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.
16. I Jesus ] Here only does our Lord reveal His Name, though from Rev 1:13; Rev 1:18 onwards, it has been obvious that He is the revealer; as was expressed in the title, Rev 1:1. Whether He is personally present, however, is doubtful: the words are His, but it is probably still the angel that speaks them.
mine angel ] Would our Lord say this of any angel of the Lord, because “all things that the Father hath are His.” Or has our Lord, as Man, an angel of His own in the same way that His saints have? St Luk 22:43 seems as if He needed and had, in the days of His flesh, such angelic guardianship as is implied in St Mat 18:10: and this passage is at least consistent with the view, that His angel appears in His form, as St Peter’s was supposed to do, Act 12:15. It is very ably argued by St Augustine ( de Cura pro Mortuis), that if any apparitions after death or at the moment of death are really objective and supernatural, they must be ascribed to angels, not to the spirits of the dead. But we must remember that our Lord’s state is not the same as that of His departed servants. He is already in the body of the Resurrection, and so conceivably visible. And there can be no doubt that He appeared in His own risen body to St Paul, and probably to St Stephen. It may be, therefore, that He now appears personally to St John, at once superseding and authenticating the previous ministry of the angel.
the root and the offspring of David ] He bears the former title in Rev 5:5, where see note. The latter is substantially the same as the familiar one, “the Son of David.”
and the bright and morning star ] Both “and”s should be omitted. There may be a reference to Num 24:17, or to the title of “the Day-spring,” St Luk 1:78, and perhaps Zec 3:8; Zec 6:12. In Rev 2:28, though the words are more nearly the same as here, the sense is different: see note there.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I Jesus – Here the Saviour appears expressly as the speaker – ratifying and confirming all that had been communicated by the instrumentality of the angel.
Have sent mine angel – See the notes on Rev 1:1.
To testify unto you – That is, to be a witness for me in communicating these things to you.
In the churches – Directly and immediately to the seven churches in Asia Minor Rev 2:3; remotely and ultimately to all churches to the end of time. Compare the notes on Rev 1:11.
I am the root – Not the root in the sense that David sprang from him, as a tree does from a root, but in the sense that he was the root-shoot of David, or that he himself sprang from him, as a sprout starts up from a decayed and fallen tree – as of the oak, the willow, the chestnut, etc. See this explained in the notes on Isa 11:1. The meaning then is, not that he was the ancestor of David, or that David sprang from him, but that he was the offspring of David, according to the promise in the Scripture, that the Messiah should be descended from him. No argument, then, can be derived from this passage in proof of the pre-existence, or the divinity of Christ.
And the offspring – The descendant; the progeny of David; the seed of David according to the flesh. See the notes on Rom 1:3. It is not unusual to employ two words in close connection to express the same idea with some slight shade of difference.
And the bright and morning star – See the notes on Rev 2:28. It is not uncommon to compare a prince, a leader, a teacher, with that bright and beautiful star which at some seasons of the year precedes the rising of the sun, and leads on the day. Compare the notes on Isa 14:12. The reference here is to that star as the harbinger of day; and the meaning of the Saviour is, that he sustains a relation to a dark world similar to this beautiful star. At one time he is indeed compared with the sun itself in giving light to the world; here he is compared with that morning star rather with reference to its beauty than its light. May it not also have been one object in this comparison to lead us, when we look on that star, to think of the Saviour? It is perhaps the most beautiful object in nature; it succeeds the darkness of the night; it brings on the day – and as it mingles with the first rays of the morning, it seems to be so joyous, cheerful, exulting, bright, that nothing can be better adapted to remind us of Him who came to lead on eternal day. Its place – the first thing that arrests the eye in the morning – might serve to remind us that the Saviour should be the first object that should draw the eye and the heart on the return of each day. In each trial – each scene of sorrow – let us think of the bright star of the morning as it rises on the darkness of the night – emblem of the Saviour rising on our sorrow and our gloom.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 22:16-21
I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel
Our Lords angel
Would our Lord I say this of any angel of the Lord, because all things that the Father hath are His?
Or has our Lord, as man, an angel of His own in the same way that His saints have? St. Luk 22:43 seems as if He needed and had, in the days of His flesh, such angelic guardianship as is implied in St. Mat 18:10; and this passage is at least consistent with the view that His angel appears in His form, as St. Peters was supposed to do (Act 12:15). It is very ably argued by St. Augustine (de Cura pro Mortuis) that if any apparitions after death or at the moment of death are really objective and supernatural they must be ascribed to angels, not to the spirits of the dead. But we must remember that our Lords state is not the same as that of His departed servants. He is already in the body of the resurrection, and so conceivably visible. And there can be no doubt that He appeared in His own risen body to St. Paul, and probably to St. Stephen. It may be, therefore, that He now appears personally to St. John, at once superseding and authenticating the previous ministry of the angel. (W. H. Simcox, M. A.)
I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
The Root and Offspring of David
I. This title implies the entire identification of Christ with humanity. The certainty of final triumph for humanity rests on the fact of its vital union with Christ.
II. The title connects Him with the stream of human history. A mysterious consciousness belonged to many of the members of His house and line. Some of them were prophets, and from them sounded out on the youth of the world sayings pregnant with distant meaning. They themselves were types, signs, representatives of Christ, until He Himself should appear.
III. The title establishes a unity in the history of the Jewish nation. Since, in the Divine counsels, it had been determined that the Redeemer should arise out of the bosom of humanity, some line must be necessarily selected as that of His descent. The line is that of the royal David, and this is the clue by which to traverse the maze of the worlds history until the incarnation.
IV. The title embodies a reference to the kingly office of Christ. The favourite representation of the prophets is that of the King, whose reign shall be in peace, in truth, in equity, in righteousness for ever and ever (Psa 122:1-9; Isa 2:4; Isa 42:1-4; Isa 52:13-16; Dan 2:44; Dan 7:13-14; Mic 5:1-4).
V. The title alludes to the vigorous growth and surpassing greatness of the kingdom of Christ. The word root evidently refers to the prophecy in Isa 1:1-10 (see also Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5; Zec 3:8; Zec 6:12). Not the actual root of the tree is meant, but the scion or sucker, which sprouts from the decaying root. At the advent of the Saviour the kingdom of David was indeed like the fallen trunk of a noble tree. A foreign people treads on Judeas soil, and bows a once powerful nation beneath its yoke. Yet behold the vigorous sprout which comes forth out of this decayed root! (E. Johnson, B. A.)
The bright and morning star.–
The bright and morning star
Stars shine in the darkness. When there is no other light their brightness and beauty cheer us. The stars have always been recognised to be among the loveliest of natures beauties. When men have sought for the fairest ornaments to adorn the brows of queens and stately ladies, they have tried to make for them stars of gold or gleaming diamonds. And by their steady laws, their regulated movements, the stars act as our guides. Have you ever thought, moreover, how wonderful is the revelation given to us by the stars? If the cloud had never cleared, if men had never seen those lights shining in the far-away distance, how narrow would our ideas have remained! So as we watch the morning star in the pale eastern sky there comes over us a sense of gladness in its beauty, of wonder and awe at the magnificent stellar system to which it belongs, and at the same time a sense of joyful hope in its prophecy that the darkness is passing and the day about to dawn. And I am, says the Saviour of the world–I am the Bright and Morning Star.
I. We might think of the precious knowledge diffused by Christs gospel through the world; we might think of the ideal of life presented by the life of Christ–the ideal of a life meek and lowly, loving and tender, gentle and self-sacrificing, and yet brave with unflinching courage, generous with noble self-sacrifice. But as our thoughts at Christmas rather turn to our homes, we may try to see how Christ is there the Bright and Morning Star. The Christ-light in the home alone can make it happy. The Christ-light, the Lord Himself honoured, the influence of His wishes felt, the restraining power of His teaching moulding the character; tempers subdued for His sake, self-will controlled, self-conceit kept down with a strong hand, angry and harsh-judging words silenced, mutual bearing and forbearing, kindness, courtesy, consideration for others, proceeding from thought of Christ and wish to do His will; these are the things that make the home bright. Even one person in a household, thoroughly influenced by the love of Christ, and walking in the light of His presence, will bring wonderful brightness to a whole family. They hardly know what makes home so pleasant. What is it? It is the light from the Bright and Morning Star. It glistens in the kind eyes and pleasant countenance of a humble follower of Jesus; and sullenness, gloom, and ill-humour flee before it like shadows before the breaking day. But homes are sometimes darkened by causes over which we seem to have less control–by poverty, sickness, anxiety, sorrow. And the greeting of Happy Christmas sometimes comes with a bitter sense of unreality to those who know that food is scanty, or the hearth dark and lonely. Still, there is a power that brings cheer to the poor mans board, and comfort to the mourners sorrow. When the Morning Star shines in the heart, those words are often thought of, I was hungry, and ye fed Me; thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; sick and in prison, and ye visited Me. And so Christian charity, Christian kindness, Christian sympathy, passes on the light of Christ from home to home.
II. And then our second thought of heavenly Joy applies here. If there is a sorrow too deep to be reached by human kindness, it is not too deep to be reached by the light of the Morning Star. The revelation of the great unseen realities–is not this the true Light for a shadowed home? A Father in heaven who cares and loves, a Saviour acquainted with grief, a kind Providence which will make all work together for good–is not this revelation like the opening of the shutters of a darkened chamber, so that there streams in the light of the Morning Star–the harbinger of day?
III. And this brings us to our last thought, the Morning Star is a star of heavenly hope. There are many young and happy hearts at Christmastide. But among them all there are few that have not felt the chill of disappointment, the shadow of doubt and uncertainty from the mystery of life, the solemn darkness of self-reproach and an accusing conscience. The soul is getting farther away from God. Ideas have been entertained, habits have been allowed to grow that have made the gap wider and wider between daily life and the aspirations after goodness that were once felt. The soul is in darkness. Yes, say what we will, the soul must be dark if it is without God. Show me a man who does not know God, who does not care for God, who does not trust and honour the infinite Lord, and I can tell you that whatever be his outward circumstances, his spirit is in awful darkness. On Christmas Day, let any such listen to the words of Jesus–I am the Bright and Morning Star. Let that Day Star from on high arise and shine in your heart. Christ loves you, and came into the world and lived and died for you. Let His glory enlighten your soul. (Bp. Wynne.)
Christ the morning star
The Lord speaks here in a manner that is all His own. Nothing is more profoundly characteristic in His words, from first to last, than His witness to Himself. He, the sacred exemplar of all self-denial, yet always and immoveably presents Himself in terms of self-assertion, and such self-assertion as must mean either Deity, however in disguise, or a delusion moral as well as mental, of infinite depth. I am the Truth; I am the Life; I am the Bread of Life; I am the True Vine; I am the Good Shepherd. We have but this same tone, perfectly retained, when here the same Voice speaks from amidst the realities of the unseen. The imagery, indeed, is lifted to the scenery of the firmament; He who is the genial Vine and the laborious Shepherd, now also reveals Himself as the Star of Stars in a spiritual sky. I am the Star. For the moment we will take the text in this briefest form, for it will suggest to us, in part at least, the reason of the use of the starry metaphor at all. I am the Star; why the Star? We may be perfectly sure that the word, with all its radiant beauty, is no mere flight of fancy. Prophecy, not poetry, underlies these last oracles of the Bible. Balaam had heard, among the words of God, of a mysterious Person, or at least of a mysterious Power, strong to destroy and save; figured to his soul in vision as a star, destined in other days to appear out of Israel; and the belief of the Jewish Church, in the lifetime of Jesus, certainly was that the Star of that prediction was the King Messiah. The word indicated, probably, the royal dignity, touched and glorified with the light of Deity, or of Divinity at least. As such the Lord here takes it up. He claims here to be the spiritual and immortal King, the Conqueror, beating down His adversaries and possessing His redeemed. This is what appears in special fulness, in other forms, in earlier passages of the Apocalypse; the Lamb is in the midst of the throne; the throne is the throne of God and of the Lamb. But now look further into the text. The voice at Patmos not only claims the primeval prophecy for Jesus, as the King of the new Israel. It expands that prophecy, and discloses truth within truth treasured there. For the Lord does not only assert Himself to be the star, the bright star; as of course His brightness must be surpassing if He is in any sense at all a star. His own presentation of the metaphor has something in it new and special–I am the Morning Star. Why was not the word Star left alone in the utterance? In pointing to Messiah as the Star, were not the ideas of brilliancy, and elevation, and all that is ethereal, sufficient? No; it was not to be so. Messiah Himself so qualifies the word by this one bright epithet as to show Himself as not the King merely, but the King of Morning; around whom gathered, and should gather for ever, all that is real in tenderest hope and youngest vigour, and most cheerful aspiration, and such beginnings, as shall eternally develope and never contract into fixity and decline. It reminds the disciple that his blessed Lord is no mere name of tender recollection, no dear relic of a perished past, to be drawn sometimes in silence from its casket and clasped with the aching fondness and sprinkled with the hot tears, of hopeless memory. He is not Hesperus that sets, but Phosphorus that rises, springing into the sky through the earliest dawn; the pledge of reviving life, and growing light, and all the energies and all the pleasures of the happy day. And the word speaks of a kind of joy for which the open day would not be so true a simile. It indicates the delights of hope along with those of fruition; a happiness in which one of the deep elements is always the thought of something yet to be revealed; light with more light to follow, joy to develope into further joy, as the dawn passes into the morning and then into the day.
