Overcoming by the Word of Our Testimony

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Revelation 12:11)

Notice that the accuser is overcome by three means: the blood of the Lamb, the word of the testimony of the victorious saints, and by the saints loving not their lives to the death.

We have associated the first area of redemption with the blood of the Lamb, the second area of redemption with the word of our testimony, and the third area of redemption with our willingness to do the will of Christ to the point of death.

The task is to overcome, to conquer. The object of our conquering is the accuser, the spirit who pollutes the world in which we live. In order to conquer him we must employ the blood of Christ and the power of the Spirit-given testimony, and we must be willing to set aside our own life. If we come short in one of these three areas we will not be successful in overcoming the accuser.

The Church never must forget that one of its prime responsibilities is the conquering of the accuser. The Church cannot conquer the accuser by its own devices. Victory over the accuser requires the blood of the Lamb, the Spirit-created word of testimony of the members of the Body of Christ, and the death to sin and self-will of the members of the Body of Christ.

Samson's destruction of the Philistines by his own death is a type of the Church of Christ as it pulls down all the strongholds of Satan through its own death in Christ.

We have spoken already of the effectiveness of the blood of the Lamb in overcoming the accuser. The sprinkling of the blood of Christ is our protection in the Day of Judgment. The appeasing and remitting authority of the blood of Christ is the means by which God pardons the guilt of our sins. The body and blood of Christ are the food and drink we must receive continually if we are to possess enough virtue in us to overcome the wicked forces of the present age.

Apart from the protecting, forgiving, cleansing, and nourishing virtue of the blood of Christ it is impossible for any person to overcome the accuser. Satan has too much of which to accuse us if we attempt to please God apart from the virtue of the blood of Christ.

The second way the saints overcome the accuser is by "the word of their testimony." In previous sections of our book we have discussed the preeminence of the Holy Spirit in the testimony of the Christian Church and in all other areas of the corporate and individual experiences of the members of the Body of Christ.

We have seen that the Lampstand of the Holy Place of the Tabernacle of the Congregation was hammered from solid gold, there being no wood in the construction of the Lampstand. The absence of wood typifies the fact that the true testimony of Christ is Divine in origin.

The religions of the world are put together by human beings, often being assisted by demons. Christianity is the Word of God. God spoke in time past through the prophets and speaks now through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-3). When human beings respond to the Word of God by the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, the true testimony of the Lord shines in Heaven and on the earth.

The Lampstand consisted of a central shaft (the Lampstand proper) and two sets of three side-branches, one set on each side of the central shaft. The central shaft represents the Lord Jesus Christ. The six side-branches represent the Body of Christ—that which sheds light on the central shaft, pointing out that He is the light of the world.

The olive oil in the seven lamps of the Lampstand burned, shedding light in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle. The Holy Place was illuminated because the light from the Lampstand was reflected from the gold that covered the acacia-wood boards of the sides of the Tabernacle and from the sparkling white linen of the ceiling.

What the Lampstand is, is pure gold beaten into shape. What the Lampstand does is to shed forth light in the Holy Place. God places importance on what the saints are as well as on what they do and say.

Both Divine holiness and Divine power are required if we are to overcome the accuser of the brothers. The Church, the Body of Christ, is to be full of the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit of God. The testimony is not adequate for the task of overcoming the accuser unless both the holiness and the power are present.

If the faith, holiness, and obedience of the Church are absent, the Lord will not accept the efforts of the Church or hear its prayers. If the Divine power and revelation are absent, the Church is spiritually helpless and blind.

In the Lord Jesus Christ both the pure gold and the burning oil are present; the Divine holiness and power are in full manifestation. Therefore His testimony is perfect.

He commanded us, "Wait for the promise of the Father, that, saith he, ye have heard of me." "Ye shall be witnesses unto me . . . ." (Acts 1:4,8).

It is the Holy Spirit who bears witness of the Person and will of Christ and of all that has to do with Christ. Apart from the anointing of the Holy Spirit the Church of Christ cannot bear witness of Christ (Zechariah 4:6).

