12 ‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
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Revelation 3:12-13 meaning
The letter to the church in Philadelphia ends with a section written to he who overcomes, as does each of the letters to the seven churches, which outlines the blessings to be received in heaven for those who are faithful witnesses on earth:
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore.
The first promise is that he who overcomes will be a pillar in the temple of My God. Later in Revelation we learn that there is no physical temple in the new earth, and that God Himself will be the temple (Revelation 21:22). Therefore, this is likely a metaphor. Perhaps it is insinuating that if you are living by faith, you will get so close to Jesus that it will be as if you are a pillar in His temple.
Another possibility is that the pillar in the temple represents being part of Jesus's administration in ruling the new earth (Revelation 3:21). A pillar holds up the temple. It is the essential framework of support that allows a physical temple to stand erect. Perhaps Jesus is saying that the one who overcomes will be made to rule His realm and cause it to stand, to function well. This could fit together with the idea of intimacy with Jesus. It could represent the basic idea represented in the Parable of the Talents, when the master (representing Jesus) tells the faithful servants that they have done well with a small stewardship, so Jesus will put them "in charge of many things." Jesus adds to this expansion of responsibility
The reference to being made a pillar in the temple may have some historical overtones relevant to the Philadelphians. In AD 17, an earthquake struck the province by night and leveled twelve cities of Asia. The Roman historian Tacitus records that Philadelphia was among the hardest hit. Aftershocks rattled the city for years afterward, and many residents moved outside the walls, living in the open country and fleeing their buildings at every tremor.
To people who had spent years going out—out of houses, out of the city, out at every shake of the ground—Jesus promises a place in God's temple as a pillar, the very figure of what stands when everything else falls, with the assurance that the overcomer will not go out from it anymore. For the Philadelphians, a promise of permanent stability and shelter would resonate.
The pillar carries weight as well as permanence. A pillar is what holds the building up. To be made a pillar in the temple of My God (v. 12) is to be built into what bears the load in God's house—the same overcomer reward the nearby letter to Laodicea states royally: "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne" (Revelation 3:21). Scripture uses the figure exactly this way: James, Cephas, and John were "reputed to be pillars" (Galatians 2:9), and the church is "the pillar and support of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).
The pillar and the throne are one reward seen from two angles—structural and royal. The overcomer in Philadelphia is promised load-bearing standing in the coming order, part of what holds up the new arrangement "in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13).
The promise continues with names: and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name (v. 12). Philadelphia knew what it meant to take a new name. After Tiberius funded the city's rebuilding from the earthquake, Philadelphia gratefully renamed itself Neocaesarea—"New Caesar's city"; a generation later, under the emperor Vespasian, it took the name Flavia in honor of his family.
Twice the city rewrote its own identity to honor an imperial benefactor whose favor, and whose dynasty, would pass. Jesus offers the overcomer names of a different permanence: God's own name, the name of God's city, and Christ's new name—written on the believer once, by the Benefactor whose kingdom does not change hands.
The image also carries the weight of the letter to Sardis, where Jesus promises "I will not erase his name from the book of life" (Revelation 3:5): ancient cities kept civic registers from which a condemned man's name was erased, and Rome chiseled disgraced names off monuments. Philadelphia's promise runs that practice in reverse—the name inscribed on the pillar of God's temple, permanent by the word of the One who is "holy and true" (v. 7).
Here too the fit suggests purpose. The Lord gave the gateway city a door, gave the earthquake city a pillar, and gave the twice-renamed city a name that will never be revised.
The second half of the promise—and he will not go out from it (the temple) anymore—is especially significant when you consider the role of the temple in the Old Testament. The temple was the place where a special presence of God resided. So you had to go to the temple to be near to the presence of God. However, you could not go into the innermost part of the temple, which was separated by a curtain or veil, where the presence of God dwelled.
Anyone who went into this presence unauthorized would die. This veil illustrated that humans were barred from the presence of God in heaven. When Jesus died, the veil that separated humanity from God's presence was torn in two (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). This signified that the way into God's presence is now made possible through the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19-22). By being a pillar in the temple, he who overcomes is an integral part of the temple, and he remains continually in God's presence.
The promise of reward continues:
I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
Additional rewards are added as a promised benefit to be given to the one who overcomes by enduring as a faithful witness, in spite of difficulty and opposition. The first promised reward is the promise to write on him a number of names. This could be literal or metaphorical, but in either case would seem to indicate honor. We see that Jesus is honored by having names written upon Him:
The name of My God being written on the overcomers might be seen as a title of authority. When we attend a theme park, those in authority wear a uniform bearing the name of the theme park.
The name of the city of My God might also represent authority. In this case it could represent authority within the city.
The name of the city of My God could also indicate a privilege to have the right of passage in and out of the city-like a passport. We are told later in Revelation that only certain people will be allowed access into the city, the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2, 22:14).
This New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God. This city will be deposited onto the new earth, and will descend from heaven (Revelation 21:1-2). Perhaps God has had this New Jerusalem under construction for many millennia, and will unveil its glory for all to see as a part of constructing and populating the new earth.
Finally, the letter ends with the invocation for He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This refers back to the instructions in Revelation 1 to read, hear, and heed Jesus' message to them. Those who read, hear, and heed (or do) the things Jesus exhorts them to do are promised a special blessing. All seven letters to the churches in the Roman province of Asia exhort believers to continue being faithful witnesses in spite of temptation and difficulty. It is those who overcome such temptation and difficulty that will gain the promised blessing. Jesus desires the best for His servants and is here laying out how His people can gain the greatest blessings from life.