Morning Star

There are many stars mentioned in the Bible, but today’s look at the Lord focuses us on one star in particular:  the Morning Star.  Way back in Numbers 24, God gave the message of the Morning Star to a conniving prophet named Balaam.  Hired to curse the Israelites, Balaam thoroughly irritated his employer because he could utter only the blessings placed in his mouth by God.  One of those prophetic blessings revealed a Star that would rise up out of Jacob.  Later, the star of Bethlehem announced the fulfillment of that prophesy when God took on flesh and entered the earthly realm as a baby!  In Revelation 2, Jesus promises the “Morning Star” to those who hold fast to His ways and overcome the world; in Revelation 22, Jesus reveals that He Himself is the Morning Star! 

As we looked at last week, the Light which represents Jesus is self-igniting and self-sustaining—the Morning Star is the Light and Life of Christ.  Recognizing Jesus as the Morning Star is the key to allowing His life to dawn—to rise up—in our own lives!  Peter helps us grasp the Morning Star as he instructs us to heed the message of the prophets and those, like him, who personally witnessed the true Light of the World.  Heeding—applying oneself to the truths revealed in the Word—is key to the dawning of the Morning Star in our lives.  Only that dawning produces the transformed life God intends for His children. 

The dawning of the Morning Star has great resistance.  There is a deceptive light in our world that seeks to keep the Morning Star hidden.  The source of that blinding light is Lucifer.  The prophet Isaiah spoke of this counterfeit ‘morning star’ in relation to the fall of the king of Babylon.  The king—and Lucifer—set up their own plan for success and glory.  Both were doomed for only the plans and purposes of God are eternal.  Yet the do-it-yourself plan for glory still traps light-seeking souls.  The imitation light-bearer promotes an external transformation instead of the Morning Star dawning.  He offers a do-good and be-right lifestyle that panders to human pride and self-initiative.  Rather than the diligent seeking of Light from the Word, persistent pursuit of one’s own purposes becomes the light that leads astray.  As believers, we need the light of the Morning Star illumining our path and the world around us.  Any other light deceives and destroys. 

Let us claim the promise of Jesus and receive Him through our pursuit of His ways and His will.  May Jesus, the Morning Star, dawn in our hearts in the coming week!