Making Ourselves Ready for the Secret Appearing of the Lord as the Morning Star

The Lord as the morning star will appear in the darkest part of the night to His overcoming believers who are watchful; we must make ourselves ready for the secret appearing of the Lord as the morning star.

The Lord’s first coming took place many years ago, and many prophecies were fulfilled in His first coming.

However, because so many around Him either did not know the prophecies or were not fine in the study of the prophecies, they missed the Messiah.

It is quite surprising to see that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the priests in the Lord’s time had the Scriptures containing all the prophecies concerning Messiah in their hands, but they did not see, welcome, or receive Jesus, the One of whom all these prophecies were spoken.

If we today do not give heed to the prophetic word as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts, we may also miss the Lord’s second coming.

The Lord’s first coming is a high peak of a mountain, and His second coming is a second high peak; in between these high peaks, we have the long period of the church age, the age of grace.

We are now in this age of mystery, where things are not outwardly seen but rather, everything is inward, spiritual, and secret.

In this age of mystery, we believers in Christ have been drawn to the unseen One, we love Him, and we even are one with Him.

We daily enjoy the Lord whom we have not seen in His word, and we open to Him to allow Him to make His home in our hearts.

Though we have not seen Him with our eyes, we love Him, and though we have never touched Him physically nor did we hear His voice with our human ears, we exult in Him with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.

And our desire is that He would come quickly.

We do not busy ourselves with the things of the world but rather, we love the Lord, we love His appearing, and we want to hasten His return.

So we study the Bible with the view of knowing the prophecies to make ourselves ready for the Lord’s return.

As His bride, we want Him to come back quickly so that He may take us to Himself and we would live an eternal married life forever.

We love Him so much that we take heed to the prophetic word as to a lamp shining in a dark place, and there’s a bright light rising and shining in us.

To such ones, those who love the Lord, love His appearing, and make themselves ready for His return, Christ will appear as the morning star, before the day dawns, that is, before He returns publicly as the sun of righteousness.

May we aspire to be the Lord’s overcomers today. May we aspire to be those who hasten the Lord’s return so that He may be our great reward at His coming.

Christ as the Morning Star will Appear in the Darkest Hour to His Watchful Overcomers

The morning star appears in the darkest hour, prior to dawn (Rev. 22:16; Num. 24:17; Matt. 2:2, 9-10).

Today we as believers in Christ who love Him, pursue after Him, and experience Him need to give heed to the prophecies in the Bible so that we may experience a lamp shining within us.

In this dark, dark age, we can only come to the word of God to enjoy the Lord and receive the divine light.

We yearn for the Lord’s return, for there’s no way to “fix” this darkness, nor is there any way for us to have peace, joy, justice, righteousness, and kindness on earth unless He returns with His kingdom.

However, the Lord will not merely come suddenly, as the Sun of righteousness, for all to see.

He will have a secret appearing. He will come first as the morning star to His watchful believers (Rev. 2:28).

We want to be these ones. We want to daily enjoy the shining of the prophetic word to which we give heed as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the morning star rises in our hearts and the day dawns (2 Pet. 1:19).

As we see the apostasy around us and realize the deviation from the truth, from God’s original intention, and from the pure word in the Bible, we come to the Lord’s word and give heed to the prophetic word.

As we enter into God’s word, enjoy the Lord in His word, and allow the word to shine on us and in us, there’s a shining in our being.

First, we have the shining of the prophetic word, and then this shining becomes a day dawning within us.

Outwardly speaking, we still live in this age full of darkness, and darkness is all around us.

However, inwardly we are full of light, for we enjoy the Lord as the morning star rising in our hearts as a foretaste of Him as the reward to His watchful overcomers.

There are many heresies, heretical teachings, and deviations from the word of God today, but we do not pay attention to these; rather, we want to be in the light coming from the Lord’s shining in His word.

We do not listen to the heretics nor do we pay attention to their heretical teachings.

We do not look at the degradation of the church nor do we allow ourselves to be swept away in it.

We simply come to the word of God, giving heed to the prophetic word, and being watchful so that the Lord as the morning star would appear to us.

Today we can have a foretaste of the Lord’s appearing as the morning star, and one day when He returns secretly, we will have the full taste.

Christ will appear as the bright morning star in the darkest time, prior to the end of this age.

The common people will not see it; only those who love His appearing will see the morning star.

The Lord’s appearing as the morning star and His appearing as the Sun of righteousness will not be at the same time (Rev. 2:28; Mal. 4:2).

There’s a difference of three and a half years between these two events.

The morning star appears before dawn, and the appearing of the sun occurs after the dawning of the day.

As the Sun of righteousness after the dawning of the day, Christ will appear publicly to all the people on the earth.

However, Christ as the bright morning star before the dawning of the day will appear privately to the overcomers who are watching, preparing, and waiting for His return.

May we be those who prepare for His return and are watchful, enjoying the prophetic word being more firm and having the morning star rising in our hearts today.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your appearing. We want to be the watchful overcomers who prepare themselves for Your return so that You may appear to them as the bright morning star. Oh Lord, we come daily to Your word and give heed to the prophetic word as to a lamp shining in a dark place. May the divine light in your word shine on us and in us as a lamp in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts! Amen, Lord, we want to be those who are rewarded by You with Yourself as the morning star. Appear to us today. Appear to us every day. Keep us in Your appearing. Keep us living in Your presence, being one with You and having Your fresh shining. We do not want that day to come like a snare for us; we want to live in Your appearing today until You come as the morning star!

