5. “ To him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out” --3:12. This is undoubtedly a reference to the demolition of the old temple. But the reward promised the Philadelphians for their faithfulness was a residence in the new temple, the spiritual temple, which could never be destroyed; out of which they would never be compelled to go, as in the case of the Jews in the destruction of the old temple of Jerusalem. The church is here conceived as a new building; and in this new temple of God the overcomers of the persecutions would be pillars; that is, to uphold the indestructible Cause of Him who had the key of David. The pillar supports the structure. When Samson pulled down the pillars supporting Dagon’ s temple, the whole structure collapsed. The faithful constituents in the new building of God would be the supporting pillars to uphold the Cause which would triumph over all persecutions of this approaching “ hour of trial.” The statement of the latter part of verse 12, referring to the “ new Jerusalem,” with a new name, simply means that the old Jerusalem, and all for which it stood, would be gone. As stated in chapter 21 of the apocalypse, the old things would pass away, and “ behold, I will make all things new.” This new temple would not be the restoration of the old house nor the reconstitutions of its ordinances. The emblem of the new name is used to distinguish a new institution, the church, from Judaism completely. It would not be a new dispensation of old ordinances: “ The old things are passed away, behold all things are new.” The promise to the members of the church at Philadelphia was that in the spiritual temple of the new Jerusalem, in contrast with the old temple of the apostate Jerusalem, the Lord established them as permanent elements of the redeemed society of his church, which nothing could destroy. These principles prevail in the church today, and should ever be a source of strength and encouragement to all of its members.