Eternal Pillars of Glory

Revelation 3:12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more.”

In the passage of scripture quoted above the Lord reveals the seventh reward that He has for those who overcome. In this passage our Lord reveals that He will make us a pillar in the temple of God. So what does the Lord mean when He says that He will make the saints pillars in God’s temple? The Lord explains that concept to us when He goes on to say that the saints will no longer go out from the presence of God. In other words we will abide in the presence of God throughout all eternity.

Revelation 7:15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.”

In the passage of scripture quoted above the scripture reveals to us that we will serve God day and night in His temple. The scriptures teach us that our Lord Jesus has made us to be both kings and priests unto God our Father (Revelation 1:6). And so we see that not only will we reign with Him throughout eternity as kings, but we will also minister to Him as priests throughout eternity. Our priestly roles will be to offer spiritual sacrifices before the Lord daily in His temple. There can be no greater honour bestowed on the people of God than to worship before His throne in His very presence. Many have experienced the glory of God in a limited degree as they have worshiped Him in spirit here on the earth. However words in this life cannot come close to describing the fullness of the glory that the saints will experience as they worship before the throne of Majesty in the ages to come. As an aside we need to note that when the scripture says that we will minister to God in His temple, it is actually referring to the New Jerusalem, for the scripture teaches us that there is no temple in the New Jerusalem, for God Himself and the Lamb are the temple of that city (Revelation 21:22). And so in effect the seventh reward given to the Lord’s saints is that they will become eternal citizens of the New Jerusalem.

Revelation 3:12 “He who overcomes …. 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 I will write on him My new name.”

In the passage of scripture quoted above the Lord Jesus reveals the eighth reward that He has in store for His saints who overcome. We can see from this passage that the saints will have three names inscribed on them, i.e. the name of God, the name of the New Jerusalem and the Lord’s new name.

Revelation 7:2-3 “Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, (3) saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

So what are the implications of the saints having the names of God inscribed upon them? In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit reveals to us that just before they went into the period of God’s wrath being poured out on the earth, that the one hundred and forty-four thousand were sealed by the angel on their foreheads. If you read the context of this passage you will know that the reason that these saints were sealed in this manner was so that none of the plagues incurred by the earth’s inhabitants would be able to come near them. And so, in a similar manner, the rest of the Lord’s saints will also have the eternal seal of God placed upon them so that all of God’s creation for all of eternity may recognise that these belong to Him and are to be treated as such. Having the name of the New Jerusalem inscribed on the saints declares to all that their citizenship is in that city and that they have been born there (Psalm 87:5-6). Although the Lord does not mention it specifically, nevertheless the above passage implies that God’s names will be inscribed on the foreheads of the saints.

Michael E.B. Maher

Eternal Judgement

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