KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

Astronomy is the oldest science that is known to man. Last night on top of Mount Wilson and at Palomar in California men kept a lonely vigil through the night looking at the stars, and they are looking at the stars in a new way. They are looking at them for a new meaning. Actually, they are looking out there trying to find a place for man to go. The Word of God turns man's attention repeatedly to the heavens. "The heavens declare the glory of God... day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" (Ps. 19:1-2). The heavens do not speak English, yet they speak to every Englishman and every American. The heavens do not speak French, but they speak to every Frenchman. They do not speak Spanish, still they speak to every Spaniard. They speak in every language to every people. The Old Testament closes with God directing man to look to the heavens. God says, in effect, "Look up to the heavens, and don't miss it, because it's important!" "Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:2). The Old Testament closes pointing a finger to the East, to the sunrise, proclaiming that all who fear the Lord are to look in that direction because there is the promise of sunrise. The Old Testament is expectation, it doesn't conclude anything. But it points to the heavens. It points us to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Sun of Righteousness, arising with healing rays over the horizon of this earth-realm. And, brothers and sisters, that is a fitting figure, because the Lord comes to usher in a NEW DAY.

The Old Testament ends with the glorious promise of the arising of the Sun of Righteousness. But the New Testament does not begin with the Sun of Righteousness. Wise men came from the East and walked down the streets of Jerusalem and said, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His STAR in the East." Not the sun, but the star. God hung in the heavens something supernatural, something new, something divinely glorious - a star. And out of the East, these men who had been studying the stars, began to converge on Jerusalem. And if you think there were just three little wise men there, you need to read the story again. There were probably three hundred! I don't think for one moment that three men from Persia could have caused such a commotion in Jerusalem. Matthew says that at their appearance king Herod was troubled - greatly disturbed - and THE WHOLE OF JERUSALEM WITH HIM. They came from every direction. They came from all the countries of the mysterious Orient. And they said, "We have seen His star, and we've come to worship Him."

Now how did they come to associate the coming of Christ, as a King with a star? If you want to know where they got it you will have to get into the gondola of a heathen prophet and go up with him. Back in the book of Numbers this heathen prophet who had a message from God said this, "I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come a STAR out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth... out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion" (Num. 24:17-19). "I shall see Him, but not now (the One of whom I am speaking is not present yet): I shall behold Him, but not nigh (this is not going to happen within the foreseeable future): there shall come a STAR out Jacob..." Out there in a pagan, heathen land there was given this prophecy to the Gentiles that a STAR was coming! They were to watch for a star, if you please. They had that prophecy in that area of the world. They were looking for a star, and when they saw it they converged on Jerusalem.

The star in Matthew chapter two is just the beginning of this matter in the New Testament. If we go to the last book, the book of Revelation, we see two things: the first is that the Lord Jesus is the star, not the evening star but the Morning Star (Rev. 22:16); secondly, we see that all the stars mentioned in the book are people. We have so frequently discussed the symbolism of the book of Revelation that there will be no need to remind those who read these lines that every sentence in this marvelous book has a symbolical and figurative significance and stands for some SPIRITUAL REALITY. The language of the Bible is the language of symbols.

The sweet singer of Israel ran his skilled fingers elegantly across the strings of the harp while by inspiration of the Holy Spirit he intoned these majestic words: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun" (Ps. 19:1-4). Surely there is something more referred to here than a mere wonder excited by the works of the Creator! When we read the whole Psalm and mark its structure, and note the words employed, we are emphatically told that the heavens contain a revelation from God; they prophesy, they show knowledge, they tell of God's glory, and set forth His purposes and counsels.

On a clear, moonless night the stars overhead are a wonderful sight. If the weather is warm, we can easily become engulfed in the awesome spectacle. The overwhelming variety, the mind-boggling distances, and the intriguing patterns soon capture our imagination. Only the cool night wind or the reminder from the back of the neck that we are not accustomed to looking up for so long will bring, us back to earth sooner than we might like.

A star is a huge ball of glowing gas in the sky. The sun is a star. It is the only star close enough to the earth to look like a ball. The other billions of stars are so far away that they are no more than pinpoints of light - if they can be seen at all. There are more than 200 billion billion stars. Suppose that everyone in the world were to count the stars. Each person could count more than 50 billion of them without the same star being counted twice. Stars are enormous objects. The largest stars would more than fill the space between the earth and the sun. One star can measure more than 100 million miles across! We can hardly imagine the great distances that separate the stars. The star nearest the sun is more than 25 million million miles away from the sun. But even this great distance is only one-billionth the distance from the sun to the farthest stars. Gazing upon the multitude of stars that shine in the nocturnal heavens, one might despair of ever reading anything intelligible in their design - they seem to be so scattered, so entirely without order, spread with such confusion over the face of the sky. And so far away, so silent.

