast what has been gained until Jesus comes.

Being made such a pillar does not mean remaining stationary but bearing responsibilities. Overcomers are living stones in God's temple, Christians refined by grace and made enduring through trials patiently borne, through affliction endured with prayer and patience. Their obedience and love resemble Christ, and their self-sacrifice ennobles their lives and reflects Him, so that when God tests their lives they stand and remain pillars never to be cast out. This endurance is because they are built on Christ the living foundation. Part of what the writing of the names includes cannot be fully understood now and must be left with the Lord until seeing the King in His beauty, when it will be understood.

The pillar promise applies now to becoming a pillar in the church. Conversion to the truth would make a believer such as Bro. V a pillar in the church, able to honor God through influence sanctified by the truth. Youth are to be firmly grounded in biblical truth and faith so they can stand as enduring pillars and champions for truth, faithful to their sacred trust. God designs overcomers to be pillars and a strength to the weak, which means filling their place in the church, exercising the excellent spirit God has given, and standing with firmness and decision in freedom of spirit to adorn His cause. Becoming that thorough overcomer requires reform from sins such as being exacting and overreaching, with God helping the person take the right course. Keeping that place requires watching against Satan's devices, for from the first he purposes to overthrow those God designs to be pillars and is constantly devising means to do it, seeking to destroy their usefulness, so that if they follow on and overcome the sins he led them to commit fall on his own head, while their transgressions would otherwise finally rest upon their own heads; it requires wrestling for victory, pressing for the light, and leaving all darkness behind.

Names Written Upon Overcomer

Christ will write upon the one who overcomes the name of God, the name of the city of God which is New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, and His own new name. This is His closing promise to Philadelphia, spoken by Him who is holy and true and has the key of David, giving the overcomer a permanent place as a pillar in the temple of God who shall never go out. It is consolation to those who keep the word of His patience and hold fast what they have so that no one takes their crown as He comes quickly, and who will be kept from the hour of temptation coming upon all the world. To bear these three names is to belong fully to God and to Christ and to hold citizenship in the heavenly city as the reward for overcoming.

The names are written upon the foreheads of the overcomers. The name of God and the name of New Jerusalem appear there, and Jesus' new name appears represented by a glorious star. In vision this reward is also pictured in the temple itself, where the pillars bear names and the 144,000 enter to find their own names written on tables of stone in letters of gold. There the sealed are seen perfectly united in a holy state, sharing in final deliverance and resurrection and entry into the New Jerusalem.

The new name is Christ Our Righteousness, and the reward is an imperishable crown calling for faithfulness in the work entrusted to each, with responsibility owed to God rather than to human judgment. To have God's name written is to reach perfection of character such as Christ desires, to have the truth as it is in Jesus and to reach a high standard. It means having the name of Jesus on the lips wherever one goes, seeking to reach those around and working for the salvation of others, a higher realization of truth that cannot be kept silent and becomes a great inducement to press on. Part of what this writing of the names includes cannot be fully understood now but must be left with the Lord until seeing the King in His beauty, when it will be understood.

The promise sets forth nearness to Christ and a new identity marked by God's name and Christ's new name as the lasting place in God's kingdom given to those who overcome. John's fellowship in Christ's sufferings illustrates the path by which that nearness is reached. Those who stand nearest to Christ are shaped by self-sacrificing love that does not seek its own advantage but gives itself to serve and save others even at the cost of life.

Way of Overcoming

The overcomer keeps the word of Christ's patience with patient endurance, holding fast what has been gained so that no one takes the crown, because Christ comes quickly. That keeping is Christ's consolation to the church, and those who so hold fast will be kept from the hour of temptation and worldwide hour of trial coming upon all the world to try earth's dwellers. The faithful overcomer made a permanent, unmovable and lasting pillar in the temple of God who never goes out is marked with full belonging to God and to the heavenly city and to Christ, bearing the name of God and the name of the city of God, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, and Christ's new name. The greatest desire is to follow Christ submissively and hold fast what is held, receiving a crown of glory that does not fade away.

