“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” (Rev. 22:16).
The Lord told the Apostle John that the message, testimony, and prophecy of Revelation was for “the churches,” meaning the seven churches in Asia Minor (Rev. 1:11). Revelation was written for the direct benefit of these seven future Kingdom churches who will go through the Tribulation. The book was not written to the Church, the Body of Christ, which is “delivered…from the wrath to come” (1 Thes. 1:10), referring to our deliverance from the Tribulation via the Rapture.
The Lord told John, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David.” Christ is, at the same time, both the ancestor (“Root”) and descendant (“Offspring”) of King David. David’s beginning came from Christ. As God, Christ is David’s Root and Creator. As man, Christ is David’s greatest and prophesied Descendant. In His earthly ministry, the Lord baffled the Pharisees with this thought of the Seed of David being David’s Lord (Matt. 22:41-46). As the Root and Offspring of David, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the prophecies made to Israel regarding her King that would descend from David’s line (2 Sam. 7:12-13). It is He Who will establish God’s earthly throne and Kingdom forever in accordance with the Davidic covenant.
In this verse, the Lord Jesus also calls Himself “the bright and morning Star.” Numbers 24:17 prophesies of the Messiah, “…there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel.” Jesus Christ is that Star out of Jacob (Israel), and the Scepter out of Israel.
The appearance of the bright morning star heralds the dawn of a new day on the earth. When Christ, the Light of the world, appears at His Second Coming, it will herald the glorious dawn of a new day which is Israel’s great hope: the Lord’s long-awaited reign on the earth.