1. First, then, we are reminded here that as His commandments are not grievous, so the principles He gives to animate His follower to obedience are not melancholy. The life eternal, the annihilation of the second death, is the knowledge of Himself; and to know Him is to live in light indeed. It is to touch a sympathy boundless alike in its tenderness and its power; it is to deal perpetually and everywhere with One who is not poetic legend but the central rock of History; One who has proved Himself in the fields of fact to be a reality for ever, and who is exercising at this hour in human experience a multiplicity of personal influence too vast and too peculiar to be accounted for by any mere memory of departed power. He being such, and such being the knowledge of Him, what in brief are His sacred principles for the soul that seeks Him? Simply these in their essence:–first to trust Him, then, to follow Him.
2. And again, this glorious epithet of the Star of salvation–this morning-word–reminds us that not for a part only but for the whole of the earthly course, early as well as late, and late as well as early, Jesus Christ is the true Light to light every man. Not for the sick-mans room only and the dying bed is His faith good. Let us thank God often that it is good there. But this same religion is not only the last light for dying eyes. It is the star of the morning of even this lower life. There is that in it (or rather in Him who is His own religion), which is of all things fittest to enter with harmonious power into all the confiding joy of childhood, and all the strongest aspirations of youthful thought and will. One condition does the Lord propose to the young soul, as to all others–the condition of submission to Himself. And where that condition is, through grace, in its true sense, accepted, there will there be found to develop within the life an influence essentially of strength and gladness; an assurance of a companionship most tender because Divine; of a sympathy meeting every true need of grief or of happiness; of a wisdom which concerns itself with every detail of every day; of an affection to which the best endearments of earth can but point as to their glorious archetype; and, above all this and with it all, the power of the presence of an invisible but awful purity, and the spoken promise, in connection with that presence, of a final life of endless joy.
3. In a few short years there may, there must, come over you the sense of approaching maturity and fixity as to earthly conditions of life and action. You must find, soon or late, as to the world, that your rate of movement in vigour and enjoyment is no longer, in itself, what once it was. But if Christ dwells in your heart by faith, there will be a charm there which will not only console you under the change, but will glorify it to you. As eternity approaches, you will more distinctly see the connection between it and time. The appointed task, even under the burthen of the slow failure of outward power, will be met by you as those only can meet it who know that these things are links in the indissoluble will of an eternal Friend, and that the veil is already parting which shuts out for a season the open view of the perfection and acceptability of all that will.
4. May we not, in conclusion, move a step further in our meditation, and find here a promise which is concerned also with the immortal world itself? We remember, of course, that He who is here called the Star is elsewhere called the Sun; and we might think, therefore, that He here speaks as, in a certain sense, His own forerunner; the Firstborn of the dead, whose own resurrection is the herald of His own final triumph. But it seems truer to the analogy of His other metaphoric titles to view this title as belonging to no passing phrase of His majesty, if such could be, but to its essence for ever. What elsewhere he claims to be, He is in perpetuity. On the throne as truly as on the Cross, He is the Lamb. In the fields of heaven He is still the Shepherd, leading His flock to the living fountains of waters. And surely in the upper sky He will be for ever the Star of Morning, so far as He will be the eternal pledge and joy of a life that will be for ever young, of energies that will accumulate without end, of a service before the throne that will always deepen in its ardour and its triumph, of discoveries in the knowledge of the Eternal which will carry the experience of the blessed from glory to glory in a succession that cannot close. (H. C. G. Moule, M. A.)
The bright and morning star
I. Because, by His coming in the flesh, He introduces into our world the light of gospel day. What was the state of the world when the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among men? In the emphatic language of holy writ, darkness covered the earth, and thick darkness the people. Survey the state of the heathen at this eventful crisis of the worlds history. How dark and how confused were the notions of Deity entertained by the shrewdest of their philosophers! Their religious rites were full of lust and cruelty, and were so far from having a tendency to promote virtue, that they excited them to every species of crime and wickedness. Truly they sat in darkness, and in the shadow of death. And what was the state of the Jews at this eventful period? Theirs, doubtless, was a less deplorable condition. They had the oracles of God, and some faint glimmerings of light, by means of figures, and prophecies, and sacrifices; still theirs was s, dispensation of types and of shadows. And at the time when God was manifested in the flesh, the Scribes and the Pharisees had spread a mist over the Mosaic observances; the elders, by their vain traditions had rendered its shadows tenfold more obscure, and the whole Jewish system was enveloped in gloom and darkness. But the fulness of time arrived when the bright and morning star appeared above the earths horizon, scattering the shadows of the Jewish Economy, and pouring a flood of light upon the darkness of Pagan delusions. This light of the world came, and gave to mankind a clear and a full revelation of the nature and perfections of the Deity, made known the way of reconciliation with an offended God, taught man his duty, and unfolded to him the bliss and the glory of heaven.
II. Because, by His rising in the heart, He introduces the day of salvation into the soul of sinner. The soul of man, in its native and unrenewed state, is full of disorder and darkness. He cannot see himself, or God, or Christ, or the way to heaven, in their true light. He may, indeed, give his assent to statements which he hears made upon these subjects, but he cannot have an experimental or abiding sense, even of the most obvious spiritual truths, till his mind is enlightened by the grace of Gods Son; till then, even the light that is in him, is darkness. But when the morning star arises in the heart of a sinful being, it produces change at once great and glorious. Before its rays, the darkness of the mind is dispelled, the understanding is illumined, and the whole soul is renewed in knowledge, as well as in righteousness and true holiness. How vast, for instance, was the change from darkness to light in the case of Saul and Tarsus.
III. Because, by His rising at the time appointed in prophecy, He will introduce into our world the glory of millennial day.
IV. Because, by His rising at the end of time, He will usher in the bliss and the light of eternal day. (John McGregor.)
The bright and morning star
I. The title declares the brilliance of His lustre. Amongst the Orientals, the morning star is the favourite emblem of great ruler, a martial leader, or a wise teacher. Christ claims this epithet on the ground of possessing the truest glory; that of being the Witness for the Truth, of being the truth itself, and thus of bringing minds under His sway. Compare this title which Christ gives of Himself in the vision of St. John, with that He gives of Himself in the gospel: I am the Light of the World. In that Light alone can the solution of the great world problems be found. His lustre cannot now be withdrawn, nor can men refuse to open their eyes to its presence. He is the Morning Star of all humanity, the brightest light that has ever dawned upon the world–that guides it onwards to the eternal day.
II. It implies the power of His attraction. Man can be moved and drawn only by man. Hence the wisdom of God manifest in the flesh.
III. It implies the fixity of His office. Amidst the progress and the changes of human thought, the revolutions of opinion, the advances or the retrogressions of moral and spiritual life, He abides a steady, ever-shining light. All others are flickering torches, throwing a momentary and misleading glare, then waning and dying out.
IV. It is emblematic of the hope of humanity. The morning star is the herald of the dawn. So our hope of a morning for humanity is in Christ. Our only hope is in Him. He is one with us; He has come to His own, and knows its wants, its weakness, its sorrow, and its sin. He shines down upon us now, with powerful and influential brilliance; and He will be associated with all our future struggles as He has been with all our past. Therefore, as Christians, we are confident and hopeful. (E. Johnson, B. A.)
The bright and morning star
I. The promise of Messiah was the Morning Star to the ancient believer. When first introduced to the faith of the sinning pair in the garden of Eden, it became their Morning Star; all besides was dark! They had lost the favour of God.
II. The advent of Jesus was the Morning Star of a more perfect economy.
III. Christ preached, is the Morning Star of any people to whom He is proclaimed.
IV. Christ is the Morning Star to all who believe on Him. (H. Wilkes, D. D.)
Christ the morning star
The morning star is one of the most beautiful objects in the sky. Last in the train of night, it yet sheds the brightest radiance. Too faint by far to penetrate the recesses of ocean, or the deep places of the forest, it slumbers on the surface of the wave, it trembles through the cottage window, or tips with silver every mountains head. It rivals not the strong sunlight, nor doth it vie with even that holier day which the moon casts abroad; nevertheless, in the heaven, doth it form a beauteous beacon; nor is the eye satisfied with gazing, when the fierce monarch of the skies arises and chases it away.
1. Apt and beautiful emblem this, of the gentle but glorious light, which Jesus has darted upon the souls of His people! Previous to the coming of Christ, the character of God was, in a great measure, unknown. The adversary had trampled on the shrine of the Lord of Hosts; it was as if that name had ceased to be manifested; it was as if the fire by which he was wont to maintain it, had been quenched. But the Morning Star at length arose: and an uncreated glory, streaming from the revealed attitude of a God at once just and the justifier of the ungodly, flowed with it. But had nothing more than the true character of God been included in this revelation, it had been made in vain. What cares man for the character of God? Were he, indeed, a being much better than he is, we could conceive him, in this case, entertaining such a care; starting up perhaps suddenly, and shivering with fear, at the bare idea of his God being charged with cruelty or injustice. But man as he is, sensual, selfish, unthinking, diseased, deluded, or despairing, entertains not one anxiety about the character of his Maker. But for his own destiny he must care; and he will ask eagerly, What sort of light has the Morning Star brought, concerning this? What am I told about my future state? Open the volume and see; start not at the apparent darkness; gaze steadily, and you will be richly rewarded. There are, indeed, no minute views of the future state. The Bible communicates only a few great facts, and leading features of the eternal world. But Christ has cast a light also upon the duty of man. This Moses had, in a great measure, done; but he had not taught man to answer the question fully, What shall I do to be saved? Christ came at once to prompt the question, and to provide the reply. Here is no list of austerities; no staggering invitation to swallow down absurdities, to believe what is impossible or revolting; no requirement of an ideal perfection from a child of clay; all is plain and easy, yet leadeth to heaven. Oh, then, will ye not bless the Morning Star, which has risen to guide you along this path to glory? and will you not walk on in its tender light, trusting that it will shine on more and more unto the perfect day?
2. Christ further resembles the morning star, as He is a giver of joy. The sun-rising is, in truth, a summons to rejoice; and it is obeyed and echoed in a thousand voices of gladness. The moon-beam also communicates its own pensive pleasures, and quieter harmonies to those who can baptize their spirits in its beauty. Nor is the morning star destitute of joy-giving influence. How does it cheer the labourer as he goes forth to his toil, amid the dews of the dawn! How does it soothe the soul of the mariner who gazes at it, till quiet tears bedim his eyelids! How is it the sun of the sleepless, especially of those who are awake through sorrow! Count up the raptures of earth, and you will find the rarest of them coming from Christ. Consult your own bosoms, and you will find your purest pleasure coming from Him. Sum up the ecstasies of the departed saints, and you will find all of them coming from Him.
3. Again, Christ resembles the morning star, as He is the precursor of a brighter revelation. The morning star is a pledge in the sky that the day is dawning, and at length it melts away into the light of heaven. So the light we have is comparatively dim; but there is a day behind it.
4. This Morning Star is a precursor of the day of Millennial brightness. There is no change in the outward aspect of the world; the same alternation of hill and valley, of waste and woodland, is presented to the view. But the shadow of sin has passed away. Man has become a nobler being; he is holler and happier. His land is not heaven; but it is no longer accursed in the anger of God. It is a land redeemed, though not glorified. On all its landscapes is written, Holiness to the Lord. (G. Gilfillan.)
The stellar beauty of Christ
The meaning of my text is this: as the morning star precedes and promises the coming of the day, so Christ heralds the natural and spiritual dawn.
