Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?
It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.
Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.
We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.Introduction
A couple of months ago we posted about celestial beings, being spurred on by curiosity about Jude 8 and 2Pe. 2:10-11:
In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.
This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
We noted in that post that there are an array of heavenly beings, both holy and evil. But we did not consider the Morning Star. That is the purpose of today's post.
The Literal Morning Star
There is a non-spiritual background regarding the morning star:
Originally, the terms "morning star" and "evening star" applied only to the brightest planet of all, Venus. Far more dazzling than any of the actual stars in the sky, Venus does not appear to twinkle, but instead glows with a steady, silvery light. The fact that Venus was a "wandering star" soon became obvious to ancient skywatchers, who noticed its motion relative to the background stars, going from the eastern sky in the morning to the western sky in the early evening.
The morning star, Venus, is the brightest thing in the heavens, its light does not flicker, and it moves across the skies from east to west. It is a heavenly light of significance. This is probably what our first biblical reference to the morning star is referring to, the significant star everyone has seen:
Job 38:32 Can you bring forth the morning star in its season or lead out Leo with its cubs?
Here we have God questioning Job, and God is essentially asking Job to state his credentials. God points to a number of things He created, events He has brought about, and devastations He caused. One of God's noteworthy creations is the morning star as a fixture in the heavens.
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| Taken by author on 2/4/22 |
Morning Stars, Celestial Beings
The second morning star reference is earlier in the same chapter, Job 38, verses 4-7:
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone — 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
These are not literal heavenly bodies, but rather, spiritual entities. The morning stars sang together in rejoicing. There was great celebration in heaven when God created the earth. And we know that God created earth on the third day (Ge.1:10), before He created the stars on the fourth day (Ge. 1:14). This means that these morning stars are not the heavenly bodies, they are something else, celestial beings of some sort.
There are two further primary mentions of the morning star, one is satan, and the other is Jesus. In addition, there is a morning star connection to God's people, both the Jews and Christians.
Glory
The Greek word for "glory" is doxa, which conveys God's infinite, intrinsic worth (substance, essence). This glory to a lesser degree is manifested in all the celestial beings, like angels:
Mt. 28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
Ac. 12:7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.
We think that even fallen celestial beings retain some aspect of their glory, which is why Satan can masquerade as an angel of light. (2Co. 11:14)
Satan, a Morning Star
The next mention of a morning star is Satan's fall from heaven:
Is. 14:12-14 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
Satan must have been one of those morning stars who celebrated the creation of the earth on the third day. Because of that, it seems relevant that God created man on the sixth day (Ge. 1:26) and placed him in the garden (Ge. 2:15), where we also find the serpent (Ge. 3:1). We mention this for two reasons:
1) Satan as one of the morning stars rejoiced at the creation of the earth, which was on the third day, but by the sixth day he was in the garden. So it seems that it took satan a mere three days to change from a rejoicing celestial being to being cast out. We theorize that satan became jealous at the creation, particularly the creation of man, who was made "a little lower than the heavenly beings (Ps. 8:5). His very first objective was to attack man, thereby attempting to subvert the high purpose of God.
2) We think satan is a fallen fiery one (seraphim), which explains why Jesus would describe him as falling like lightning from heaven (Lk. 10:18 ). Satan, a glorious morning star, went down in flames.
The various Hebrew words associated with him are also interesting. The word for serpent in Ge. 3:1 is nachash, snake. Satan is a serpent or dragon (Re. 12:9), but we think this is symbolic, not literal. We think it's a descriptor of his new status, for he was laid low by being cast down to the earth, as low as a snake. "Cast down" is gada, which means to cut down like a tree, or to be cut off, like a branch. Satan was literally cut off from the glory of God, entirely removed from his prior status.
Moses wrote down God's words, you have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations, which seems to be pointing out an irony. The one who previously made weak the nations was himself made weak. The earth is a low place for a former angelic being. And in this low place he masquerades as an angel of light. (2Co. 11:14).
Nachash (snake) is the same word used regarding the snakes afflicting the Israelites in Numbers chapter 21, with a modifier, venomous. "Venomous snakes" is literally, seraphim nachash, "fiery snakes." These snakes weren't just poisonous, they were fiery.
