<p>2:17- see on Jn. 1:14; 1 Tim. 6:19.</p><p><em>He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches-</em> see on 2:7.</p><p><em>To him that overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna- </em>Here we have another example of allusion to Jewish legend. It suggests that the churches addressed were known to John whose Gospel was clearly aimed at Jews; they probably included his converts. Hence the allusions to Jewish terminology that would have been inappropriate if largely Gentile converts were being addressed. The Lord Jesus speaks of giving His people &ldquo;of the hidden manna&rdquo; &ndash; referring to the myth that Jeremiah had hidden a golden jar of manna in the Holy of Holies at the destruction of the temple in 586 BC, which then ascended to Heaven and is to return with Messiah. The Lord doesn&rsquo;t correct that myth, as He doesn't correct misunderstandings about demons&ndash; He as it were runs with it and uses it as a symbol to describe the reward He will bring. He adds no footnote to the effect &lsquo;Now do understand, this is myth, that jar never really ascended to Heaven nor will it come floating back through the skies one day&rsquo;. Perhaps this is why the New Testament often quotes the Septuagint text, even where it incorrectly renders the Hebrew original &ndash; because God is not so paranoid as to feel bound to only deal in the language of strictly literal truths. If first century people were familiar with the Septuagint, even if is a poor translation of the Hebrew original in places&ndash; well OK, God was willing to run with that <em>in order to engage with people in their language</em>.</p><p><em>And I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives it</em>- It has been suggested that this refers to a custom of writing a name on a stone, breaking the stone in half at random, and each friend keeping one half. The half stone would only fit exactly with the other half stone, and when the friends met in the future, they would fit the stones together as proof of their earlier relationship. Relationships in the Kingdom of God will be in that sense private and unenterable. Bible characters often have epithets in God&rsquo;s record of them- Judas who betrayed, Jeroboam who made Israel sin. We will be given such a name / summation of our relationship with the Lord in the Kingdom. Nobody else knows / understands / appreciates this name. This is a clear statement that other believers cannot enter into the personal relationship between a man and his God. Likewise, none of us can know the name which was written on the Lord Jesus (Rev. 19:12). None of us will ever quite be able to enter into the nature of the relationship between Father and Son. If we could, He would not be our Lord. Paul possibly expresses the same idea of an unenterable relationship in 1 Cor. 2:15: &quot;He that is spiritual discerneth all things (about God), yet he himself is discerned of no man&quot; (AVmg.). Our real spiritual being is a &quot;hidden man&quot; (1 Pet. 3:4).</p><p>Eating the hidden manna is to be paralleled with being given the stone. The context implies this will be done at the day of judgment. According to a number of commentators, a white stone was laid down by the judge as a sign of acquittal and acceptance. The Lord would therefore be implying that after our encounter at the judgment, there will be an ongoing relationship in the Kingdom of God between us, a locking together of stones which no-one else possesses. The white stone is also parallel to the white, stone-looking manna of the wilderness years (Ex. 16:14,23; Num. 11:7). The reward we will be given in the Kingdom will be our spiritual food, to be eaten 'daily' throughout the Kingdom. Israel were to eat on the seventh day (a type of the Kingdom) the manna which they had gathered and prepared on the sixth day. The manna is a symbol of God's word as expressed in Christ (Jn. 6). Biblically, a name refers to personality and character. The new name which no one else knows thus refers to the reward &quot;prepared&quot; for us individually, the new personality which we will be in the Kingdom, the room in the Father's house prepared for each of us (Jn. 14:1). This latter idea alludes to the way that there were chambers around the temple named after individuals (e.g. Ezra 10:6). We will <em>each</em> have our own chamber, in this figure. This new personality will be written on the manna / stone, it will be the result of our own very personal distilling of the essence of God's word. The concept of a name written on a stone sends the mind back to the way in which the names of the tribes of Israel were written on the stones of the breastplate, each reflecting a different aspect of the light of God's glory (Ex. 28:17). We will do this through our personal understanding of and response to God's word. It is a comforting yet sobering thought that the Lord sees us as 'names'; not just as people. Biblically, the name speaks of the character. When He says He will confess us before the Father (Mt. 10:32), He means He will confess our name before God (Rev. 3:5); He knows us according to our names / characters. He speaks of ecclesial members as &quot;names&quot; in Rev. 3:4; He calls His own sheep by name, and they each know His voice, responding to His word <em>individually</em>. The call to one sheep will only be recognized by that sheep; the others won't respond (Jn. 10:3). He will take individual note of each sheep, treating them accordingly, as the shepherd leads more gently those that are with young (Is. 40:11). It seems that even now, we each have our own individual name with the Father and Son, encompassing their understanding of our essential character. It may even be that in the record of Scripture, God inspired the writers to record the names of individuals according to His judgment of them (or at least, how the faithful viewed them at the time), rather than by the names they actually went under. What mother would have named her child Nabal (fool), or Ahira (brother of evil, Num. 1:15), or 'sickness' or 'wasting' (Mahlon and Chilion)? These names were either given to them by others and the use adopted by God, or simply God in the record assigned them such names.&nbsp;</p><p>We will relate to each other in terms of our spiritual characteristics. We will each have a name or character which is individual to us. We will relate to each other not by names as pieces of language, but by reason of the characteristics which they speak of. To relate to each other for ever as we do now, in human terms, would be totally unfulfilling. There is an urgent need for us to develop a spiritual aspect to our relationships now, especially between husbands and wives, parents and children.</p><p>Compare the engraving on the stone &quot;which no man knows&quot; with the Urim and Thummim stones; the engraving upon them would not have been known to anyone except the High Priest, who perhaps saw them once per year in the Most Holy. Rev. 2:17 also speaks of the &quot;hidden manna&quot;, hidden in the Most Holy. It would fit the context if the &quot;white stone&quot; refers to the Urim and Thummim. Alternatively, the reference may be to the &quot;white stone&quot; of the tables of the covenant. The new name written upon them would then connect with the covenant which God writes on the believer's heart as part of the new covenant: &quot;I will put my law in their inward (cp. &quot;hidden&rdquo;) parts, and write it on their hearts&quot; (Jer. 31:33; 2 Cor. 3:3). Whilst the terms of the covenant are the same for each believer, the personal promise of the Kingdom is something which no other person can enter into. So we should never be 'bored' with hearing about the basic Gospel, the promises which comprise that covenant.</p>