Wednesday Word: A New Name

I had a dream Sunday night. In the dream, I was wearing a white stone set in a necklace.

When I woke, I wrote it down and over breakfast I opened my Bible to read the one passage I know for sure mentions a white stone: Revelation 2:17.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.”

Jesus, Revelation 2:17

The footnote reads: “This stone could signify a number of things in the ancient world, including: (1) a verdict of “not guilty” in a court or (2) an “all-access pass” for freedom from imprisonment” (Jeremiah Study Bible, NIV).

I did a little research to understand number 1, and found references to a practice in Roman times where the members voting in a court of law each had one white stone or pebble and one black. When voting not guilty, the white stone was cast; likewise, when voting guilty, the black stone was cast. When voting yay or nay, ‘yes’ was the white stone and ‘no’ was the black stone.¹ Enough white stones would clear the guilty one of charges and set them free.

For those who accept Him, Jesus casts His white stone over your life and sets you free from sin and guilt! There is no one powerful enough to cast a stone against you because all authority was given to Jesus when He died and rose from the grave.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

Romans 8:1-2

In my dream, I wore this white stone set in a necklace, my not-guilty status surrounded by silver and around my neck on display. It was a piece to wear with pride.

Our freedom as Christians is a badge that we should wear proudly. But do we?

Given that the day before I had this dream was filled with struggles and guilt over things, some of which were beyond my control, I certainly struggle with wearing my freedom proudly.

Satan, the Father of Lies, loves to whisper his guilty opinions in to our ears. “You aren’t good enough. You can’t handle this. He is never gonna forgive you for [fill in the blank]. If they only knew…”

Satan doesn’t want us to walk in freedom. But freedom is what our Maker has designed us for. There are so many things we are not meant to carry, like shame and guilt. The Bible has a lot to say about freedom. Here are a few verses:

• 2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
• John 8:36: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
• Galatians 5:13-14: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
• Galatians 5:1: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, them, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
• Ephesians 3:12: “In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
• 1 Peter 2:16: “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.”

And Jesus Himself proclaimed freedom when He read this proclamation in Luke 4, which was taken from Isaiah the prophet: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The Bible says that living in Truth–knowing Jesus personally–leads to living life in freedom.

If you find that you are not living in freedom today, I challenge you to take some time and dig into whatever is holding you back. It was not necessarily a fun time for me to press into those spaces, but it was worth it in the long run.

The goal of ministry is to reach others and help them to find their way to Jesus. If we are living in bondage to unresolved sin, then we cannot minister effectively.

We should be doing everything we can to make sure our ministries are effective. The world continues to need the love and forgiveness of Jesus more than ever. We are called to be light to the world, a city on a hill to be seen in the darkness (Matthew 5:14). If we are held back by any form of darkness, that light cannot be seen by the world.

Friends, let us do this hard work daily and with joy. Walking in freedom with a new name will change your life.

Blessings,

Lynne

References:

¹https://passionatelylovingjesus.com/encouragement/a-white-stone/ ; https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Suffragium.html