August 11, 2025 - Revelation 22:16 - "The Root of David and Bright and Morning Star"

Revelation 22:16

 "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."

The Book of Revelation has often been treated as a cryptic roadmap to events still to come—a prophecy chart of wars, disasters, and cosmic upheavals awaiting their final fulfillment. But this common approach overlooks the very first words of the book: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ… to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass” (Revelation 1:1). Rather than projecting its meaning thousands of years into an uncertain future, John’s vision unfolds as a present and urgent message to the first-century congregations to whom the risen and reigning LORD Jesus has sent His angel (messenger) to testify of them in the churches.

Written to suffering believers under Roman persecution, Revelation is not a codebook of modern headlines, but a divine unveiling of Christ’s finished work and His enthronement as King. In its pages, we see the Lamb Who was slain reigning from the midst of the throne, the vindication of His people, and the judgment upon those who opposed His Gospel. It is the announcement that the kingdom promised in the prophets has come, established in power through the cross, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Far from fueling fear of the unknown, Revelation was—and still is—a book of comfort, assurance, and victory for the people of God, declaring that the reign of Christ is a present reality, not a distant hope.

“I Jesus…”—the One Who bore the sins of His people in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24), Who by His once-for-all offering perfected forever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). Here, He affirms His authorship of all that John has seen and heard. This is no mere prophetic musing, but the direct word of Him Who is “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” The Gospel of God rests on the certainty that salvation begins and ends in the Person of Christ—He Who calls His sheep by name, Who gives them eternal life, and Who sovereignly brings to pass all decreed events in history.

“…have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.” These “things” are the very visions of judgment and triumph described in this book. Their primary fulfillment lay in the climactic end of the Old Covenant order in AD 70, when Jerusalem’s temple fell under the wrath of the Lamb, as He had foretold (Matthew 24). The “great city” - Jerusalem in Revelation 11:8 whose destruction was imminent- "The great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” This is the clearest identification that the “great city” is not Rome here—it is Jerusalem, the place where the LORD Jesus was crucified. Calling it “Sodom” and “Egypt” is covenantal language for apostasy and rebellion.

Christ sent His messenger to make these realities known “in the churches” of the first century—not as abstract predictions for a far-off age, but as an urgent word to saints living in the shadow of that imminent judgment. The churches would need this testimony to endure persecution, to understand the shaking of the heavens and the earth (Revelation 6:13), and to rejoice in the certain victory of their LORD.

“I am the root and the offspring of David…” Here is Christ’s claim to both being the promised seed of David and the Davidic fulfillment. As the “root,” He is the eternal source of David’s line—David sprang from Him, for “without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). As the “offspring,” He is the incarnate Heir to David’s throne, born of the virgin according to the flesh. God's sovereignty is displayed in that this throne is not inherited by merit or succession, but established in righteousness by the eternal decree of God, Who set His King upon His holy hill of Zion (Psalm 2:6).

“…and the bright and morning star.” The night of the Old Covenant had passed by His death on the cross, resurrection and ascension into Glory. The Daystar had arisen. Through the lens of redemptive history, Christ’s coming in judgment on apostate Israel was also the dawning of the New Covenant in its fullness—the clear Light of the Gospel to the nations. For His elect, scattered across Jew and Gentile alike, He shines as the Forerunner of the everlasting day, the pledge that darkness is forever past.

Here, at the close of Scripture, the sovereign Christ stands revealed as the Alpha and Omega of redemption’s history—Root and Offspring, Judge and Redeemer, and the Light of the world. And all is of Him, through Him, and to Him, for He is the Bright and Morning Star Who reigns now and forever.