Young People’s Blog

“To him that overcometh will I…give…a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (Revelation 2:17).

When you and I are taken to heaven when the Lord comes, we know that the Lord Jesus will give rewards to those who have been faithful to Him down here in this world. Some rewards will be public, such as crowns to wear, or positions of authority in the millennial kingdom. But here we read about one reward that is private; no one else knows about it.

If we do something special for someone, sometimes he or she may write us a letter, expressing their appreciation for what we have done. We value these letters, and may keep them for many years. I knew a man who received a letter from the king of England, when he sent him a little book for his two daughters. He kept that letter all his life.

What the Lord will give us is a white stone, with a new name written on it. Something that is written on paper could easily get old and tattered, but if something is written on stone, it will last. Think of being given a white stone by the Lord Himself! Each one of us should be careful how we live down here, because that new name will last for all eternity.

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay” (Psalm 40:2).

“Thou hast laid Me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon Me, and Thou hast afflicted Me with all Thy waves” (Psalm 88:6-7).

Before we were saved, you and I were in a “horrible pit,’ struggling in “miry clay.” We were like people caught in quicksand, and we could not get out ourselves. That is a picture of what sin had done to us, and only the Lord Jesus could pull us out.

But in order to do this, He Himself had to go down into the pit. He had to be “made sin” for us, and to experience all the awful judgment of God against sin. In the Psalms, we find how the Lord felt when He had to endure all this, and the language used in this verse shows us how hard it was for Him to do this.

He recognized that it was the judgment of God against sin, for He says, “Thou hast afflicted Me with all Thy waves.” Waves speak of judgment, and all the judgment of a holy God against sin had to fall upon the Lord Jesus. What a debt we owe to Him!

“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him” (James 1:12).

Yesterday we spoke about the assembly in Smyrna, where they were suffering persecution, and how the Lord would give a crown of life to those who were faithful unto death for Him. You and I, who live in countries where this does not happen, might wonder, Can we win that crown, or is it only for those who die for Christ?

The crown of life is mentioned twice in the Word of God, and we see it mentioned again here in the book of James. In James it is not given for giving up our life for Christ, but rather for living for Him, and constantly resisting temptation. This takes real spiritual energy, for Satan keeps on tempting us with sin all through our lives. If we live to be older people, we may have to endure this testing for 60 or 70 years.

The Lord values this kind of faithfulness to Him, and will reward us with the same crown as those who give up their lives for Him. You and I can win that crown of life too.

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer…be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

In Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, we have seven different churches, or assemblies, addressed. The condition of things was different in each one, and in Smyrna, they were being persecuted for their faith in Christ. The Lord tells them that some of them may be put in prison, and even put to death for being believers in Christ.

But He tells them not to be afraid. Men may kill the body, but they cannot take away our salvation. The Lord says that if we are faithful unto death, He will give us a crown of life as a reward. In North America and in Europe we do not suffer this kind of persecution right now, but in many places in this world Christians are being treated badly. Some are in prison, some have lost their property, and many are being put to death. We can be thankful for the liberty which we have, but we should remember our brothers and sisters who are suffering for Christ, and we should pray for them.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Just about everything we buy today has an instruction manual. Cars have them, and today they can be quite thick and complicated. Other things like refrigerators, microwaves, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, power drills — all of them come with a manual that shows us how to set them up and operate them.

Here in our verse today we have the perfect instruction manual for our life in the world — the Word of God. Of course, we can never know everything about God, but in His Word we find the knowledge of God. Whatever we need to know in this world in order to live to please the Lord, we can find in the knowledge of God through His Word. We have the perfect instruction book in the Bible.

Sometimes an instruction book in this world deceives us, for sometimes people make mistakes when they make the book. Sometimes we have a question that the manual does not answer. But the Word of God is perfect; it never makes any mistakes, and tells us all we need to know.

“And when I [John] saw Him [the Lord Jesus], I fell at His feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17).