Overcoming comes only in the name and strength of Jesus, who fought Satan and overcame to make it possible for every soul to overcome on his own account and in his own behalf. It is gained through the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony, by pressing forward in Christian warfare, holding fast what has been gained, and remaining faithful until Jesus comes as the battle waxes fiercer. The way is keeping Christ's example before them and imitating His life and teachings, with Christ promising eternal life to those who persevere and calling believers to make every effort to gain that life. Receiving the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only hope of saving the soul and helping others, gained by surrendering all and linking with Christ, obeying truth, partaking of the divine nature, and becoming joint-heirs with Him to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, having the heaven of His presence in this life and an eternity of bliss to come.

To overcome means being on the right side and not the wrong side, even when the largest number choose the wrong as in Noah's day. Even when the world under Satan's training and inspiration sustains and gives popularity to sin and transgression of the law of God, that popularity does not demerit or lessen the force of one principle of Jehovah, so young men and young women must stand on the right side. The promise requires determined decision to be an overcomer, as wrestlers who have wrestled for the crown of life, growing spiritually, marching steadily forward, and forming character, and it sets before believers a special work of overcoming the temptations of the enemy that will meet them in this world. It is not for the lukewarm, whom Christ cannot receive, nor for one overcome by any perverted appetite, while Christ takes the names of His people to the Father as engraved on His hands, keeping them from Satan's snares with God's angels sent to keep them from falling.

Overcoming is set before hearers together with Revelation 3:5 and Revelation 3:21 as a promise applied to Christian temperance and overcoming temptation in this world, linked to faithful obedience to Christ's commandments and set as a call to examine whether service and witness arise from close communion with God. It calls everyone bearing the name Christian to watch, pray, and be strong in grace, keeping strict obedience to the Word instead of turning to ceremonies, the teachings of theologians, the ordinances of bishops, the decrees of councils, and the commandments of men, so as not to reject God's commandments for tradition and go into darkness and the mazes of popery. Overcoming includes overcoming hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, which is not easy because self is masterful and strives for victory, while the Lord presents the right way but compels no one, leaving those with light free to receive or despise it with sure results following. Him that overcomes keeps God's commandments in sacred relation with God by temperance in eating and drinking to keep mind and body in the most favorable condition for service, denying perverted appetite so God can cooperate, being converted according to health reform light, refusing flesh meat because it animalizes nature, builds the body from dead animals, lets lower passions control higher powers, and robs love and sympathy, and living in a land of abundance on wholesome fruits, grains, and nuts without one precise diet line for all, with parents conforming to right habits and setting simple unstimulating food before children lest a meat diet make nervous children peevish, irritable, passionate, impatient of restraint and destroy virtuous practices in mind, soul, and body.

The faithful overcomer receives a crown of life and a crown of glory that does not fade, is clothed in white robes which are the garments of Christ's righteousness, shares in the divine nature, and has his name retained in the book of life with the record overcome through the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony. The new name written is Christ Our Righteousness, presenting the reward as an imperishable crown calling for faithfulness in the work entrusted to each with responsibility owed to God rather than human judgment. As overcomers they reign with Christ in the heavenly courts as joint-heirs, rewarded according as their works have been, seeing the King in His beauty.

Eternal Home Never Left

To go no more out is to enter God's city and kingdom permanently and remain there forever, never again separated from God and never going out again into the wicked world. It is to be saved, eternally saved, once the warfare of this life is accomplished and the city is gained, with lasting home with God, freedom from the devil and further danger, and life forever beyond his temptation. Those who overcome through God's grace enter because grace has perfected Christian character and made them fit to serve God, an inheritance Christ gave His life to purchase for them. They are those who obey the Word and follow Christ, who walk by faith, obey God's will, and yield their lives to His control, assured of salvation as they stand within God's city never to leave it. They pass through the gates to receive crowns and harps, to see His face and the King in His beauty, which is life eternal and eternal salvation reached when heaven declares, It is done.

They enter the holy city through its pearly gates onto its streets paved with gold, after the final examination when every person is judged according to the deeds done in the body. Those acquitted hear the welcome into the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, receive the crown of glory and the palm of victory with golden harps, join the triumph of the slain Lamb who lives again as triumphant conqueror, and are gathered when God makes up His jewels to strive together and triumph together in heaven. They become joint-heirs with Christ to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, having the heaven of His presence in this life and an eternity of bliss to come. Standing firmly on the immutable promises of God's love, they find strong consolation in the hope of future blessedness where they are rewarded according as their works have been, where they see the King in His beauty and behold His matchless charms, and where they go no more out forever. The overcomer has a permanent place in God's kingdom never to leave again, which is life eternal to see the King and the Saviour in heaven and share in its worship, receiving the crown in the city of God and joining heaven's worship playing the golden harp and singing to the Lamb.