1. Christ heralded the coming of the creation. Oh, it is an interesting thought to me to know that Christ had something to do with the creation! I see now why it was so easy for Him to change our water into wine; He first created the water. I see now why it was so easy for Him to cure the maniac; He first created the intellect. I see now why it was so easy for Him to hush the tempest; He sank Genessaret. I see now why it was so easy for Him to give sight to the blind man; He created the optic nerve. I see now why it was so easy for Him to raise Lazarus from the dead; He created the body of Lazarus, and the rock that shut him in. Hail! Lord Jesus, Morning Star of the first creation.
2. Christ heralds the dawn of comfort in a Christian soul. You are building up some great enterprise. You have built the foundation–the wail–you are just about to put on the capstone, when everything is demolished. Instead of the quick feet in the hall, the heavy tread of those who march to the grave. Oh! what are people to do amid all these sorrows? Some know not which way to turn. But not so the Christian man. He looks up toward the heavens. He sees a bright appearance in the heavens. Can it be only a flashing meteor? Can it be only a failing star? Nay, nay. The longer he looks the more distinct it becomes, until, after a while, he cries out: A star! a morning star! a star of comfort! a star of grace! a star of peace! The star of the Redeemer! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Peace, troubled soul! I put the balm on your wounded heart to-night. The morning star, the morning star of the Redeemer.
3. Christ heralds the dawn of Millennial glory. It is night in China, night in India, night in Siberia, night for the vast majority of the worlds population. But it seems to me there are some intimations of the morning. The Hottentot will come out of his mud hovel to look at the dawn; the Chinaman will come up on the granite cliffs, the Norwegian will get up on the rocks, and all the beach of heaven will be crowded with celestial inhabitants come out to see the sun rise over the ocean of the worlds agony. They shall come from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.
4. Christ heralds the dawn of heaven upon every Christians dying pillow. All other lights will fail–the light that falls from the scroll of fame, the light that flashes from the gem in the beautiful apparel, the light that flames from the burning lamps of a banquet–but this light burns on and burns on. No other star ever pointed a mariner into so safe a harbour. No other star ever sunk its silvered anchor so deep into the waters. No other star ever pierced such accumulated cloud, or beckoned with such a holy lustre. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The morning star
Throughout the Bible the star is made a symbol of dominion, glory, and triumph.
1. What figure more exquisite, more apt in illustrating the relation of the Lord Jesus Christ to His kingdom and to the destinies of humanity! The star appears small up yonder, and yet it is a very vast planet; so Christ appears small to the bystanders at His coming–a mere humble man like ourselves. How little did they know what was in Him! The star is small, but how wide-spreading is its light! And so, in reference to the breadth of Christs kingdom and its extent, is the figure exquisite and applicable.
2. In a time of gloom the star appeared. The Roman Empire was apparently in its pride and strength; but, as we all know now, it was bloom outside and worm within. All the hopes of the Jews, one after another, had disappeared. The desires for the coming of a Deliverer, which had been cherished and expressed here and there and yonder–not merely in Judea, but in all other countries, by the foremost minds, whether inspired or uninspired–had failed, and it was an era of desolateness, vice, and darkness, of intellectual pride, along with intellectual weakness when Christ came upon earth. It was what the Apostle calls the fulness of time. It is fitting that this manifestation of Christ at such a time should be called the dawning of the day-star.
3. The birds of night cannot stand before the coming dawn when Venus shines in her lustre in the sky. When Christ appeared upon the earth, the very first scintillation of the day-star was to warn all the old systems of wrong and outrage, oppression and darkness, that their time had come. (Christian Age.)
The bright and morning star
All the stars are very beautiful to look at. But if we get up before daylight, in the morning, and look out towards the east, where the bright and morning star is shining, we shall see that this is more beautiful than the others. How clearly it stands out in the dark sky! With what soft and silvery light it shines! And, as we stand gazing at it, we cannot help thinking how well it may remind us of Jesus.
I. Guidance. Our sailors understand this better than any other people. And there is nothing that we need so much as guidance. We know not how to steer our vessel so as to be able to reach that blessed harbour. And one reason why Jesus is called the bright and morning star is because He shows us the way to heaven, and guides us in that way. There are rocks and shoals in the sailors way, and he needs guidance to enable him to steer clear of them, and keep from being wrecked. And, in trying to make our way to heaven, the sins and temptations around us are the rocks and shoals we meet with; and if we look to Jesus, as our star, He will guide us, so that we can steer clear of these dangers. It is mainly through the Bible that Jesus, our bright and Morning Star, gives us the guidance that we need. If we read it carefully and follow its teachings, it will help us to escape a great many dangers, and keep us safe from a great many troubles
II. Hope. The morning star is very beautiful to look at. It does not give a great deal of light. You cannot see to read by that star. But, as you look at it, it tells you that the night is almost gone. You know that the sun will soon rise and shine, and then there will be light enough for everything. You will be able to see the fields and the woods, and the beautiful flowers, and all the glorious things that God has made. That morning star gives us the hope that the darkness will soon be gone, and the light of day be shining all about us. And Jesus may well be compared to such a star, because when He rises and shines on our hearts He fills them with the sweet hope that the darkness of this world will soon pass away, and the bright, clear light of heaven will be shining around us. And this hope is a bright and beautiful thing. It is able to make us happy, when nothing else in the world can do so.
III. Joy. One of our great poets has said: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. The meaning of this is, that it always makes people glad, or gives them joy, to see a beautiful thing. And this is true. Now a star is a beautiful thing. And the bright and morning star is very beautiful. Whenever I think of this star I am reminded of my first visit to Switzerland a good many years ago. We went up from Geneva to the valley of Chamouni, to see Mont Blanc. It was Saturday evening when we arrived there. I wanted very much to see how that great mountain would look when the sun was rising on it, So, on the next morning, I got up between three and four oclock to be in good time to see the sun rise. I dressed myself, and, all alone, walked quietly down the valley, that I might be ready to catch the first sight of the beams of the sun, as they began to shine upon the snowy summit of the mountain, and gild it with golden beauty. It was a beautifully clear night, or rather morning, though it was still quite dark. There was no mist around the mountain, and not a cloud in the sky. The summit of Mont Blanc is a great, rounded dome of snow. This was lifted far up into the clear, dark sky. And right over the top of the mountain I saw the morning star. How calm it seemed there! How soft and silvery was the light it shed! How brightly and beautifully it was shining down on the snowy summit of that great mountain. It was one of the most lovely sights I ever saw. I thought it was worth while to go all the way to Switzerland, if there had been nothing else to see there but just that beautiful sight of the morning star above the summit of Mont Blanc. As I walked slowly down the valley, looking at that beautiful star, I thought of these sweet words of Jesus: I am the bright and morning star. The sight of that star made me glad. It gave me joy then, while I was looking at it. And it gives me joy now, whenever I think about it. But all the stars in the world put together are not half so beautiful as Jesus is. And when we see Him, and know Him, as our bright and Morning Star, there is no joy to be found in anything so great as that which He gives. (R. Newton, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. I Jesus] The Maker, the Redeemer, and Judge of all men.
Have sent mine angel] An especial messenger from heaven.
I am the root and the offspring of David] Christ is the root of David as to his Divine nature; for from that all the human race sprang, for he is the Creator of all things, and without him was nothing made which is made. And he is the offspring of David as to his human nature; for that he took of the stock of David, becoming thereby heir to the Jewish throne, and the only heir which then existed; and it is remarkable that the whole regal family terminated in Christ: and as HE liveth for ever, he is the alone true David and everlasting King.
The bright and morning star.] I am splendour and glory to my kingdom; as the morning star ushers in the sun, so shall I usher in the unclouded and eternal glories of the everlasting kingdom.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
16. mine angelfor Jesus isLord of the angels.
unto youministers andpeople in the seven representative churches, and, through you, totestify to Christians of all times and places.
root . . . offspring ofDavidappropriate title here where assuring His Church of “thesure mercies of David,” secured to Israel first, and throughIsrael to the Gentiles. Root of David, as being Jehovah; theoffspring of David as man. David’s Lord, yet David’s son (Mt22:42-45).
the morning starthatushered in the day of grace in the beginning of this dispensation andthat shall usher in the everlasting day of glory at its close.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I Jesus have sent mine angel,…. As John, the writer of this book, sets down his own name, who was an eye and ear witness of the things contained in it, that they might be more surely believed,
Re 22:8 so Christ, the author of it, puts his name Jesus to it, to engage the greater attention to hear and read, and keep the words of it, as well as to make it plain and manifest, who is the person speaking of his coming, Re 22:7 and who that has any value for Jesus the Saviour, but will give credit, and pay a regard to this revelation of his, which he sent by his angel, one of his ministering spirits, made by him, and under his command, he being the Creator, Lord, and head of angels: this expresses the dignity of his person, and is no inconsiderable proof of his deity: and this was done, in order
to testify, to bear witness to the truth of the things contained in it; to signify and show them, to set them forth in emblems and visions:
unto you these things in the churches; to the servants of the Lord,
Re 22:6 to John, and by him to others, to the pastors of the seven churches, who were , “over” the churches, as it may be rendered, and to the members of the churches, to all that were in them; for the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions read , “in”; the Syriac version renders it, , “before the churches”. What John saw he wrote in a book, and sent it to these churches, Re 1:11. The words may be rendered, “concerning the churches”; and then the sense is, that the angel was sent to show to John, and by him to others, even to all the saints in all ages, the things relating to the church of Christ, in the several periods of time, represented in succession by the seven churches of Asia. Christ gives a further account of himself, for the greater confirmation of the faith of his people, in the certain accomplishment of the things herein written, by saying,
I am the root and the offspring of David. The former of these is mentioned in the note, [See comments on Re 5:5]; and the meaning of it is, either that Christ, as God, is David’s Lord and head, from whom he had his being, both in a temporal and spiritual sense, and by whom he was supported and sustained; or that, as man, he sprung from the root of David, or descended from him; and so it falls in with the latter, which may be explanative of it, “the offspring of David”; that is, the soft of David, according to the flesh, a frequent name of the Messiah;
[See comments on Mt 1:1]. God promised that the Messiah should be of the seed of David, and according to his promise he raised up unto Israel of his seed, a Saviour Jesus, the same person here speaking,
Ac 13:23 who adds,
and the bright and morning star; Christ is compared to a “star”, as in
Nu 24:17 for its light, the light of nature, and of grace, and of the new Jerusalem state being from him; and for its glory, his glory being the glory of the only begotten of the Father, and he having a glory, as Mediator, which his saints will ever behold, and be delighted with; and for its influence, all the blessings of grace, life, and righteousness, being from him; and to a “bright” star, because he is the brightness of his Father’s glory, and so splendid, shining, and illustrious, that he is light itself, and in him is no darkness at all; and to a bright “morning” star, which shows the night is going off and the day is coming on, and is the phosphorus, or bringer of light; as Christ by his first coming, who was then the dayspring from on high, put an end to the night of Jewish darkness, and sprung the great Gospel day, so often spoken of by the prophets, and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel, and showed the way to eternal life by himself; so by his second coming, to which this character refers, he will put an end to the night of antichristian darkness, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan; so that there shall be no more night, and shall make an everlasting day, and bring such light into the holy city, that it shall need no candle, nor light of the sun or moon. The dawn of light at the Reformation was a presage of this, Re 2:28 called there the morning star. With great propriety and pertinence are these titles here assumed by Christ, as “the root and offspring of David”, or David’s son, when he was about to sit on the throne of his father David, and possess his kingdom in the most visible and glorious manner; and “the bright and morning star”, when he was going to usher in such light into the new Jerusalem, as would make all other light unnecessary. Aijeleth Shahar, in the title of Ps 22:1 which is a psalm that belongs to the Messiah, is, by some Jewish writers l, interpreted, , “the morning star”, the title of Christ here.
l Apud Kimchi in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I Jesus ( ). The last and most solemn attestation to the book that from Jesus (the historic Jesus known to the churches), in harmony with 1:1f.
Have sent (). First aorist active indicative of , used here in the same sense as in 1:1 as his personal messenger. It is the Jesus of history here speaking, who is also the Christ of theology and the Lamb of God.
For the churches ( ). For this use of see Rev 10:11; John 12:16. It is not just for the seven churches (1:4), but for all the churches in the world then and now.
I am the root and the offspring of David ( ). See 5:5 for “the root of David,” to which John now adds in the sense of “offspring” (Ac 17:28f.), not of family or race (Acts 4:6; Acts 7:13). Cf. Mt 22:42-45.
