In 1925 I began to read, study, and research the book of Revelation. The most difficult thing that faced me was getting through the first three chapters, especially the two chapters concerning the seven churches. In the seven epistles to the seven churches there are many difficult verses which hardly anyone can explain. One of the most difficult verses is Rev. 3:12, where the Lord said, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God and My new name.” When I read this verse fifty-one years ago, I had a very difficult time understanding it. What does it mean to say that the Lord will make us a pillar in the temple of God and that He will write the name of God, the name of the New Jerusalem, and His new name upon us? None of the books I consulted regarding this matter could answer my question. Although even a fourth grader can understand the words, it is most difficult to apprehend the true significance of this verse. Revelation 3:12 has been a difficult verse for all expositors because none of them has had the adequate experience. Through the years, I eventually have come to realize that this promise is the greatest among the seven promises in the seven epistles in Rev. 2 and Rev. 3. In this message we need to consider this promise of the Lord to the overcomer in the church in Philadelphia.
We cannot understand 3:12 unless we have the necessary experience. The Lord’s promise here is not to give us something but to make us something. Whenever we think of the Lord’s promises, we always think that He will give us something. According to our concept, a promise is related to a blessing. To us, without a blessing, there can be no promise. But in 3:12 the Lord did not say, “I will give him”; He said, “I will make him.” In 3:12 the Lord does not promise to give us holiness or a heavenly blessing. No, here He promises to make us become something — a pillar in the temple of God.
Becoming a pillar in the temple of God involves two things — transformation and building. Since I came to this country, my burden has been on these two matters. The greatest blessing the Lord can render us is to transform us and to build us into His temple. Most Christians have been unable to understand what it means to be made a pillar in the temple of God. What does this mean? And what does it mean to have the name of God, the name of the New Jerusalem, and the new name of the Lord written upon us? But those who have reached the level of the church in Philadelphia have the proper understanding within them. If we are on this level, then we are ready for the Lord to transform us. If we use the little power we have received of the Lord on His word and mean business with Him, then we are ready to be transformed and are in the proper position for the Lord to make us a pillar. This requires that we firstly be transformed into precious material and secondly that we be built into a pillar. How can we, who are clay, become a pillar in God’s temple? There is no way except to be transformed from clay into precious stone and then to be built into God’s building. Prior to 3:12, we have the Lord’s promise in 2:17 that indicates that we can be transformed into a white stone by eating Him as the hidden manna. This is truly the greatest blessing. This involves our very being, for it is related to what we are. The greatest blessing is not what the Lord gives us, but what the Lord makes us.
Suppose I am a mass of clay. No matter what you give me, whether it be gold or diamonds, I am still clay. Even if you would bring me into heaven and place me in front of God Himself, I would still be clay. The greatest blessing is that the Lord would transform me into something related to God’s dwelling place. In the church life we should not expect objective blessings. Rather, we must realize that the Lord’s blessing is always to make us something, to transform us into precious material, and then to build us into God’s building. If you take this word into you, it will absolutely revolutionize your concept. If you have seen this vision, would you still expect the Lord to bless you with outward things? No, we would drop this expectation. If we have truly seen this vision, we shall realize that in the church life the Lord’s intention is not to do something outside of us, but something altogether related to our very being. He will make us into another being.
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.
When the apostle John ate the little scroll, it was sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach (10:10). Our experience is the same. When we saw the vision, we were happy because the vision was so sweet. But after seeing this vision, throughout the years we have had a bitter feeling in our experience. This bitter feeling concerns the poor situation among Christians today. Even among us who are so close to the Lord’s ministry there are many who do not care for God’s building. They care for their blessings and their personal spirituality. Others care for being fundamental and doctrinally correct, but they do not care for God’s building. They need to be revolutionized and transformed. May I say a frank, honest, and loving word to these dear ones? Forget about doctrine and look at yourself. Who and what are you? It matters little whether the doctrine is correct or not. What truly matters is what you are. For years you have been concerned with doctrine, but has there been any change in you? Are you still the same as you were twenty-five years ago? Perhaps you have never experienced any transformation and building. You may consider yourself to be spiritual, scriptural, fundamental, and right. But in what part of your being have you been transformed, and with whom have you been built up? Day by day, you embrace the Bible, endeavoring to be fundamentally correct in doctrine, but what about your being? Has there been a change in you?
What is God’s building? God’s building is to dispense Himself into us and to work Himself into our being. Consider again the illustration of petrified wood. The wood is natural, having no mineral element whatsoever to give it the substance of stone. There is no wood in God’s eternal building. In His building there are only precious stones, gold, and pearls. The twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem are layers of precious stones (21:19-20), and the entire wall is built with jasper (21:18). In the New Jerusalem there is nothing of mud or wood. By nature we all are either muddy or wooden. Everyone would rather be wooden than muddy, thinking that wood is superior to mud. Nevertheless, neither mud nor wood is useful in God’s building hand. We need transformation. The muddy people need to be transformed into precious stones, and the wooden ones need to be petrified. The way for a piece of wood to be petrified is to allow the living water to flow through it to carry away the wooden substance and to replace it with a solid mineral element. The process of petrification in the physical world is a symbol of the spiritual reality. Today God is truly “petrifying” us by the flow of His divine life. This flow is clearly revealed in Revelation 22:1, which says, “And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” This river flows throughout the whole city.
