THE MORNING STAR

Jim Gray

2 Peter 1: 1, 5-11, 16-19; Revelation 2: 18-21, 23 (from “and all the …”)-29;

22: 16,17

It will be evident that what is on my heart to speak to you about is Christ as the morning star. God has always been faithful and the Lord has always been faithful to His saints. There have always been times of pressure and tribulation and turmoil in the world, there have always been times of pressure amongst the people of God, but He has always been faithful. Divine Persons are faithful to what they have committed themselves to here testimonially. They give ministry to encourage us at any time in the dispensation. God takes account of us at the present time as He took account of His saints in the time of Peter. It does not quite say who Peter was writing to in 2 Peter except to say, “to them that have received like precious faith with us through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ”, that is he is writing to persons who had received the testimony of Christ, who were Christians, who had received the Christian faith. He of course was writing to Jewish believers. He tells you in his first epistle he was writing, “to the sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1: 1). He was writing to Jewish believers who had been scattered and had suffered for the testimony and he is seeking to encourage them in the Christian path. We are at the close of the dispensation but it is necessary to continue in the Christian path. I am speaking in the context of what surrounds the disclosure of the Lord as the morning star. There are certain credentials that persons should have before they would understand the appeal of Peter, or of the Lord through Peter, “until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts”. I seek to exercise us to be amongst the kind of persons to whom this disclosure of Christ as the morning star would mean something. I do not think it would mean too much to a worldly believer. In saying that I am not trying to write down worldly believers, because if there is a work of God in a person it is real. If I divert for a moment, Mr. Darby in his comments on the time of Smyrna says, the Lord sought to separate His people from the world and He allowed persecution in order to do it in the time of Smyrna, and there were worldly believers who when it came to the issue laid down their life for Christ. What it brought to light was the real work of God in them through real severe exercises. In saying that I do not think this would appeal to worldly believers exactly, I do not mean to write down the work of God in a person, but what this appeals to is persons who make their calling and election sure. I was often puzzled about that, what it is to make your calling and election sure, and I came to it that it does not mean that God doubted my election and my calling, not at all. There is no doubt about your calling and election from the divine side, but from our side we have to make our calling and election sure. How is that brought about? It is brought about by the individual saint maintaining exercise to be true to the Lord. Receiving the Christian faith is a wonderful matter, but it says, “But for this very reason also using therewith all diligence, in your faith have also virtue”, that is there is to be progress made in our faith. Receiving the Christian faith, receiving Christ as your Saviour, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is the beginning of Christian life, and what Peter goes into here from verse 5 through to verse 11, “making your call and election sure”, is what Paul speaks about in Romans 8 “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (v 14). You prove your election by your walk and your life by being exercised to maintain the faith of Christianity in your soul, maintaining Christ in your soul as a real living Saviour, maintaining your links with divine Persons, “have also virtue”. I looked this up, and I understand it is moral courage, maintaining your Christianity in the face of adversity in the world through moral courage. Then “in virtue knowledge”, that is your intelligence, you grow in your intelligence in regard to divine things, in regard to your interests of the Lord here. Then “in knowledge temperance”, that is you are moderate, you are not given to excesses, that your passions are under control, you do not lose your temper – things like that, you maintain yourself in dignity, as all Christians should do. And then “in godliness”, that is piety, and then “brotherly love” that is you are well disposed to your brethren, to your neighbour. It is, “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”, there is something flowing out of the believer towards his brother. And then “brotherly love love”, I think in the reverse I have understood this scripture, everything flows from that word love, but it is the knowledge of God that you have. It flows from the fact that you have been made a participator of the divine nature. It says, “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (v 4). What an escape to be a partaker of the divine nature! Then you come to the understanding of love as set out by God so that you are not partial in your brotherly love, you love each other because of what Christ has done in your soul, not because of what I like in a brother or sister. It is not nature’s brotherly love, that is all right in its setting: in families, brothers and sisters love each through nature, but this is more than that, this is love that is flowing from the divine source, the divine love in the believer, and it is impartial and it loves the brethren because of the work of God in them.

