Since God’s redeemed people have received His perfect redemption, they belong to Christ and are of the same kind as Christ. In the eyes of God, Christ is the shining star and the redeemed of God are bright stars.
According to Daniel 12:3, God’s redeemed in the Old Testament, that is, those who turn many to righteousness, who lead people to God, and who do righteousness by God, will shine as stars forever and ever. If the redeemed people of God in the Old Testament can shine as stars, the believers who have received God’s grace in the New Testament should shine much more as the heavenly stars in today’s dark age. The apostle Paul solemnly charges in Philippians 2:15-16 that we should be children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom we shine as luminaries, reflecting the word of life, the embodiment of Christ. The Lord Jesus also said that we are the light of the world, and He charged us to let our light shine over people (Matt. 5:14-16).
The Bible reveals that the serving messengers in the seven local churches are seven stars (Rev. 1:16, 20; 2:1; 3:1). In the darkness of the church’s desolation, the responsible ones in every local church should be like stars in the night shining from heaven over the church in darkness. Without this, one is not qualified to serve and take the lead in a local church. The messengers who lead the churches should shine as heavenly stars, and all the saints under their leadership should imitate them to shine as stars according to the Lord.
The heavenly luminaries, the three lights—the sun, the moon, and the stars—signify Christ, the overcomers as His followers, and the totality of God’s redeemed people. The Old Testament uses the sun, the moon, and the stars to signify the whole house of Jacob, which was chosen and redeemed by God. Among the redeemed, Jacob was like the sun, his wife Rachel was like the moon, and his twelve sons were like twelve stars. The New Testament uses the sun, the moon, and the stars to signify the totality of the saints of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament believers are typified as the sun, the Old Testament saints as the moon, and Old Testament patriarchs as twelve stars.
In both the Old and New Testaments the sun is used mainly to signify the Christ of glory. He appears as the rising sun to bring in the day, and He is also the Sun of righteousness. 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, and His shining will be full of the restoring power to eliminate death and decay in God’s creation. Furthermore, the overcomers as the followers of Christ will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their heavenly Father, which is the heavenly part of the kingdom. 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.
In the Bible the stars not only signify Christ but also the overcomers among God’s redeemed people. The star portrays how Christ shines over the earth, which is permeated by darkness, in the age of the dark night. As the Star out of Jacob, He came to the land of Judah in His first coming. As the bright morning star, He will appear in the darkest hour, after midnight and prior to the dawn. This means that while people are sleeping soundly in the night, He will secretly give Himself as the morning star to the overcomers, those who love Him and who are watching, preparing, and waiting for Him, that they may have the priority to taste the freshness of His presence at His coming back after a long absence. Furthermore, He will rise as the morning star in the hearts of those who love His appearing to shine in the darkness of apostasy where they are today, before His actual appearing as the bright morning star. Since God’s redeemed people have received His perfect redemption, they belong to Christ and are of the same kind as Christ. Hence, they also become bright stars shining as luminaries in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation to reflect the word of life, the embodiment of Christ. Today in the darkness of the church’s desolation, the responsible ones in every local church should be like stars in the night shining from heaven over the church in darkness, and all the saints under their leadership should imitate them to shine as stars according to the Lord.