Who or What is the Morning Star?

Dr. Couch, who or what is the morning star that will arise in the hearts of believers in 2 Peter 1:19? ANSWER:  This is a clear reference to the shining of the Lord Jesus in the hearts of the believers when all sin is vanquished and He has full control of His universe. The verse reads "We have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day down and the morning star arises in your hearts."   For now, in this dark world, we only see darkness and evil, but we also have the promises of prophecy that the day will arrive when Christ will bring gladness, as the early morning star, to shine in our hearts. That Christ is the morning star is made clear in what He says in Revelation 22:16: "I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star." This idea is also spoken of in Revelation 2:28: "I will give to the believing overcomer 'the morning star.'"   Christ is the true morning star, the bright One from God the Father who will illumine all creation with His Son. However, temporarily, Satan appears to the world as the "shining one," or Lucifer, "the son of the morning" as seen at the time of his fall in Isaiah 14:12. The name "shining one" is translated as Lucifer in the Latin Vulgate.   The idea of the morning brightness of the Messiah is seen in the prophecy of the father of John the Baptist, about the advent of his son as the herald of the Messiah. He said that by the tender mercies of God, "the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death" (Luke 1:78-79; Malachi 4:2). Thus, Christ is the Light of the world (John 1:4, 5; 8:12; 9:5), the One who would bring light to the Gentiles (Isa. 42:6; Acts 13:47).  Thanks for asking. Dr. Mal Couch