Pergamum was the first city in Asia Minor to build a temple for emperor worship, proudly referring to itself as “temple-warden” for such worship, and it became the leading center for this idolatrous practice in the province. Not only that, Pergamum was a center for the cult of Asclepius, the god of healing, whose symbol was a serpent (still notable in medical symbolism), which may also have contributed to Christ’s view of the city as a center of satanic authority. Finally, a cone-shaped hill behind Pergamum was the site of various pagan temples, including one in the form of the throne of Zeus, father of the gods—yet another factor behind Christ’s declaration. As Revelation proceeds, we will see how Satan (the dragon) gives the political system (the beast) the power to persecute God’s people, as was undoubtedly occurring in this city.

When Zion is vindicated by the Lord before the nations, she will be “called by a new name” (Isa. 62:2; cf. Isa. 65:15), meaning she will be righteous and saved (Isa. 62:1–2). So too, those who conquer will be vindicated, saved, and given a new identity. The manna, the white stone, and the new name are various ways of depicting the heavenly reward, the eternal life to be granted to believers.

The new name is a shortened reference to the longer description in 3:12 of “the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My [Christ’s] new name,” which is written on the believer. In addition, 21:2 describes God’s people as the “new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” so that the name written on “overcomers” from 3:12 becomes synonymous with their very identity. Therefore, the new name written which no one knows except the one receiving in 2:17 refers to receiving Jesus’ victorious, kingly “name … no one knows except Himself” (19:12–16). Nevertheless, He reveals and imparts it only to His people in the present, in an escalated manner at the end of their life and fully at the conclusion of history (so 3:12). Rev. 2:17 and 19:12 seem to develop the similar thought from Luke 10:22: “all things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (cf. also Luke 10:17). The new name refers to being in the eternal presence of God, as Rev. 22:3–4 makes clear, “They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.” To know someone’s name, especially that of God, in the ancient world and the OT often meant to enter into an intimate relationship with that person and to share in that person’s character or power. To be given a new name was an indication of a new status. Therefore, the reception of this name by believers in 2:17 represents their final reward of being consummately identified and united with the intimate, end-time presence and power of Christ in His kingdom and under His sovereign authority. Identification with this name actually begins when Christ reveals Himself to people and they confess His name by faith. When this happens, they have a new spiritual status and are given “a little power” not to deny His name” and to persevere even in the final tribulation (3:8–10; likewise 2:13a).

It is interesting that the promise of a new name comes in the letters to Pergamum and Philadelphia, the two churches in which believers are said to have been loyal to Christ’s name (2:13; 3:8). Note also the contrast between receiving Christ’s new name in v. 17 and those who have received the mark of the beast’s name in 14:11. Finally, receiving this new name fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah, in which the faithful in Israel would be called by a new name (Isa. 62:2; 65:15), thus showing again how Christ sees the church as the new Israel. The promised blessings of this prophecy will be fulfilled among those in the church, the latter-day Israel, who do not compromise. Isaiah’s prophecy of Israel’s restoration to God’s latter-day presence lies as the basis also for all the other references in the book to the believer’s “name” (3:12; 14:1; 22:4) and God’s or Christ’s “name” (3:12 and 22:4, as well as 19:12–13, 16). Jesus is the first one to receive a new name (3:12) and to begin to fulfill the Isaiah prophecy. This must mean that He represents latter-day Israel. Others come to be identified with His new name when they believe, as apparent from their identification with Christ’s name in the present (2:13), so that they are identified as part of the beginning fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.