Revelation 3:12

Him that overcometh Lit. He that overcometh, I will make him, as in Revelation 2:26.

a pillar Used of chief men in the Church in Galatians 2:9, and perhaps 1 Timothy 3:15. All Christians are living-stones in the Temple (Ephesians 2:20 sqq., 1 Peter 2:5), all necessary to its completeness, but some of course filling in it a more important position than others: and such important position is indicated by the image of the "pillars" ll.cc. But here the promise is not for Apostles or their successors only, but for all the faithful: the point is not "he shall be one of the great and beautiful stones on which the others rest," but "he shall be so placed that he cannot be removed while the whole fabric stands."

I will write upon him We repeatedly have in this book the image of the divine Name written on the foreheads of God's servants: see Revelation 7:3; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 22:4. Hence the inscribing the name is here equally appropriate to the figure and the thing signified: probably the metaphor of the pillar is not dropped, but writing the name on the pillar means the same as writing it on the man.

the name of my God, and the name of the city Cf. Isaiah 44:5; Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16; Ezekiel 48:35, for the junction of these two names. The threenames joined here are in a manner those of the Trinity, the Church being representative of the Spirit. It is probable that passages like this did much to suggest the use of the sign of the Cross on the forehead, both at Baptism and on other occasions that seemed to call for a profession of faith: and the image of the "new name" (cf. Revelation 2:17) harmonises well with the much later usage of conferring a name in Baptism.

which cometh down Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:10.

my new name See on Revelation 2:17, and Revelation 19:12 there referred to.