It says in Deuteronomy, “if thy brother grow poor beside thee”, you would consider for your brother if he grow poor beside you, that is if he is weakening in his affection for Christ or if he is falling into sin, you would be considerate for your brother – “grow poor beside thee”, grow poor in spirit. You would have consideration for your brother because you love him according to God. What an atmosphere to be in. That is the sphere of the Christian circle, and that is the sphere in which Christ’s interests are held and treasured and where Christ is held and treasured, because above all others the great thing is the Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says, “For we have not made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly imagined fables”. The Jewish people, according to scripture, were looking for Christ to come, their Messiah; they were looking for Christ as the Sun of righteousness, that is the end of the Old Testament in Malachi, “the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings”, Mal. 4: 2. What a change was to take place, glory in the world to come, the nations around in blessing, and evil removed by the judicial working of Christ, the judicial power of the Lord Jesus takes away the sin of the world. He is going to do it finally by His judicial power; He does it in our souls and hearts by the operation of divine grace. They were looking for Christ to come and they expected the Messiah to come and give them the kingdom, and they think that way until Acts 1. “They therefore, being come together, asked him saying, Lord, it is at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel” (v 6). That is what they were looking for, but the Lord ascended into heaven and there are “times or seasons, which the Father has placed in his own authority” (v 7). He did not take the place of knowing times and seasons: that was the Lord in His humility in Manhood. These believers had much in scripture to tell them about Christ coming in power. Read the Old Testament scriptures and you will see: it says here, “we have the prophetic word made surer to which we do well taking heed, as a lamp shining in an obscure place” (v 19). That is the Old Testament scriptures; they shone as a lamp in an obscure place. It is the darkness of the world, the Old Testament scriptures shone amongst the Jewish people as a lamp in an obscure place. They were told about Christ that He would come. The book of Daniel tells you about the kingdoms that would be set on, but it always ends with Christ coming. The Jewish believers were looking forward to that. Well Peter says, do not think that He will not come in power because we have seen Him come in power. It would appeal to the Jew for persons to say, we have seen Christ glorified on the mount of transfiguration, we have seen Him there, He is coming in power, just wait a little time, you need a little patience. He is seeking to encourage them, as we would do today, seek to encourage the saints to continue in their path, to continue in the testimony, for Christ is going to come in power, He has already demonstrated that He is a Man in power by His transfiguration. It says here, “made known to you the power and coming of the our Lord Jesus Christ … having been eyewitnesses of his majesty”. That would be a testimony to these dear brethren to hold fast until He come, and a testimony to us today that Christ is coming. Peter says in chapter 3, the mocker says “Where is the promise of his coming? For from the time the fathers fell asleep all things remain thus from the beginning of the creation” (v 4). But the Lord does not delay His coming, the Lord is coming.

Then he gives them this treasure, “until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts”. I think that would give them something to think about. I do not think these believers, according to the record, had heard of this before, that Christ takes another form, not the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in his wings, but there is something else for the saints. He just gives them an indication that there is a day dawning, not the day fully come. When the sun comes over the horizon the day is fully come, but the morning star is seen before that. When you look out in the early morning as the dawn comes up, the rays of another day come up and you see the morning star: all the other stars are obliterated. If you look at the sky in the early morning you see all the stars in the darkness, but as the day comes up, and the streaks of dawn arise one star remains, the only star in the heavens, and that is what the apostle is speaking about here, “the day dawn”. The earliest of the day is dawning and “the morning star arise in your hearts”, that is Christ is arising in your heart. The thing takes place in your heart, that Person whom you love, the Lord Jesus Christ, is giving you a token that He is coming and He is coming for you.