The testimony of Christ: four workings of the Holy Spirit. There are at least four ways by which the Holy Spirit brings forth the testimony of Christ in the members of the Body of Christ:

By the declaration of the Word of God concerning the burning wrath of God against the wickedness of the world, and the provision for salvation God has made through the blood of His Son.

By the power of mighty miracles.

By the pure gold of the Divinely-wrought nature and character of the saints.

By the witness of Christian people concerning what they have seen, heard, and otherwise experienced of the work of the resurrected Christ in their own lives and the lives of other people.

The Word of God—two aspects. The first part of the testimony of Christ is the Word of God to the peoples of the earth. What has God said? What is He saying today? What has He proclaimed concerning the future?

The anointing of the Holy Spirit on the Church, the Body of Christ, is a prophetic anointing. Christ—Head and Body—is God's Prophet. Christ declares the mind of God. When the prophetic anointing, the fire of the Holy Spirit, is not abiding on the Church, the Word of God does not blaze with the urgency of Heaven.

Let each member of the Body of Christ pray with all his strength and perseverance that the Lord God of Heaven will set all of us afire with the burning Word of the Lord.

There are two aspects of the Word of God to the earth. The first aspect is that the wrath of God is against all unrighteousness. Because God does not respond immediately with destruction when humans pervert His way, people begin to believe He doesn't know, doesn't care, or has changed His ways or His attitude toward sin.

The homosexuality, abortion, debauchery, murder, sorcery, covetousness, forgetting of God, is increasing in our day. Divorce abounds as people dishonor the Word of the Lord concerning marriage. Because God does not respond with quick judgment the world is growing to believe He has forgotten mankind or that He does not care how people behave.

If human beings could see what is occurring in the spirit realm all sin would cease, except for those creatures who already are consumed with the burning lusts of Hell—consumed to the point that repentance no longer is possible.

God has given us His Word in the Scriptures. He has sent ministers who faithfully hold forth the Word of Life. He issues personal warnings to people. More than that He will not do. We possess the Word. How we respond is up to us.

The fires of judgment are heated seven times hotter in these days. When the caldron of fiery judgment is poured on the earth, men and women will gnaw their tongues in pain. Their minds will hover on the brink of insanity as remorse and fear replace the confidence in the revelings that kept their attention until it was too late.

God is God. God is not a human. He is a Spirit. Christ came to bear witness of the Person and will of God. Christ intercedes for us; not for the world but for the elect. God has made clear His intentions concerning mankind.

When the world asks, "What shall we do?" the answer is, "Repent!"

The message of God through the righteous Noah, through the Prophets of Israel, through John the Baptist, through Jesus, and finally through the Apostles of Christ, was—and continues to be—"Turn from your wicked ways. Do not follow the world, Satan or your flesh. Flee from all wicked behavior. Do not be changed into the world. Turn away from all sin and wickedness and pray to God for strength to be delivered from temptation."

We have spoken earlier concerning repentance but its importance cannot be overemphasized. Repentance still is the Word of God. In the present hour the message comes down from Heaven with increasing urgency: "Repent! Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!"

The first aspect of the Word of God to the world is that of the wrath of God against sin. Whoever diminishes the urgency of the message of repentance is a false prophet. One day he will face Almighty God and also the people who were deceived because he diminished the urgency of the message of repentance. He will be required to explain why he deceived people with a false declaration of the mind of God.

The second aspect of the Word of God to the world is that of the plan of salvation God has prepared through His beloved Son, Christ. Every human being without exception, no matter how wretched his or her life may have been or what sin or sins were committed, can be saved by the blood of the cross.

God in His marvelous love and mercy holds open the door of salvation and glory. Whoever chooses to do so may receive Christ and enter and be saved. It is not God's will that any person perish. God so loved the world He gave His Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

There is no limit to the love of God. The love and mercy of God is available to every person—to whoever will repent, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, be baptized in water, and then learn to live in obedience to the Holy Spirit.

One error that is made today concerning the witness of the Person and will of the Lord God is to misunderstand the fierceness of God's wrath. The mistaken idea is that because of the Father-heart of God and His love for His creatures, eternal punishment in a Lake of Fire is not possible. This kind of thinking leads to deception and destruction.

