Your ShelfYour Projects

TESTIMONY OF JESUS

4%

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 1, 1877

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 10.

Read the full edition

TESTIMONY OF JESUS.

By James White

When the angel said to John in Patmos, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” he meant more than expositors generally suppose. His words reach far back to the days of fallen Adam, when the plan of redemption was instituted, and embrace the entire prophetic word of both Testaments.
Once man walked with God in Eden. With open face he beheld the glory of the Lord, and talked with God, and Christ, and angels in Paradise, without a dimming veil between. Man fell from his moral rectitude and innocence, and was driven from the garden, from the tree of life, and from the visible presence of the Lord and his holy angels.
When all was lost in Adam, and the shades of night darkened the moral heavens, there soon appeared the star of hope in Christ, and with it there was established a means of communication between God and man. In his fallen state, man could not converse face to face with God, and with Christ, and with angels, as when in his Eden purity. But through the ministration of holy angels could the great God speak to him in dreams and visions. “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” Num. 12:6.
The manifestation of the spirit of prophecy was designed for all dispensations. The Sacred Record nowhere restricts it to any particular period of time, from the fall to the final restitution. The Bible recognizes its manifestation alike in the patriarchal age, in the Jewish age, and in the Christian age. Through this medium God communed with holy men of old.
When sin had separated man from God, the plan of redemption made Christ the connecting link between the offended God and the offending sinner. Then could the great God communicate his will to the fallen race through his beloved Son. And he has spoken to the children of men through Christ, because he could not commune directly with sinners. Christ has been a mediator between God and man during all the ages of human probation. The order of communication from God to man, as set forth in the preface to the Revelation, has doubtless been the same in the patriarchal, Jewish and Christian ages: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.” Rev. 1:1.
Christ and his angels are the connecting link between God and fallen man. Here is the order by which prophetic truth is communicated from the throne of Heaven to the children of men. God gives it to Christ. Christ gives it to his angel. The angel shows it to the chosen prophet of God. And the prophet reveals it to the people.
The plan of salvation by which man is reconciled to God and God to man was devised by both the Father and the Son. And in carrying it out, the counsel of peace is between them both. Zech. 6:13. But it was given to the Son to reveal this plan in the several stages of its development to the fallen race in the several ages.
All things pertaining to the grand scheme of redemption, whether in the figures of the former dispensations, or in the facts of the present, were revealed to the fallen race by our adorable Redeemer. He is therefore no more the author of the Christian than of the Jewish system. And those who contrast Moses with Christ, and the Jewish with the Christian system, are virtually arraying Christ against Christ.
The Spirit of Christ inspired the prophets of the former dispensations. It testified through them of his sufferings at his first advent, and of the glory that should follow at his second coming. The apostle, speaking of the great salvation which had come to the church through Jesus Christ, says that the prophets “inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” 1 Pet. 1:10, 11.
In this is seen the harmony of both Testaments, that the Spirit of Jesus inspired the writers of both. And while the blind Jew shuts himself up to the Old, and the equally blind Christian virtually shuts himself up to the New Testament, we thank God for a whole Bible. In the writings of both Testaments we see the entire plan of salvation in all stages of its development, in the several dispensations, and the Spirit of Christ inspiring the divine whole.
The Spirit of Christ was in Enoch, the seventh from Adam, testifying through him: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” Jude 14, 15. “And so extended was the range of his prophetic vision, and so minute, that he could look down over long ages, and describe the coming of the Lord, and the execution of the last Judgment upon the ungodly.
The Spirit of Christ was in Abel, testifying of the sufferings of Christ through the blood of the firstling of his flock. And the Spirit of Christ was in Moses, testifying of the sufferings of Christ through the blood of those beasts which was typical of the blood of the Son of God.
The Spirit of Christ was in Daniel, testifying in his prophecy of the sufferings of Christ in the midst of the seventieth prophetic week: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.” “And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” Chap. 9:26, 27. The Spirit of Christ in the prophet also testified of the glory that should follow, in these words: “I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” Chap. 7:13, 14.
The blessed Christ of the New Testament had the supervision of giving this important prophecy to Daniel. In proof of this proposition we first cite the statement of the angel that appeared to Daniel in his vision of the tenth chapter: “There is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your prince.” Verse 21. There were only three persons connected with the giving of the prophecy; Daniel, Michael, and another, which chap. 8:16, shows to be Gabriel. “And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai which called and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.” This command to Gabriel to further instruct the prophet Daniel came from Michael, as no other held with him in the things of the prophecy. Hence Michael, or the Son of God, having received the great things of the prophecy from the Father, shows them to the angel Gabriel, with the order for him to reveal them to the prophet Daniel.
There is a striking similarity in the manner in which the prophecy of this book was given in the Jewish dispensation, and the manner in which the last book of the New Testament was given in the Christian dispensation. Both came from the Father to the Son, and both were shown to angels by the Son, to be revealed by them to Daniel and to John, for the benefit of the servants of God. The object of one was to show “what shall be in the latter days,” Dan. 2:28, and the object of the other is to show the “things which must shortly come to pass.” Rev. 1:1.
The Spirit of Christ was in Isaiah, testifying of the sufferings of Christ in these words: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Chap. 53:3, 5. The Spirit of Christ in Isaiah also testifies of his glory: “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever.” Chap. 9:7.
We might continue these quotations to almost any length. The whole ground, however, is briefly covered by these remarkable words of the Saviour: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.” Luke 24:44.
Moses was a prophet. The Spirit of Christ was in this leader of the tribes of Israel, and testified, as quoted by Peter: “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me.” Acts 3:22; Deut. 18:18. The words like unto me, in the above passage, have reference to Christ and Moses as prophets or teachers. In many respects Moses and Christ were unlike; but as prophets they were alike. The principles which they declared to the people came from Him who has said “I change not.” God spoke through them both. Neither Moses nor Christ were law makers. Christ disclaims having anything to do with legislation. “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” John 7:16. “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” Chap. 8:28. “The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” Chap. 14:24. And speaking of the Son, the Father says, “He shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” Deut. 18:18.
In their efforts to hold before the people the Jewish and Christian dispensations in as wide contrast as possible, certain religious teachers would make it appear that the doctrines and principles taught by Christ were unlike those taught by Moses. But any amount of reasoning from false premises, or unwarrantable assertions on their part, cannot change the word like in the above passages to unlike. There the word stands, challenging the efforts of those who would hold in wide contrast God’s two grand ministrations of truth and love, covering the periods of the Jewish and Christian ages. In the development of the plan of redemption through Jesus Christ in all the ages, from the time that hope first dawned upon fallen Adam to the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ and the glory of Pentecost, there have been degrees of light and glory. Hence the comparison of the dispensations. The great plan is one, unfolding with degrees of increased light and glory in the successive ages. Paul’s comparison of the two ministrations is worthy of special study. Mark well the clearness and strength of his expressions, which we here give side by side not for contrast, but for