In Revelation it is addressed to Thyatira – a change takes place here – there is Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamos and the Lord’s coming is not presented to Ephesus, Smyrna or Pergamos and the word to the saints from the Spirit is before the word to the overcomer. That is up until this point the Lord, as I understand it, had held out the possibility of recovery in the church, but now there is no longer the possibility of the recovery in the church in Thyatira, things had gone too far. It says of this woman Jezebel, “I gave her time that she should repent”. I read that deliberately to show the graciousness of Christ in the dispensation that He gives time to repent, He does not act before the time, He gives time to repent. It is the same all through scripture. It says in regard to the children of Israel and the taking of the land, “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full”. He waits on man before He changes his way. He waited on the church – was it possible that His word through Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamos would cause repentance, would allow change to take place? But it did not. The world as set out in the woman Jezebel, the development of evil within the church, is such that the Lord says, “I gave her time that she should repent, and she will not repent”.

I also want to draw your attention to this, “I know thy works, and love, and faith, and service, and thine endurance, and thy last works to be more than the first” – that is a remarkable statement by Christ, that He appreciated something in Thyatira that the last works were more than the first, they were greater than what was in Ephesus. I think it came out in individuals, but the Lord takes account of everything. To Philadelphia He says, “I know thy works”, but here he says, “and thy last works to be more than the first”. There was some evidence of devotedness, and this represents, as we have been taught, Thyatira at midnight, as we speak about, the middle ages, the medieval times, but in those times there was devotedness that was not seen in earlier times. It must have been seen in individuals. Dear brethren, it makes way for each to be devoted as an individual to the Lord Jesus and He would take account of that in our lives, devotedness to Himself because of our love for Himself, and then he says, “the rest who are in Thyatira”; there were persons there that did not know the depths of Satan, He says to them, “hold fast till I shall come”. That is the first indication in the address to the assemblies that He is coming. We cannot put right the state of things in Christendom, what we have to wait for is Christ coming, He is the only One who can put matters right, the Lord Jesus Christ. No man on this earth, no ecumenical movement will ever put matters right, the only One who can put it right is Christ and He says “hold fast till I shall come”. He says to them “he that overcomes, and he that keeps unto the end my works, to him will I give authority over the nations, and he shall shepherd them with an iron rod; as vessels of pottery are they broken in pieces, as I also have received from my Father”, that is that we share with Him in His rule in the millennial day. That is a wonderful matter, but then He says, “I will give to him the morning star” – what was that? Think of the Lord giving this to a believer in the middle of the dark ages. You know dear brethren, you are going to have a portion with Christ as the morning star. It is a portion that belongs to the believer at the present time, that he is going to have a time with Christ as the morning star. That is going to mean something to you, “I will give to him the morning star”, that is Christ was about to come. There was not one iota of prophecy to be fulfilled before Christ comes as the morning star. The Lord was faithful then too when He gave this word at this time, there was not one thing of prophecy to take place before He would come as the morning star. Before He comes at the appearing as the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings there are prophetic matters to be filled out. There is the last week of Daniel’s prophecy to be filled out, there is the covenant of death to be seen where the Jews make a covenant with the head of the Roman Empire and the antichrist to continue their services in the temple. It is broken in the middle of the week: all that is to take place, but there is not one thing to take place before Christ comes as the morning star. What a matter that is to have Christ in your affections as the One who is about to come to rapture His saints. That is affection for Christ, He can come at any time and the Lord is not unfaithful. He held this out to believers at that time and it kept them faithful through their lifetime and through the tribulations that they went through. They had an imparted affection from Christ of how He appreciated their faithfulness in the day of darkness that surrounded them at that time. It is the same time now. The coming of Christ is always presented in scripture as if it takes place in the lifetime of the person who is speaking. Paul spoke about it that way, those “who are alive and remain”. He always spoke about the coming of Christ as if it would take place in his lifetime and that is the way to speak about it. If you put it off in any other way you become like the bondman who says, “my lord delays his coming” and then there will be degeneration in your soul, but be maintained in the light of Christ about to come.

