Your Home has a Name
Another Installment in “How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place”
Home is not a place as much as a person. I like the way Crag Barnes put it:
Whether we want to admit it or not, the longing for home is welling up from the soul. This may even be the most enduring trace of God upon our lives.1
In a world of certain transience and a culture of restless change, a name and home remain as two steadfast anchors that ground us in our existence
Many homes have names. There are homes like “Monticello (the home of Thomas Jefferson),” “The Hermitage (Andrew Jackson’s home),” “Montpelier (the James Madison estate),” “Mount Vernon (the home and farm of George Washington),” and “The Reagan Ranch (the Gipper’s place in Santa Barbara).” In England, there are famous homes like “Chartwell (Winston Churchill’s estate),” “Blenheim Palace (birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill),” and “Apsley House (residence of the Duke of Wellington).” Of course, there are many more less famous and less grand homes with different names. Our home in North Carolina is “Milton Manor,” so named by my wife. Once I drove by a home named “The Sanctuary.” Although modest, the home appeared to have been built by a retiree who dedicated a lifetime of labor to create it. I hope its name provides him with that serenity he deserves. These homes, like Milton Manor, may not be famous but are beloved and often have a very personal relationship with the owner. Names and home go together. So when Jesus promises to give a stone with a name on it, he is offering the key to an eternal home, a home with your name on it. Only yours. Only Christ knows you fully. And He promises supernatural sustenance, a new name, and a white stone, not the stone tablet of the Law, but the stone of the New Covenant. Food. A name. A key that is only known to Christ and you. No one else. For He knows you. He knows every part of the story. And He bids you to come to Him with your life. Give it away to Him that you may live. Read His Word:
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it’” (Revelation 2:17 ESV).
Now. Spend just a few moments and read the response to Revelation 2:27 by the always insightful and inspiring George MacDonald.
A New Name: A Devotional by George MacDonald on Revelation
The giving of the white stone with the new name is the communication of what God thinks about the man to the man. It is the Divine judgment, the solemn holy doom of the righteous man, the "Come, thou blessed," spoken to the individual. In order to see this, we must first understand what is the idea of a name — that is, what is the perfect notion of a name. The true name is one which expresses the character, the nature, the being, the meaning of the person who bears it. It is the man's own symbol — his soul's picture, in a word-the sign which belongs to him and to no one else. Who can give a man this, his own name? God alone. For no one but God sees what the man is, or even, seeing what he is, could express in a name-word the sum and harmony of what he sees. To whom is this name given? To him that overcometh. When is it given? When he has overcome. Does God then not know what a man is going to become? As surely as He sees the oak which He put there lying in the heart of the acorn.
Why then does He wait till the man has become by overcoming ere He settles what his name shall be? He does not wait; He knows his name from the first. It is only when the man has become his name that God gives him the stone with the name upon it, for then first can he understand what his name signifies. The name is one "which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." Not only then has each man his individual relation to God, but each man has his peculiar relation to God. He is to God a peculiar being, made after his own fashion, and that of no one else; for when he is perfected, he shall receive the new name which no one else can understand. Hence he can worship God as no man else can worship him — can understand God as no man else can understand Him. This or that man may understand God more, may understand God better than he, but no other man can understand God as he understands Him. As the fir-tree lifts up itself with a far different need from the need of the palm-tree, so does each man stand before God, and lift up a different humanity to the common Father. And for each God has a different response. With every man He has a secret — the secret of the new name. In every man there is a loneliness, an inner chamber of peculiar life into which God only can enter. See, now, what a significance the symbolism of our text assumes. Each of us is a distinct flower or tree in the spiritual garden of God — precious, each for his own sake, in the eyes of Him who is even now making us — each of us watered and shone upon and filled with life, for the sake of his flower, his completed being, which will blossom out of him at last to the glory and pleasure of the great Gardener. For each has within him a secret of the Divinity; each is growing towards the revelation of that secret to himself, and so to the full reception, according to his measure, of the Divine. Every moment that he is true to his true self, some new shine of the white stone breaks on his inward eye, some fresh channel is opened upward for the coming glory of the flower, the conscious offering of his whole being in beauty to the Maker. Each man, then, is in God's sight of great worth. Life and action, thought and intent, are sacred. And what an end lies before us! To have a consciousness of our own ideal being flashed into us from the thought of God!— George MacDonald, LL. D. (1824-1905)
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Questions for Reflection
Here are three questions for reflection:
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1. The Significance of the New Name:
MacDonald suggests that the new name given by God to those who overcome is a divine judgment of their true nature and character, known only to God and the individual. Reflect on what it means to you that God knows and cherishes your true essence to such a degree that He has a unique name for you. How does the promise of receiving a new name from God alter your understanding of your personal journey and struggles? Consider how this perspective might change the way you view your identity and purpose.
2. The Journey to Overcoming:
The devotional highlights that the new name is given to "him that overcometh," implying a process of struggle, growth, and ultimately, victory. Reflect on your own life's battles—be they spiritual, emotional, or physical. How have these challenges shaped you, and in what ways have you seen or are you hoping to see God's hand helping you to overcome? Meditate on the significance of overcoming as a prerequisite to fully understanding and receiving your "new name."
3. The Individual Relationship with God:
MacDonald points out that each person has a "peculiar relation to God," with a unique capacity to understand and worship Him in a way no one else can. Reflect on your personal relationship with God. How do you perceive it differs from others', and what unique aspects of your character and life experiences contribute to this distinct relationship? Contemplate how recognizing your unique path to God enhances your worship and deepens your understanding of His presence in your life.
M. Craig Barnes, Searching for Home: Spirituality for Restless Souls (Baker Books, 2006).
