Jesus is “the Bright and Morning Star.” Others will know Him in all His kingly glory as the Root and Offspring of David; the world will know Him as the Sun of Righteousness that will arise to chase the darkness away, and bring healing to this sorrow-stricken world; but only the Church will know Him as “the Bright and Morning Star.” When the sun shines, the stars cannot be seen. He has not yet arisen above the horizon of this dark world as the Sun of Righteousness, but while it is yet night He is known in the heart of the believer as the Bright and Morning Star.

Two other Scriptures present Christ as the Morning Star. The apostle Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:19 that prophecy is a light in the darkness; but Christ is the Star of the day. It is true that both shine in the darkness, but there is this difference between the lamp and the Morning Star: the lamp tells me the darkness is here; the Star tells me the day is coming. Prophecy warns us as to the condition of the world around and the judgments to which it is hastening, and, as the apostle says, we do well to take heed to it. Thus the effect of prophecy is to close up all our hopes of this present age and to center our hopes in Christ. He is seen to be the coming One, and when our affections are drawn out to Christ as the center of all our hopes, then, indeed, it can be said that the Morning Star has arisen in our hearts.

In Revelation 2:28, the Lord can say to the overcomer, “I will give him the morning star.” But if He holds out the reward of power in the future (v. 26), He also gives the overcomer a portion for his heart in the present. Amid the moral and spiritual darkness of Thyatira, the overcomer will enjoy Christ known in his heart as the Star of the coming day.