God used the very same language when He instructed Moses to fashion a bronze serpent:
Nu. 21:8 8 And the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent [seraphim nachash] and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." (ESV)
Seraphim are the fiery celestial beings in the throne room:
Is. 6:2 Above him were seraphs [fiery], each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
Psalm 104:4 He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.
Strong's defines the Greek word for snake (ophis) as figuratively, (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially Satan -- serpent.
The Fiery Stones
In charismatic circles in particular it seems to be common to shout at, bind, or even mock the devil. Even in other parts of the Church Satan is viewed derisively. Now, we are the first to admit that Satan is evil, corrupt, and destined for the lake of fire. But on the other hand, Satan continues to have a glory
Ez. 28:11-17 The word of the LORD came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
We think that Satan is underestimated, that he is entitled to some level of respect. Certainly not allegiance or honor, but he was so glorious before he fell, ordained by God to a position that was higher than any created being. So Satan was a glorious fiery seraphim who in the space of three days during creation grew jealous of what God was creating, and the last straw for him was the glorious creation of man.
He was hurled from heaven, his fiery glory leaving a trail looking like lightning. Upon the earth, he is symbolically a snake, a low form. However, he retains aspects of his former glory, able to pretend to be an angel of light.
But still, in Jude 9 the archangel Michael would not rebuke him. That's why he's entitled to some level of respect.
Jesus, THE Morning Star
Jesus is not a morning star in the sense of a created glorious heavenly being, but rather, He is the most glorious of beings, typified by the title "bright morning star." He is the brightest of all the heavenly hosts, whose glory is unmatched in heaven.
Re. 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
Lk. 1:76-79 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Jn. 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Other References likening God's Glory to Light or to Heavenly Bodies
Ps. 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield...
Hk. 3:4 His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.
Ps. 19:4-6 ...In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, 5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.
James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
Morning Star, The Glory Within Us
2Pe. 1:19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
The prophetic Word is a light shining until the time of the Day of the Lord dawns. Remember the actual morning star rises as a the brightest object in the heavens, and shines with a steady, unflickering light. So until the dawn comes, and the morning star rises, we have His illuminating Word and the Spirit of Glory in us (1Pe. 4:14).
Nick Cady puts it this way:
Dawn is that in-between time after the first light of morning has broken the darkness of night – but before the sun has crested the horizon and driven out night’s darkness completely. During the dawn, light and dark are both present at the same time, yet neither are present in full force; the darkness is not as dark as it once was, and neither is the light as bright as it will be. The promise of dawn is that the shift from night to day will come; it has begun and will not regress. It’s full fruition is only a matter of time. Peter refers to Jesus as the “morning star,” i.e. the signifier of the dawn of a new day.
Thus the darkness finally ends as the Kingdom of light arises (Col. 1:12).
Is. 4:4 The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of fire.
Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
The People of God
Mt. 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
2Co. 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Ep. 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light
1Th. 5:4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
1Pe. 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Is. 60:1-3 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Re. 2:26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations — 27 `He will rule them with an iron sceptre; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’ — [Psalm 2:9] just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give him the morning star.
Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg writes:
...the basic aspects of meaning of the concept of the morning star is glory. To receive or to be given the morning star should be understood as a promise of the glorious future, an affirmation of great good yet to come.
Jesus is promising to grant the gift of the morning star to the one who overcomes. In Rev. 22:16 Jesus states that He himself is “the bright morning star” (ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ λαμπρὸς ὁ πρωϊνός). In short, to anyone with the ultimate faithfulness and perseverance of the overcomer Jesus promises to give a glorious future. They will share it with and in Christ Himself.
Conclusion
The glory of the Lord is represented as light:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1Jn. 1:5
1Ti. 6:15-16 ...the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light...
Jesus is represented as the bright morning star, a glorious, unwavering light.
The heavenly beings possess a glory (doxa) as well.
And we as His people have a glory as His creations, and an ever increasing glory as He sanctifies us.
I love the fact that the Lord has given us his light so we will no longer walk in darkness. I love that we share in His does! What a God!
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