Being the Shining Stars in this Dark Age, the Messengers in the Churches

In Daniel 12:3 we see that, “Those who have insight will shine like the shining of the heavenly expanse, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars, forever and ever.”

In the beginning of the New Testament Christ was the shining star, but at the end in Revelation 2 we see that there are seven stars in the seven churches. We all need to be those who don’t just know the word of God concerning His desire to gain overcomers, but something in us is yearning,

Lord, make me a part of Your overcoming Bride! Make me an overcomer! I want to be a part of Your dispensational instrument!

We need to enter into the reality of the victory of the overcomers.  Christ has already overcome and He has won the victory – we today enter in, enjoy, and proclaim His victory over Satan.

The Lord has raised up His recovery in order to gain His overcoming Bride. He desires to gain many who would be a part of His dispensational instrument who will turn the age from the age of grace to the age of the kingdom, so that the wedding feast of the Lamb may come! The shining stars in Daniel 12 are the overcomers, and we should all aspire to be Christ’s overcomers in this age.

Being the Shining Stars in the Churches

Christ is the living and shining star (Num. 24:17), and His followers, the shining ones in the churches, are also the shining stars. We are here in a dark age to shine out Christ – this is our function.

We shine by looking away unto Jesus! As we bathe in His countenance, we are saturated with His beauty and we radiate His excellence (see Hymns #784).

Being a shining star in the church doesn’t mean you have to say and do a lot – your being, your presence, is shining, and others are being turned from the wrong way to the right way.

In this dark age we need to be the overcoming ones, the shining stars, those who enjoy Christ as the bright Morning Star (which comes up before the sun comes up, see Rev. 22:16).

Many see Christ as the Star, and many may follow Him to see what is He like, what He does, what He speaks (see the magi in Matt. 2:2); many even know the prophecies concerning Christ and the overcomers.

But do we have the living Star? Do we have an instant present living vision of the present living actual precious now-Christ? Christ as the Unique Living Morning Star wants to be reproduced and duplicated in many of His believers today that they may be the many stars shining in the dark age of today and turning many to righteousness, to the right way, to God Himself!

The Messengers in the Churches

Everyone in the local churches should be a shining star, a duplication of the heavenly Christ as the living Star (Num. 24:17; Rev. 22:16; cf. Matt. 2:2); the stars are those who shine in darkness and turn people from the wrong way to the right way (Rev. 1:20).

The seven epistles to the seven churches in Asia in Rev. 2-3 were not sent to the churches themselves but to the messengers in the churches, the living stars.

For God to speak something fresh, living, and up-to-date to the churches today, He needs some messengers, some shining stars, some who are one with Christ as the Messenger of God and who possess the present Christ as the living and fresh message sent by God to His people (Rev. 1:20-2:1; Mal. 3:1).

Without the messengers, you cannot have the epistles to the churches, and there’s no fresh speaking from the Lord. We all need to aspire to be the shining ones in the churches and tell the Lord,

Lord, make me a messenger, a shining and living star in the church! Lord, make me a duplication of Yourself as the Messenger of God, so that I may enjoy You as the living fresh up-to-date message of God sent by God to His people!

As we touch the Lord in the morning in our morning watch with Him, as we daily go through the Holy Word for Morning Revival and weekly we prophesy from our top enjoyment, there’s at least one solid diamond from the Bible being constituted into us as the fresh living message from God.

Week by week, month by month, we can gain the solid word of God into us as His fresh speaking! This is not a quick race, a 100 mm sprint, but it is a lifelong race. Here, “the tortoise wins the race”, because “the rabbit” runs quickly and is soon out of steam, but the tortoise consistently and diligently goes on and on until the end.

Day by day, moment by moment, little by little, as we are constituted with the living truth in the Word of God spoken to us in a fresh way by God, we are constituted to become the messengers of God in the churches!

Lord Jesus, we don’t want to merely know about the shining stars, Your messengers in the churches, and be under their shining today. Make us those who shine You out today in this dark age. Lord, keep us coming to You daily to receive Your living and fresh message. We want to join ourselves to Christ as the Messenger of God and the living Message of God to His people! Lord, make us part of Your overcomers today, part of Your dispensational instrument in this age!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from brother Ed Marks’ speaking in this message and portions in, Finding Christ by the Living Star (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 6 (entitled, The Victory of the Overcomers).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Bathing in His countenance; / Saturated with His beauty, / Radiate His excellence.
  # See the local churches, / ’Midst the earth’s dark night; / Jesus’ testimony, / Bearing Him as light.
  # And to the messenger / Of the church in Philadelphia write: / These things says the Holy One,/ The true One.