p. 2 | WITNESSING FOR GOD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 4, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 43.

WITNESSING FOR GOD.

A Study in the Apocalypse.

“THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants; . . . and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John; who bare witness of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein; for the time is at hand.” Rev. 1:1-3, R. V.

In the SIGNS OF THE TIMES of October 14 a brief study was given of the first verse of the first chapter of the Revelation. We there learned that the book was not designed of God to be a mere compendium of prophetic forecasts, interspersed with practical instruction and exhortation, but is, indeed, to every child of faith, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of the Godhead in him; for that was the revelation which God gave him to give to his servants. We also learned how wonderfully wise and good God’s plan was in revealing himself through Jesus Christ, and associating with him in that revelation both angels and men, that all may at last in the glad harvest time rejoice together in the joy of the Lord.

Essentials of a Good Witness.

“Who bare witness of the Word of God.” It is an important thing (1) that a witness should know what he testifies, and (2) that he should testify to the truth. A witness who hears only from some one else is of no value in a court. What he might testify of hearing about a thing, or reading about it, would be ruled out of any competent court as irrelevant, and the witness would be set aside as incompetent. One must know himself before he can bear witness.

Jesus Christ, our great Example, is called “the faithful and true Witness.” He testified of what he knew. Hear him: “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.” John 3:11. “I do nothing of myself, but as the Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” John 8:28. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” John 1:18. He knew the Word, the truth; for it was all given through him. 1 Cor. 8:6. Therefore he was the Incarnate Word and Incarnate Truth. John 1:1-3; 14:6. He therefore knew God, and was the faithful and true Witness of the Father.

A Twofold Witness.

God establishes no mission or work in the world by one witness. He who comes bearing no other witness of his mission save his own claim, his own works, his own words, is a false witness. Said Jesus, “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.” John 5:31. But again he said: “It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.” John 8:17, 18.

How did the Father bear witness of Christ and his mission? He did it through John the Baptist, he did it by a voice from heaven proclaiming Jesus to be his Son. But the Jews could have declared that John and Jesus were in collusion, and that the voice from heaven was the work of magic. There was greater

witness than this, however. Through all the ages, from Moses to Malachi, God had borne witness to the mission of his Son through his holy Word. His Spirit had inspired the prophets. Holy men of God had spoken as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 1 Peter 1:21. The Spirit of God in the prophets had foretold the coming of the Just One. They had told the time and manner of his coming; the work he would do, the character he would bear. And this witness had been with the Jews from the beginning. “Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me.” John 5:39, R. V. This was the Father’s witness to his Son.

What was the other witness that testified to the same things as did the Scriptures? It is not the witnesses of two men, but the witness (singular) of two men is true. God witnessed of his Son in his Word. The other witness was God witnessing of his Son in his Son. Said Jesus, “But the witness that I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.” John 5:36, R. V. “The words that I speak unto you, I speak not from myself; but the Father abiding in me, he doeth his works.” John 14:10, R. V.

God in Christ Jesus was witnessing with God in his Word. It was a present witness, and present work witnessing with the infallible witness of the ages. And therefore when this twofold witness was laid before that people, and rejected, they were justly condemned. See John 15:21-25.

Again: God’s Word is a lamp and light to his children (Prov. 6:23; Ps. 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19), but when Jesus Christ was in the world, he was the Light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). The light of his life was the light of the Word in life witnessing with the written Word.

Witnessing in Us.

“As He is so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. Said the Lord to his people through his prophet, “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.” Isa. 43:10, 12. But in order that they might be faithful and true witnesses, Jesus prays thus for them: “Sanctify them through the truth; thy Word is truth.” And then thus sanctified, “as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world.” John 17:17, 18. Thus could they be faithful and true witnesses.

God is one; his Word, his truth is one. His doctrine is not many, but one. The faith of Jesus is one. To witness truly, his people must bear the same message, the Gospel of God’s Word, not only in preaching, but in living; that all converted through that message should be one. “Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also that shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” John 17:20, 21.

So with Paul. He did not merely proclaim empty words, preaching about God. He declares: “When it pleased God, . . . who called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen.” Gal. 1:15, 16. He must know Christ before he could preach him. He must know the Gospel before he bore it to the world. John must eat the book before he gave its message. God’s great witness of the ages is in his Holy Word; but the confirming witness to an unbelieving world is—must be—in the lives of his people. The living epistle must agree with the written epistle.

O, how many false witnesses there are! Jesus Christ was condemned by false witnesses, whose “witness agreed not together.” How many there are who condemn him to-day by professedly holding up his Word of truth, while giving that Word the lie in their lives!

John bore “witness of the Word of God.” He did it by voice and pen; he did it in holy living. He told them of the power of that Word in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in changing the characters of men; he demonstrated the power of that Word in his own life. It was because of this that the powers of evil were aroused, and John was banished to Patmos. But the Word and the witness still testify.

“Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.” God has intrusted his case in the hands of his people. Reader, are you witnessing for God? If not, why not? Do you not know him? Then get acquainted with him. It is not presumption. He invites you so to do. He gives eternal life in that knowledge. John 17:3. Go to him. Take his Word for all in all. Give him yourself. Follow that Word. Let it work in you the works of God as it did in Jesus Christ. So shall peace come to your soul, and you shall be a witness of God’s goodness, power, and love.