Some time ago our daughter took an aptitude test to discover her career abilities, or what she is best at. She came across questions that were expressed in this way: "A group of four things are set before you; three of them have something in common and one of them seems out of place. Find the one that does not belong." How about a little test right now. In the first chapter of the Bible we read "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also" (Gen. 1:16). Again, "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Gen. 1:14). Of the four things set before us in this verse did not one of them seem strangely out of place? Some one is asking, "What four?" Notice again: "...and let them be for SIGNS, and for SEASONS, and for DAYS, and YEARS." Does one of them seem out of place? It would be obvious to everyone with even an elementary knowledge of astronomy that the heavenly bodies have a great deal to say about our YEARS, our DAYS and our SEASONS. But how are they SIGNS? What is a sign? Perhaps the best way to answer our question is by answering another question first. What, precisely is the purpose of a "sign"? Is it not to proclaim a message? To give information? To tell a story which is important to the one who put up the sign? A sign is also something arbitrarily selected and appointed to represent some other thing. To SPIRITUALLY comprehend the creative record, we must admit that God intended these orbs of light as expressions of some special teaching; something different and higher far than what is naturally deducible from them. Stop there for just a moment. Ask yourself what the inspired Psalmist means when he says that every day speaks to him and to us. What does he mean when he declares that every night is a showing forth of KNOWLEDGE? To whom does he refer when he says that there is no place on earth where the language or speech of men is spoken that "their voice is not heard"?

There are signs in the heavens! There are stars revealed in the Word of God which portray the plan and purpose of God. In this study we want to consider the mystery of the Morning Star, the identification of the Morning Star and what it represents to us in the spirit. The Morning Star is mentioned twice in the book of Revelation and is involved with Jesus and with the promise of the Lord to the overcomers. What or who is the Morning Star? Come and see! "And, behold, I COME QUICKLY ... I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last ... I am the root and the offspring of David, and THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR" (Rev. 22:12-16).

The Lord Himself is the Morning Star. I do not hesitate to tell you that to see Christ is to behold the Morning Star. To know Christ is to know the Morning Star. To experience Christ is to experience the Morning Star. How can we find Christ? How can we see and touch and experience the Christ? This was the same problem that confronted the wise men of old. One thing is certain. To find Christ is a living matter; it is not by a knowledge of the Bible and doctrines and Church traditions. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There is no doubt about this - it is an historical fact. The strange thing, however, is this: far away from the so-called Holy Land, far away from the religion of the Jews, far away from the glistening walls of the temple, far away from the sacred books of the Law, far away from the bleeding sacrifices, far away from the priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, and all the fervent and incessant religious activities, there appeared a star bearing the revelation of the Christ in a heathen land. It did not appear to the Pharisees or the priests or the scribes or even to the king of Israel, but to men in a pagan land. Today, all the Churches, all the preachers and teachers tell the people that they must find and know Christ by the Bible. But the first case of finding Christ in the world was not by the Bible! The wise men were not reading the Bible as they rode along the way to Jerusalem. These men had seen something that no man before them had ever seen. Their eyes and minds and hearts had received the sweet sound of a message so transcendingly glorious that it compelled them to make a journey that lasted for two whole years.

You see, precious friend of mine, merely to hold the Bible in your hand and read Micah 5:2 (revealing that Christ would be born in Bethlehem), as did the scribes in Jerusalem, is not sufficient. You may read all the prophecies and all the promises and all the great statements of God's wonderful plan and purpose and provision. You may confess after you have read it that you have got it. You may name it and claim it, but you have not seen it. The chief priests and scribes in Israel knew the scriptures forward and backward, but the Lord did not appear to them. He went far away to a heathen land to reveal the Christ to some heathen, not through the scriptures, but through something which no human hand can ever touch - a heavenly star! To hold the book in your hand is easy, but to look unto the star is another matter. Like so many Christians of our day, those priests and scribes rejoiced in and revered the things they read in the book, but their hearts could not comprehend nor were they able to recognize the vital truth and reality of the message. They had the book, but their eyes had never seen the star - so they could not find the Christ! No one knows just when or where or how the star will appear. But I can assure you of one thing - you may attend the greatest seminary and understand all the theology and receive the highest degree conferred upon one in that, and never see the star or find the Christ. We may think that the star should have appeared to the priests praying in the temple, but it appeared to pagans in a distant land.