The bright, the morning star ( ). The Davidic King is called a star in Num 24:17; Luke 1:78. This “day-star” () is interpreted as Christ (2Pe 1:19). In Re 2:28 the phrase “the morning star” occurs in Christ’s words, which is here interpreted. Christ is the Light that was coming into the world (John 1:9; John 8:12).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The root. Compare Isa 11:1, 10. See on Nazarene, Mt 2:23. The morning – star. See on ch. Rev 2:28.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
REMINDER, THIS BOOK ADDRESSED TO THE CHURCHES
1) “I, Jesus have sent mine angel,” (ego lesous epempsa ton angelon mou) I, Jesus, sent my angel,” (perhaps Gabriel), Rev 1:1, our Lord himself certifies that this book of Revelation was written based on his Divine commission and oversight, with him looking on and listening in.
2) “To testify unto you these things in the churches,” (marturesai humin tauta epi tais ekklesiais) “To witness these things to you all in the churches;” this is why this should be a church-guide letter, applicable to be read, heard, and followed, Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11; Rev 3:22; Rev 22:6; Eph 3:21; Eph 5:30.
Our Lord expects every child of his in this age to be baptized and serve him in his church which he purchased, Act 20:28; Eph 5:25.
3) “I am the root and offspring of David,” (ego eimi he hriza kai to genos David) “I am(exist as)the root-stock and offspring of David; His established kingly lineage of David is yet asserted to exist, beyond the millennial age, even in eternity, in the Holy City, Mat 1:1; Mat 22:43; Rev 5:5.
4) “And the bright and morning star,” (ho aster ho lampros ho proinos) “Even the bright morning star; for which Israel and the world waited for so long a time, Num 24:17-19; Mat 2:2; Rev 2:28. He ushers in the day of eternal blessedness, light, help, and hope.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(16) I Jesus have sent mine angel . . .The warning is followed by the voice of our Lord Himself testifying to the truth of the revelation made, I Jesus sent (not have sent, as in the English version) my angel to testify to you these things to the churches. But it is not merely a message, or the confirmation of a message that we havewe have also stated what Christ isthe root and pledge of hope to all. I am the root and offspring of David, and the star, the bright, the morning (star). He is Davids Lord and Davids Son, possessing Davids throne (Mat. 22:42-45; Luk. 1:32); He is the bright star which leads up the dawn of everlasting day (Mal. 4:2; 2Pe. 1:19).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. I Jesus Giving now in his own person his attestation to this book as really from his commissioned angel.
In the churches Greek, , literally, upon; but upon as an audience on whom the utterances are expended as to them addressed, Rev 2:7. So in Rev 10:11, the same preposition (rendered in our translation before) does not signify that the peoples named would be the subject of the prophecies, (as Dusterdieck insists,) but would be the object of their direct address.
The churches First the seven Churches of Asia, and through them to the churches of all lands and ages.
Root and the offspring Note on Rev 5:5.
The bright and morning star A beautiful image of the Saviour, presented by St. John here on the threshold of the celestial world. This new world is the morning of our endless existence; in its gray dawn happy is the man upon whose faith beams this bright and morning star, the promise and harbinger of an eternal day.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘I Jesus have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the churches.’
Compare Rev 1:1; Rev 22:6. This statement stresses that the churches are directly involved in all that is written. They need to know them because they are revealed for their benefit as those who must go through them. It is a personal message from Him to them through His special messenger, His angel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star.’
Compare Rev 5:5; Rev 2:28. Christ applies to Himself the Old Testament promises in respect of the coming one. He is the promised son of David (Num 24:17; Isa 9:6; Isaiah 12:1, 10). See also on Rev 2:28. He is the bright and morning star, the welcomer of the new day (Num 24:17). The bright and morning star is an appropriate description with which to end. The night is passing and it is then that the bright and glorious morning star appears. These citations of the Old Testament stress that the One revealed cannot be distinguished from the One promised in the Old Testament. He is the fulfilment of the Old and the New.
Note how this statement of His Davidic descent is in close proximity with His statement that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev 22:13). Compare Rom 1:3-4; Mar 12:35-37.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A final call to come:
v. 16. 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. 17. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
v. 18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book;
v. 19. and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his parts out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this book.
v. 20. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
v. 21. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. The Lord Himself signs the Book of Revelation with His name: I, Jesus, sent My angel to testify to you these things concerning the churches; I am the Root and the Generation of David, the bright Star of the morning. It is a solemn and impressive declaration that is here recorded by Him who inspired John to write, as His angel testified to him concerning the churches of Asia Minor and the Church as a whole until the end of time. He has the right, the authority, to do so; for He, Jesus, is both the Scion and the Offspring of David, the relation of these two being like dawn and sunrise, both David’s Lord and David’s Son; and He is the bright Star of the morning, the Day-spring from on high, Luk 1:78, of whom the prophets have spoken; He is the eternal God.
It is the tenderest and most gracious invitation that He sends forth in this book and in the entire Gospel: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and he that hears it should say, Come; and let the thirsty come, let him that desires it, take the water of life without price. Here is certainly sufficient proof of the sincerity of God’s call to repentance and faith. What the Spirit says in so many passages of Scriptures, what the Church has preached for so many centuries, that should be echoed by every one that hears the gracious invitation to partake of the joys of eternal salvation. He that hungers and thirsts for the righteousness of the Lord as revealed in His Word is freely invited to partake of it in full measure, without money and without price. With this gracious call and invitation ringing in their ears, the believers should continue their march onward and upward, until their battle-cry will be changed into the eternal shout of triumph.
Now John adds his own personal testimony as to the divine truth of his statements. For I testify to everyone that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any one adds to them, God will add to Him the plagues that are written in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the Holy City, as described in this book. John has described the visions and revelations which he had; he has written down the prophecies which he received. He himself has not added thereto, nor taken there from. But he earnestly advises others also not to meddle with the prophecies as recorded by him. To do so would expose a person to a loss of all the bliss which is held out to those that are faithful unto death, and to all the terrible plagues that are described in the entire book as descending upon the enemies of God.
Once more John hears the voice of the Lord: He that testifies these things says, Yes, I am coming soon. This fact must never be forgotten. by the Christians; the coming of the Lord may be expected at any time. And we, all believers, answer the Lord in joyful cry: Amen, come, Lord Jesus! And with this in mind, we accept and welcome the apostolic blessing with which John closes his book: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. He that has forgiveness of sins has also life and salvation. That is our comfort throughout this life, until we open our eyes in eternity to see and enjoy what we here hoped and believed.
Summary
The seer finishes his picture of the glories of heaven and describes the longing of Christ for His believers and their eager call for Him to come.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
DISCOURSE: 2533
CHRIST THE MORNING STAR
Rev 22:16. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
THE Revelation which had been made to John, contained predictions of an uninterrupted series of events from that time even to the end of the world. They had indeed been made to him through the instrumentality of an angel: but they were nevertheless as certain, as if they had been delivered immediately by God himself; seeing that the angel had received his commission and instructions directly from Jesus, who is the Lord of the holy prophets [Note: Compare ver. 6. with the text.]. It seems to have been with a view to assure John, together with the saints in all succeeding ages, of the truth and certainty of all that had been spoken, that Jesus gave this description of his own character: in which we may see,
I.
His personal character
That Jesus was the offspring of David, is obvious enough
[He was to be so according to the Scriptures [Note: Isa 11:1.]: and that he was so, both by his fathers and his mothers side, the genealogies that are given of him expressly affirm [Note: Matthew 1 and Luke 3.]. Indeed Divine Providence so ordered it, that, in consequence of a taxation decreed throughout the Roman Empire in the time of Csar Augustus, his reputed father was under the necessity of going up to Bethlehem, to be taxed there: by which means there was a public enrolment of the name of Jesus, (who was born there at that time,) as belonging to the house and lineage of David [Note: Luk 2:1-6.].]
But He was no less the Root also of David
[How this could be, was but little understood, till after the day of Pentecost. Jesus did indeed often speak of himself as God; but still his Disciples did not clearly apprehend his meaning. Yet that the Messiah, who was to be a Child born and a Son given, was also to be the Mighty God, even God with us, was fully and distinctly revealed in the prophetic writings [Note: Isa 9:6 and Isa 7:14. with Mat 1:23.]. But the most learned of the Jewish Rabbins, when a remarkable prophecy to this effect was adduced from the Psalms by our blessed Lord, were unable to solve the difficulty proposed to them: they could not explain how Davids Son could possibly be Davids Lord [Note: Psa 110:1. with Mat 22:41-46.]. Nor can our modern Socinians ever return a satisfactory answer to our Lords question; which can only be answered by acknowledging, that Jesus is God as well as man; the Creator of all things in his Divine nature, though himself a creature according to his human nature. It is in this sense that he was the Root, at the same time that he was also the Offspring, of David: and to this agree the most decided testimonies of Holy Writ [Note: Joh 1:1; Joh 1:14. Rom 1:3-4; Rom 9:5.] ]
Our Lord proceeds to mention,
II.
His official character
The voice of prophecy announced him as a Star that should come out of Jacob [Note: Num 24:17.]. But in our text he designates himself as the Morning star. Now it is the office of the morning star, not merely to give light, as others do, but to usher in the day: and in this particular view the title assumed by our Lord should be exclusively considered. We observe then, that,
1.
By his first rising in the world he introduced the Gospel day
[Previous to his appearing, there were some faint glimmerings of light, by means of the types and shadows of the Mosaic law: but as soon as he entered on his ministry, he diffused a light around him; dispelling the mists by which the Pharisees had obscured the law, and exhibiting in his own person a perfect pattern of that obedience which the law required. By his death he accomplished the prophecies, and shewed more clearly what were the designs of God respecting the redemption of the world: and by his resurrection and ascension, and sending down the Holy Ghost to testify of him, he gave to the benighted world the light of perfect day. Then he appeared as the Day-spring from on high [Note: Luk 1:78.], even as the Sun of Righteousness, that had arisen with healing in his wings [Note: Mal 4:2.]]
2.
By his rising in the heart he now introduces the day of salvation into the soul
[That there is to be a manifestation of Christ to the hearts of men, different from any thing that is vouchsafed to the unregenerate soul, is certain [Note: Joh 14:21-23.]: and St. Peter speaks of it expressly as the day-star arising in our hearts [Note: 2Pe 1:19.]. What kind of a manifestation this is, may be conceived from the history of Zaccheus, to whose soul it was made, and who experienced the instantaneous benefits arising from it [Note: Luk 19:5-6; Luk 19:9.] This change was by no means peculiar to him; it is wrought in all who truly embrace the Gospel [Note: Act 26:18.], though, in respect of suddenness, it may greatly vary. The distinguishing effect of this manifestation is, that the glorious character of Christ, which was before hidden from our eyes, is now distinctly seen [Note: Joh 1:4-5; Joh 1:9; Joh 1:14 and 2Co 4:6.]; and he is embraced, as the most valued treasure of the soul [Note: Php 3:7-8.], the ground of ineffable and eternal joy [Note: 1Pe 1:8.].]
3.
By his present light he gives us an assured prospect of yet a brighter day even in this world
[It is certain that there is a day approaching, when the light now vouchsafed to the Church shall be greatly increased; when the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold, as the light of many days [Note: Isa 30:26.]. This will surely take place in the Millennium, when the Lord will bind up the breach of his ancient people the Jews, and heal the stroke of their wound. Then the whole Gentile world also shall be made to behold his glory: and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as completely and as deeply as the waters cover the sea. This idea seems to be peculiarly referred to, inasmuch as the morning-star is the sure forerunner of a brighter state under the influfluence of the rising sun. In this view, all that has hitherto been done for the Church shall be only as the drop before the shower, seeing that the whole world shall form, as it were, but one great temple, which God himself will fill with his glory, and the Lamb shall be the light thereof [Note: Rev 21:23.].]
4.
By his appearing at the end of the world, he will introduce eternal day
[He tells us that at that period he will give to his obedient people the Morning star [Note: Rev 2:28.]. Yes, he will come again in his glory, and in all the brightness and majesty of the Godhead: and then will all remaining darkness be for ever banished. Now we know but in part, and see but as in a glass darkly: but then shall we see face to face. Then all the mysterious designs of God from the beginning will be brought forth to light, together with the reasons of all his dispensations: then will all the perfections of God shine forth with united splendour, not only in the work of redemption as wrought out by Christ, but in the salvation of every individual amongst his people. And how will the wisdom of a life of godliness then appear! Then indeed will be consummated the happiness of man; and God be glorified in all.]
