Sometimes, though not very often, I get up just before sunrise to look at the sky. I enjoy the transformation of the light and colors from indigo to blue, with a mixture of grays, yellows, oranges and reds. On cloudless mornings, the stars seem to switch off one by one, until there is only one, bright morning star in the heavens.
It shines like a beautiful jewel, but it doesn’t twinkle. Its light is clear and bright and years ago I discovered that it’s not a star. It’s the planet Venus, reflecting the light of the Sun. To the naked eye, it looks like a bright star, but if you take time to look at it through a telescope, you’ll also discover that Venus goes through the same phases as the moon, so sometimes you see half a planet, a quarter, or even a crescent.
To the ancients, the morning star was a symbol of hope, and in this passage from Revelation, Christ refers to Himself as this bright star. In other words, He’s telling all of us that hope comes to us each day through His loving, merciful and benevolent presence.
Today, we may be facing some trouble or hardship, some crisis or concerns. Whatever they are and however fearful we may be, let’s hold on to this eternal hope that Christ has given us. He is our bright, Morning Star and He will always be with us to lead us from the darkness of our fears into the glorious brightness of faith.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, when troubles assail us and we get downhearted, be the brightness that we need. When things go wrong and we are hurt, heal us and bathe us with Your loving light. When we get scared of feel as though our worries will overshadow our lives, lead us back into the rays of hope. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.
1 comment:
I hope you can find this usful. Grant lays out the Dispensational view far better than a non-dispensationalist would or would allow.
The following is an extract from "The Hope of the Morning Star" by F. W. Grant and can be read at:
http://www.newble.co.uk/grant/misc2/hope1.html
The hope of the Morning Star may sufficiently characterize the view before us. Christ Himself is the Morning Star, and as such promised to the Christian overcomer. The morning star as such precedes the sunrise; does not enlighten the earth, but is lost in the beams of the sun when it arises. In Scripture it is the seal upon the closing page of the New Testament, as the Sun of righteousness is the seal upon the last page of the Old. It is connected with heaven alone; while the Sun in its rising brings heaven and earth together. We hold, as many have held it, that Christ's coming as the Morning Star is the hope of the Christian, and introduces him to the enjoyment of his place with Christ in heaven. The dead saints of all the past are raised; the living are changed and caught up to meet the Lord in the air along with these. And this is the first thing now to be looked for, whatever signs may in fact be given before it of the Lord's approach; as even now there are many.
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