Oh! that we may see this star. What is the star? The star is the LIVING REVELATION, the QUICKENING VISION of the Christ wrought in the heart by the illuminating activity of the Holy Spirit. The star is not the dead letter of the Word, the outer shell or husk of the truth. What is needed today is not the knowledge of static creeds and lifeless traditions, not empty ceremonies and impotent programs, not more religious activities, but the heavenly vision, the celestial glow and gleam, the holy brightness and brilliance of THE STAR, the vision that carnal concepts can never reach. Ah, my friend, what have you? Do you have the Bible, do you have religion, do you have Church meetings, or do you have the star? Do you know all the verses, claim all the promises, and stand on all the doctrines, or do you have the heavenly star? Are you clinging to the dying embers of yesterday's revelation and yesterday's move of God, or are you following the on-going path of the Living Star?

You see, the wise men need not to have gone to Jerusalem at all. The Christ child was not in Jerusalem. And when they did find Him they found Him not in Bethlehem, but in Nazareth; not in a stable, but in a house (see our booklet "Five Reasons Why The Sons Of God Should Not Celebrate Christmas" - available upon request). When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem king Herod called the chief priests and scribes together and inquired of them where Christ should be born. The scribes were the Bible Professors of that day. Immediately they answered, "Bethlem!" And they showed him chapter and verse - Micah 5:2. But did any of them hurry off to Bethlehem to find the King and worship Him? Not one! They were troubled by the news, but no one had revelation enough to go see what had happened. The Jewish leaders had all the religious head-knowledge, all the theology and dogmatics, but the wise men had the Living Star!

Then the wise men departed from Jerusalem, and we read this astounding statement, "Lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them...when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." When you get into religion, you miss the star, but when you leave religion, the star appears to you. Things have not changed in two thousand years. I would impress upon every saint of God who treasures the beautiful hope of sonship to God that you cannot get living guidance from the ministers of the harlot church system; you cannot receive the heavenly vision in religion; you have to leave. When they departed from Jerusalem, lo, THE STAR WENT BEFORE THEM till it came and stood where the young child was. The heavenly star led them to the very spot, into the living presence of the Christ. This is all we need. Let no one misunderstand my words. I am not saying we have no need of the scriptures. Do we need the knowledge of the scriptures? Of course we do! The wise men had, without doubt, received the wonderful prophecy handed down from generation to generation, uttered long centuries before by the prophet Balaam, proclaiming, "There shall come a star out of Jacob!" How else would they have known what King they sought? This was very helpful. BUT THEY COULD NEVER HAVE FOUND THE CHRIST WITH THAT INFORMATION. Only the living guidance of the star could bring them to the Christ.

We want to see that star today. Oh what bursting there must have been in the bosom of the Seer of Patmos as the sublime words of Jesus swept like a thunderous tidal wave over his awakened consciousness! "I AM the root and the offspring of David, and THE BRIGHT AND THE MORNING STAR." From the desolation of Patmos John had beheld the natural Morning Star many a time after a night of storm, floating in the infinite spaces of the morning darkness. In our solar system the Morning Star is that bright planet - Venus which at some seasons of the year appears so beautifully in the east, at the darkest hour of the night, leading on the morning - the harbinger of the day. Paul said, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Rom. 13:2). The hour spoken of by the apostle is that time just before the dawn - the darkest part of the night. It is the time of the Morning Star. The Morning Star is the last great star of the night season, the brightest star of all the stars that adorn the canopy of the heavens at night. In fact, it is still visible as the sun spreads its first rays over the horizon. It is the last star to disappear into the surpassing glory of the dawn.

The appearance of Christ as the Morning Star is a most glorious manifestation of the Lord to His elect. It is amazing how one fresh word of revelation from the Lord can change the whole course of our understanding and give us renewed hope and a fresh vision of the necessary dealings and processings of God in our lives to usher us onward into His fullness. I have been inspired and encouraged with this precious truth. This is indeed a revelation of the Lord's purpose and ways that has inspired within new understanding, confidence and anticipation of the glory that lies before. It is my deep desire that all who read this message shall be encouraged in their forward walk in Christ.

There is a remarkable and illuminating passage of scripture in II Pet. 1:16-19. "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWN, AND THE DAY STAR ARISE IN YOUR HEARTS."