Address
1.
To those who have never yet beheld the glory of Christ
[As in the days of his flesh, so in this day, it is not every one to whom the light comes, that duly apprehends it [Note: Joh 1:5; Joh 1:10-11.]. Satan is yet successful in blinding the eyes of many [Note: 2Co 4:4.]. If you have never yet seen Jesus as fairer than ten thousand, and altogether lovely, this is your unhappy state. O pray then that God would open your eyes, and call you out of darkness into his marvellous light! Till then you can have no real fellowship with God, nor any hope of acceptance through the blood of Jesus [Note: 1Jn 1:6-7.].]
2.
To those who profess to know and love him
[Happy is it for you if your profession be justified by your actual experience. But you must remember, that there are many who say, they are in the light, and yet are in darkness even until now; yea, they walk in darkness, and know not whither they go, because that darkness hath blinded their eyes. Would you know, who are in that state: I answer, All they who, in the midst of a profession of religion, are indulging any of those tempers that are contrary to love and charity [Note: 1Jn 2:9-11.]. Hear ye this, O ye censorious and uncharitable, ye proud and envious, ye fretful and passionate professors! Talk not of the light ye have in your heads, whilst there is such darkness in your hearts. You must be able to say of your tempers, as well as of your principles, The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth [Note: 1Jn 2:8.]. If you cannot appeal both to God and man for the truth of this, deceive not your own souls: for if you are children of light indeed, you must walk in the light, even as Christ himself walked [Note: 1Th 5:5-8. 1Jn 2:8.]. But, let such a change be wrought in your whole spirit and conduct, and Christ will surely give you the morning star, even the full enjoyment of his presence and glory in the eternal world.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
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.
As we are here drawing nigh to a close, the Lord Jesus doth here again as he did at the beginning, take to himself his own sovereign power and Godhead, and saith, I Jesus have sent mine Angel. And who but God sends Angels? Oh! how sweet are these accumulated testimonies of Christ’s Godhead, to the people of God. How overwhelming to Christ’s enemies? But Jesus adds another. He calls himself the root and the offspring of David. A circumstance impossible, upon any principle of common sense, but as God and Man, (as Christ indeed is,) in one Person. For, as God, he is the root of David and of all things. And, as man, he is the offspring of David, after the flesh, 2Ti 2:8 . But suppose for a moment, his Godhead was not, how could he have been the root of David. Take away his manhood, and how could he be the seed of David. Oh! blessed testimony, as Jesus himself stated it to the Pharisees of old, Mat 22:42 to the end, compared with Psa 110:1 ; Rom 1:4 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Beautiful is the similitude the Lord makes of himself to the Morning Star. For, as the root of David, in the old testament-dispensation, and long before he arose in his incarnation as the Sun of Righteousness, he shone bright and glorious like a star of the fast magnitude, and as the sure pledge of day in the firmament of the scriptures, both by David and the other Prophets. And to this hour he continues in his morning risings, as the day dawn, and day star in the hearts of his people. So that this is a sweet figure in the morning planet of our Jesus, when in the wintry days, he ariseth as the sure harbinger of the Sun of Righteousness, which will follow.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16 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.
Ver. 16. Have sent mine angel ] With weariness of flight, as Dan 9:21 .
I am the root ] That bear up David by my Deity; but am born of him in regard of my humanity.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jesus in person now speaks in the colloquy (Rev 22:16 ; Rev 22:13 ; Rev 22:12 ) to ratify what has just been said. This apocalypse is not an individual fantasy (2Pe 1:21 ). For the contemporary need of such accrediting, cf. Herm. Sim. ix. 22 and Ascension. Isa. 3:30, 31 (where in the last days “everyone will say what is pleasing in his own eyes. And they will make of none effect the prophecy of the prophets which were before me, and these my visions also will they make of none effect, in order to speak after the impulse of their own hearts.”) , not John (Weiss, Wellh.) but the angelus interpres ( cf. on Rev 1:2 ; Rev 1:20 ). , the plural here and in Rev 22:6 ( cf. Rev 1:1 ) might suggest that John’s apocalypse incorporated some visions of other members belonging to the prophets in the Asiatic circle or school ( cf. the tradition about the co-operative origin of the Fourth gospel, in the Muratorian canon). But while any Jewish Christian sources may have been drawn from this quarter, the final authorship and authority is claimed by (or, for) John himself ( cf. Rev 22:8 ). . Like most early Christians, John attached more weight to the Davidic descent of Jesus as messiah (Baldensperger, 82 f.), than Jesus himself allowed. Here Christ’s authority in revelation is bound up with his legitimate claim to be messiah, and thus to inaugurate the new and eternal day of God. As (the dawn = ) was already a messianic symbol, and employed in LXX (Jer 23:5 , Zec 3:8 ; Zec 6:12 ) to denote the messianic branch or stem, this double usage explains the imagery here (so Justin, Apol. i. 32). Jesus has not only the historic preparation of Israel behind him but the infinite future before him. In one sense he was the climax of Hebrew expectation; in another, he is of world-wide significance. In connexion with the heavenly Jerusalem it was natural that Jesus should be hailed as the scion of the David who had founded the first Jerusalem. The star-metaphor reflects the significance of the morning-star which meant the beginning of a new day for toilers in the Levant; but its eschatological outlook was taken ultimately from Babylonian astro-theology, where Nebo-Mercury (neb = prophet), the morning-star, announced the new era, or from Egyptian theology where ( cf. E. B. D. p. cxliii.) Pepi the dead king “goeth forth into heaven among the Stars which never perish, and his guide the Morning-Star leadeth him to Sekhet-Hetep [the fields of peace]”. The phraselogy brings out the conviction of the early church that the present trial was only the cold, dark hour before the dawn. Their faith in Jesus assured them that an eternal prospect of bliss awaited them, and that this vista of hope was hound up with the person of the risen Jesus ( cf. Rev 22:13 ). The watchword was, sunrise and morning-star ( cf. Expos. Dec. 1902, 424 441). Christianity was not some ephemeral Oriental cult, which had had its day; the cosmic overthrow meant a new era for its adherents. The Apocalypse thus closes, as it began (Rev 1:5-6 ) with a note of ringing emphasis upon the eternal significance of Christ in the divine plan and purpose.
Rev 22:13 Gathers up the double thought of 16 and of 12. As the Christian (Rev 2:2 ; Rev 2:5 ; Rev 2:19 , etc.) are done within the sphere of faith, their recompense is a religious as well as a thoroughly moral conception ( cf. Hastings’ D. B. iii. 82, and Montefiore’s Hibbert Lectures , p. 538). To the day’s work, the day’s wage. For the origin of this feeling on Syrian or Semitic soil, where the fellahin’s work “was scrutinised before the wages were paid” by one who was “at once the paymaster of his dependents and their judge,” cf. Hatch’s Hibb. Lectures , pp. 224 f. and Dalman, i. viii. 3. The reward, like the new Jerusalem, was safely stored in heaven. No fear of inadequate moral appreciation in the next world, at any rated
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 22:16
16″I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Rev 22:16 “‘I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches” Notice that the term “you” is plural and the allusion to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3 is made very specific. The book begins and concludes with the genre of letter, while the visions in between are a combination of prophecy (the end viewed through the lens of the present) and apocalyptic (imaginative imagery).
“My angel” Often the sender is God the Father (cf. Rev 22:6, “His angel”). Here the sender is Jesus (“My angel”). The phrase is also found in Rev 1:1, but the pronoun antecedent is ambiguous.
“the churches” See Special Topic at Rev 1:4.
“I am the root and the descendant of David” There are many allusions to the Davidic line of the Messiah in the OT (cf. 2Sa 7:12-16 and Isa 11:1; Isa 11:10) and in the NT (cf. Mat 1:1; Mat 9:17; Mat 15:22; Mat 21:9; Rom 1:3; 2Ti 2:8 Rev 5:5). Jesus is the fulfillment of all OT prophecies.
SPECIAL TOPIC: JESUS THE NAZARENE
“the bright and morning star” This is a Messianic title (cf. Num 24:17 or Mat 2:2 or 2Pe 1:19). This may be a play on Isa 14:12 where a similar phrase referred to Satan. In Revelation evil often is a parody of the Triune God.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
I. The Lord Himself speaks.
Jesus. App-98.
have sent = sent. App-174.
testify. See p. 1611.
in. Greek. epi. App-104.
churches. See Rev 1:4 and App-186. The “assemblies” of Rev. 6 and Rev. 8 specifically, during the fulfillment of “the prophecy of this book”.
Offspring. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Species). App-6. See Act 17:28.
David. See Rev 3:7; Rev 5:5.
and, and. Omit.
morning = the morning. Greek. orthrinos, only here. The texts read ho pro’inos, as Rev 2:28.
Star. Greek. aster. Fourteenth and last occurance in Rev. See App-197. Compare Num 24:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 22:16. ) The genuine reading,[248] to which, as not being understood, one has prefixed , another . If either particle had been originally written, the copyists would not so easily either have changed or omitted it. But, as Wolf well reminds us, they who are intended by the particle you, are distinguished from the churches. For is the dative, and the ablative, as ch. Rev 8:3-4. The seven churches in Asia altogether are witnesses to the individual churches, and these to their individual angels and hearers.- ) He does not say , nor , but uses a new appellation, . This greatly increases the force of the signification.
[248] A Vulg. prefix : so Lachm. Rec. Text has , with B; Tisch., with minor authorities, omits the preposition.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Chapter 61
Four names for our savior
‘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’
Rev 22:16
Our Lord here uses four names to describe and identify himself. ‘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 the morning star.’ In the Bible the names of Christ show us his personal character, covenant offices, mediatoral work, and divine authority. In the Scriptures everything revolves around, is built upon, and points to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. We are saved by faith in his name (Act 4:12; Act 10:43).
2. We are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Act 2:38).
3. We pray in the name of Christ (Joh 14:13-14; Joh 16:23-26).
4. We gather to worship in his name (Mat 18:20).
5. We preach his name (Act 9:15).
6. We suffer the afflictions of the gospel for his names sake (Act 5:41).
7. We are preserved, kept, and accepted of God in his name (Rev 22:4).
8. And one day soon all the world will know his name (Php 2:8-11).
The prophet Isaiah tells us, ‘His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace’ (Isa 9:6). Our Lords name tells us who he is and what he does for us as our God and Savior. I want to simply show you the meaning of these four names used by our Savior to describe himself. As God the Holy Spirit gives understanding these names will yield to the believing heart both comfort and strength.
Our saviors name is ‘Jesus’ (Mat 1:21)
Though he is exalted in the glory of heaven, our Savior still wears the name of his humiliation to assure us that he is the same now as he ever was. He says, ‘I Jesus.’ The angel said to Joseph, ‘Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.’ The name of the incarnate Son of God is ‘Jesus,’ ‘Deliverer.’ It tells us what he came into this world to do. This angelic messenger told Joseph and us three things about this ‘Jesus’ who is the Christ of God.
1. Jesus, who is the Christ, has a people in this world
Long before he came into the world, the Son of God had a people in the world, chosen by him in eternal election and given to him in the covenant of grace. There are many antichrists today called ‘Jesus.’ But Jesus who is the Christ of God is the Jesus of sovereign, electing grace (Joh 15:16; Mat 11:25-27). He has a people whom he must and shall save (Joh 10:16).
2. This Jesus, who is the Christ, came into this world on an errand of mercy, with a mission to accomplish and a work to perform
The Son of God did not come into this world to start a new religion, to establish a Jewish kingdom, or to bring about a moral, social revolution. He came here to save his people from their sins. He did not come to provide salvation, but to save. He did not come to make salvation possible, but to save. He did not come to save all people in general, but his people in particular (Joh 6:37-40; Heb 10:5-14).
3. This Jesus, who is the Christ, is an effectual, successful savior
He came to save his people from their sins, and save them he does. He saved all his people from the penalty of their sins by his obedience unto death (Heb 9:12; Heb 9:27). He saves all his people from the power of their sins by his almighty power and sovereign grace in regeneration (Joh 17:2). He will save all his people from the presence of sin by bringing them home to heaven at last (Heb 2:13). The Lord Jesus Christ is so glorious a Savior that he saves his people from all sin, all the punishment of sin, all the consequences of sin, and ultimately even from all the sorrow of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, though he is exalted to heavens glory, is still Jesus, the friend of sinners. He says, ‘I Jesus.’ He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Heb 13:8).
