The White Stone

“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.” – Revelation 2:17

I’m sure everyone who has a kid going through distance learning this week has figured out the importance of having the right zoom link. You can have everything set up and ready, but if the zoom link isn’t correct, or you don’t have the required profile name, or something doesn’t authenticate, then none of it matters. In the old days, all you had to do was get your kid to the right classroom door; now, you need the right kind of ticket to get in, and there’s nothing quite like the frustration of working out tech difficulties that are keeping you from where you need to be.

The white stone was that kind of ticket. In the ancient near east, white stones were used as entrance tickets to plays and banquets, upon which names would often be inscribed. They were also how judges would declare their votes: they would drop into an urn a white pebble for acquittal, or a black one for a guilty verdict. The white stone could also be a reference to the stones on the breastplate of the high priest, either the twelve precious stones that represented the tribes of Israel (Exodus 28:17), or the Urim and Thummim set over the priest’s heart to represent judgment (Exodus 28:30).

Regardless, such a stone was a token of favor in the setting of a judgment of some kind—an assessment of admittance, innocence, or holiness. It was symbolic of remembrance, not unlike the manna (another small, stone-crystal-like object) hidden within the ark of the covenant, with which it is paired here. It was personalized, all the more here with its mysterious new name.

And it was something you could hold. For some reason, in this increasingly virtual world we’re inhabiting, that seems significant. The word used for “stone” here refers to a small stone, worn smooth by water: a polished pebble you could rub in your hand. White is the color of purity and victory. One day, we will be able to hold in our hands the ticket into the life we long for, the symbol of the righteousness and admission won on our behalf by Christ, the evidence that He has never forgotten us. We will hold in our hands a new name, for our eyes only, which He will give us. What an intimate, wondrous, and victorious thing that will be.