There has been a world of misunderstanding and misinformation connected with these significant words of Peter. Peter said that we have a sure word of prophecy. We are admonished to give heed unto this sure word of prophecy until the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts. It cannot be disputed that most Christians have carelessly assumed that that sure word of prophecy is the holy scriptures. But the sure word is not the Bible! Peter does not merely state that we have received a sure word of prophecy. I would draw your reverent attention to his exact words. This is very important. "WE A-L-S-O have a M-O-R-E sure word of prophecy." Then he goes on to say in the subsequent verses that the prophecy came not in OLDEN TIMES by the will of man: but "holy men of God SPAKE as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost" (II Pet. 1:21). The message is just this: in OLDEN TIMES holy men of God SPAKE as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and this record is the scriptures (vs. 20). But now, WE A-L-S-O have received a word - a M-O-R-E SURE WORD of prophecy. We also ... likewise ... in like manner ... furthermore ... in addition to ... beyond that which was spoken in olden times...WE ALSO have received a word of prophecy which is even MORE SURE than that uttered of old. And what is this more sure word of prophecy which we now have? It is the revelation Peter and the disciples received on the holy mount with Christ!

The record of the dazzling-glory of Christ's transfiguration is gathered from the accounts of the three Gospel writers. "He was transfigured before them," says Matthew, "and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." To this Mark adds this descriptive sentence: "His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." Luke in his account adds the significant statement, "His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering." The significance of the word GLISTER is that that which glistens is merely reflecting light as a bright object might reflect the light of the sun, but that which glisters shines from light that comes from within itself. It was in this manner of animated illumination that Jesus was seen in transfiguration. The light which He really is was shining as the sun from within Himself. He IS LIGHT, even as a star IS LIGHT.

With overwhelming awe these three men awakened from the drowsiness of their sleep, for they had been sleeping (Lk. 9:32), to gaze in wonder at the magnificence of the transfigured form of their Master. It was many years after this heavenly event that Peter wrote, "We were eyewitnesses of His majesty." The word MAJESTY occurs only three times in scripture. Once it is translated MIGHTY POWER, once MAGNIFICENCE, and once MAJESTY. It speaks of splendor, beauty, glory and power and that which overwhelms the human mind, enlightening the believer to the beauty of holiness, subduing the nature and inciting to the depths of veneration and adoration. As we consider this marvelous experience we should especially notice this most meaningful statement spoken when our Lord Jesus Christ received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice from the excellent glory, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; HEAR YE HIM" (Mat. 17:5).

What did Peter, James and John see on that mount? There was the blessed Lord Jesus, with Moses and Elijah, the type of two things - the law and the prophets. There you have two men - the greatest of all lawgivers, and one who epitomizes in the most splendid manner all that the prophetic mantle embodies. And in the presence of these the heavenly Father gives all glory and honor unto His Son with the command to the disciples: "Hear ye Him." HEAR HIM! When the disciples heard it they fell on their faces, seized by alarm and struck with terrifying fear. All their life times they had been instructed to give the utmost respect and unfailing obedience to every sacred word of Moses and the prophets. But Jesus came and touched them, and said, Get up, and do not be afraid. And when they raised their eyes they saw no man but Jesus only. The message is clear - the law and the prophets have forever passed away, and today there is just THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD. "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10). This the voice of the Son of God, the indwelling testimony of Jesus, the inward illumination of the Christ within as the spirit of prophecy, IS THE MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY WHICH WE HAVE.

Hear what the apostle says about this more sure word of prophecy. "Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto A LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL the day dawn, and the DAY STAR ARISE IN YOUR HEARTS" (II Pet. 1:19). Two-foldedness is the teaching here, both in type and antitype; they fit each other in the law of the analogue as hand and glove, and each bears conclusive witness of the other. First, there is the light that shines in a dark place. Second, there is the Day Star that arises in the heart, bringing in the dawn or brightness of the day. Every person understands what the Morning Star is. The Morning Star appears at the darkest part of the night. It rises above the horizon suddenly just before the blackest part of the night. It is seen and greeted only by a few who are watching for it. The rest of the world is asleep. Only astronomers and heaven gazers and waiters-for-the-dawn see the Morning Star. The sun, on the contrary, floods the whole world with light and awakens and gives life to all nature. Before its illuminating rays the darkness and shadows of night are scattered. The Morning Star is not daylight. You never saw a man wakened up in the morning by the Morning Star. You must get up early to see the Morning Star. What wakes people up in the morning is the streaming sunlight - it is daylight. The Morning Star is all very good for a man in the dark morning, but the Morning Star is not the day.