COMPARISON.

JEWISH MINISTRATION. CHRISTIAN MINISTRATION.
But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones was glorious. Verse 7. How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious. Verse 8.
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory. Verse 9. Much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. Verse 9.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect. Verse 10. By reason of the glory that excelleth. Verse 10.
For if that which is done away was glorious. Verse 11. Much more that which remaineth is glorious. Verse 11.
The typical system did not originate with Moses. It came from Heaven. It originated with the God of love, and the merciful Christ of the New Testament. The first covenant, of itself, in its time, was glorious with blessings to the obedient. It is an impeachment of the character of God as a changeless being of love and wisdom to say that any part of his plan to redeem fallen men is defective and bad, whether it be in figure in the first covenant, or in fact in the second.
The unqualified strength of scripture expression in a few instances in both the Old and New Testaments seems at first reading hardly to agree with the position here taken. But these texts must be viewed in a comparative sense in harmony with the general scope of scripture testimony, the character of God and the special comparison of the apostle in declaring the ministration of the Jewish age glorious, while that of the Christian age is simply more glorious than the one that preceded it.
And why should the two ministrations be held in contrast? They both came from the same Divine Source, in behalf of the same race of sinners, to perfect that holiness of character in all the saved from all the ages, necessary for the same holy Heaven. Hence John in prophetic vision, looking forward, saw them all gathered to the immortal shores, from the time of the holy martyr Abel down to the last ransomed sinner near the close of the Christian age, “a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” He heard them all unite in the same hallowed acclamation, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9, 10.
Why should there be a wide contrast between ministrations under which the united family of the immortal world find eternal redemption? Why? God is the one father of all the adopted sons and daughters of grace from all the ages, and Christ is their only Saviour and Redeemer. Angels that excel in strength are the holy guardians of the obedient and faithful of every age, and the Holy Spirit their sanctifier. The pious dead of all the ages sleep in the one Jesus; 1 Cor. 15:17, 18; and his voice will awaken them all at his coming. John 5:28, 29. They will all be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and upon the sea of glass all will receive the crown of glory and the palm of victory from the hand of Jesus. And the great multitude which no man could number from all ages will wear robes of brightness, washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Then why should there be a wide contrast between God’s moral government of fallen men in the Jewish and Christian ages? J. W.