The promise belongs permanently to those who washed their robes in Christ's blood and stood firm for the truth, entering with a rightful place among God's people. It calls for daily preparation for the higher life and urges families to become overcomers in hope of meeting in the city of God. It is pictured as parents with their children entering together through the gates into the city crowned, never to go out again. It is applied to children trained for salvation and to parents who overcome harmful habits and help their children prepare for eternal life. It is applied to the nations that have kept the truth, who once they enter its gates will never leave and within the city will be free from all sin.

Sealed Hundred Forty-Four Thousand

The promise finds its fulfillment in the 144,000 who overcome, who are sealed and perfectly united in a holy state. Upon their foreheads are written God and New Jerusalem, with Jesus' new name borne in a glorious star, marking them as belonging to God and to His city. Their holy, united condition makes known that God loves them, even to those who have opposed them. They share in the final deliverance and in resurrection and entry into the New Jerusalem, holding rightful place among God's people by washing their robes in Christ's blood and standing firm for truth.

To have the name of God and the name of New Jerusalem written upon a person is to be sealed, chosen, appropriated and claimed by God as His own possession, with destination inscribed as belonging to God and to New Jerusalem. The seal set in the forehead is God's pledge of perfect security that the sealed are Christ's purchased possession whom no one can pluck from His hands. Even after being sealed they still meet personal trials, yet God watches over them and will not let their faith be destroyed.

The seal is given only to those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, including obedience in keeping His Sabbath, and where there is refusal to obey the Lord in the Sabbath the seal cannot be placed. Those who overcome after testing and remain loyal and obedient to God's commandments through trial are declared trustworthy members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King. This writing of God's name, the name of New Jerusalem, and Christ's new name upon the overcomer, with a permanent place in God's temple never to go out, comforts commandment keepers who remain faithful under oppression.

Present Call to Faithfulness

The verse is a communication for all who live in these last days, bringing down to the closing scenes of this earth's history. It belongs to the proclamation of the third angel's message, which combines the first and second messages and binds them up with the third. It shows the great and last warfare between two classes — those who keep the commandments of God and those who make void the law of God. It is part of revealed truth from God that is being fulfilled today and must be read and understood. A heavenly Watcher marks words and deportment and reads the motives that prompt action, there is no time now to be idle and indifferent, all are now taking sides and must choose a blessing or a curse, and now is the time to strive to develop Christian character, to have spiritual understanding cleansed, purified, sanctified, and ennobled, and to purify the mind by obeying the truth.

The promise is a wonderful possibility to be gained by studying the Bible more closely than ever before and praying for understanding of its truths, feeding on Christ so that His words, which are spirit and life, give eternal life. The third chapter is to be studied diligently because it points out the danger of losing hold upon the things heard and learned from the Source of all light and calls to remember, hold fast, and repent lest subtle theories imbue the mind and draw away from the faith. Everyone who bears the name Christian is called to watch, pray, and be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, keeping strict obedience to the Word instead of turning to ceremonies, the teachings of theologians, the ordinances of bishops, the decrees of councils, and the commandments of men, so as not to reject the commandments of God for tradition and go into darkness and the mazes of popery. Christ is coming quickly and calls believers to hold fast what they have so no one takes their crown, and those who overcome will be given a permanent, secure place in the temple of God and will belong to God, to New Jerusalem coming down from God, and to Christ by bearing those names. Thinking on this promise when tempted to criticize and make difficulty brings God's melting mercy into the heart and teaches how to work for God's children, leading to a righteous example that receives the Master's commendation and putting away the quarrelsome spirit that drives the Holy Spirit from the life. Those who overcome through God's grace will enter His kingdom and remain there forever, never going out again, and the promise is connected with receiving grace that perfects Christian character and being made fit to serve God.

The promises and rewards for those who overcome and remain faithful can be kept before children as encouragement to live by God's requirements and to gain eternal life by every effort.