In both the Old and New Testaments the sun is used mainly to signify the Christ of glory.
With the sun as a symbol of Christ, the Bible uses the rising, dawning sun to signify Christ (Luke 1:78). Before the first coming of Christ to the earth, the Old Testament was like a dark night; hence, the Old Testament patriarchs are signified by the stars, and the Old Testament saints are signified by the moon. At His first coming, Christ appeared as the rising sun to bring in the day.
With the sun as a symbol of Christ, the Bible portrays Him as the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2). At His second coming to the earth, to those who fear the Lord’s name, Christ will appear as the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings. This will be the beginning of the days of the restoration of all things in the kingdom age, and there will no longer be a dim, dark night but rather a clear, bright day. Christ’s shining is full of the restoring power to eliminate death and decay in God’s creation.
In the restoration in the coming kingdom, Christ will shine like the sun, and the overcomers as His followers will also shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their heavenly Father, which is the heavenly part of the kingdom (Matt. 13:43). Furthermore, those who love the Lord will be like the sun rising in its might, and their path will be like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the full day (Judg. 5:31b; Prov. 4:18).
In the Bible the stars not only signify Christ but also the overcomers among God’s redeemed people.
As a symbol in the Old and New Testaments, a star is first used to portray Christ shining over the earth permeated by darkness in the age of the dark night.
Concerning the star as a symbol of Christ, the Bible says that He would be like a Star out of Jacob (Num. 24:17). This word was fulfilled at His first coming. The magi saw His star at its rising (Matt. 2:2), and when they arrived in the land of Judah, the star appeared to them again and led them to worship Him (vv. 9-11).
The New Testament reveals that Christ, who is signified by the heavenly luminaries, the three lights, is the bright morning star (Rev. 22:16). Concerning the types of Christ, the entire Bible begins with Him as the light (Gen. 1:3) and ends with Him as the morning star, a luminary. The morning star appears in the darkest hour, after midnight and prior to the dawn. This indicates that Christ will appear as the bright morning star in the darkest time, prior to the close of this age. His appearing as the morning star and His appearing as the Sun of righteousness will not be at the same time. The former occurs before dawn, and the latter occurs after the dawning of the day. As the Sun of righteousness after the dawning of the day, He will appear publicly to all the people on the earth. As the bright morning star before the dawning of the day, He will appear privately to the overcomers who are watching, preparing, and waiting for Him. While people are sleeping soundly in the night, He will secretly give Himself as the morning star to those who love Him and who watch and wait for Him (Rev. 2:28), that they may have the priority to taste the freshness of His presence at His coming back after a long absence. This will encourage them to earnestly seek the Lord’s presence and be watchful so that they will 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).
Second Peter 1:19 says, “We have the prophetic word made more firm, to which you do well to give heed as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” The day dawning and the morning star rising in the believers’ hearts is a metaphor. When Peter wrote his second Epistle, the church was already in desolation and had entered into the gloom of the dark night of apostasy. Hence, Peter told the believers who were in the gloom of the dark night of apostasy that they have the prophetic word of the Scriptures, to which they should give heed as to a lamp shining in a dark place. When we give heed to the word of the Scriptures as to a lamp shining in a dark place, the condition within us will be like the day dawning and the morning star rising in our hearts.
Figuratively, the day dawns refers to the coming age of the kingdom as a bright day dawning; the morning star refers to Christ, who, in the darkest hour of the night, prior to the dawning of the kingdom age, will secretly rise in the hearts of those who love His appearing. In this sense, if we keep giving heed to the shining word of the Scriptures, we will have the kingdom as the day dawning in us and Christ as the morning star rising and shining in our hearts. This means that we will have His appearing as the morning star rising in our hearts to shine in the darkness of apostasy where we are today, before His actual appearing as the bright morning star.