Often in Scripture do we read of “The Day.” In the Old Testament, the prophets write of “That day.” It is the day of the Lord, when He shall come to put down all evil and introduce His kingdom with blessing for His people. Abraham, in his pilgrimage through a world where all was contrary to the God who had called him in His grace, could look forward to the day when all that God had promised him would be fulfilled, even as the Lord said when assailed by the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56).
David, in his last words, looked for the dawning of the day of the Lord, seeing by the Holy Spirit in vision the Lord “as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds” (2 Sam. 23:4). Even the mockers heard of the coming day and Dumah, calling to the prophet watchman said, “Watchman, what of the night?” and the watchman answered, “The morning comes, and also the night” (Isa. 21:11-12). The very last chapter of the Old Testament holds out the prospect of the coming day, where the Lord says, “Unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:2). For the wicked, the coming of the day would bring their judgment, for the Lord said, in the previous verse, “For, behold the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”
When the Lord instituted His supper, He said to His disciples “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:29). On earth He was a Man of sorrows, and He was about to taste the depths of suffering in divine judgment for sin, but He could look forward to the day when He would share His joys with those who had shared His rejection.
Paul, in writing to the saints at Rome, told them that “the night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Rom. 13:12); and with his own departure from the world before him, he wrote to Timothy, “I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” and “Hence forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” (2 Tim. 1:12; 4:8). The hope of the coming day burned brightly in the heart of the Apostle, encouraging him in his path of tribulation, and enabling him to write with the deepest conviction regarding it to the saints of God.
“The Dayspring”
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, “was filled with Holy Ghost, and prophesied,” and his prophecy concerned the coming of the Lord Jesus as promised to the fathers of Israel (Luke 1:67-79). In this remarkable prophecy, John Baptist is spoken of as the prophet of the Highest, going before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, and to “give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Dayspring from on high has visited us.”
It was not yet time for the setting up of the Lord’s kingdom on earth, for the day of the Lord, but before the day should come, there was the visit of the Dayspring. The One whose rays of light would fill the world to come had undertaken to come in grace to bring salvation to the world, giving remission of sins to His people. Before the day actually comes, the rays from beneath the horizon shine upward to gladden the hearts of those looking for the coming of the day. Such was the Son of God in this world. The little remnant of Israel were waiting for the coming of the Lord, and for the day of His kingdom, and how their hearts were gladdened by the coming of the Lord into this world.
What joy filled the hearts of the little remnant with the coming of the Dayspring from on high. The outpouring of praise from the heart of Mary, when she said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour;” the words already referred to of Zacharias, all tell of hearts gladdened by the news of the coming of God’s Son as the Dayspring from heaven.
Again, when the Lord actually arrived in the world, there was the glad anthem of the heavenly host, the visit of the shepherds and the Magi, all to celebrate the coming of the heavenly Dayspring that announced that God still remembered what He had spoken to the fathers of Israel, and made known to His people through His servants the prophets.
Then there was the aged Simeon, waiting for the consolation of Israel, upon whom the Holy Spirit rested, who had a revelation from the Holy Spirit that he would not die till he saw the Lord’s Christ, and who came by the Spirit into the temple when the infant Jesus was brought there by His parents. For him, the Dayspring was God’s salvation, not for Israel only, but “which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:25-32).
With Simeon there was the aged Anna, a prophetess, who “departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day” and she arrived at the instant of Simeon’s blessing of the parents, and speaking of Jesus as God’s salvation. It was her joyful privilege to speak “of Him”, the Dayspring from on high “to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”
That godly remnant were looking for the coming day, when according to the prophecy of Malachi, the Sun of Righteousness would arise with healing in His wings, but it was not yet time for the fulfilment of that blessed word, and God cheered the hearts of His waiting people with the visit of the Dayspring. His visit to earth would be for only a little while, but how much would be accomplished by it. There would be the revelation of God, the manifestation of the Father’s Name, the accomplishment of redemption, and the defeat of the foes of God and His people.
