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THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 22, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 4.

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THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS

By K. C. RUSSELL

K. C. RUSSELL
It is natural to hold the various doctrines of the Bible simply as a system of belief, because they form a part of our creed. All know that a church might accept Christ as a part of their belief, and yet not possess Him at all as their personal Saviour. Also during recent years the truth has been much emphasized that simply to believe in keeping the law of God as one of the tenets of our faith, is not sufficient; the commandments must become our very lives.
It occurs to me that the Spirit of Prophecy is largely regarded as “a gift that we have in the Church,” and that we rest satisfied because that gift is among us, or because we believe in it as one of our doctrines. But is there not a sense in which the Lord teaches that we must “have the testimony of Jesus,” that we have not yet experienced?
There is an idea extant that those who accept Christ have the testimony of Jesus. To every lover of present truth it must be evident that the sense in which this idea is construed is a perversion of the word of God. Yet I believe that all who constitute the remnant Church must “have the testimony of Jesus”—the Spirit of Prophecy.
In Rev. 12:17 the Lord says: “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
I do not understand by this scripture that every person in the Church will be blessed with the gift of prophecy; neither do I believe that it means only that the Church will have this gift manifested in it. But I do believe that the Lord plainly teaches that every one will “have the testimony of Jesus”—the Spirit of Prophecy—in the sense that he will receive its divine principles, and practice them in his daily life.
Dear reader, do you have the testimony of Jesus in this respect; that is, have you cheerfully heeded its teachings when it has come to you in counsel and reproof? If so, you have the testimony of Jesus; but if you have not thus received it, you do not meet the qualification of those who compose the remnant Church; and you are of the remnant only in name.
When God’s people “have the testimony of Jesus” by practically conforming to its teaching, instead of simply acknowledging its existence as a gift in the Church, it will be found that then the dragon will be wroth indeed.
It is frequently asked whether all the gifts are in the remnant Church in their fullness. We answer, No. The reason is not difficult to determine. Would earthly friends continue to lavish gifts upon those who would slight and disregard them? Thus it is with God. He will not continue to bestow upon His people the precious gifts of the Spirit, until they have ceased to treat indifferently those that have already been given.
In conclusion, I ask again, Have you received the testimony of Jesus?