Revelation 2:28

And I will give him the morning star.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) The morning star.—The pledge of the coming day, both for the waiting witnesses, and for the ungodly, who loved darkness because their deeds were evil: the earnest of the sovereignty of light over darkness, when the children of the day would be manifest, and shine as the stars for ever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:18-29 Even when the Lord knows the works of his people to be wrought in love, faith, zeal, and patience; yet if his eyes, which are as a flame of fire, observe them committing or allowing what is evil, he will rebuke, correct, or punish them. Here is praise of the ministry and people of Thyatira, by One who knew the principles from which they acted. They grew wiser and better. All Christians should earnestly desire that their last works may be their best works. Yet this church connived at some wicked seducers. God is known by the judgments he executes; and by this upon seducers, he shows his certain knowledge of the hearts of men, of their principles, designs, frame, and temper. Encouragement is given to those who kept themselves pure and undefiled. It is dangerous to despise the mystery of God, and as dangerous to receive the mysteries of Satan. Let us beware of the depths of Satan, of which those who know the least are the most happy. How tender Christ is of his faithful servants! He lays nothing upon his servants but what is for their good. There is promise of an ample reward to the persevering, victorious believer; also knowledge and wisdom, suitable to their power and dominion. Christ brings day with him into the soul, the light of grace and of glory, in the presence and enjoyment of him their Lord and Saviour. After every victory let us follow up our advantage against the enemy, that we may overcome and keep the works of Christ to the end.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I will give him the morning star - The "morning star" is that bright planet - Venus - which at some seasons of the year appears so beautifully in the east, leading on the morning - the harbinger of the day. It is one of the most beautiful objects in nature, and is susceptible of a great variety of uses for illustration. It appears as the darkness passes away; it is an indication that the morning comes; it is intermingled with the first rays of the light of the sun; it seems to be a herald to announce the coming of that glorious luminary; it is a pledge of the faithfulness of God. In which of these senses, if any, it is referred to here, is not stated; nor is it said what is implied by its being given to him that overcomes. It would seem to be used here to denote a bright and brilliant ornament; something with which he who "overcame" would be adorned, resembling the bright star of the morning. It is observable that it is not said that he would make him like the morning star, as in Daniel 12:3; nor that he would be compared with the morning star, like the king of Babylon, Isaiah 14:12; nor that he would resemble a star which Balaam says he saw in the distant future, Numbers 24:17. The idea seems to be, that the Saviour would give him something that would resemble that morning planet in beauty and splendor - perhaps meaning that it would be placed as a gem in his diadem, and would sparkle on his brow - bearing some such relation to him who is called "the Sun of Righteousness," as the morning star does to the glorious sun on his rising. If so, the meaning would be that he would receive a beautiful ornament, bearing a near relation to the Redeemer himself as a bright sun - a pledge that the darkness was past - but one whose beams would melt away into the superior light of the Redeemer himself, as the beams of the morning star are lost in the superior glory of the sun.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28. the morning star—that is, I will give unto him Myself, who am "the morning star" (Re 22:16); so that reflecting My perfect brightness, he shall shine like Me, the morning star, and share My kingly glory (of which a star is the symbol, Nu 21:17; Mt 2:2). Compare Re 2:17, "I will give him … the hidden manna," that is, Myself, who am that manna (Joh 6:31-33).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Either the light of glory, the blessed vision of God, or a certain hope of eternal life; or the Holy Spirit, called so, 2 Peter 1:19; or rather, of myself. Christ himself is not called the Sun of righteousness, Malachi 4:2, but the Morning star, Revelation 22:16, because he excelleth all other stars in glory, and scattereth the darkness of ignorance and error by the light of his gospel: I will make him partaker of myself.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I will give him the morning star. So Christ is called, Revelation 22:16; and here it designs an illustrious appearance of Christ at the close of this church state, and a communication of much light and grace from him, which introduced the Sardian church state, or the reformation by Luther, Calvin, &c. which is the phosphorus, or morning star, to the spiritual reign of Christ under the Philadelphian church state; which will be the bright, clear, day of the Gospel, when the present twilight, which is between the appearance of the morning star and that glorious day, will be removed: for by this morning star is not meant the glory that shall be put upon the bodies of the saints in the resurrection morn; nor the heavenly glory itself, or the hope of it; but the dawning of the latter day glory, which began at the Reformation, and is promised the faithful professors in the Thyatirian church state, who lived in the darkness of Popery.