We must Make Ourselves Ready for the Secret Appearing of the Lord as the Morning Star

We need to realize that, contrary to the popular belief among Christians today, the Lord’s appearing as the morning star (Rev. 2:28) and His appearing as the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2) will not be at the same time.

Most Christians think that when the Lord comes, He will just come as the Son of righteousness and will take all His believers to Himself.

But the Bible speaks differently. In the Bible we see that, as we live in the dark night of this age, some are produced to be the Lord’s overcomers, and these will be rewarded by the Lord with Himself as the morning star.

There will be a secret appearing of the Lord, a secret coming of the Lord in His second coming, in which He will reward the overcomers.

Yes, He will come as the Sun of righteousness and all will see Him, but before that, He will come as the bright morning star.

We need to make ourselves ready for the secret appearing of the Lord as the morning star.

Today people are soundly asleep in the night, but some are watching for the Lord’s appearing.

Many Christians are just living in the darkness of this age, but the Lord is looking for the overcoming ones who are watching, preparing, and waiting for His return. Oh Lord!

While others are sleeping soundly at night, may we give ourselves to the Lord to love Him and watch and wait for Him so that He may give Himself to us as the morning star at His secret coming.

May we be those to whom the Lord appears day by day and, one day, He will appear as the bright morning star that we may taste the freshness of His presence at His coming back after a long absence! We love the Lord Jesus, and we love His appearing.

We love His word, and we give heed to His prophetic word.

We are watchful and made ready so that the Lord would appear to us as the bright morning star even in the darkest hour of the night.

As we see the age getting darker and darker, as we see many Christians losing faith and being worn out by the enemy, we need to come to the prophetic word, give heed to it, and have Christ rise in us as the morning star.

May we be encouraged to earnestly seek the Lord’s presence and be watchful so that we may be able to stand before Him in the secret part of His coming, when He will come as a thief (Luke 21:36; Matt. 24:43).

Before His open appearing on the cloud for all to see, the Lord will come as a thief; no one knows the hour and the time of His return, so we need to make ourselves ready and be watchful.

We want to be part of the watchful overcomers who make themselves ready for the secret appearing of the Lord as the morning star so that we may be rewarded by Him with the freshness of His presence before His open return.

May there be such an aspiration in each one of us. May we daily enjoy the Lord’s appearing by coming to Him in His word and opening our whole being to Him in prayer and with the exercise of our spirit so that He may shine on us and bring our whole being in the light.

And may we daily prepare ourselves for the Lord’s coming by cooperating with His word, saying Amen to His word, and growing in life unto maturity as we allow the living word of God to operate in us.

We do not know when the Lord returns, but we know He is coming quickly.

We do not know the time of His coming, but we know that it is near.

So we must make ourselves ready for the secret appearing of the Lord as the morning star.

When He comes as a thief to steal the most precious ones to Himself, He will secretly give Himself as the morning star to those who love Him and who watch and wait for Him!

Amen, may we be among those who have the priority to taste the freshness of His presence at His coming back after a long absence!

Lord Jesus, we want to make ourselves ready for Your secret appearing as the morning star. We do not want to sleep or be stupefied by the world and this dark age. We are here for You, we love You, and we love Your appearing. We want to watch and wait for You so that we do not miss Your secret coming. Come, dear Lord Jesus! We earnestly seek Your presence and we want to be watchful so that we may be able to stand before You in the secret part of Your coming! Oh Lord, may we be the precious ones that You want to steal at Your return! May we be rewarded by You at Your secret coming with the bright morning star as our first prize! Amen, Lord, grant us to have the aspiration to be the watchful overcomers who are rewarded by You with the morning star at Your secret coming! We love You, dear Lord Jesus! We love Your sweet, present, fresh, appearing! Come, dear Lord Jesus!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4190-4191 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 ICSC), week 3, entitled, Making ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Giving Heed to the Prophetic Word as to a Lamp Shining in a Dark Place Until the Day Dawns and the Morning Star Rises in our Hearts.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – The Morning Star Rises and the Day Dawns unto the Full Day of New Jerusalem (4), via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – How to Spend Time with Jesus in the Morning, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Giving Heed to the Prophetic Word As to a Lamp Shining in a Dark Place, Until the Day Dawns and the Morning Star Rises in Our Hearts, a portion via, The Prophecy of the Four ‘Sevens’ in the Bible, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – The ministry of Christ in the stage of intensification, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Heavenly Christ as the Living Star and the Shining Stars in the Churches as Christ’s Duplication, via, Living to Him.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Thou also art the Morning Star / To us as a reward; / While still ‘tis dark it shines with light / To those who love the Lord. / Lord, help us e’er to love Thy light / And see things from afar; / And look for Thee in watch and prayer / As for the Morning Star. (Hymns #200 stanzas 6-7)
  – E’er the Lord will come from heaven, the bright morning star will shine, / Those who watch escape the trial, gain the prize. / Then the Lord will come and as the Sun of righteousness will reign; / Earth will be restored, God’s mercy realize. (Hymns #1354 stanza 3)
  – Watch for the Savior’s coming! / Watch for the Morning Star; / Watch and pursue the Kingdom! / Watch with many a scar. / Watch, and be ever watchful! / Watch, till the night is done; / Watch till the dawn of glory! / Watch till the Lord shall come. (Hymns #666 stanza 3)