The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me: He who rules over man justly, who rules in the fear of God, is like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning with no clouds, gleaming after the rain like grass from the land.

2 Samuel 23:3–4

This is a description of the ideal King. Moving on, let us focus on the simile that this King is like the light of the morning. The reference to the Person here also brings to mind a specific day. It foreshadows Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom as He rules the Earth from Jerusalem. This day is known as the Day of the Lord. Most focus on specific judgments, but there is far more to be understood. Just like any day, the elements establish a pattern. The Scriptures assume a similar pattern for the Day of the Lord.

Dusk to Dark Night

Consider that in Israel, a day begins at dusk, keep that in mind. Seizing the simile that the Coming King is like the sun, when He left Earth to go to heaven would seem an appropriate allusion to dusk and night. Peter helps to demonstrate that this would be one of those harbingers that announce the arrival of the last days.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all you who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it shall be,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and glorious day of the Lord comes. And whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Acts 2:14–21

Peter cites Joel 2: 28-32. The greater context of Joel introduces us to a time called the day. It is the Day of Jehovah.

Alas, for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and like devastation from the Almighty it comes.

Joel 1:15

The Israelis present understood the Scriptures. They understood what Peter was saying clearly. Devastation was upon the nation. The last days were here, specifically announcing the Last Day.

We know the nation of Israel ceased to be around 70 AD when the temple was destroyed and Jerusalem besieged by Rome. It was not until the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 AD that resulted in a genocidal assault on Jewish populations around Jerusalem. Emperor Hadrian eventually erased the name Judaea from the map and replaced it with Syria Palaestina. Israel was gone, just as Joel foretold.

Given what is written in Joel, it is clear the Day of the Lord had already begun. Keeping consistent with the pattern of the day, dusk turns to darkness of night. Malachi also educes the same idea. The day coming will bring devastation. Yet it would not leave believers without hope.

Surely the day is coming, burning like an oven; all the proud, yes, all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming will burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. You will go out and grow up like calves from the stall. And you will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I do this, says the Lord of Hosts.

Malachi 4:1–3

Malachi tells us that the day is coming when all the unbelievers will be vanquished. The One saying this is the Lord of Hosts. The Lord of Hosts is Jesus and it specifically calls to the mind His return as He leads the armies of heaven.

The Son Rises

For believers on Earth, His coming will be like the rising sun. I think the reference is very important. The sunrise is reckoned here as the second coming of Jesus. There’s more to this…

Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has He set a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; it rejoices as a strong man to run a race. Its going forth is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit extends to the other end, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Psalm 19:4–6

The sunrise is likened to the coming of the Bridegroom. This is but another reference that points to the second coming of Jesus.

“May all Your enemies perish like this, O Lord!
But may those who love Him rise like the sun when it rises in full strength.”

Judges 5:31a

Again, the time when all God’s enemies perish is at the time the sun rises in full strength. It is at the second coming of Jesus as King. There is more to this correlation.

Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord binds up the breach of His people and heals the wound from His blow.

Isaiah 30:26

So what to make of this?

Considering the reference to the day, there are many parts of it. There’s the sunset. There’s the dark of night. There’s the dawn. There’s the sunrise. There’s the bright sun of the day.

We have focused on the sunrise. There is a difference between dawn and sunrise. Dawn announces the sunrise. This is important to understand as the Scriptures use these terms. Clearly, sunrise and the Second Coming of Jesus are correlated.

Why is this important?

Morning Star

Well, Peter helps us to understand.

And we have a more reliable word of prophecy, which you would do well to follow, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

2 Peter 1:19

The dawning of the day happens before the sunrise. The Morning Star arises in the dawn to announce the coming sunrise.

When Peter writes of the dawn of day, that is a reference to that Day, the Day of the Jehovah. We know that sunset brings dusk turning to darkness. Dawning announces the sunrise of the day. The event Peter is alluding to will announce the sunrise of the Day.

Likewise, scholars believe the reference to the Morning Star as pointing to the second coming of Jesus. We know that the sunrise is the Second Coming of Jesus. But the Morning Star is given in the dawn to church-age believers.

I Give the Morning Star

Moving forward to Revelation, and specifically to Jesus’ epistle to the church of Thyatira. He rebukes the church with some strong words.

“But I have a few things against you: You permit that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, but she did not repent. Look! I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.

Revelation 2:20–22

Along with the rebuke, there is a specific promise given to those who do not change, they will be cast with the seductress into great tribulation. It is a precise phrase that many think points to the seven years known as Jacob’s Trouble.

Yet Jesus promises something to those who still believe…

And I will give him the morning star.

Revelation 2:28

A bit later, John reveals to us exactly Who Jesus says this Morning Star is.

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

Revelation 22:16

The Scriptures reference the Second Coming of Jesus as the sunrise (of the Day of the Lord.) For the unbelievers, it will be devastating. But for those living, they will rejoice and enter His kingdom. The previous citation above from Judges 5 also seems to hint at the resurrection at the end of the age. This is when the Israeli saints are given their inheritance. (To understand resurrection, see this post: The Surprising Way That Resurrection Proves Futurism and the Rapture Before the Hour of Testing)

The Morning Star comes in the dawn. It announces the coming sunrise. It is the harbinger of the sunrise of the day, that Day.