Our savior, Jesus, is ‘the root of David’
That simply means that Jesus Christ, the man, is himself almighty God. He is the Root, the source, and cause of Davids existence, faith, spiritual life, and everlasting glory. David was what he was, did what he did, and is what he is in heaven today, because of and by the power of Jesus Christ, our eternal God. Let us never, for a moment, lose sight of this glorious truth – Our blessed Savior, Redeemer, and King is himself God (Joh 1:1; 1Ti 3:16; Rom 9:4; Act 20:28; Col 2:9-10).
Our savior, Jesus Christ our God, is also ‘the offspring of David’
That is to say, Christ Jesus is a man, born of the lineage of David, and rightful heir to the throne of Israel, the Messiah. In Rom 1:1-5 the apostle Paul tells us that the gospel is…of God…promised by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures…concerning his Son…made of the seed of David…declared to be the Son of God…by whom we have received grace and faith. The gospel is the proclamation of the incarnation accomplishments of the Son of God.
God and man are forever united in immutable and indissolvable union in the Person of Jesus Christ. By means of his miraculous incarnation, the Son of God took into union with himself manhood. Every ransomed sinner ought constantly give thanks to God for ‘his unspeakable gift’ (1Co 9:15; Gal 4:4-6). Only as man could he obey the law and suffer the penalty of the law for men (Heb 2:10; Heb 2:17). But only as God could his obedience and death be effectual, meritorious, and satisfying for the accomplishment of our salvation. Only a man in heaven could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But only God could effectually deliver us from our infirmities.
Our savior is also ‘the bright and morning star.’
He is the Light by whom God is revealed and known to men. In his light we live now and shall live forever (Joh 1:5; Joh 1:9; 1Jn 2:5; Rev 21:23). The voice of prophecy announced Christs coming as ‘a Star out of Jacob’ who should come (Num 24:16-17). But here our Lord calls himself ‘the bright and morning star.’ The morning star does not merely show forth light. All the stars do that. The morning star announces and ushers in the day. That is what Christ is. He is the Bright and Morning Star, who announces and ushers in the day.
When our Savior first arose in this world, he dispelled the darkness of Judaism and ushered in the gospel day
Before he came, there were faint sparkles of light in the types and shadows of the law. But as soon as he began to preach the gospel, light shined into the world. The Pharisees obscured the law with their traditions in darkness. He gave light to the law. By his life, his death, and his resurrection, our Lord fulfilled the dark shadows of the law. And by sending his Spirit and his gospel into the world, he dispelled the darkness of heathenism and brought the light of day. He appeared as ‘the Day-spring from on high’ (Luk 1:78), and ‘the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his wings’ (Mal 4:2).
In conversion Christ arises as the day star in the hearts of his people and drives away darkness (2Pe 1:19)
We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Co 4:6). He enlightens our minds and instructs our hearts by his Spirit (1Co 2:14-16). He gives hope of a brighter day (1Co 13:12; Tit 2:11-14). Until Christ came to us in his saving grace, we groped about in darkness. Now we walk in the light, as he is in the light.
When the Bright and Morning Star shall appear at the end of this world, he will introduce the great eternal day
In that great day, he will give his elect ‘the Morning Star’ and all that the Morning Star promises (Rev 2:28). In that great day, our great Savior will bring all things to light, and we shall see all things clearly. Then, but not until then, shall we understand…all the purposes of God…all the dispensations of providence…all the work of redemption…all the fullness of the covenant…all the glory of grace…and why he saved us.
This is the name of our dear Savior…’Jesus’ – Our Savior…’The Root of David’ – Our God…’The Offspring of David’ – Our Mediator…’The Bright and Morning Star’ – Our Revelation.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Christs Witness to Himself
I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.Rev 22:16.
1. This is the last place in Scripture where the Redeemer bears witness to Himself. A few verses below He once more promises to returnI come quicklybut of His own words regarding His own excellence and majesty, this is the last: I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.
2. The hours of the great Vision were almost over. The Apostle, who had walked long ago with Jesus as His daily friend, had been entranced for awhile into immediate experience of His presence in the mode of endless life; and now the trance was closing. An influence wholly from above had been imprinting on his soul the message to the Churches, and the order of the future of the Church; and now, at the end, the spiritual Voice has still this word to say; the Lord speaks of Himself once more. Perhaps the cloud of literal night was rolling from the rock of Patmos, and the literal day-star shone above the region of the dawn. But the spiritual view and the inner word were all of the light and of the day. There came a sound full of immortality, I am the bright, the morning star.
3. The Lord speaks here, indeed, in a manner that is all His own. Nothing is more profoundly characteristic in His words, from first to last, than His witness to Himself. It is one of the main phenomena of the gospel, most perplexing on the theory of unbelief, most truthlike on the theory of beliefthis self-witness of the Man of humility and sorrows. He, the sacred exemplar of all self-denial, yet always and immovably presents Himself in terms of self-assertion, and such self-assertion as must mean either Deity or a delusion, moral as well as mental, of infinite depth. I am the truth; I am the life; I am the bread of life; I am the true vine; I am the good shepherd. We have but this same tone, perfectly retained, when here the same Voice speaks from amid the realities of the unseen. The imagery, indeed, is lifted to the scenery of the firmament; He who is the genial Vine, and the laborious Shepherd, now also reveals Himself as the Star of Stars in a spiritual sky. But the new splendour of the term only conveys the truth which had always stood in the very front of the testimony of Jesus; the truth of His own sacredness and glory; the doctrine that He, the Son of the Father, is the ultimate peace, and hope, and joy, of the soul of man.
I
The Root and the Offspring of David
I am the root and the offspring of David.
1. In these words Jesus speaks to us as the historic Christ, the Messiah so long expected, who entered human life in connexion with a definite human family and race in a definite part of the world. The root of Jesse in time produced the branch; in His human nature He was the descendant of Israels famous king. Independently of all theories and interpretations, the Church must continually be going back to the historic Christ if she would keep true to the original gospel. And the facts recorded in the Gospelswe must grow familiar with them, meditate on them, search their significance until they become living truths to us. I am the root and the offspring of David; so He speaks, using the language of men, revealing Himself to us in the terms of a perfect human life. We think about Jesus Christ, and, guided by St. John and St. Paul, our thoughts travel wide and high, until, please God, we find that all things are by Him and in Him and unto Him; He is the Centre, as He is the Beginning and the End of all; we cannot explain the universe apart from Him. So the Church has built up her Divine philosophy on the foundation of the incarnate Word, the Reason, and the Utterance of Almighty God. But the Church throughout her history has found it necessary to balance her high and large philosophy by laying equal emphasis on the facts of Christs earthly life. Dearly as she values the philosophy of the Incarnation, the Church can never afford to lose touch with Jesus of Nazareth, who lived in Galilee and Juda and died upon the cross.
There is one lecture, delivered at this period, in 1874, which contains much that is original and powerful, on the all-important subject of our Lords Divinity. It was the first of a series given to the students of the English Presbyterian College. As a Jew, Dr. Saphir throws himself into the very period and circumstances of his fathers at the advent of Christ. He concluded his lecture with this very touching personal testimony:
I was brought up in my childhood in the synagogue, and was taught that there was one God, infinite, incomprehensible, holy Spirit; high above us and omnipresent. Much stress was laid on the unity and unicity of God. But this bare, vague, and abstract Monotheism leaves the mind in darkness, while the heart is chilly and desolate. There was another and a better current which then influenced me. It was the national history, as recorded in the books of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, and commemorated in the festivals. There I was met by no abstract idea of unicity, but by a loving God, who appeared unto Abraham and spoke to him; who led Israel through the wilderness and dwelt among them; and after, when I thought of the friendly, kind, concrete, and human way in which the Lord God then appeared unto His people and dwelt with them, I wondered why He was not now with us, known, loved, and followed.
One day I was looking at some books, and the title of one arrested my eye. It was Die Menschwerdung GottesGod becoming man. The thought went through my mind like a flash of lightning; it thrilled my soul with a most joyous solemnity. Oh, I said, this would be the most beautiful thing, if God were to become man and visit us! Not many years after I heard about Jesus, and read the Gospels. I felt here the same presence, the same loving, condescending, redeeming, and sanctifying God, that appeared unto the Fathers. I felt that here was Jehovah; that all darkness had disappeared, and that the grand but inconceivable glory here shone upon us in the perfect, peaceful, and holy countenance of the man Christ Jesus. Peniel! I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. To believe in Jesus, the Son of God, is not an abstract dogma, or a theosophic speculation, but a soul-experience, a new heart-life. It is the mystery of godliness. May the result of all we learn and experience on earth be summed up in this: By Gods spirit I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.1 [Note: G. Carlyle, A Memoir of Adolph Saphir, 228.]
2. Christ is at once the Root and the Offshoot, the Beginning and the End of the whole economy associated with the Davidic family. In the Messiah, the latest Scion of the House of David, its earliest ideals and hopes are realized. He is the Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, the substance of ancient prophecy, the long-promised and looked-for King. Thus He is connected on the one side with earth, on the other with heaven, Immanuel, God with us, touched with a feeling of our infirmities, mighty to save. The root of David? Yes, the source of Davids humanity, that of God from which David and all else that we call human has come forth. What an astounding claim, yet unmistakable! Before David was, Christ is, the very Christ who in the course of ages became manifest to the world as the Jesus born of Davids line, Alpha and Omega, first and last. If, in any sense, Jesus is the root of human nature, as well as the flower thereof, it is evident that we are of lofty lineage, whether we realize it or not.
These New Testament applications of the title, Son of David, are in close harmony with the Old Testament description of the Messiah. David was the founder of the kingdom of Israel. Whenever in later centuries the nation and its welfare were in the mind, the thought naturally turned to David. When the house of David no longer ruled, and the kingdom was shattered, prophets and singers lamented the misfortunes that had overtaken David and his house. When their hopefulness and faith in God expressed itself in visions of a bright future, they naturally spoke of a second David, a branch of his house, who should restore the nation to its former prosperity. As the past, and especially Davids rule, grew fairer by contrast with the dismal present, so the new kingdom of David in the future was pictured in extravagant colours. The Kingdom should extend over the whole earth, irresistibly, triumphantly. But this conquest was not conquest for conquests sake. It was a process without which the longedfor prosperity could, in their imagination, not be realized. It was but an incident in the larger blessedness of the future.2 [Note: O. H. Gates, in The Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, ii. 653.]
As you look full at the faade of Amiens Cathedral in front, the statues which fill the minor porches are either obscured in their narrower recesses or withdrawn behind each other so as to be unseen. And the entire mass of the front is seen, literally, as built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone. Literally that; for the receding Porch is a deep angulus, and its mid-pillar is the Head of the Corner.
Built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, that is to say of the Prophets who foretold Christ, and the Apostles who declared Him. Though Moses was an Apostle, of God, he is not herethough Elijah was a Prophet, of God, he is not here. The voice of the entire building is that of the Heaven at the Transfiguration. This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.
There is yet another and a greater prophet still, who, as it seems at first, is not here. Shall the people enter the gates of the temple, singing, Hosanna to the Son of David; and see no image of His father, then?Christ Himself declare, I am the root and the offspring of David; and yet the Root have no sign near it of its Earth?
Not so. David and his Son are together. David is the pedestal of the Christ. The statue of David is only two-thirds life-size, occupying the niche in front of the pedestal. He holds his sceptre in his right hand, the scroll in his left. King and Prophet, type of all Divinely right doing, and right claiming, and right proclaiming, kinghood, for ever. The entire monolith is one of the noblest pieces of Christian sculpture in the world.1 [Note: Ruskin, The Bible of Amiens, ch. iv. 30 (Works, xxxiii. 144).]
II
The Morning Star
Both in the Gospels and in the Book of Revelation, when our Lord uses symbolical language about Himself, He uses such symbols as all can understand; they are universal in their range and common to all men. The morning star is one of them; it shines for all, and all men know it, and recognize it with a greeting of welcome. The light by which we live is the true light of the universe. It is not for us alone, but for all who do not acknowledge it as yet.