I constantly have a bitter taste within me, a bitter feeling concerning today’s Christians. They appear to know much, but actually they are more than ignorant and know nearly nothing. It does not matter what you know. You may know many things, but every part of you may still be mud or wood, indicating that you have not been transformed. We must be transformed by God’s dispensing Himself into our being. Forget your knowledge of the Bible and forget your religion, and just take care of one thing — how much you have been transformed by the living God’s dispensing Himself into you. This is what truly matters. You may be able to recite so many verses in the Bible, yet you yourself mean nothing. Nothing counts in God’s economy but Himself dispensed into your being. I hope that many of you will be able to say, “I don’t know very much about the Bible. I only know one thing: day by day God is dispensing Himself into me. Every day, something of God flows in to carry away my natural element and to replace it with His divine essence.”
I am deeply burdened! It does not matter whether you are good or bad, holy or unholy, spiritual or unspiritual. The only thing that matters is whether or not you have been touched by the Lord and have been transformed. We must be willing to open ourselves and say, “Lord, get through. Lord, flow in, through, and out of me and carry away every particle of my natural element. Lord, I hate the outward improvement and am tired of being corrected outwardly. I am tired of religion and Bible knowledge. I am tired of being individually spiritual. Lord, I am desperate about my condition because I have so little of Your divine essence. I have been taught and ‘edified’ for years. But still I am what I am.”
The church in Philadelphia has been greatly misunderstood. Yes, it is the church of brotherly love. But what kind of love is this? Is it a mere outward embracing of one another? Is that genuine brotherly love? No, brotherly love is Christ Himself wrought into our being and lived out of us. In typology, our natural love is like honey and will never be accepted by God. The natural life and the natural love are not frankincense; they are the honey that is hateful in the eyes of God. Natural brotherly love is just as hateful to God as leaven is. Real brotherly love is the expression of the Christ who has been wrought into our being. Our natural essence and element must be carried away by the flow of the divine life and replaced with God’s divine element.
What is the significance of being made a pillar and of being written upon by the Lord? How can the Lord make us, who are so natural, being wood or mud, into pillars? The only way is by transforming us, that is, by carrying away our natural element and by replacing it with His divine essence. The meaning of the word make in 3:12 is to constitute us into something, to construct us in a creative way. This is transformation. As the Lord’s testimony in His recovery today, it is inadequate merely to be scriptural. For the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose, we all must say, “Lord, I am here. I have seen the vision that I need Your petrification. I am wood and need to be petrified by You. Lord, flow through me and carry away all my natural being and replace it with Yourself.”
The epistle to the church in Philadelphia has never been as open to the Lord’s children as it is today. Throughout the years, Christians have lacked the genuine experience of God’s transformation and building. Due to this lack, there has been no understanding of 3:12. Again I say that it is only through experience that we have begun to realize the significance of this verse. Today in the proper church life the Lord is making us, mere pieces of wood, into pillars in the temple of God. This sentence is simple, but its significance is profound. In the church in Philadelphia the Lord is not correcting us or even just burning us. He is in the process of making us, old ones and new ones alike, into a pillar in the temple of God. This certainly means something. The only way the Lord can accomplish this is by being the divine flow within us. Not even the Lord can do a quick work in this matter. He patiently works Himself into us as the divine flow, not to correct our outward behavior but to carry away our natural essence. God does not desire the mere improvement of our behavior. Today the Lord desires the proper church life. For this, He is eager to get into us at this very moment. Do not wait until tomorrow and do not wonder about others. Look at yourself. The Lord’s work in the church is to work Himself into you as the divine flow to carry away your natural being and to replace it with His divine substance that you may gradually be processed by His transforming element. This is all we need. As God is transforming us, we shall become something else — the precious material for His building. The more we become this material, the more He will build us into His building. Ultimately, this building will become the New Jerusalem.
The Lord is labeling His work, writing a suitable designation upon it. After a carpenter has finished a certain object, he may put a label on it. That label is the designation of the very thing he has made. Likewise, the Lord is making us a pillar in His temple. In some future messages we shall see that the temple will be enlarged into a city. The whole city will be an enlarged temple. Hence, to be a pillar of the temple eventually is to be a part of the New Jerusalem. In 3:12 we are told that the overcomer in Philadelphia will be made a pillar of the temple, yet the designation the Lord puts upon him is not “the temple of God,” but “the New Jerusalem.” Ultimately, we shall not be part of the temple, but part of the New Jerusalem. What the Lord is making us in a creative way is the New Jerusalem. Sooner or later, the Lord will write the name of the New Jerusalem upon us. He will label us according to what He has made us.
All this is based upon a new realization and experience of Christ. Your experience of Christ may be too old. Whenever you stand up to testify of your experience of Christ, it is old. We all need some new, up-to-date experience of Christ. This new experience of Christ must be His making us a pillar and His writing the name of New Jerusalem upon us. This is a new experience, and because of it we have His new name. Only you know what this name is, for only you have had the experiences that produced it. We all must have these new experiences of Christ that we might become a pillar. I hope that many of us who have known the Lord for so long will say, “Lord, I praise You. I have never realized that I need Your transformation. Lord, I have been an individualist for all these years. But now I ask You to flow through me and carry away my natural individuality and to replace it with Your essence. I want to be transformed and built by You with other members in Your Body. Lord, I hate being natural and individualistic. I want to have some new experiences of the transforming and building Christ. I want to experience the transforming and building life of Christ.” Perhaps you have experienced the saving life of Christ. His life has saved you from sin and worldliness. But perhaps you have never experienced Christ’s transforming and building life. Although you have been saved from sin and the world, have you been transformed and have you been built up with others? Through the years, you have been natural and individualistic. May the Lord have mercy on us. We need to pray, “Lord, open my eyes that I may see a vision and experience You in a new way as the transforming and building life, that You may have the opportunity to make me a pillar in God’s temple and that I may become a part of the New Jerusalem.”