Two-foldedness is the thought which leaps along all the lines proclaiming the coming of our Lord as Light: He comes as the Morning Star, as a light shining out in the darkness; and then He comes as the Day Star, as the sun arising in all its strength and majesty, bringing in the day. The most notable of all stars is that star which is called the sun. The sun is the center of our solar system. All the planets of our solar system revolve around the sun. In the scripture the sun is called the Day Star - it is the star of the day. It is the one star in God's vast universe which gives us the light of day. And just as the natural sun is the center of our physical solar system, so the spiritual sun, or Day Star, is the center of our spiritual solar system. The Day Star typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He is spoken of in Mal. 4:2 as the Sun of Righteousness who arises with healing in His rays. Peter calls Him the Day Star which arises IN OUR HEARTS. The entire Kingdom of God revolves around this Sun of Righteousness who is the Day Star. The saints of God revolve around the Lord Jesus Christ, the center of our spiritual solar system. Those who would do away with the central supremacy of THE SON are manifestly "wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness to the age" (Jude 13). HE is the center of all things in God to His creation. When does the Day Star appear? The Day Star appears when the night season ends. The Day Star, the arising of the sun, signals the ending of the night. The darkening of the sun in scripture always speaks of the obscurring of Jesus. Any time the operation and manifestation of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is blotted out through apostasy, carnality or unbelief, the darkness of night falls upon the hearts of men.

Do you inquire what is the Morning Star? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is the Sun of Righteousness? It is the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord Jesus seen, experienced and known in a totally different dimension. The symbols proclaim it. The Morning Star is a symbol. The rising sun is a symbol. The Morning Star comes before the sun. It gives no shattering, awakening signs of its coming. It comes at the hour when the night is disputing with the morn. It comes when all the lowlands are in depths of darkness, when the mountain peaks stand out against a tremulous sky, and the myriad stars seem like the eyes of watchers waiting for the dawn. It sines with noiseless softness upon the earth, like a golden lamp let down by an invisible chain. It poises itself for a brief moment on the rim of the night and the rim of the morning, like a note of unuttered song. It quivers there for a space as though it were a tear from the eye of God, sorrowing that so many should sleep and miss the one transition hour from darkness into light. It disappears and the earth seems full of a strange hush. Then there are mists that rise like wraiths above the streams. Shadows and shapes come and go. Voices are calling to each other. Things are in motion and undefined. The star has come and gone and the interval between the star and the sun is on. The sun comes after the star is gone, or the star disappears because of the surpassing glory of the sun. The sun comes like one who has a bow, and he goes forth conquering and to conquer. He shoots his gleaming arrows upward and they fall slanting into the eyes of men to waken them. All the heavens own the coming. They turn into rose and amber and purple of amethyst; they flame and flash, they seem to swoon in glory till the edge of heaven and the edge of earth melt into one undefined, shivering, unequal line of splendor; all the land is flooded and drowned in light, and every mountain, every valley is disclosed.

These symbols have been applied by divine authority to the coming of Christ. His coming is compared to the Morning Star. He comes to us like that bright and morning star. He comes while the darkness of our carnal minds is disputing with the morn of holiness and truth. He comes when all the base emotions and desires of the flesh are in deepest darkness; when the mountain heights of pride, ego, self-centeredness and selfwill stand out in their self-appointed majesty against the heavenly ways and divine will of the precious mind of Christ Jesus. He descends in noiseless softness as the star of the morning, indicating an imminent change, a transformation, that the morning comes; it is a pledge of the faithfulness of God, it is intermingled with the first rays of the light of the sun, it comes as a herald to announce the arrival of a light so bright and so powerful and so glorious that all must be transformed before it.

His coming is also compared to the sunrise. He will come, a bow will be given unto Him, and He shall go forth conquering and to conquer. There will be the "light of His arrows and the shining of His glittering spear." He shall arise with healing in His wings. Aye! But the healing shall be the health of fire consuming iniquity, the fire that leaves neither root nor branch of evil. By the purifying, transforming, healing rays of the Sun of Righteousness we shall be changed into His likeness, the night in us swallowed up by God's great Day. The coming of Christ is as star-light and sun-rise. And how we praise God for both!

"And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father. AND I WILL GIVE HIM THE MORNING STAR" (Rev. 2:26-29). I want to show you a mystery about the Morning Star. We have indicated to you that the Day Star is the sun, because it is the Day Star that brings the dawn, the day. The sun typifies Jesus Christ in all His blazing glory bringing in the fullness of light and dispelling the night. Anyone who possesses even an elementary knowledge of astronomy knows immediately that the Day Star and the Morning Star are not the same star. The Morning Star is a different star than the Day Star. And Jesus, in speaking to the overcomers who shall rule the nations, says to these overcomers concerning this power to rule the nations, "I'm going to give you something; I'm going to give you something called the MORNING STAR." That Morning Star embodies within it the nature and qualities of your power over the nations, and indicates the purpose and result of that rule.