I want to speak about the secret of the spring of affection, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assembly. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. You know what stimulates the heart is relationship, “I Jesus”. He does not say He is coming here, not just in this section, He says, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”. What stimulates the heart after Christ is relationship, it is the bride, it is her bridegroom. When He says I Jesus it is her bridegroom. Would not a bride want to see her bridegroom? Would she not want to respond? Mr. Darby says in his writings, it is like a wife hearing the footsteps of her husband coming up the path and knocking on the door. What a response in her heart as she goes to that door, it is relationship! If it was the postman there would be no response, but it is her husband who is coming and she knows that knock, she knows the footstep and love comes into her heart and wells forth as she desires to have him and that is, “I Jesus”. “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. That is the One who is coming. Christ coming to rapture the saints before the appearing; He is going to take us in to a time with Him before He comes out and reigns. Colossians 3 says, “for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God. When the Christ is manifested who is our life, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory” (vv 3,4). When He comes out the saints are with Him. You know, friend, that is what He held before the saints. That is what stimulates the heart that He is coming as the bridegroom, before the day of the marriage, you might say, because the marriage takes place in heaven, “the marriage of the Lamb is come”. The marriage of the Lamb does not come until what is false on the earth is destroyed. Great Babylon is judged and destroyed, then the purity of the bride comes out and her righteousness, “Let us rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready. And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints” (Rev 19: 7,8), she is suitably clad for him. Here she is the bride. Are you maintained in love and affection for Christ, dear brother and sister? Is your life and my life such that that is the kind of affection I have for Jesus? That is Philadelphia. Philadelphia is not a position, it is a state in the soul of a believer where the only thing that is going to satisfy him is Christ and when He says, “I Jesus”, the heart goes out in response immediately, “come”. That is what the Spirit says, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. The heart goes out immediately to say come, we want Jesus to come, not only come for us and take us to share that peculiar matter with Him in glory, where our life is actually hidden with the Christ in glory. Morally it is so now, but actually it will be before the appearing. That is what He held out to the saints at Thyatira at midnight, He could come at any time, He was being true to them. But in the ways of God it was delayed. Christ is waiting patiently, He would long to come, but He is waiting patiently, but time is in the Father’s hands and we are keeping the word of His patience. The word of Christ’s patience is being maintained by the saints and I think it is expressed in our gatherings, in the saints’ lives that are maintained in touch with Christ in glory by the Holy Spirit. They are maintained testimonially as working out what we call the light of the assembly, maintaining the Lord’s Supper, maintaining the glad tidings, maintaining conversations as they did in Malachi’s day, they conversed often one with another. Those are the features of keeping the word of Christ’s patience, and the Lord is pleased with that, because He is waiting. He is waiting on the Father’s perfect time when He says, “ask of me and I will give thee the nations for an inheritance”, (see Ps 2), the Father’s perfect time will coalesce with the Lord asking. We do not need to wait until the time of the appearing. We are going to have Christ personally. Mr. Darby says of the rapture, when we shall ever be with the Lord that there is nothing more to be desired by the saints than to be for ever with the Lord and that can take place at any time. Am I going to be faithful? The Lord would stimulate our hearts to maintain things that are true to Christ and waiting on Him, the One who says, “I Jesus”.

It says here “the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come”, that is someone who is not so much in touch with Christ, but you would seek to help a fellow believer to say “come”. The Spirit of God would be desirous that if there is a soul who is not quite in touch with the Lord Jesus that he would be stimulated to hear and if he hears he will say, “come” – a triumph of divine grace working in the hearts of men and women. Then it says, “let him that is athirst come; he that will, let him take the water of life freely” – that is the gospel. What a gospel flows out from hearts that are full of Christ.

These thoughts were on my heart to stimulate you and enlighten you in relation to the morning star, that is Christ as a bridegroom, and the bride responds to that immediately when He speaks. It does not say He is coming, but He says, “I Jesus”, and she responds immediately to His speaking for her heart is full of Christ. She wants Him to come, not only at the rapture to take her to be with Himself for ever, but to come into His own place in glory too. It goes right forward to the appearing. The appearing is in two parts, the rapture and the public appearing, and this scripture, I think, would include them both, going on to the public appearing, when Christ is vindicated. Would we not want to see our Lord Jesus Christ vindicated, the Man who has been maligned. The vindication of the righteous will take place in the coming day. but meanwhile the star is in the sky. May your heart be stimulated, dear brother and sister, in relation to Christ, who is about to come.

May the Lord bless His word, for His Name’s sake.

WITNEY