Good Morning Gorgeous,

It’s a brand new day. A fresh new start! A new day to grow in our knowledge and revelation of who Jesus is!

It’s Christmas Eve and all around the world, people are gearing up to celebrate His birth! 

Who is He? Who is Jesus?

I have three names left to share in this Advent Series.

Two today and one tomorrow on Christmas Morning!!

And these names are all very powerful because they are Names Jesus call Himself!

When the Lord of the whole Universe tells us who He is, I feel like that’s an important statement to study and meditate on!

Jesus says, “I am the Bright Morning Star.”

And He also says, “I AM.”

In Revelation, Jesus is speaking to the Churches and He gives them this promise which is a promise for us as well:

To the One who overcomes and is Victorious, I will give the morning star.

Then, later in the last chapter of Revelation near the end, He reveals Himself as the Bright Morning Star!

He affirms that the book of Revelation is true and from Jesus, Himself!

He gives so many of His Names in Revelation, and many of them connect the Old Testament prophecies and the gospels together in a beautiful, completed picture of love and restoration.

He promises to give those who are victorious the morning star and then He reveals that star to be Himself.

Friends, a morning star is the brightest light in the sky in the early morning before the sun rises. It is the planet of Venus and it appears to shines brighter than all of the stars in the sky. It doesn’t twinkle like stars, but instead appears as a steady, constant glow in the dark before the rising sun and in the evenings after the sun sets.It’s a light that outshines the rest and is noticeable for its brilliance amidst the dark.

Jesus will be the source of light in heaven. He is the Bright Morning Star who outshines all darkness and He is brighter than any counterfeit light.

In the Old Testament we read that satan was referred to as a morning star who was cast from heaven. And, satan was charged with becoming filled with pride and trying to become like God. What we find throughout the entire Bible is example after example of satan taking God’s perfect design and trying to offer people a cheap counterfeit that strips them of God’s perfect and best for them.

What God creates, satan distorts.

But in the end, Jesus restores ALL back to perfect order and He states very clearly for all to hear. I AM THE MORNING STAR!

When Jesus names Himself the Bright Morning Star in Revelation, it is capitalized and Jesus is clarifying that, “He is the Real Deal.” He is the authentic and true Light.  He is Lord. He is who He says He is. And when satan is described as the morning star it is lower case. Satan may have been a type of morning star as we know he was an angel who led worship and was very beautiful, but even in his angelic state prior to his fall of pride and being cast down, he was never EVER comparable to the ONE Bright Morning Star who simply speaks and His light manifests.

Here in this final chapter of Revelation, Jesus says,

“I AM the root and offspring of David and I AM the Bright Morning Star.”

These names are related to the other name Jesus gives Himself which is simply, “I am”.

Let’s dig into them.

When Jesus says that He is the root and the Offspring of David, He is saying I am the start of the line of David. I am the root which is the beginning and the sustaining life force. Without the root, it couldn’t not survive. It is similar to when He is named the Cornerstone. It is the life force of the plant. He is the Creator of the line of David, the Sustainer of the line of David, AND He humbled Himself and chose to temporarily leave His deity in heaven and be born into the earth THROUGH the line of David as Offspring of the line of David.

By naming Himself the Root and the Offspring, He is demonstrating that through the manifestation of Jesus, He is BOTH fully God and fully Man. He is both the source of life AND also born through as offspring of man. And that birth is what we celebrate at Christmas!

In many of Jesus’s names, He clarifies that He is God. That is still hard for some to grasp. But Jesus is SO clear time and time again that He is Lord.

Here is an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees where He almost got stoned for stating that He was God.

First, the Pharisees ask Him, “Who do you think you are?”

Jesus replied, “Abraham rejoiced at seeing my day. He saw it and was glad. ”

Well since Abraham was the beginning of the Israel people and is called the Father of their faith, this confused them greatly. How could Abraham have seen Jesus and rejoiced? This was too much for them. They didn’t understand. They responded with an earthly response. You aren’t even old enough to have known Abraham!

But then, Jesus said something that they WOULD understand. He referred to Himself by the name that was given to Moses when Moses asked God who he should tell the Israelites he was sent by. He told them that before Abraham was born, I am.”

They recognized exactly what He was saying from an Old Testament interaction between God and Moses.

God told Moses, “Tell them that I AM sent you!

Basically, I am who I am. I am who I say I am. I AM. Period. And the Jews of Jesus’s time knew the Torah. They KNEW God’s name was I am.

So when Jesus said that He was “I am, ” they recognized very clearly that He was telling Him that He was God.

And they didn’t believe Him. They picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus slipped into the crowd away from them.

He slipped away because it wasn’t yet His time to give His life. He would lay His life down willingly and sacrificially, no one was going to take it without the consent of both the Son and the Father in agreement.

Friends, this Jesus that we are celebrating His gentle, mild, humble birthday, this Jesus is the Almighty Himself manifested in a form we could see, touch, and be in relationship with. He loved us so immensely that He became a man to live a perfect sinless life and redeem all that was lost by Adam and Eve.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Let us marvel in AWE of who You are. You are the Lord, our Savior, the Brightest Morning Star and simply and yet fully I AM with no other explanation needed. Let us honor You this Christmas by submitting our heart to Your rule and reign. We recognize You Lord as who You say You are. The Lord.

In Jesus’s Name, Amen.

Blessings!

Vanessa Lynn