The Morning Star is promised to all who "overcome" and who walk with Christ in blessed submission to God. Inasmuch as Christ declared Himself to be "the Morning Star" and He promised to GIVE this Morning Star to all who overcome, then it is obvious that something unique and special of Christ is imparted to the Lord's faithful overcomers. This is a "coming" of the Lord you will seldom, if ever, hear anything about from the preachers and teachers of the harlot church system. The television evangelists, who love to flaunt the "rapture" before their undiscerning audiences, know nothing of this coming of our Lord as the Morning Star. But the giving of the Morning Star involves an impartation of the Christ. The Morning Star is a glory of the Christ within, as HE shines in the darkness of our weakness and inability and frustration GIVING A VISION OF AND HOPE FOR THE DAWNING OF THE FULL DAY. During our spiritual growth unto full stature, the Christ within has been developing from experience to experience, from strength to strength, from hope to hope. And now He comes to impart to a people the glorious hope of the day - THE TOTAL VICTORY AND COMPLETE TRIUMPH OF THE CHRIST LIFE WITHIN THE ELECT, AND THE WONDERFUL BLESSING,AND DELIVERANCE OF ALL MANKIND THAT ENSUES.

How pathetic that for vast multitudes of believers today their one cherished hope is to escape this planet and live forever in some far-off heaven somewhere. And they would abandon the teeming billions of earth to writhing endlessly in the unspeakable horrors of damnation and hell, while they flit about in white night gowns over the Elysium fields of that glory world above. These poor deluded souls have absolutely no concept of God's glorious DAY prepared for all mankind! Their sole interest appears to be in saving their own necks, along with the trifling handfull of saints captured from the hands of an almost-omnipotent devil.

Again, I ask, when does the Morning Star appear in the natural world? Just before the dawning of the day! Who sees it? The one who has been watching during the dark and dreary hours of the night. Anyone acquainted with natural things, or who has traveled by night, knows that the appearance of the Morning Star is hailed as the intimation that day is at hand. In the morning darkness it shines with a most wondrous, clear, silver light, dazzling as a gem of rarest hue. Someone once wrote, "At 4:00 A.M. I awakened and looked out my window which was half covered by frost, and half was clear, and there I saw the bright morning star. As I lay there for a while beholding the brilliance and beauty of that star, I slipped away into sleep. When I awoke again the brilliance of the sun flooded my room." Is it not thus with God's Christ, with God's Day? Now we see Christ, the bright and morning star, the firstfruit, the forerunner, the prototype, the sample and first specimen of what God has purposed and planned for each and every man and woman of Adam's race. The bright and morning star! The star of hope that tells us the long night of sin and death is almost over, and the Day is not far hence.

How plain, how practical the application! There is a remnant of God's people over the whole earth that have taken heed to the word of prophecy as to a light that shines in a dark place. The Morning Star has shined in their hearts, foretelling the approach of Eternal Day at the arising of the Sun of Righteousness. This remnant have fixed their eyes upon Jesus, they are looking away from all the darkness of this world, from the chaos of sin, sickness, pain, rebellion, crime, drugs, war, hatred, injustice, fear and death stalking the earth; and they are looking away from the seeming hopeless carnality of their own lives, away from people, away from limitation, from everything to the Everlasting Hills of God. There is to be a restoration! Today we see a terrible lack of things being right, or in divine order. There is a divine order for creation, an order of life and harmony. There is a proper order for animal life, vegetable life, and human life. But all things are out of order, in frightful chaos. The curse must be lifted, every enemy put under our feet. Divine order for the universe must be restored. All creation is groaning and crying for release from the curse of sin, decay and death. And everything hinges on that body of SONS that are to be manifested in that perfect state of divine order. And those who receive of this victory and glory, the wonderful mind of Christ, conformed to the image of the Son, with a full and complete triumph over sin, carnality and death, in spirit, soul and body - do not these make up that blessed company TO WHOM IS GIVEN THE MORNING STAR? And, in thus receiving the Morning Star, do they not in turn BECOME THE MORNING STAR? Flooded with HIS LIFE AND LIGHT they become the herald, the harbinger of the near-approaching dawn.

Praise God that we are living in the times of this restoration. It is the greatest day in the long history of man. It is at hand. I know it's at hand because I see a people being pressed and processed into the very life of God. Not only you and me, but all creation as well will thrill to what God brings about in this grand and glorious restoration! "The creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God" (Rom. 8:21). The Word of God, as well as the witness of the Spirit, makes us know that this is not for some other generation. It is now! It is here! Be ready! Prepare yourself! Cast aside all doubt and fear! The Morning Star is being given to the saints of the Most High! Victory over every enemy is arising in a people - the MORNING STAR COMPANY!

