The Reward Part 2

REVELATION Number 57
The Reward Part 2
A White Stone

We have listed 13 rewards, or blessings, promised to those who overcome. We have noted that the tree of life is located in the paradise of God and examined some insight that gives us.

Examining the 13 blessings, or rewards, again we find that they all point to the Lord Jesus Christ. The very One being revealed in The Revelation.

Eating from the tree of life being given the crown of life, not being hurt by the second death, hidden manna, these are all plainly about the Life of God that is ours in Christ Jesus.

Next, in Revelation 2:17 we encounter this, “a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it.”

White stones were sometimes used judicially to indicate a verdict of acquittal, with a black stone for a guilty verdict. A white stone was also sometimes used as a pass for admission to parties or gatherings on special occasions. The life-giving Manna provided to the Israelites by God was white.

G.K. Beale, in his enormous commentary on The Revelation* says, “The white color of the stone portrays the righteousness of the saints in not compromising and “soiling” themselves for which they are acquitted. (As in Revelation 3:4 ‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.’ (NASB 2020) my addition), The association of white with righteousness in direct connection with admission to a banquet is expressed in 19:8–9 (passage below), where the “fine linen, bright and clean” represents “the righteous acts of the saints,” which is directly followed by the reference to being “invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb”

Revelation 19:8–9
“It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (NASB 2020)

All who have faith in the Lord Jesus are made righteous. We have become the bride of Christ, of which we are told in Ephesians 5:27 He will “present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” (NASB 2020) Clothed in spotless white, we share in His glory, we share in the nature of His character, and we share in his name, as we are about to see.

* G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 253.