Revelation 3:12 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Will I make a pillar— As a pillar is both an ornament and a support of the building, so these martyrs and confessors shall accordingly have greater power, and thus bear the weight of government in the New Jerusalem more than others. The allegoryis here continued from buildings,and perhaps there may be an allusion to the two pillars of Solomon's temple, Jachin and Boaz, 1 Kings 7:13; 1 Kings 7:51. He shall go no more out, plainly implies an eternal state to be enjoyed in the New Jerusalem. He goes on, and I will write upon him the name of my God: it was usual to grave inscriptions on pillars: here the apostle intimates the graving the name of God, as under his divine auspices the victory was gained; as likewise the name of New Jerusalem, to signify that the victor belonged to it, and was free of it. Few texts in the whole New Testament are more illustrated by antiquity than this. Great numbers of inscriptions are yet remaining, brought from the Grecian cities of Europe and Asia, and some from islands in the neighbourhood of Patmos, in which the victories of eminent persons are commemorated. Some of these were placed near the temples of their idol deities,others in the temples themselves, to signify their being put under the particular protection of those deities; whose names were therefore inscribed upon them, as well as the names of the conquerors, and of the cities to which they belonged, together with the names of the generals by whose conduct the victory was gained. See Isaiah 62:12.Ezekiel 48:35. It is observable, that during the persecuted state of the church, Christ is constantly called the Lamb, or denominated by such symbols as express the same state; but on his entrance into the New Jerusalem, he changes it, and puts on his new, secret, or wonderful name of King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and that is, because he has then wholly changed his state, and entered upon a new one; a secret never yet thoroughly known here below, but wonderful, great, and glorious. Because the true worshippers of Christ have never yet been whollyfree from persecution, Christ has never yet shewn us his new name; wherefore those here spoken of, on whom he bestows it, are such as shall be made partakers of the same state wherein he hath it as mediatorial King.