Ah, yes, the mists and shades of night are all about. In fact, it is darker than ever before. That tells us what time it is! Sin abounds. The love of multitudes has waxed cold. The wanton harlot, Mystery Babylon the great, sits exalted astride the nations and reigns as a queen over the earth. Violence fills the lands. As in the days of Noah, every imagination of the thoughts of men's hearts is only evil continually. But in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation is a people - a people whose hearts have been charged from above - a people who have been given the Morning Star - and they hail the rising orb of light that tarries but a little until the Sun of Righteousness brings in the dawn. The whole creation shall be gladdened by the dawning of "a morning without clouds" - the opening of a bright and never-ending DAY OF GLORY! Those to whom the Morning Star has been given, those blessed saints unto whom has been committed the word of universal reconciliation, those who have received the call to sonship, who yield themselves unto God to be transformed in mind and heart, in spirit, soul and body, conformed into the image of God's Son; these, I declare, ARE GOD'S MORNING STAR COMPANY. And as of old, the morning stars are now prepared to sing together, and all the sons of God shall again shout for joy!

On a personal level, all that ultimately shall be fulfilled collectively and universally, is first accomplished individually within God's elect sons. The meaning to the individual of receiving the Morning Star is that a new day is prepared to dawn in our experience. It signifies the awakening of the heart, the quickening of the mind, the infusion of light and understanding, the up-springing of hope and purpose, and the stirring of faith to apprehend new heights and realms and realities in God. A whole new state of consciousness is coming to fruit in us. A new day lies before us. And the Morning Star is the Christ within bringing into focus the consciousness and energy of that fresh unfoldment of HIS LIFE.

All of the vision is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ who is the "I AM." So we look for the new day, HE IS THE NEW DAY, And its dawning reality within is vitally a part of HIS COMING. He is that "LIGHT that shineth in a dark place," and as He comes to us, finally "the day dawns, and the day star arises in our hearts." And in very truth, for us the new day has begun!

What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought Since Jesus came into my heart;

I have light in my soul - for which long I have sought, Since Jesus came into my heart!

Yet what we now have within as the Morning Star is but the foretaste of that greater dawning still to be realized. And there are periods of time when it seems to us that HE TARRIES, for we understand not what He meant when He said, "A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father" (Jn. 16:16). We long for Him, yearn for Him, we thirst for the fullness of His life, and we find it difficult to wait even "a little while." We can watch the clock, scrutinize the changes taking place within, observe the signs of the times, analyse every prophecy spoken, and fret ourselves with the "time element," or we can set our gaze firmly upon Him, knowing that HE HAS APPOINTED THE TIME OF THE DAWN, and He will bring us to His time.

Yes, the night is far spent, praise God! There are cycles of the DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL as the Spirit brings to light realms of darkness within us of which we were not previously aware, until we are overwhelmed with our own darkness. The dark cycles sweep over us, pressures from within and without, deep-rooted tentacles of the self-life, carnal reactions that lay undiscovered, corruption hidden in the depth of the heart, until just the appropriate circumstances are arranged by Father's wise hand to draw them forth. But, praise God! there is within that darkness THE LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, CHRIST WITHIN AS THE MORNING STAR, INSPIRING HOPE OF THE DAWN. It is common with man to judge after the seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear, and during the black of the night we despair that release will ever come. But there is another realm, deeper yet, the realm "of spirit," and we can commune with our own spirit which becomes one with His spirit, and find there is a light within, the Morning Star, as the Psalmist said, "The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness" (Ps. 18:28).

"Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" (Ps. 19:2). The workings of God come in these cycles of night and day. God sends the blessings, the movings of the Spirit, the quickenings, the illuminations and they carry you through a time of darkness. Then as things seem to ease up a bit, pressures lift, victory breaks through, and a morning appears. Glory streams through your day. The Sun of Righteousness has arisen. Yet comes the next cycle of processing, the shadows deepen into darkness, and you cry out for the Lord to enlighten your darkness, and, bless His name! fresh quickenings from within carry you through another night of testing.