The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament is the same Lord. God never changes. He never, never changes! The thundering Lord of Sinai is the same Lord Jesus Christ who received sinners by the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Until a person grasps the fact that the wrath and judgment of the Lord against sin never change, he cannot appreciate the astounding depths of goodness and love of the mercy extended to us from the cross of Calvary.

The wrath of God and the mercy of God are not to be confused in the sense that God changes His mind as He grows older or comes to know us better. The wrath of God and the mercy of God always and eternally coexist in God in the fullness of their quality and quantity. Until we understand both the goodness and the severity of the Lord we cannot appreciate what it means to be saved, to be redeemed.

The wrath of God always burns with white heat against all forms of sin and disobedience. The Lake of Fire is the visible, tangible expression of the wrath of God. The Lake of Fire will continue to burn into the eternity of eternities.

All who disobey God, refusing to repent, will be cast into the Lake of Fire, there to spend eternity with the devil and his angels. The Lake of Fire is as real and eternal as Paradise. The Lord has warned us clearly! clearly! clearly! Let every person take heed to his spirit that he hear and act on the warning of the Lord and His ministers.

An awful holocaust is about to engulf the world. Men and women will cast away their idols of gold and silver as they cry out in anguish because of their mortal terror. Only those who place their faith in the Word of God will be able to stand under the terrible pressures of the hour of sin and trouble that even now is at the door. It will test all who dwell on the earth.

Let those repent who are teaching that no matter how Christian men and women behave in the world they cannot be touched by judgment. Otherwise they will be found to be false prophets.

The Spirit of God is warning us in this hour to set our households in order, to lay hold on Christ, to place our full trust and hope in the Word of God, to live in a godly manner, to not be changed into the present world image, to flee from the wrath to come.

If we will repent, change our way of living, call on the name of the Lord Jesus, be baptized in water, and then look to the Spirit of God for help each day so that we can walk in newness of life, we will be saved throughout the hour of temptation that is coming to test all who live on the earth.

Those who teach that we can walk in the jealous, hateful ways of Cain, serve God for money in the spirit of Balaam and Gehazi, murmur against authority and leadership like Korah and his followers, and still be received of Christ, will perish along with their followers.

The grace of God has appeared in the form of the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Although the wrath of God is being heated seven times hotter than we can imagine, all who receive Christ, walking in Him and being built up in Him, will be spared in the Day of Wrath.

Let no man teach or believe that God is indulgent toward sin. We may claim to belong to Christ but God does not overlook our sin. The God of the Old Testament has not been converted. God is not sentimentally attached to us. God will deal with us according to our behavior. Judgment always begins with the household of God. The righteous will be saved with difficulty. The ungodly of today, both believers and nonbelievers, are facing a terror beyond our words to describe.

Let us take heed. Repentance is the will of God for mankind. Such is the true testimony of the Body of Christ to the world in which we live. When we give that testimony faithfully we overcome the accuser of the brothers.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; (Romans 1:18)

The words of our mouth must continue to be an endorsement of what is written in the Scriptures, both as to the wrath of God against sin and also as to the boundless love and mercy of God toward those who receive His beloved Son as their Lord and Savior.

Our acceptance of Christ and our being baptized in water are an important part of our participation in declaring the truth of what God has testified in the Scriptures and continues to testify in the present-day burden of the Holy Spirit.

Our obedience to the written Word and to the Holy Spirit reveals that we have set our life as an endorsement of God's truthfulness. Adam and Eve, yielding to Satan, testified of their disbelief in God's truthfulness by doing what God commanded them not to do.

We overcome the accuser by the word of our testimony that the written Word, the Bible, is true. The Scriptures are the written account of the power, revelation, and holiness of God. The Bible speaks of the wrath of God against sin, and also of the love of God for mankind and the promise of a Redeemer who will bring us into the Kingdom of God.

The Scriptures testify of Christ.