The Apostle John had known the Lord Jesus very well, for he was one of the disciples who had been with the Lord during all of His earthly ministry. He was also one of the disciples who was closest to the Lord, and at the last Passover, he was actually “leaning on Jesus’ bosom” (John 13:23). Yet here, when he saw the Lord Jesus, he was so frightened that he “fell at His feet as dead.” Why was this?

When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He looked just like any other man, and people could approach him easily. But here in Revelation, the Lord Jesus is seen as a Judge. As such, He appears with “eyes like a flame of fire,” “feet like unto fine brass,” “His voice as the sound of many waters,” and “His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength” (Revelation 1:14-16). He appears as One who is to be feared, and even John was afraid.

Yet how beautiful is the Lord’s answer to John! He tells him, “Fear not.” He was the same Jesus that John had known, and His judgment was for unbelievers, not for those like John. Some day you and I will see Jesus in His judgment character too, but we will not have to be afraid.

“Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude, vs. 21).

If we are true Christians, we know that we already have eternal life. As soon as we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we had eternal life, and we can never lose it. However, we do not yet have all the benefits that are part of having eternal life. We still have an old sinful nature, and we are still living in a world where eternal life is not at home. We are surrounded by sin, and our new life cannot sin. Also, we still have bodies that are subject to disease and eventually death.

All this will change when the Lord comes for us, and takes us home to be with Him. The “mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ” is really the Lord’s coming for us. It will be a mercy when He comes for us, for as this world gets worse and worse, it becomes more and more uncomfortable for us as Christians. We long to be taken out of it, and to be where we will really feel at home.

When that happens, we will suddenly have glorified bodies, and will no longer have a sinful nature. We will be taken out of this world, no longer to be surrounded by sin. It will be a wonderful time!

“Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude, vs. 21).

Perhaps you have never thought of it, but the man who wrote the book of Jude was actually the brother of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus also had a brother named James who wrote the book of James. They had grown up with the Lord Jesus, but it does not seem that they believed on Him until after He was crucified.

They would have had plenty of opportunity to see the love of God displayed in His life, and now Jude tells us to keep ourselves in the love of God. How do we do that? We know that the Lord’s love for us never changes; He continues to love us, even if we are doing something that displeases Him. However, we do not enjoy His love if we are displeasing Him; we need to confess the sin, and get right with the Lord. Then we can enjoy His love again.

So, keeping ourselves in His love means that we are on guard in our life, watching that we do not do things that displease the Lord. Then we will continue to enjoy His love for us.

“And Noah…offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake” (Genesis 8:20-21).

After the flood, Noah and his family came out of the ark. When he went into the ark, Noah had taken seven of every clean animal. When he came out of the ark, he was led of the Lord to offer burnt offerings with some of those clean animals, and it tells us that “the Lord smelled a sweet savour.” Why was this?

It was because those burnt offerings spoke of Christ. The Lord Jesus would not come and suffer on the cross for more than 2,000 years after the flood, but God looked on to this, and said that He would not curse the ground any more for man’s sake. God is a God of mercy, as well as justice. Yes, God will judge this world, and perhaps very soon, yet He smells “a sweet savour” when He sees the work of Christ on the cross. God knows that man can never improve through his own efforts, but in coming to Christ, our sins can be washed away. Through the value of that work sin will eventually be removed from this whole universe.

“Praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude, vs. 20).

It is a real privilege to be able to go to the Lord in prayer. Most people in the Old Testament did not know about prayer; God had not given them that privilege yet. But now, since the Lord Jesus has died, we may all go to the Lord, first of all to thank Him for all He has done for us, and then to bring before Him our needs, and the needs of others.

An old brother, now with the Lord, used to remind us that “a prayerless life is a powerless life,” and this is true. Prayer brings us into the Lord’s presence, and by the Holy Spirit we can go to the Lord at any time. Sometimes we hesitate to pray about little things, and perhaps reserve only the big things for the Lord to look after. But the Lord wants to hear about little things too, and He loves to hear us pray about simple things in our everyday life. I knew an older Christian lady who would put her glasses down, and then forget where they were. Since she could not see very well without them, she would have to ask the Lord to help her find them. She said that He always helped her find them!