I know what the church system has taught, but they taught a lie. They teach that the Day of the Lord is the seven-year tribulation at the end of the age. They have no scriptural foundation. The Day of the Lord is that special period of time, not twenty-four hours, and not one singular time, when the Almighty God actively manifests Himself in dealings to end unrighteousness and establish the reign of His righteousness. Many individuals and churches and nations through history have encountered their own unique "Day of the Lord," their Hour of Visitation. I am making known a DAY unto you, beloved, and the day I am proclaiming is the Day of the Lord, and it is upon us now. We must not be established upon the traditions of the elders or the doctrines of men. We must allow the Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation from God to unfold Christ, that we may know Him when He appears, in whatever form or manner He appears, that we miss not the Day of Visitation as did the Jews of old. A great light shined in the darkness, the greatest light that has ever been upon this earth and yet, to this day, they are living and walking in darkness. The very glory of the Father was revealed to them as the scripture said it would be. All God ever could be or ever shall be was manifested in Jesus Christ. No greater light could have shown unto them than that light, because the Light of lights was there to see. Most of them did not recognize Him, neither did they suspect that the Lord of glory was right there in the midst of them. If they had entered into Him, He would not have declared that another day yet remained for the children of God. Don't let us, dear ones, miss our "Day of Visitation." Let us not fall short of that which He is speaking unto our hearts, that we might hear His words and instructions and begin to walk in the light of that glory. "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." The Jewish nation was not ignorant of the teaching of the scripture concerning His coming; but they had drifted so far from God in their hearts, that when that day arrived they knew it not because it took the Holy Spirit to reveal it.

The Day of the Lord always comes as a thief in the night. There have been many seasons of the Day of the Lord. I admonish all who read these lines - be established in YOUR DAY. It's a new day, the Day of the Lord. It is coming in like a thief. Christ's presence is beginning to fill the whole earth and the glory of God is risen upon a people. This is not a fallacy, this is the immutable Word of the Lord. This is the very truth, the very understanding as the Spirit has made it known unto His people, that they might know the counsel of God for this very day. Though multitudes continue to walk on in darkness, you shall walk in light. Many stubbornly cling to those things which are passing, the relics of a former day of glory, but those whose hearts have responded to the call are taking hold of those things that are new. The former heavens He shall roll up like a scroll and set aside. There is a new heaven and a new earth for you today, saints of God!

"And the evening and the morning were the FIRST DAY" (Gen. 1:5). God's days always begin with evening, pass through the travail of night, and joy comes in the morning. Most Christians who rejoice in the truth of the PRESENT DAY OF THE LORD have altogether missed the awesome words thundered by the prophet in Amos 5:18-20. "Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?" There is that aspect of the Day of the Lord which is darkness and not light. It is a day of darkness and there is no light in it. You see no light, discern no sweet rays of cheer. You get caught up in the Day of the Lord and God begins His work in you. He comes to do away with the old that He might establish the new. What strippings! What purgings! What purifyings! What desolations! And the evening and the morning become your day. God is purging and purifying us from the things of man in the Day of the Lord. All flesh, our flesh, is become as grass. He is turning your world upside down and emptying it out and He will completely re-lay the foundations and put a glory in you that will out-shine the sun. What a glorious Day! Have we not experienced something of the night season when all is darkness and gloom? That is the evening, the night time of the Day of the Lord. Then, at the darkest hour, there comes the appearance of the Morning Star - a ray of hope and expectation. And joy comes in the morning!

There is another fascinating facet of this truth that presents itself to us. Though we are caused to pass through the night, the Morning Star announces the end of the night, bringing with it bright expectations of the dawn and the day. It will be helpful for us to locate our position in the night, or in the day. Are we children of the night, or do we pertain to the MORNING STAR COMPANY and the day? The answer lies in the answer to another question - What are we looking for these days? Doom, collapsing of the economy, tribulation, the antichrist, one world beast government, mark of the beast, darkness and gloom? If all you can see is the night, then surely the scripture is fulfilled in you, "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Lk. 21:26). But while there are those who dwell upon the negative, God is also anointing His MORNING STAR PEOPLE who have their faces set steadfast for the dawn. Those who speak long and loudly about the distressing conditions of the darkness are manifestly CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT. But those who have received the Morning Star look not for terror, eclipses and earthquakes, convulsions and revolutions, calamities and judgments. What are you looking for? What is your hope? What is your expectation? What are your fears? Are you looking for certain events which are to transpire on earth, such as the revival of the Roman empire, the development of the ten kingdoms; the conspiracy of the Illuminati; the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem; the appearance of antichrist; the appearance of the false Christ of the New Age movement; the battle of Armageddon? Say, beloved friend, are these the things which fill the vision of your soul? Do you meditate upon them day and night? Is it for these you are looking and waiting? If such be the case, you have not been given the Morning Star! Oh! that the reader of these lines may realize habitually the purifying, elevating power of the hope of the arising Sun of Righteousness with healing rays. While so many walk about in fear, it is an unspeakable blessing for those who find themselves in a dark place to have a BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR to cast its light athwart the gloom.

THANK GOD FOR THE MORNING STAR!

For more on 'signs in the heavens' and the original zodiac go to THE HEAVENS DECLARE.

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