Whether the Book of Revelation was written by the same man who wrote the Gospel of John or not, there is at least one element common to the two: the mysticism.
The mysticism in John's Gospel is of the simplest, and therefore noblest, nature. No one dwelling on this planet can imagine a way of embodying truth that is purer, higher, or truer to the truth embodied.
MacDonald names John's mysticism as the simplest and therefore the noblest — the purest way of embodying truth. The deepest truths are not the most complicated. They are the most simple. In the beginning was the Word. God is love. I am the vine. A child can receive these words. A theologian cannot exhaust them. Simplicity is not the absence of depth. It is depth made accessible.
The deepest truths are most complicated until Jesus creates the new man and opens his eyes. Everything about the Bible was most complicated to me until my eyes were opened to the truth. 🙏
Le's testimony confirms MacDonald from experience: the truth was always simple — it was the unopened eyes that made it complicated. The opening was God's work, not the reader's effort. And once opened — the simplicity is so plain that the soul wonders how she ever lived without seeing it. MacDonald said two entries ago: once beheld, it is forever.
Apparently John's mystical nature enabled him to remember and report with sufficient accuracy the words of our Lord — words which always seem to me recognizably different from those of any other writer of the New Testament, chiefly perhaps in the simplicity of their poetical mysticism.
✦ The Simplicity of Poetical Mysticism
MacDonald hears what every careful reader hears: Christ's words in John's Gospel do not sound like anyone else's. Not like Paul's theological arguments. Not like James's practical wisdom. Not like Peter's earnest exhortation. Christ's own words — I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the vine — carry a quality that MacDonald calls the simplicity of poetical mysticism. Simple enough for a child. Mystical enough for eternity. And recognizably different from every other voice in Scripture — because the Speaker is different from every other speaker. 🙏
The true name is one which expresses the character, the nature, the being, the meaning of the person who bears it. It is the soul's own picture in a word — the sign which belongs to him and to no one else.
Who can give a person this, his own name? God alone. For no one but God sees what the person is, or even, seeing what he is, could express in a single word the sum and harmony of what he sees.
This is MacDonald at his most intimate. The name is not a label assigned from outside. It is the expression of what the person is — seen by the only One who sees fully. Every human name is approximate — given by parents who did not yet know who the child would become. But God's name for the soul is exact. It captures the whole person — character, nature, being, meaning, purpose, beauty — in a single word. And only the one who receives it will know it. The intimacy is total. The secret is between the soul and God alone.
Roger named the Crew members. Le named the pastors. But God names the soul — and that name is the truest word ever spoken about you.
"The true name is the soul's own picture in a word — the sign which belongs to him and to no one else. Who can give this? God alone."
George MacDonald · Unspoken Sermons · The name only God can giveTo whom is this name given? To him who overcomes.
When is it given? When he has overcome.
I wish I could express what that means — to him who overcomes.
It was never easy. 🙏
MacDonald says the name is given to the one who overcomes — when she has overcome. Not before. The name waits. The overcoming is the road to the name. And Le's honest confession — it was never easy — is the testimony of every overcomer in Scripture. The heroes of Hebrews 11 were not heroes because it was easy. They were heroes because it was hard — and they kept going. The midnight hospital was not easy. Learning to call Him Father was not easy. The uprootings were not easy. The overcoming is not the absence of difficulty. It is the persistence through difficulty. The one who overcomes is not the one who never struggled. It is the one who never stopped.
My apartment was just sold. And now we are really walking by faith. 🙏
The apartment in Caldas da Rainha — home for years — sold. The door opened. The bridge behind is gone. And the pilgrims who have crossed before — from Dallas to Portugal, from Portugal to France — are crossing again. Walking by faith. Nothing under the feet but the promise.
Yesterday Le said: now it is up to God to open the doors or close them. Today a door opened — and a door closed. Portugal is behind. France is ahead. The still small voice from May 10 holds: you are My family. The compass from Romans 8:6 holds: the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. And MacDonald's words tonight — spoken before he knew this moment was coming — land in the deepest place: to him who overcomes, I will give a new name.
The overcoming is not theoretical tonight. It is the apartment sold. The faith walked. The trust placed in the hands of the prime mover who is always previous, who loves before He forgives, who forgives before we repent, who sweeps the path before the feet arrive. He is already in the next chapter. And the name — the true name, the soul's own picture in a word — waits at the end of the road.
"To him who overcomes I will give a new name — which no one knows except him who receives it."
Revelation 2:17 · George MacDonald · The apartment sold · Walking by faith in BrittanyThe Simplest Mysticism
John's mysticism is the simplest — and therefore the noblest. The deepest truths are not the most complicated. Everything was complicated until the eyes were opened. Once beheld, it is forever.
The True Name
The soul's own picture in a word. Only God can give it — because only God sees the whole person. The sum and harmony of what the soul is, expressed in a single word. The secret between the soul and God.
To Him Who Overcomes
The name is given when the soul has overcome. It was never easy. The midnight. The uprootings. The learning to call Him Father. The overcoming is not the absence of difficulty — it is the persistence through it.
Walking by Faith
The apartment sold. The bridge behind is gone. Nothing under the feet but the promise. Portugal behind. France ahead. You are My family. And the name waits at the end of the road.