The Morning Star and the Sun of Righteousness

… We'll look at two verses in 1 John, chapter 3. 1 John, chapter 3, verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purified himself, even as he is pure. Isaiah, chapter 60, verse 1, Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and grow to darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see, all they gather themselves together. They come to thee, thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart shall fare and be enlarged, for the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 22, And I put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And finally, in chapter 3, verse 16, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all things what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that he might be filled with all the fullness of God. But unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worked in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, Amen. I thought that I would say something more about the matter of the morning star and the Son of Righteousness arising with healing in his wings. And then also to say something about, if I might use the expression, the residence of God's glory. In 1 Peter, I believe we get some suggestion of the idea of the morning star or the day star arising in our hearts. We look forward to that time, we shall see the Lord and we shall be like him. What a wonderful anticipation, what a wonderful hope. We're speaking in the reading about certain matters relating to time. We touched on the rapture, we touched on the tribulation, the man of sin being revealed. But what a joy to the hearts of the saints that we can look forward to that time when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. He himself, not an angel, but he himself, as our brother said, an expression of grace that he himself is going to come. I often say, and I believe it's right, that the Lord is coming for us himself because of his love for us, but there's something else. Satan is a prince of the power of the air, Satan would attempt to disrupt the saints going into heaven, but he cannot stop the Lord. He can stop an angel, perhaps, but he cannot stop the Lord. The Lord is coming himself for us and he's going to take us through the domain, we might say, of Satan triumphantly, victoriously. What an expression of the triumph, the triumph that the saints enter into. You remember when David slew Goliath, he alone went down into the valley, there's none in Israel that could do it. He went down in the valley, he slew him, he cut off his head, but it says that the children of Israel pursued the Philistines. I believe that that is an illustration of how the saints are going to come into that triumph of the Lord when he takes us through the air. And we shall see and we shall be like him, the body of glory in which the Lord presently is, we shall have a body like that. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And it says that he that has this hope purified himself, even as he is pure. What a wonderful prospect. Sometimes this is referred to as the private coming of the Lord, when he comes for the saints. The world won't know anything about it, they will be in disarray when they realize that so many people are missing, they are going to be with the Lord. But then I believe that the reference in Azar is to the Son of Righteousness arising with Eden in his wings. Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. What a wonderful time it will be, we are speaking about Israel and God's purpose in relation to Israel. What a wonderful time, when a nation will be born in a day, when they will have the experience of new birth, when they will have the Spirit upon them. Arise, shine, for thy light is come, the Lord is come, thy light is come, we are speaking about Jacob, when he wrestled with the angel, it says the sun rose upon him. The sun rose upon him, I believe that is what we have in Azar. Thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. What a time, when as our brother was speaking about the everlasting kingdom, when the Lord Jesus is going to come in to his rightful place, in his glory, disciples Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration had a view of this glorious kingdom that they were going to come into, and we have there the various persons who will be present in the kingdom of our Lord, the everlasting kingdom, then the glory that will be there, glory supreme is there, glory that shines through all. Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. Now I read in the first chapter of Ephesians, because there at the end of that chapter we have the headship of Christ, and I'm sure that we will all agree that headship is very akin to kingship, and while it's not exactly the kingdom that is alluded to there, but there is a very close thought, the headship of Christ. But here it says Christ sharing his universal headship with the assembly, and isn't that a touch of prophecy? Isn't that a touch of prophecy? In Genesis God had said, let them have dominion, and what was in mind, was it not Christ in the assembly to have universal dominion? What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? And here we get this wonderful thought, that Christ is head over all things to the assembly. It's not exactly viewed as head over the assembly here, but head over all things to the assembly, the assembly taking a place beside Christ in universal dominion. There are many ways in which the headship of Christ is spoken of in scripture, but I believe that this is a very beautiful thought, that the Lord here is sharing his headship with his counterpart, the assembly. And then the thought in chapter three, God's residence of glory. The assembly, the glory of God being displayed in the assembly. And there is a sense in which it is being displayed at the present time, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. In a moral way, there is glory in the assembly. Weak and feeble we may be in the testimony, but God's thought in relation to Christ in the assembly, and the glory that is connected to that. In the Philippines we are told that God has made him both Lord and Christ. That's as man. Lord is despot, he has full authority. But as Christ is the anointed man, he is made both Lord and Christ. And we have this expression, so also is the Christ, which we generally agree refers to Christ and the assembly. And here, this chapter brings out this wonderful thought, that in this vessel, this vessel of glory, there is going to be the display of the glory of God. Last night we had some beautiful thoughts as to glory, the God of glory, the Father of glory, the Lord of glory, the King of glory, the Spirit of glory. Here, the vessel of glory. And I believe that the Lord would encourage our hearts and give us a sense of the greatness of what we are brought into, what lies ahead of us. We are told that eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, nor has it come into the heart of man what God has prepared for them that love him. But these things are revealed to us by his Spirit. And as we get some little glimpses of the vastness and the greatness and the glory of what God has prepared for them that love him. Oh, it would thrill our hearts. But Christ is a central theme in all things. He must have the preeminence. The glory of Christ is going to fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. Oh, beloved brethren, if we have a sense, as our brother says, of the side of grace in connection with our being taken to the Father's house, and the side of responsibility in connection with the kingdom, then we see something of the greatness of Christ in his own uniqueness and in his own position in glory as distinct from all else. As we take account of the references in John 17 referred to earlier. We have his personal glory in chapter 5. In chapter 22 he refers to a glory there. That they might see, I desire that they might be where I am, that they might see my glory. And then he speaks of the glory that he shares with us. There is that which we cannot participate in, his personal glory apart. There is that which we will look upon but will not take part in. That blessed man in his preeminence, as Joseph's bread we are not to bow down to him, that we all bow down worshipfully and adoringly in the presence of that one. In his unique and distinctive glory, we recognize it, we see it, we appreciate it. But then, in his grace, he brings us to share a glory with himself. I believe the Lord will encourage our hearts tonight as we think on these things. For his name's sake. …