1. Why should Christ speak of Himself as the Star? We may be perfectly sure that the word, with all its radiant beauty is no mere flight of fancy. Prophecy, not poetry, underlies these last oracles of the Bible; and among the prophecies in which stars form the imagery there is but one which can be thought to point to Messiahthe prophecy of Balaam (Num 24:17). Balaam had heard, among the words of God, of a mysterious Person, or at least of a mysterious Power, strong to destroy and save; figured to his soul in vision as a Star, destined in other days to appear out of Israel; and the belief of the Jewish Church, in the lifetime of Jesus, certainly was that the Star of that prediction was the King Messiah. No doubt the import of Balaams words has been variously explained; but if we believe this utterance in the Apocalypse to be a Divine reality, we are safe in believing along with it, under guidance of the fact that no other similar prediction fairly offers, that it was of Messiah that Balaam had heard in the words of God, and that he had seen Messiah, in the vision of the Almighty, as the Star of Jacob.
Prophecy, then, spoke of Messiah as the Star. The word indicated, probably, the royal dignity, touched and glorified with the light of Deity, or of Divinity at least.
There is good evidence that in the time of Christ the Star of Num 24:17 was popularly identified with the Messianic King. This idea may have influenced those New Testament passages where Jesus is represented as the Morning Star (Rev 22:16; Rev 2:28), though it must be remembered that the angels are described symbolically in the Book of Enoch (86:1, 3) as starsa metaphor which helps to explain the symbolism by which Jesus is here described as the Morning Star. The essential idea of the conception is present in all those passages of the New Testament which speak of the spiritual illumination that accompanies the revelation of the Messiah. The remarkable description of the Messiah as the Dayspring from on high in the Song of Zacharias (Luk 1:78), may possibly have been associated in thought with the Messianic Star.1 [Note: G. H. Box.]
2. But the Voice at Patmos not only claims the primeval prophecy for Jesus, as the King of the new Israel. It expands that prophecy, and discloses truth within truth treasured there. For the Lord does not only assert Himself to be the Star, the bright Star; as of course His brightness must be surpassing if He is in any sense at all a Star. His own presentation of the metaphor has in it something new and specialI am the morning star. Why was not the word Star left alone in the utterance? In pointing to Messiah as the Star, were not the ideas of brilliancy, and elevation, and all that is ethereal, sufficient? No; it was not to be so. Christ Himself so qualifies the word by this one bright epithet as to show Himself, not as the King merely, but as the King of Morning, around whom gathered, and should gather for ever, all that is real in tenderest hope, and youngest vigour, and most cheerful aspiration, and such beginnings as shall eternally develop and never contract into fixity and decline.
Some traveller of the Norman times is passing along an old English valley as the night begins to deepen. On the hillside facing him groups of peasants are returning from their fields, and they have kindled torches to frighten away the wolves. Through the open doors of the distant hamlet the faint glow of fire comes, and dim tapers flicker in the casements. By and by the valley becomes one long, unbroken shadow. And now at last the curfew sounds from the lowly church on the hill. The peasants have reached their homes, the lights in the casements are quenched, and the scattered habitations are shrouded in darkness. In the clear sky behind the shoulder of the hill a star shines which obeys no sound of curfew. It glittered over the triremes of the Romans as they crossed to Britains shores. It will hang undimmed over the grave of the youngest child cradled in the hamlet, and will watch the long procession of Normans, Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, to their last resting-places.
And is it not thus with One who is described as the Bright and Morning Star? Prophet, apostle, and evangelist hold out to the dark and erring world the light of life, and by and by the solemn curfew sounds across the heavens, and the light in which we were willing to walk for a season has passed from our pathway. The apostles are gone. The reformers have long since followed in their steps. The evangelists of the last century, of imperishable work and memory, do they live for ever? The twilight knell is heard again, and the men who were the lights and guides of our spiritual childhood are no longer with us. But the Lord of the Church abides when His servants vanish; and from His celestial enthronement an unchanged Christ looks down upon each succeeding generation of men, to guide their feet into the way of peace.1 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Unheeding God, 381.]
3. This last self-witness of Jesus Christ reminds the disciple that his blessed Lord is no mere name of tender recollection, no dear relic of a perished past, to be drawn sometimes in silence from its casket and clasped with the aching fondness, and sprinkled with the hot tears, of hopeless memory. He is not Hesperus that sets, but Phosphorus that rises, springing into the sky through the earliest dawn; the pledge of reviving life, and growing light, and all the energies and all the pleasures of the happy day. And the word speaks of a kind of joy for which the open day would not be so true a simile. It indicates the delights of hope along with those of fruition; a happiness in which one of the deep elements is always the thought of something yet to be revealed; light with more light to follow, joy to develop into further joy, as the dawn passes into the morning and then into the day.
Do you say, But is this all that Christ is to His Church nowonly a star? Yes, allin comparison with what He will be. But remember, the morning star makes the daybreak quite sureit always precedes itthey are never dividedand it is itself brilliant to the midnight that would be without it. Four thousand years, in contrast, our earth was very dark. Nearly two thousand years the morning star has shone; and many and many a child of the day has looked on itbeen guided by it safe, and recognized its note of hope, and waited the more, with quiet patience, for the morning. And many of those children of the day are still looking on it, and say, as they look out for its coming, in their quiet resting-places, How long? How long? And surely it cannot be now very long till the star of our faith shall melt away into the sun of our sight; and risen souls shall rise again to bask in its lustre.1 [Note: J. Vaughan, Sermons, iv. 4.]
4. The metaphor of Christ as the Morning Star suggests(1) the Distinction He has; (2) the Light He gives; (3) the Cheer He imparts; (4) the Hope He inspires.
(1) The distinction Christ has.The morning star is pre-eminently the star of distinction. It is larger and brighter to view than any other; it is the only star that has light enough to cast a shadow; it is indeed so dazzlingly bright that on this very account we know less about its material surface than about other planets; the light cannot be penetrated to make research. It is, as astronomers tell us, the most brilliant of all the planets, and the most beautiful object to us in the heavens. No one can mistake the morning star in the firmament, or confound it with any other orb. It shines pre-eminent and alone. In the words of Milton, it flames in the forehead of the morning sky. Thus is it with Christ. He is the bright as well as the Morning Star. He is without a rival in time, and He will be, even more gloriously, without a rival in eternity. In all things he has the pre-eminence.
The morning star is what is known in astronomy as the planet Venus. The Greeks and Romans named the planets after their gods and goddesses; but, as old Thomas Adams says, we need not trouble our heads about such matters, Christ is our morning star.1 [Note: R. Cowan, The Weakness of God, 278.]
(2) The light Christ gives.The classical names for the morning star mean light-bearer or light-bringer. And this is what Christ is. In Him is the light of truth, of wisdom and knowledge, of righteousness and holiness, of consolation and joy; in Him, above all, is the light of our salvation. That light is in Him, and in Him only; in Him in contrast to the darkness that is everywhere else, and that would always have been but for His rising. It belongs to the day star to appear in the midst of gloom when the shades of night are still thick and heavy, and to announce their departure. It was in this sense that Christ came as the Light of the world.
There was a general sense in which the whole world sat in darkness, as it does still where Christ is not known. Darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people. When Christ came, the world was in the darkness of guilt, with only light enough to read the sentence of conscience, but none to see how it could be reversed. There was the darkness of depravitya darkness of untold misery; but when Christ came into the world, a Morning Star appeared upon the brow of night. He scattered the darkness of ignorance by revealing God, salvation, and immortality. He removed the darkness of guilt by atoning for it. He met the darkness of depravity by sending down the effectual beams of truth, purity, and spiritual life, into hearts the most degraded; and He dispelled the darkness of misery by lifting upon the world the light of Gods countenance, by solving the mystery of the grave, and by assuring the children of sorrow that trouble, pain, and death work together for good to them that love God. Thus was Christ the Light of the world when He came; thus is He the Light of the world still; and to His appearing, as to that of the day star amidst the long-enduring gloom, the words of the prophecy may be applied: The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Of the morning star, as light-bringer, herald and harbinger of day, the beauty and transcendent brightness is being continually celebrated by poets, as by Homer (Il. xxii. 317); by Virgil (n. viii. 389); by Ovid (Trist. i. 3. 71); and by Milton (Par. Lost, iv. 605: Hesperus, that led the starry host, rode brightest). Thus does He who is fairer than the children of men claim all that is fairest and loveliest in creation as the faint shadow and image of His perfections.1 [Note: R. C. Trench.]
In the Apocalypse Christ is called the Morning Star, but in the Gospels He is the Sun. The comparison in the Apocalypse belongs to a different period and another circle of thought. Its meaning may be illustrated by the expression in the letter to the Church at Thyatira, he that overcometh I will give him the Morning Star (Rev 2:28). We must understand that the Star is the dawn of a brighter day and a new career. To the victor there shall be given the brightness and splendour and power that outshine the great Empire, and the promise of and entrance upon a higher life. It is the same thought as afterwards suggested the term dies natalis for the day on which a martyr died: this day was his birthday, on which he entered into a nobler life. After the same fashion Christ calls Himself in Rev 22:16 the Morning Star, as the beginner and introducer of a new era.2 [Note: W. M. Ramsay.]
(3) The cheer Christ imparts.Light is cheering; all light is, and not least that of the morning star. It cheers by its present light and beauty, and by its prophecy: The day cometh. Christs aim when on earth was always to impart cheer. To the paralytic, laid a wreck at His feet, He said, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven. To the woman who touched His garment and feared she might be chid for presumption, His reply was, Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole. To the storm-tossed disciples in the dark night, He, appearing as their Morning Star, exclaimed, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. To St. Paul in prison, looking anxiously out on the future, He said, Be of good cheer: for as thou hast testified concerning me at Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. To all disciples in all trouble that arises, He says, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. And thus, to the end of time, for all His people, He has the word of cheer and the power to work it.
I once said to an old sick-nurse, You must have often seen the morning star? Yes, she said, and it was always a cheering sight; and then, a little after, the larks would begin to sing, and I thought they were praising God; and when I looked at the buds on the trees and the grass twinkling with the dew, it just seemed as if all nature were full of His presence. Perhaps it is in sickness, or when watching with the sick, that the morning is most longed for and tokens of its coming most welcome. Jonathan Edwards tells of a sickness he had when a youth, shortly after his conversion, and how, when he saw those that watched with him looking wistfully out for the morning, it brought to mind the psalmists words: My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. And then, he says, when the light of day came in at the window, it refreshed my soul from one morning to another; it seemed to be some image of the light of Gods glory.1 [Note: R. Cowan, The Weakness of God, 284.]
(4) The hope Christ inspires.The morning star is the star of hope. When we see it in the sky we know that morning is near, light will grow, the sun will soon be up, the day begun. Christ is in this sense also our morning Star. With reference to the life to come He is so; and with reference also to the life that now is. We get light when we first believe on Him, the light of a full salvation; if not all of it at once in possession, all in sure hope. But there is more light to followlight of truth, of holiness, of joy. Christ is ever pointing forward, beckoning us on, saying, Ye shall see greater things. It is the property of the morning star to be the days harbinger. Other stars rise and shine and set, and leave the darkness still behind them. They belong to the night; and night wraps her mantle around her own children that cannot pass beyond the sombre shadow. But the morning star is not a child of night but of the day. With Christ as the Morning Star the victory over darkness is decided from the first, and night can never resume her ancient empire. If we abide in Him, and let His words abide in us, our light will grow. Difficulties will be overcome, temptations vanquished, sin subdued, consolation in Him will more and more abound. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning.
In ancient times it used to be imagined that the morning star was different from the evening star; we know, of course, that the two are simply different manifestations of the same planet. So the words of the text gain a fuller meaning. The star that shines at the days dawn shines also at the days close. That which has been our beacon of hope and blessing in lifes day, will be with us in all its brightness at lifes evening, when, in Gods mercy, we pass into a state of clearer light, the light not of lamp or sun or star, but the unveiled glory of the Lord God Himself.1 [Note: G. A. Cooke, The Progress of Revelation, 169.]
Sept. 18, 1849: This morning early I had awakened and looked out. It was about four oclock. The morning star was shining directly before our window in a bright sky. One part of the window was misty with frost, the other clear, and through the clear part the star shone most beautifully. I thought of Christs words, (Rev 22:16). Christ is all this in this world to me till the day break. I fell asleep, and when I next awoke the sun was shining through my room. Shall it not be thus at the Resurrection? Our shadowy views of Christ are passed, and now He is the Sun of Righteousness.2 [Note: Andrew A. Bonar, D.D.: Diary and Letters.]
