Behold, I see the Morning Star
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Christian Living
- Fiction No
I live in the country and have a large porch that I love to sit on more than I like being in the house. I often sit till wee hours of the morning listening to the crickets, enjoy the dance of the fireflies, watch the stars and enjoy the moonlight. Ah, spring! The days are getting longer, and warmer. There are so many things to anticipate: the first robin, flowers popping up everywhere, Magnolia trees blooming, the sweet fragrance of Honeysuckle, folks are looking forward to their first chance to bring pictures from their well-worn seed catalogs to life. last evening it was warm so I made a pot of coffee, grabbed my Bible, poured a cup and Jenny Lee (my lovely little girl cat) and I went out to my favorite rocking chair. It was about nine PM. I had not taken my normal nap for the day and Jenny Lee was wanting to do some serious loving with Poppa, so I put the coffee and Bible down and commenced to telling her how beautiful she is and giving her sugar all over her face. After she got her fill of that, she curled up on my lap and we both went to sleep listening to a Mockingbird sing its heart out. The song of the Mockingbird is a medley of the songs of many other birds, he will repeat a song 2-4 times, then he will start another song, also it's not uncommon for him to have as many as 30 songs in his repertory. He will sing them over and over all night long, even though it may be so dark the left hand can't see what the right one is doing. He will do so until the love of his life comes along, then they will go home together. Me-thinks if you have never heard one of these fellows you would be astonished at how loud they are. I keep fresh drinking water for the squirrels and birds and also a bird bath near a tree about 150 feet from my porch. This little fellow with the booming voice must be taking 4-5 baths a day and eating a fourth pound of sunflower seeds everyday. I figure he is trying to bulk up and be right spiffy for the bride to be. Poppa is a hopeless romantic so I whispered a little prayer that his long awaited love would burst suddenly upon the scene, and the Bridegroom would whisk His Bride away and they would live happily ever after, and give Jenny Lee and I a break. I fell into a deep sleep and began to dream. Beloved did you ever dream a dream that was so real you actually were in that place? I know I was in that place...It seemed as though off in the distance I heard an answer...For you see, the Holy Spirit came and let me hear the Bride to be as she called out to the lover of her soul...
The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake, and said unto me...
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter
is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle
is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and
the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my
fair one, and come away. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the
rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance,
let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is
comely.
Now it is late and it is past midnight. The dark hours preceding the shining forth of the Morning Star are upon us. It is also late in the dispensation, and to all His own there is a cry and a song that is ringing out in power. In the early days of the Church's history, when love was warm and saints longed to behold His face, wherever apostolic preachers went they carried the good news, not only of a Saviour who had come in grace, and in deepest humiliation had suffered and died, to bring men to God, but they also declared in language unmistakable and with solemn assurance that He that was Crucified was coming again, coming to summon His own to Himself, and take them in to the Father's house; then, with all His redeemed, to appear visibly before an astonished world and, putting down all other rule, to take His great power and reign. Many days, and months, and years and generations have slipped by, but be assured the expected One has not forgotten. He has not delayed His coming, but His heart yearns over others who have not yet found eternal blessing through His sufferings; and because He is "not willing that any should perish," He has waited in mercy till many more might be saved. In this mystic midnight hour a Voice is sounding It is the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" And loud it shall swell, and louder and louder, beckoning to everyone that thirsts.
Today the loudest voice on earth is that of the announcer of the coming Christ! Everywhere the midnight cry is sounding out, hearts are being filled with joy. It has been heard in the cannon's roar and the rattling gun-fire on scores of battlefields. It sounds in the swelling tumult and worldly war of capital and labor. It cries aloud in Christendom's widespread apostasy, to turn from fables that suit itching ears unto the faith once for all delivered to the saints. It rings out in power in the great awakening among Christians in all lands, stirring them to Bible study and calling to preparation of heart and life in view of the Bridegroom's coming. Israel too, unknowingly, is helping to shout the warning, yet joyful announcement, that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh!" The "fig-tree" of Judah, and "all the trees" of the Gentile nations, are putting forth their green boughs declaring that summer is nigh. Beloved, awake! Open your eyes, unstop your ears; arouse yourself, The midnight cry rings loud and clear.
"Yet a very, very little while, and the Coming One will come and shall not tarry." If redeemed to God by the precious atoning blood, if saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, you may well leap for joy at the very thought of soon beholding your Saviour's face. He is coming again, and His advent will mean fulness of blessing for His own.
