The Bright Morning Star

It is the darkest hour before dawn. The world is still asleep. And low on the eastern horizon, one light appears, brighter than all the other stars, shining steady and clear. The morning is coming.

We have reached the last page of the Bible. John, an old man exiled on the island of Patmos, has been shown visions of heaven, of battles between good and evil, and of a new heaven and earth where God lives with his people. Now his book is closing. And the voice he hears is the voice of Jesus himself, speaking directly to the churches and to anyone who will read these words. Through this Christmas series we have heard promises, about a child who would crush the serpent, a son of David, a star out of Jacob, a branch, a shepherd, a king. Here, at the very end, Jesus gathers them up.

“Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Jesus is coming back, and when he comes, he will put everything right. Then he says who he is. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last. Jesus is saying: I am the A and the Z. I was there before anything began, and I will be there when everything is complete. The whole story, from Genesis to Revelation, is held in his hands.

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” The tree of life! It was in the garden of Eden on the first pages of the Bible, and Adam and Eve were sent away from it. Now, on the last pages, the way back to it is open. Some ancient copies of this verse read, blessed are those who wash their robes, like Joshua the high priest given clean clothes. Outside the city, Jesus says, are those who love and practise evil. The invitation is real, and so is the choice. Then Jesus speaks his own name. “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.” The root of David means the one David came from, the source of his line. The offspring of David means the one who came from David's family. Both at once: David's Lord and David's son. And the morning star, the brightest light before dawn, the sign that night is nearly over. Then come the last invitations in the Bible. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Freely. No price. Anyone who is thirsty. Whoever wants to.

The morning star is not a star at all. It is the planet Venus. After the sun and the moon, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky, and for months at a time it rises in the east before the sun, shining clearly while the sky is still dark. People in the ancient world watched for it as the herald of the dawn. When Jesus calls himself the bright and morning star, he chooses the light that says: the night is ending.

The bright morning star. You can read it in Revelation chapter twenty-two, verses twelve to seventeen. Long ago, the prophet Balaam had said a star would come out of Jacob. Wise men followed a star to find a child in Bethlehem. And on the last page of the Bible, that child, grown up, risen and reigning, says: I am the bright and morning star. The night is almost over. Come. So here is a question to carry with you. Jesus calls himself the bright and morning star. The Bible ends with an invitation: come. How will you answer it?