The apostles had earlier written that saints were being built, like living stones, into a spiritual house (Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:5). Now the Lord promises his saints in Philadelphia the privilege of being something as central as a pillar in God’s house. A pillar holds up the structure; remove the pillar and the building comes down. As God’s temple (and kingdom) cannot fail, the saints of the church in Philadelphia are here assured that those who in this life have “little power” (Revelation 3:8) will yet receive a central place in God’s kingdom.
12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.