The Morning Star

It's fine here. Print this out. Go lie down in your bed and read it slowly and as carefully as anything you ever read in your life.
http://biblocality.com/forums/printthread.php?t=1930 :wubyou:

The government of God does not commence with the creation of man, but, rather, at the creation of the angels. This is quite clear in the Bible. When Satan was yet a morning star, while he was still ruling, God’s governmental system had already begun. Following the creation of man, basic institutions such as marriage, husband and wife, family, and the relationship between parents and children all came within the realm of God’s government. This was the ordering of things of first the angels and then mankind.

This is one context in which the term "morning star" is used. Let's look at this closer.

We know the former world fell through the self-exaltation of God’s appointed archangel. Satan’s rebellion was rebellion against authority. "And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . . I will make myself like the Most High" (Is. 14:13-14). Satan desired to be equal with God: he wanted to exalt himself to be God; he was not content with exercising lordship over everything under God. He rebelled against God’s authority, aiming at usurping it entirely. As a result, that bright morning star has become Satan; the angel of light has become the devil. This all happened before the creation of man.

Now let's move to the term in Revelation. "And I will give him the morning star" (Rev. 2.28). What is the morning star referred to in Revelation? This is the second promise (the first promise is given in verse 26). There are two characteristics to the morning star we see in the sky called Venus. It is the first to appear at dawn as well as the first at dusk.

One day the Lord will be seen by the whole world. (Mal. 4.2-"the sun of righteousness shall arise"). But those who see the morning star awake much earlier while the vast majority are still asleep. And these who see the morning start are the overcomers.

"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).

Jesus says he is the root and offspring of David showing his relationship with Israel (speaking of His divinity, David came out of Jesus), so Jesus is not David. This suggests Jesus is the Jehovah of the OT. David was chosen to be the first king after His own heart, so Jesus is the King after God's own heart for the millennial kingdom. "Offspring" speaks of His humanity. As Solomon son of David was the king of peace, so is Jesus. This answers the question raised by Jesus in Matt. 22.45: "If David then calleth him Lord, how is he [Jesus] his son [David]?"

His relationship with the church and with rapture is found in His being the morning star that is so bright. Just as the morning star appears before dawn, so the Lord Jesus is the morning star to His watchful believers that they may be raptured. The darkest hour is the Great Tribulation; the dawn is the kingdom time that follows.

When Scripture speaks of the appearing of the Lord Jesus it uses "morning star" and "the sun" as types. The appearing of the morning star is for the saints, while the appearing of the sun is for the entire world. The morning star appears just before dawn; and only the watchful may see it. In view of this, Christians should be most watchful. The sun appears in the day and is therefore seen by all people. The morning star appears first and the sun thereafter. Before our Lord appears to the world He will manifest himself first to those who have loved His appearing. What a blessed hope this is! Yet do we really love His appearing?

Is Hell now or in the future? Is anyone in Hell now? "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years" (Rev. 20.2) in the "abyss" (v.3). "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison" (v.7). Nobody who enters hell can ever escape. "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (v.10). So you see the first beast (Antichrist) and the second beast (False Prophet) are the first to enter Hell at the start of the millennial kingdom. Satan is kept in the abyss for 1000 years then let lose for a short while at the end of the 1000 years. Afterward he is thrown into Hell forever! Everyone who is unsaved will go there with conscious awareness of their eternal loss: "they were judged every man according to their works...And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (vv.13,15). If they are tormented day and night forever and ever, obviously they are consciously aware and are not annihilated.

You are probably wondering why Satan is let loose from the temporary abyss after being held there for 1000 years and why he was not thrown into hell immediately at the start of the millennium? There is 3 reasons:

(1) to prove that the dragon will never repent,
(2) to unveil the hidden sins of men, and
(3) to show the good pleasure of God.

During the millennium there is still some hidden sin in the heart of men so this is consummated and resolved once and for all forever by the final release of Satan and then his being thrown into Hell. Can you sense how his deceptions become more subtle? He was crude before in previous dispensations, but he will be less crude in the Great Tribulation, and even more subtle at the end of the 1000 years.