I Jesus have sent mine angel (messenger) to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Rev.22:16-17.
He is called "the root and the offspring of David," which connects Him with the Old Testament. But He is "the bright and morning star" to the church. Have you noticed that the bright and morning star always appears at the darkest time of the night? Its appearance indicates that the sun will be coming up shortly. The Old Testament ended with the promise that "the Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings" -- that is the Old Testament hope. But to us, He is the Bright and Morning Star who will come at a very dark moment. John 1:5..KJV says, "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not". Another translation says, "but the darkness has not understood it." The best translation more accurately reads, the darkness did not "overpower" it. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it". Christ will not be conquered or overwhelmed.
Is this not the same light that "Peter" calls our attention to, "a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart"? In a word, look, the morning star! I am sure you know what the morning star is. At the dawn, when the sun begins to rise bringing a new day, the rays of the sun blank out all of the heavens except for one star that continues to shine. That's the morning star. In the early Church the morning star was one of the symbols of Jesus. The planet we know as Venus is the Morning Star and is very bright, at times so bright it can cast a shadow on a moonless night and seen just before Sonrise in the eastern sky.....Oh' my that must be what the pros call a typo!
In clearest terms, Christ is described as light: "In him was life; and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness" The thought of our Lord being spiritual light gives us a heartening insight into his loving attempt to reach the world. Where light goes, darkness is dispelled, revealing the true nature of life. No place with the slightest crack can withhold its presence. "The light shines in the darkness." Literally, this means it shines continually in the darkness, meaning that Christ is continually bombarding every corner of our hearts through the work of his Holy Spirit. Meditate upon Christ being light, and you will better understand how much he loves you.
God has not only given us eternal life He has also given us a life that is meant to be abundant even in our present circumstances. The Lord Jesus Christ once said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full".
It is unfortunate that many Christians, though they have eternal life, nevertheless do not have life abundantly. This was not meant to be. Instead of living a miserable life and always complaining, Christians are meant to live lives of such joy and exuberance that their lives will be a blessing to others. There is a magnificent picture of this abundant life in the first verses of the beloved Twenty-third Psalm. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake". I believe that the reason this psalm has been so beloved by Christians throughout all the ages of church history is that it sets forth as something quite practical the abundant life that is ours because of God's care for us. We know that we were once sheep that were lost and sometimes we wander away from Christ's fold. But still we are his, and we know that the abundant life is ours whenever we will leave our wandering and lie down in the company of our Shepherd.
Did you know that a sheep will not eat or drink when it is lying down? Most people have never heard this. But it is a fact, and it gives special meaning to the phrase, "He makes me lie down in green pastures." If a sheep is lying down, even in the greenest of pastures and even with the most tender morsel of grass within an inch of its nose, the sheep will not eat the grass. Instead, if it is hungry, it will scramble to its feet, bend over, and then eat the morsel that was much easier to reach before. Thus, when the psalm tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ, our Shepherd, makes us lie down in green pastures, it means that he is able to satisfy us so completely that we cannot possibly yearn for anything more. Oh, the joys of living out the abundant life of Christ! They are the joys of increasingly finding him to be the bread of life that satisfies all our hunger and the water of life that quenches our deepest thirst.
Now that nearly twenty centuries (two of God's great "days"..2Peter 3:8) have elapsed, we can look back over the long course of the Church's pilgrimage and see how all her varied states and experiences were foreknown and foretold, and the heart thrills with joyful expectancy as we look ahead. For the next great miraculous event must be the shining forth of the Morning Star, "the coming of the Lord Jesus, and our gathering together unto Him."
Dear friends, Poppa heard the voice of our Beloved last evening and I can still hear Him today as He calls to his Bride to be. "Just a little while and I shall come. Hold fast to that which ye have". Attend to the instructions which the Bible imparts, and to commit ourselves to its holy guidance in our journey to a better world: for soon, if we are faithful to its teachings, the light of eternity will dawn upon us, and there, amidst its cloudless splendour, we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known; then we shall "need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God shall give us light, and we shall reign for ever and ever."
"And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of Life freely"
God Bless You
Poppa
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About the Writer Author
State:
Texas
Country:
United States
Email:
jerryleekay@suddenlink.net
Website:
www.jerryleekay.net
Profile:
Click here!
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