“The Day Star”
The visit of the Dayspring laid the basis for the introduction of the coming day, the day for which the people of God in earlier dispensations looked, and for which we still wait. Israel, redeemed from their iniquities, and blessed on the ground of the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, will be brought back to their land, and rest under the benign sway of Him whom they once crucified, not knowing Him to be their Messiah. While waiting for the day when Christ shall have His rightful place on earth, the saints of this day wait for Him to come and take them to heaven to be His companions there. For us, the prospect of Christ’s coming to take us to be with Himself, is connected with Him as the Day Star or the Morning Star.
In 2 Peter 1:19 the Apostle speaks of “a more sure word of prophecy” or, as another translation gives it, “the prophetic word (made) surer”. The prophetic word of the Old Testament, to “which ye do well taking heed”, has been partially fulfilled by the coming of the Son of God into the world; and the scene on the glory mount, of which Peter was a witness, was evidence of the coming kingdom; and these confirmed the accuracy of the writings of the prophets. This prophetic witness is as a lamp shining in a dark place, giving light to God’s people as they pass through this world.
The Day Dawn will fulfil all that has been written in the prophets of old, but there is something of which the prophets could not write, and that is the rapture of the saints to heaven by the coming of the Lord for them before He comes to set up His kingdom. The Lord Jesus is for us the Day Star, the One who, before the day breaks, will fulfil the promise He made to His disciples before He left this world, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). Those who have believed on the Lord Jesus in this day will have their eternal part with Him in the prepared place of the Father’s House.
Peter speaks of the Day Star arising in the hearts of the saints. The truth of the Lord’s coming is not only to be held as a doctrine, but it is to be enshrined in our hearts, directing all our thoughts and activities in this world. If we truly believe the Lord is coming for us, at any moment, to take us to heaven, we would be very careful as to our associations and movements from day to day. Our minds would be on things above, not on things on the earth (Col. 3:1-2); nor would we love the things of the world (1 John 2:15) if we realised the Lord might come today.
For the overcomer of Thyatira, amidst the corruption and darkness that marked the professing church, there was the promise of part with Christ in His kingdom, but also “I will give him the morning star” (Rev. 2:27-28). Pervading the Christian profession was the false teaching of “Jezebel” and the unholy alliances with the world, but the faithful were exhorted, “Hold fast till I come.” The Lord will surely come and deal with all the evil that has come into the church which is called by His holy Name, and He will judge the false system that has been unfaithful to Him during His absence. How blessed for the overcomer, who was true to Christ, to have the hope of His coming to take him to be with Him in His Father’s House.
At the close of the Revelation the Lord Jesus says three times “I come quickly” (Rev. 22:7, 12, 20), and in verse 16 says, “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.” Christ is coming, and coming quickly, and His own are to be watching and waiting for Him. He will reward His own in His kingdom and, as the Offspring of David, will rule in Zion over Israel and over the whole earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. But the church will see Him and be with Him and like Him before He takes His kingdom, and for this we wait.
Before the coming of the day, the Bright Morning Star, which heralds the day, shines for His people. Our eyes are to be on Christ now, expecting Him to come at any moment. By faith we see Jesus now on the Father’s throne: it is the normal attitude of the Christian to behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face; but we are also to be engaged with Him as the Coming One, who is so soon to bring the Bride of His heart, for which He gave Himself, to present her to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
“The day dawn”
As “the children of the day” the saints of God look for the Lord to put things right in this world, and we are exhorted, as those “who are of the day” to “be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8). Yet, while waiting, we have all the blessings that have been brought and secured by the coming of the Dayspring from on high, and the blessed hope of the Day Star to encourage us and fill us with hope.
At the dawning of the coming day we shall already be with Christ, waiting to share with Him the glory of His kingdom; but for Israel the dawn of the day will bring them salvation from all their foes, within the land and without the land, and it will bring judgment from the Lord Himself upon the nations of this guilty world. These things are found in Zechariah 12:1-8. The following verses show that there will also be a great mourning in Israel, those who are saved for the millennial blessing mourning that they had rejected Messiah when He first came to save them. Many Scriptures of the Old Testament speak of the hope that will fill the remnant of Israel, while waiting the coming of the day of the Lord.
R. 10.11.66.