Our Lord is designated as the Sun of Righteousness by a Prophet: the sun without peer rules over the planetary system. But Christ with lips full of grace deigns to call Himself the Bright and Morning Star: which star solitary in office and in dignity lights up hope for the darkened world and promises and ushers in day after night. Yet is it a veritable star amid fellow stars; incomparably the Chiefest, but among ten thousand.3 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti, The Face of the Deep, 540.]
And when, refreshed, the soul once more puts on new life and power,
Oh, let Thine image, Lord, alone, gild the first waking hour!
Let that dear Presence rise and glow fairer than morns first ray,
And Thy pure radiance overflow the splendour of the day.
So in the hastening evening, so in the coming morn,
When deeper slumber shall be given, and fresher life be born,
Shine out, true Light! to guide my way amid that deepening gloom,
And rise, O Morning Star, the first that dayspring to illume.
I cannot dread the darkness, where Thou wilt watch oer me,
Nor smile to greet the sunrise, unless Thy smile I see;
Creator, Saviour, Comforter! on Thee my soul is cast;
At morn, at night, in earth, in heaven, be Thou my First and Last.1 [Note: Eliza Scudder.]
Christs Witness to Himself
Literature
Bellew (J. C. M.), Sermons, i. 15.
Blackley (T.), Practical Sermons, i. 1.
Brown (A. G.), Forty Sermons, No. 37.
Cairns (J.), Christ the Morning Star, 1.
Cooke (G. A.), The Progress of Revelation, 164.
Cowan (R.), The Weakness of God, 277.
Hort (F. J. A.), Sermons on the Books of the Bible, 131.
Hort (F. J. A.), Village Sermons, 257.
King (D.), Memoir and Sermons, 317.
Kuegele (F.), Country Sermons, New Ser., v. 10.
Mitchell (J.), Stones for Sermon Builders, 42.
Norton (J. N.), Golden Truths, 59.
Trench (R. C.), Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia, 155.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), iv. (1864), No. 489; xii. (1874), No. 7.
Wilkes (H.), The Bright and Morning Star, 1.
Williams (I.), Sermons on the Epistles and Gospels, i. 83.
Cambridge Review, ii., Supplement No. 27 (H. C. G. Moule).
Christian Commonwealth, xxxi. (1911) 441 (R. J. Campbell).
Church of England Pulpit, xli. 149 (J. Silvester).
Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, ii. 675 (G. H. Box).
Expositor, 7th Ser., v. 14 (W. M. Ramsay).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Rev 22:1, Rev 22:11, Rev 2:7, Rev 2:11, Rev 2:17, Rev 2:29, Rev 3:6, Rev 3:13, Rev 3:22
I Jesus: Rev 22:6, Rev 1:1
to testify: Rev 22:20
I am: Rev 5:5, Isa 11:1, Zec 6:12, Mat 22:42, Mat 22:45, Rom 1:3, Rom 1:4, Rom 9:5
the bright: Rev 2:28, Num 24:17, Mat 2:2, Mat 2:7-10, Luk 1:78, 2Pe 1:19
Reciprocal: Gen 24:40 – will 1Ki 15:4 – give him 2Ch 10:16 – David Job 38:7 – the morning Psa 89:4 – General Son 4:6 – day Son 6:10 – looketh Isa 11:10 – in that day Isa 14:12 – Lucifer Eze 34:23 – my servant Dan 8:16 – make Hos 6:3 – his going Zec 12:8 – the house Mal 4:2 – the Sun Mat 1:1 – the son of David Mar 10:47 – thou Mar 12:37 – and whence Luk 1:69 – in Luk 18:38 – Jesus Luk 20:41 – Christ Luk 20:44 – how Joh 1:4 – the life Joh 3:34 – for God Act 13:23 – this Act 27:23 – there Rom 15:12 – There 2Th 1:7 – his mighty angels Heb 7:14 – sprang Heb 12:1 – witnesses Rev 22:10 – he saith Rev 22:17 – the Spirit Rev 22:18 – testify
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 22:16. This book starts out by telling us that it is the revelation of Jesus Christ (not of “Saint John the Divine” as the heading title erroneously states), and this verse reveals Him introducing himself directly. However, He does not overlook the services of the angel, but faithfully backs up his work by saying that He sent him. To testify means to transmit the testimony to the churches. That is, to bear testimony to the things that have been showed him throughout the vision of this book. Root and offspring of David. This means that Jesus was in the direct line of genealogy that came down from Abraham through David. That great man was not the only prominent Hebrew in the line, but there was a distinction in his case. David had two sons by the same woman, Bathsheba, and those sons were Solomon and Nathan (1Ch 3:5). At this place the blood line divides and on Solomon’s side it comes down to Joseph the husband of Mary. On Nathan’s side it comes down to Mary the mother of Jesus. (See Matthew 1 aAct 2:29-33 There is another fact that makes David of special iAct 13:34. He was the first king of the Israelites Act 15:13-17 be of Judah, and it had been predIsa 22:22 n_4Rev 3:7 hat the tribe of Judah was to give law to God’s people in latter times. The Mosaic law was of the tribe of Levi (Exo 2:1-10). David was the first king of the tribe of Judah to sit upon the throne of God’s ancient people. That kingdom was destined to be set aside and replaced by another. But God assured David that his throne would not always be vacant. There was to be one of his descendants who would reign on the throne, only by that time it would be spiritual and not one with temporal government as its purpose. Such a king was worthy of coming to John with an authoritative commission such as this vision. Bright and morning star is what He says of himself in chapter 2:28. The significance of this phrase is due to iRev 22:17 ness as it precedes the sun in rising, thus announcing that a new day is beginning. (See 2Pe 1:19.) And truly did the rising of Jesus come as a star to announce that a new day was about to come, the day of the Christian Dispensation.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 16..
Verse 16: 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.
This passage is one of the pinnacles of John’s utterances in the book of Revelation, of which there had been many. It affirmed that He who had commissioned his angel to testify the things of the apocalypse was the rightful heir to the kingdom and throne of Judah’s sceptre as the legal and regal descendant of David. The statement forms an epexegetical insertion of a leading point for special emphasis–that is, an additional explanatory point, put or set in the text for extra accen2Co 11:2 n this instance the purpose was to Eph 2:22 e attention on who had spoken in the visions. He who was the Son of David according to flesh, the fulfillment of all Davidic prophecies and promises, was in these visions the Bright And Morning Star to herald tEph 3:21 for t1Ti 3:15 cuted church. In numerous other passages he was said to occupy the throne of David (Act 2:29-33); and to bring the blessings and mercies of David (Act 13:34); and to set up the tabernacle of David (Act 15:13-17); and to hold the key of David (Isa 22:22 – Rev 3:7).
All of the prophecies relMat 5:6 o David’s throne have been fulfilled in the ascendancy of Jesus Christ to the throne in heaven; from which throne He had been the Speaker of the apocalypse. As the Root and Offspring of David, he had spoken with a sovereign and royal authority above kings of the nations or the emperors of the imperial dynasty; the throne of David was greater than the throne of Caesar; and kingdom of heaven was superior to the dominions of any earthly government. He was the victorious Rider of the white horse and his Cause had triumphed. Christ was the Victor; the persecutorJoh 4:10-14 vanquished; and the saints of tribulation were the rewarded in the visions that had been concluded.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 22:16. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the churches. The closing message of the Book begins with these words, and it comes from Him who only here, and in His words to Saul (Act 9:5), calls Himself by the name Jesus. The word, therefore, must be understood in its most emphatic sense, the Saviour, He who saves His people from their sins and leads them in triumph to the promised rest. In the words employed by Him He first confirms what had been said in chap. Rev 1:1, and then points out the persons to whom as well as those for whose behoof the testimony had been given. I have sent, it is stated, unto you. The persons thus referred to seem to be the angels of the churches, not special office-bearers of any kind, but the churches in their action, in their presentation of themselves to the world in life and action. It is indeed possible that, as in Rev 22:6 of this chapter we found the Seer coming before us as the representative of all those there called Gods servants, so here we may have the plural you because he is again regarded in the same light. The other explanation, however, is simpler, and finds some confirmation in the connection between so many different parts of the Prologue and the Epilogue. While thus testified to the churches in action, the things contained in this book are testified for the churches, i.e for the seven churches mentioned in chap. 1, but considered as a representation and embodiment of the whole Church.In the first words of this verse the Lord had described Himself as Jesus. The words which follow, I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star, enlarge this description, and that in the manner of those double pictures which are so common in the writings of St. John. The first picture is taken from the circle of Jewish associations, the second from the field of the world. By the root of David, we are not to understand that root out of which David sprang as if, when taken along with the following words, we had here a declaration that Jesus was both the Lord and the Son of David (comp. Mat 22:45). The root of David is rather the shoot which proceeds from David after he and his house have fallen, and it only expresses in a figure what is more plainly stated in the use of the word offspring. But not only so, Jesus is also the bright, the morning star, the most brilliant star in the firmament of heaven, now the harbinger of that day the light of which never dims. This is the Gentile, perhaps more properly the general, portion of the figure. Davids was a local name: the eyes of all nations are fixed with interest and delight upon the morning star (comp. chaps. Rev 5:5, Rev 2:28).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the author of this Revelation, and owneth it to be his; the angel did but declare it, St. John did but write it, Christ himself was the inditer of it; they were not the inventions of St. John, nor the sayings of the angel, but the revelation was Christ’s; which leaves all men inexcusable who believe not the same, but question the divine authority thereof.
Observe, 2. The titles here by Christ given of himself,
1. The root of David, that is, as God, from whom by creation David and all mankind had their being, and did spring.
2. The offspring of David, according to his humanity; Christ as God was the root of David: but considered as man, David was the root of Christ, There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Isa 11:1
3. Christ styles himself the bright morning star, that is, the light of the world, enlightening and enlivening the new creation; the fountain of all knowledge, grace, and comfort, on earth, and of all glory and happiness in heaven. As the morning star first brings light to the world, so Christ first published the light of the gospel, and now, by this revelation, gives a superadded light to his people, informing them what shall befall his church until his second coming to judgment.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
In verse 6, we had God’s testimony and now Christ adds his to confirm by two witnesses the truthfulness of this message. He had it sent ot all the churches of Asia mentioned in chapters 2 and 3. In Rev 5:5 , we noted the title “Root and offspring of David.” As the morning star, Jesus could be said to be the herald of a new day that would dawn in eternity for the church.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 22:16. I Jesus have sent mine angel It was not thought sufficient to represent the angel as speaking in the person of Christ, but Christ himself also is here introduced speaking in his own person, and confirming the divine authority of this book, and attesting it to be properly his revelation; to testify unto you these things Primarily to you, the seven angels of the churches; then to those churches, and afterward to all other churches in succeeding ages. I, as God, am the root And source; and, as man, the offspring of David And his family; and the bright and morning star Who wear a glory exceeding that of the most brilliant and celestial luminary, and who put an end to the night of ignorance, sin, and sorrow, and usher in an eternal day of light, purity, and joy.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:16 {8} 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.
(8) The second passage of confirmation (as I said) is the speech of Christ ratifying the vocation of John, and the authority of his calling and testimony, both from the condition of his own person being God and man, in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen; 2Co 1:20 and also from the testimony of other people, by the acclamation of the Holy Spirit, who here is an honourable assistant of the marriage of the Church as the spouse: and of each of the godly as members; and finally from the thing present, that of their own knowledge and accord, they are called forth to the participation of the good things of God; Gen 22:17 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The combination "I Jesus" occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Here Jesus used it to stress His role in producing this book and so to strengthen its authority (cf. Rev 22:7; Rev 22:12). "My angel" is the main angel who revealed this material to John (cf. Rev 22:6). The angel gave the whole revelation ("these things") to John, but it was ultimately for all the churches, not just the seven churches of Asia Minor (cf. Rev 1:4; chs. 2-3).
David founded old Jerusalem, but David’s greatest son will establish the New Jerusalem. However, Jesus was the ancestor of David as well as His descendant, the root as well as the offspring of David (cf. Isa 11:1). Consequently He fulfills all the prophecies concerning David’s family. Jesus also called Himself the morning star prophesied to come the second time (cf. Rev 2:28). The appearance of the morning star heralds the dawn of a new day. Similarly the Lord’s second coming will herald the dawn of a new day in history. He is the brightest of all personal stars, as the morning star is the brightest physical star in the sky. He is the star that would come forth from Jacob (Num 24:17).
"The ’root’ is buried in the ground where no one can see it, but the ’star’ is in the heavens where everyone can see it." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:625.]