BitterSweetLife

Revelation is arguably the most cryptic book of the Bible. Some verses seem to create new mysteries while dispelling old ones. Case in point: Revelation 2:17.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Bypassing, for now, the question of hidden manna, I’m compelled to wonder about the implications of this white naming-stone. What will it signify? (Will it be a pebble that we carry or a boulder than we climb?) What are the implications of having a secret name revealed to us, an identity to which only myself and Christ are proxy?

Unavoidable deduction: There will still be mysteries in heaven.
Unavoidable corollary: These mysteries will add to, not detract from, the irrepressible glory of Christ’s country.

The problem of pain is a mystery on earth, and it is not a pleasant one. Why does evil hold such sway in a world created and governed by a loving God? Agony and despair are often the attendants of these questions—and I am convinced this will not be the case in heaven, where we will see history spread out like a tapestry, dark and brilliant threads subsumed by the beauty of the workmanship. In heaven, “Sadness and sorrow will flee away,” and Christ will “wipe away every tear” from the eyes of his people.

I am convinced that heaven will hold conclusive answers to earth’s most painful unknowns. But mystery will not become outdated when Christ “rolls up the skies like a scroll” and shouts to the earth, “RESTART!” Not in the least.

Here we are, meeting with Christ himself, who invests our heavenly life with additional secrecy, as he entrusts us with a white stone and a name—a name which, I can only guess, will reconcile our deepest heart with everything that has transpired in the past and everything we will do and become in the infinitely promising future.

Will each of us have an enduring “mystique” and allurement in heaven? A hidden identity only gradually, indirectly, being revealed? Others, perhaps, will look at us and hazard guesses as to the shape of the key that we've been formed by Christ to be, and speculate about the type of door we were created to unlock.

There may be prevalent uncertainty as to “exactly who she is” or “what he is really capable of.” But the sense of confusion and panic so endemic now, where a person is said to be “finding herself,” or where we say of a friend, concerned, “Who is he?” or of ourselves, “Who am I, really?”—all this will be replaced by the permanent magnetism of enigmatically powerful beings.

There will be no dull people in heaven. Each of Christ’s people, in the meaning-rich kingdom of their Maker, will be intriguing—because personality will take off in the air of heaven: potentialities and possibilities that have been quashed and repressed all our lives will flame with vitality in the realm of Christ. We will walk and speak with God himself, the door with a million billion locks, into which all our keys will fit.

I am speculating here, but I think that the white stone mystery reserved for Christ and me will become most evident to others when I am reflecting the brilliant light of Jesus in some unique way. The candlepower mystery of AJ will gain focus when leaned towards the supernova mystery of Christ.

I wonder, will we have eyes for each other in heaven, or only for Christ, his ultimate story enfolding all our finite narratives? When I consider God’s track record here on earth, I remember that his mind is too deep to graph, much less comprehend. My conclusion: It is hard to say.

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