Geneva Study Bible

And I will give him the morning star.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Revelation 2:28. To “grant the morningstar” (a characteristically loose usage of δίδωμι) means, not to invest him with its glory, nor to give him possession of Christ himself, but (so Bleek, after Victor.) to make the dawn of salvation or of life eternal shine on him after his dark afflictions. The victor shares in the divine life (with its punitive government) and honour above, or rather in the new messianic era of Jesus himself (see note on Revelation 22:16, where by a further application the metaphor is directly connected with Jesus). Staunch adherence to the truth on the part of leaders and confessors is similarly rewarded in Daniel 12:3, En. xiv. 2. Semitic folklore found some mystic connexion between the countless brilliant stars in heaven and the departed faithful, who became immortal (4 Ezra 7 :[97]), and the sense here might be that the loyal Christian was sure of shining like a star in immortality; cf. Ign. ad Romans 2:2, καλὸν τὸ δῦναι ἀπὸ κόσμου πρὸς Θεὸν, ἵνα εἰς αὐτὸν ἀνατείλω (and passage cited on Revelation 1:10). But Revelation 22:16 (cf. Job 3:9) tells against this, as does Ign. ibid. vi. 2 (speaking of his martyrdom) ἄφετέ με καθαρὸν φῶς λαβεῖν· ἐκεῖ παραγενόμενος ἄνθρωπος ἔσομαι. The collocation of the morning star and the judicial authority over the nations may have been suggested to the prophet’s mind (cf. Revelation 2:14; Revelation 2:20) by the prophecy, read in a messianic sense, of Numbers 24:17. The sequence and the Christian spirit of the whole promise are certainly improved if we omit 27 a with Selwyn (194) and Jacoby (Neutest. Ethik, 1899, p. 446) and Wellhausen (with Revelation 2:23-28 a), since the doubled promise and the later use of the metaphor do not justify any suspicion of 28 as a gloss (so Könnecke, p. 34). But it is as likely that the author himself (cf. Revelation 17:14) added this co-operation with the vindictive messiah (cf. Revelation 12:5. Revelation 19:15), as that an early copyist was responsible for the insertion.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. the morning star] The only direct illustration of this image Isaiah 22:16, where Christ Himself is called the Morning Star: and the meaning here can hardly be “I will give myself to him.” Some compare 2 Peter 1:19, others, perhaps better, Daniel 12:3 : taking the sense to be, “I will give him the brightest star of all, that he may be clothed (cf. Revelation 12:1) with its glory.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - I will give him the morning star. In Revelation 22:16 Christ himself is "the Bright and Morning Star." Therefore here he promises to give himself to him that overcometh. The morning star has ever been proverbial for brightness and beauty, and, as the harbinger of the day, is the bringer of light, life, and joy. Moreover, a star is often a sign of royalty: "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel" (Numbers 24:17); and as such it appeared to the Wise Men (Matthew 2:2).



Revelation 2:28

Vincent's Word Studies

The morning-star (τὸν ἀστέρα τὸν πρωΐ́νόν)

The star, that of the morning. One of John's characteristic constructions. See on 1 John 4:9. The reference is, most probably, to Christ himself. See Revelation 22:16. He will give Himself. This interpretation falls in with the promise of power over the nations in Revelation 2:26. The star was the ancient emblem of sovereignty. See Numbers 24:17; Matthew 2:2. "It was the symbol of sovereignty on its brighter and benignant side, and was therefore the fitting and necessary complement of the dread attributes that had gone before. The king came not only to judge and punish, but also to illumine and cheer" (Plumptre). Compare 2 Peter 1:19.