Who is the bright morning star in Revelation 22:16?

But as the Revelation closes He presents Himself to us, not only in a way that refers us back to the Old Testament predictions of the rising of the Sun of righteousness, but in a second way more distinctly connected with New Testament hopes. He had been predicted as coming "a Star out of Jacob" (Num. 24:17), without any reference to the morning. As the bright Morning Star, Jesus presents Himself as the Forerunner and Pledge of the uprising day. Now Israel does not know Him thus, for it has rejected Him and treated Him as an imposter. The Church, and the Church alone, knows Him in this character, and is authorized to entertain those heavenly hopes, centred in Him, which are to be realized before the day of glory breaks for Israel and the earth.

Firstly, the Lord can say, "I am the root … of David." Had He been only the offspring of David, then that could have been said of Solomon. But Jesus alone could be the root of David. The root is the hidden source of life. Christ is the source of spiritual life for every saint of God and the blessing is sure because the root is perfect. Job can say, "There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again … though the root thereof wax old in the earth … yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs" (Job 14:7-9). Israel has indeed failed; the tree has been windswept and tempest-torn amongst the nations, but the root remains, and hence Israel will again bud and bring forth branches. So Scripture can speak of the sure mercies of David, for Christ is the root of David.

Secondly, Jesus is also "the offspring of David." If He is the source of all as Root, He is the inheritor of all as the Offspring. He is of the royal line and, as the Son of David, He is God's King to establish God's kingdom. The heathen may rage and the people imagine a vain thing. To-day we see that in their folly the powers of this world think that they can get rid of God, and God's King, and thus seize the inheritance of this world and set up a kingdom in which man can gratify his own lusts without any restraint from God. To this evil end they may set themselves and take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed. Nevertheless God can say, "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." Men nail Jesus to a cross, God sets Jesus as the King of kings upon the throne, and all who will not submit to God's King will "perish from the way" (Ps. 2).

Thirdly, Jesus is "the bright and morning star." As such He is presented in relation to the church. Others will know Him in all His kingly glory as the root and offspring of David; the world will know Him as the Sun of righteousness that will arise to chase the darkness away, and bring healing to this sorrow-stricken world, but only the church will know Him as "the bright and morning star." When the sun shines the stars cannot be seen. He has not yet arisen above the horizon of this dark world as the Sun of righteousness, but while it is yet night He is known in the heart of the believer as the bright and morning star.

One more Scripture may be sufficient. It is in Revelation chapter 22 verse 16: 'I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star'. In the first part of the verse, the Lord Jesus is King in David's line. He has every right to the Sceptre. He is the Offspring of David as born in Bethlehem. As the Root of David He is God, from whom David sprang. In the second part of the verse He is the Morning Star. This is the way Christians know Him. We are to be watchers, looking for the Star of the morning, who will come at any moment. He says: 'Behold, I come quickly' (Revelation 22:7).

This closes the summing up. The Lord Jesus now reveals Himself in His own Person, speaking to John and the saints, and declares who He is, in what character He appears to say it to them. "I am the root and offspring of David" — the origin and heir of the temporal promises of Israel; but much more than that — He is the bright and morning Star. It is what He is before He appears, in both respects; only the former regards Israel born of the seed of David according to the flesh. But the Lord has taken another character. He has not yet arisen as the Sun of righteousness on this benighted globe; but, to faith, the dawn is there, and the assembly sees Him in the now far spent night as the morning Star, knows Him, while watching according to His own word, in His bright heavenly character — a character which does not wake a sleeping world, but is the delight and joy of those who watch. When the sun arises, He will not be thus known: the earth will never so know Him, bright as the day may be. When Christ is in this place, the Spirit dwells in the assembly below, and the assembly has its own relationship. It is the bride of Christ, and her desire is toward Him.

In a closing and tender address to the churches the personal Name of the Lord Jesus is introduced in a most touching way. “I, Jesus,” He says, “have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.” This is exquisite. When He announces Himself in His Jewish associations as the Root and the Offspring of David there is absolute silence on the part of the bride. She knows Him after another fashion, but, when He styles Himself the Bright and Morning Star, at once the Spirit and the bride say to Him, “Come.” The glad declaration of the “Morning Star” fills her heart with the desire of seeing Him. Before the mighty orb of day rises with healing on His wings, its harbinger, bright and welcome, shines forth, and the Bridegroom summons to His heavenly home His bride. “I, Jesus!” What sweet associations attach to that precious Name, He gave Himself for His bride, and now He says He is coming, in person, for her. His love has never waned during the long centuries of her frequent forgetfulness of Him; and now His coming draws near, and the Spirit in her gives the suited note of welcome. The Spirit and the bride say “Come.”

