Ⅲ
"I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright morning star"—Rev. 22:16b:
A
Christ, who is signified by the heavenly luminaries, the lights, is the bright morning star—v. 16b.
B
At His coming back Christ will be the rising sun to His people generally (Mal. 4:2) but the morning star to His watchful lovers particularly.
C
The latter will be a reward to the overcomers: "I will give the morning star"—Rev. 2:28.
D
Christ as the Root and Offspring of David is related to Israel and the kingdom, whereas His being the bright morning star is related to the church and the rapture.
E
The morning star appears before the darkest hour, prior to the dawn.
F
The great tribulation will be this darkest time, after which the day of the kingdom will dawn; this indicates that Christ will appear as the bright morning star in the darkest time, prior to the close of this age.
G
In the kingdom the Lord will appear publicly to His people as the sun, but before the great tribulation He will appear privately to His overcomers as the morning star to rapture them.
H
The bright morning star will appear only to the watchful ones.
I
The slumbering believers will not see the morning star; they will see Christ only as the sun in a general way.
J
The watchful ones will have the priority to taste the freshness of His presence at His coming back after a long absence.
K
The entire Bible concludes with the desire for the Lord's coming expressed as a prayer.
L
John's prayer in Revelation 22:20 is the last prayer in the Bible.
M
"He who testifies these things says, Yes, I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!"—v. 20.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 22:7 And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this scroll.20 He who testifies these things says, Yes, I come quickly. Amen. Come ,
Lord Jesus!
The first part of Revelation 22:20 is the Lord's third warning that He is coming quickly. The last part is the apostle John’s prayer and response to the Lord’s warning. It is also the last prayer in the Bible. After reading this book, we should have such a prayer and response —”Come, Lord Jesus!”…The whole Bible is concluded with the desire for the Lord’s coming expressed as a prayer. (Life-study of Revelation, p. 751)
Today’s Reading
[Second Timothy 4:1] is an exhortation from Paul immediately before his martyrdom. He says that he had fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith, and that at the judgment seat he would be awarded the crown of righteousness, which would be awarded to all those who have loved His appearing (vv. 6-8). He reminded Timothy that by the Lord’s judgment and kingdom we should have a living that loves the Lord’s appearing. This is also a reminder to us, and this will cause us not to be discouraged, not to backslide, and not to become weak but to remain faithful to the end.At the end of the first century, the Lord said, “Behold, I come quickly,” (Rev. 22:12) so that we would consider His reward to be rendered at His coming back. This is the Lord’s warning…We should not think that because the Lord has been tolerating the situation for more than nineteen centuries, He is slow to come back. We need to look at the world situation today. We do not know what will happen within the next few days. In this age things happen very quickly. Therefore, we must pray and be watchful. We must also be prepared in spirit and in our daily life. May the Lord cover us so that we may be a watchful, praying, and prepared people.
The Lord has still not come, because He does not yet have what He desires. He is after a Body to express Him and a dear bride to satisfy His heart. When the Lord said that He would come soon, He spoke according to His sense of time, not according to ours. The point here is that God is working slowly to dispense Himself into us. We need to see that the quicker our life matures, the sooner the Lord will return.
When the Lord Jesus comes back, He will not only judge the negative things but also receive His bride. This means that He will come both as the Judge and as the Bridegroom…For the Lord to come as the Bridegroom, the bride must be prepared for Him…Because the bride is not yet ready, we may say that it is possible that the Lord’s coming will not be as soon as some expect.
The principle here is that the higher the life is, the slower it grows…The bride must be prepared for the Bridegroom, and this preparation is through the growth in life, a growth that requires time. Instead of blaming the Lord for delaying His coming, we should be diligent to prepare ourselves to meet Him. We should also minister life to others so that they may grow and be prepared.
Only the lazy, idle servant says, “My master delays” (Matt. 24:48b). The Lord, however, is hastening His coming, and it will not be long before the church age is ended. We must see that the church is the Body of Christ…The Lord has not yet returned, because the Body has not yet been manifested on the earth.
The reality of living in the Body of Christ is the divine fellowship. The Lord has been frustrated throughout the centuries because of the lack of fellowship. The Lord has not come back because the believers are individualistic, independent, opinionated, and divisive…There must be a remnant that will respond to the Lord’s heart and be willing to lose their individualism in order to be built up together as one Body. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4449-4451)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, “The Vision of the Divine Dispensing and Guidelines for the Practice of the New Way,” ch. 4