AND I WILL GIVE HIM THE MORNING STAR

“AND I WILL GIVE HIM THE MORNING STAR’

(Rev. 2:28)

As I continue to study Lyn Gitchel’s book on Declaring the Glory, the revelations of the man-child, are confirmed over and over.  I was so excited when I read the last page of her book. 

In Revelation two, one of the rewards given to the overcomer who will have power over the nations and rule with a rod of iron is that the Lord will give him the Morning Star.

She says, “It was a mystery to me for a long time why Jesus would say that a person who was an overcomer would receive as a reward the morning star.”  After researching the encyclopedia, the morning star is not a true star.  Stars are little light sources of their own.  They explode, are seen for a season, and then die out.  But the morning star which is also the evening star has no light of its own.  It is a planet which gets its light by reflecting it from the sun.  The sun is its only source of light, just as is true of the moon, and that is why this star can only be seen in the morning and evening.

We as God’s people are destined to reflect the image of the glorified Christ.  We have no brilliance of our own and the only glory to be seen is his glory revealed in and through us.

In 2 Peter 1: 17-19:  “We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shined in a dark place, unto the day dawn, and the DAY STAR ARISE IN YOUR HEARTS.”

“Day dawn” in the Greek is “diaugazo” which means “begins to shine through”.  Just as Psalm 19 describes the daily round of day and night as being significant, Jesus and Peter both speak of the dawn as being significant to the people of God.

Dawn does not happen instantaneously but over a period of time.  It is a take-over process whereby the light takes over from darkness and heads toward the final goal of the brilliance at midday.  Peter point out this is what is happening in our lives.  The Word “day “star is the Greek word, “phosporus” and means carrier of the light. 

“And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.”  (Genesis 1: 14-16

It was no mere chance that God hung the sun and moon in space around this little planet.  In doing this in the particular way he did it, he had something to demonstrate to us about his own purposes for mankind on this earth says Psalm 19.

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Both sun and moon are said to rule in Genesis One.  This is interesting.  Oswald Chambers, in his book, Bringing Sons into Glory writes, “ God created Adam to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.  The one thing Adam was not to have dominion over was himself.  God was to have dominion over him, and Adam had to partake in his own development by obeying God’s rule over him, not his own wisdom.  The source of life in Adam was his obedience to God.”

Here we have the perfect illustration for this in the “greater and lesser lights”.  The lesser light, the moon, was given the right to rule the night, the darkness of the world when the brilliance of the sun is hidden behind the earth and its various activities, but that right to rule is limited because the light of the moon comes only from the sun.  It has no light of its own.

The whole key to our life is found here.  The world, with all its darkness, needs Christ.  But in ourselves we have nothing to give.  The only hope for this world is found in the degree to which we reflect him.  It is not in ourselves, our training or our gifts.  It is only in reflecting him.  Little by little we are being changed so that we can reflect more and more of the glory of the greater light, the glory of the risen and glorified Christ.  The glory of God.  That’s God’s ultimate goal for mankind.

In Psalm 19: 4-6, “In them hath he put a tabernacle for the sun..”

It has always been God’s intention to dwell with his people.  From the days of Adam and Eve he made that clear.  It has been man’s choice to remain separate from God, not God’s choice.   As Psalm 19 speaks of a tabernacle for the sun which is said to shine clearly.  The moon reflect the glory of the sun and has no brilliance of its own.  As we apply this to our own lives that we have no brilliance of our own.  The only light we can offer the darkness of the world is the reflected brilliance of the risen and glorified Christ.

The secret to our own lives is actually housing the son – actually being a dwelling place for him.

 “For I was born to be His dwelling place

A home for the presence of the Lord

So let my life now be consecrated unto thee

That I may be what I was born to be.

We were born to be his dwelling place, in our own selves to house the Lord.  It is only as God fully and  completely fills our lives that we will be what he intended for us to be from the start.

The picture of the sun in Psalm 19, the greater light which is the fullness of the glory, symbolizes Christ our heavenly bridegroom.  The bridegroom is seen coming out of his chamber, his bedroom, only it is not any chamber.  It is the bridal chamber used on the first night of the marriage when they consummated their love relationship.  The marriage of the Lamb is not the end of things, it is a step along the way.  When the image of Christ is fully birthed in and through us, we will be fully reflecting his glory. (Galatians 4:19)

Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  The heavens are saying that the glory will be revealed in his people.  To bear the image of God, we will be like the moon, reflect a light that is not our own but that of the Son of Righteousness, the Lord himself. 

The moon is the reflected light of the sun but the earth gets in the way causing a new moon, half moon and so forth.  It is not until the earth is completely out of the way that the moon shows fully the glory of the sun it reflects.

Jesus was so holy that the light shown right through him.  There were no dark patches in him, any resentment, unforgiveness, or delusions of grandeur.  He was free from anything that would mar that light shining right through.

It would be interesting to do a study on why God commanded the Israelites to celebrate the new moons. 

There is a takeover process by the strength of the Holy spirit within us, until we are 100 percent yielded to God and he has full control of our lives.  This is the process from new moon to full moon, the elimination of the shadow of earth in our lives.

“For unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness rise with heal  in  his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

We are God’s people destined to reflect the image of the glorified Christ.  This is God’s purpose for man and Satan did not get the upper hand when man fell.  God’s purpose will come to completion in mankind before the work of redemption is finished.  The day of the Lord will be full light of a perfect noontime, the brilliance of his glory coming to it’s full completion.  For the sons of God it is the fullness of the glory made perfect in them, the completion of redemption, and the end of a lifelong process.  The Day of the Lord describes the fullness of the manifested glory of that time, like the noon of a day when light has fully come. 

The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. (Romans 8:18-19) J.B. Phillips translation.

“It shines like a lamp amidst all the dirt and darkness of the world, until the day dawns, and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

‘ AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE MORNING STAR’.

“Excerpts  of this sermon were taken from Lyn Gitchel’s book, Declaring The Glory of God.  Lyn will be one of our speakers at the Beyond The Bride conference taken from her book by the same name.  

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries, Inc.