In the New Testament we have a far wider range of vision. We are not allowed to forget that Jesus is the offspring of David, and consequently holds, even in His Manhood, all kingly rights on the earth; yet the fact that He is the Root of David becomes of surpassing importance. From Him David sprang. All that David was he owed to Him. He brought to pass David and all that David represented for Israel. He who did this can originate and bring to pass all blessing for both the heavens and the earth. Not only earth, be it noted, but heaven also.

And, so, He is the bright morning Star. We look up to the heavens to see Him. In the heavens is He set, and from the heavens we await Him, before He shines forth as Sun of Righteousness. There have been luminaries on earth. A Moses, an Elijah, a Paul, shone each in their day, as a lighthouse casts its beams into the darkness. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the bright morning star.

And the morning star is the coming King as offspring of David, the Shoot out of the stock of Jesse. He is also the Root of both David and Jesse — the Originator of their power and glory, and of all glory and blessing for heaven and for earth. So,

Morning Star. — Harbinger of day; Christ known as such by the saints now before the day comes.

This heralds in 'the day.' The Lord Jesus is the bright and morning star, and He makes Himself known to the saints in that heavenly character, and Peter speaks of its rising in their hearts, though they wait for His appearing, to usher in full blessing on earth, when He will shine forth as the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. Rev. 2:28; Rev. 22:16; Mal. 4:2.

Having thus declared the principles of righteousness on which He will act at His second coming, the Lord closes the book with a few weighty and solemn words. "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." (v. 16.) There is something beautiful in the way in which the Lord, when thus closing his Revelation, speaks to the beloved disciple, not in His official character, but for a moment in that personal name by which he had known and loved Him here on earth. It is as though He had said, True I am the eternal One, the supreme judge; but for all that I am still that same Jesus with whom you walked in Galilee, that same Jesus on whose breast you leaned at supper. He is also "the faithful and true witness," and as such He has, through His angel, testified the coming ruin and failure in the churches, But still He is the hope alike of the earthly and of the heavenly saints. To the earthly saints, whose portion consists in the fulfilment of the promises made to David, He is "the root" of David, or the One to whom all the promises owe their origin, and also the offspring of David, the royal seed to whom they all point To the heavenly saints, the Church, He is the perennial hope, the harbinger of the coming day, "the bright and morning star."

We find, within the compass of a few verses, that the Lord announces His speedy coming three times, as if in this last letter it should be the last thought He would impress upon our minds. He also reminds us of His eternal Godhead — "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." (Ver. 13.) It need scarcely be said, that no one could lay claim to such titles but He who is God, that blessed One who left the world to go to the Father, who has sent down the Holy Ghost, and is gone to prepare a place for us. It is He who here says, "Behold, I come quickly." (Ver. 7.) Behold, I come quickly." (Ver. 12.) "Surely, I come quickly." (Ver. 20.) These things are testified in the Churches, to whom the Lord's last presentation of Himself is "the Root and Offspring of David, and THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR" (Ver. 16 ) As David's Creator and David's Offspring, the Godhead and manhood of Him who sent these things to the Churches are plainly set forth, and shows us that all the promises of royalty, and everything connected with the future kingdom of Israel, are secured in Him. The final sentences of this blessed book make us feel deeply that "the night is far spent," and we are encouraged, during the closing moments of the dark night, to look out for the Morning Star. It is the harbinger of the day. Those only who are watching see it. To such it is a glorious sight. Those who are slumbering on their beds see it not It is a blessed prospect for us, because it is the Lord who here subscribes Himself — "I, Jesus … I am the bright and Morning Star." We know it will be followed by "the Sun of righteousness" arising upon this desolate earth with healing in His wings, when He will make up His jewels of the elect people of Israel, and tread down the wicked as ashes under His feet. But there is no allusion, in this presentation of the Lord as the Morning Star, to any judgment upon the ungodly, which characterizes the testimony of prophets, because here it is simply the announcement of Him who is coming to meet us in the air, and receive us unto Himself. Our joy will be full then; for we shall see Him as He is, before Israel and the earth are delivered from their oppression. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Therefore we wait for God's Son from heaven, the bright and Morning Star, to take us out of this scene, and to be for ever with Him and like Him. "Panting with rapture and surprise, 'Caught up,' our fond affections rise, Our coming Lord to meet; Hearing the trumpet's glorious sound; Soaring to join the rising crowd; Gazing upon the parted cloud Beneath His pierced feet." "O blessed, O thrice blessed word! To be 'for ever with the Lord' In heavenly beauty, fair! Up! up! we long to hear the cry, Up! up! our coming Lord draws nigh, Yes, 'in the twinkling of an eye,' To meet Him in the air."