When we state unwaveringly that the Scriptures are true and reliable we are holding firmly to the testimony that God has given. One of the main efforts we Christians must make is the courageous and consistent declaration that what the Bible says is true and is of God. We must continue to declare that God will keep faithfully all the promises He has made to us.

When we attempt to conform to the Scriptures, stating that the Scriptures are true and are of God, we are setting our testimony of what is true in line with what God states is true. This can be difficult at times as God brings us down to death. We begin to fear that Christ can be overcome, or that God does not know the details of our life, or that for some other reason He will allow us to be harmed.

When we keep on asserting faithfully that God has a plan, that His plan is in Christ, that Christ has overcome Satan, that God loves us and has saved us by the blood of the cross, that Christ has been raised from the dead and will return in victory, and that the wrath of God always burns against all sinful behavior, we are overcoming the accuser by the word of our testimony.

We are affirming the eternal truth that God is wise, loving, and justified in all He does. We are maintaining that God is true and cannot lie.

The original device of Satan, concerning Adam and Eve, was to raise doubts concerning the truthfulness, wrath, goodness, and power of God. When we obey God implicitly, as did Abraham, no matter how impossible our circumstances may seem, we are overcoming the accuser by endorsing with our whole personality the reliability of God's Word.

He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. (John 3:33)

Christ comes from Heaven announcing to us what He has seen and heard in Heaven. When we receive the testimony of Christ, affirming that it is truth, we are endorsing and validating the testimony of Christ. We are supporting and affirming the truth that Jesus has spoken to the world and are declaring that God speaks the truth.

We have seen, then, that one of the four ways by which the Holy Spirit brings forth the testimony of Christ in the members of the Body of Christ is by the declaration of the Word of God, both in the Scriptures and also in the present-day burden of the Spirit.

The testimony of the Word of the Lord is concerned with moral behavior. In the Old Testament the Ten Commandments were referred to as the "Testimony." The Ark of the Covenant was termed the "Ark of the Testimony" because it contained the two tables of stone on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments.

Whoever sets himself to proclaim the Word of God, but does not include the requirement of moral, godly behavior in his or her testimony, is a false prophet and will not be able to overcome—or to help others to overcome—the accuser of the brothers.

The power of miracles. The second of the four ways by which the Holy Spirit brings forth the testimony of Christ is by powerful miracles. Throughout the Scriptures, God has testified of His Person and of His will by stupendous miracles. This was true in Old Testament times, was true to a greater extent in the ministry of Christ, and will be astonishingly, staggeringly true in the days prior to the return of the Lord.

The revival of power, the harvest rain, the anointing of the Holy Spirit that even now is coming upon us, will not abate until earth-shaking miracles have been performed in support of the Word of the Kingdom.

There will be miracles without precedent in the history of the world that will be performed by the saints in one last earth-wide testimony of the Person and will of Christ and of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. We now are in the hour of the latter-rain outpouring.

Where there are no signs and wonders there is not a complete testimony of Christ.

But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. (John 5:36)

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (John 14:12)

And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:20)

God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? (Hebrews 2:4)

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power: (I Corinthians 2:4)

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me . . . . (Acts 1:8)

Whether in the Old Testament or New, the Lord God always confirms His Word with astonishing miracles, signs, wonders, healings, raising of the dead, and the other works of power of the age to come. God is a God of power. He bears witness of His will by demonstrating His power. By the display of the power of God we bear witness of the truth of God, thus overcoming the accuser of the brothers.

Where there is no demonstration of the power of the Lord the testimony of Christ is not as effective as could be desired. We believe that every man, woman, boy, and girl on the face of the earth should be given the opportunity both to see the Divine power and to hear the Gospel of the Kingdom. To this end we pray without ceasing. Will you join your prayer to ours?

As we study Joel, Hosea, Zechariah, and others of the Prophets we conclude that the Pentecostal outpouring of the Book of Acts was not the complete fulfillment of the two wave loaves of the Levitical feast of Pentecost.

That which was spoken by the Prophet Joel includes both a seed rain and a harvest rain. Pentecost consists of the seed rain that fell on the first-century Church, and also of a heavier rain that will be poured out before Jesus returns. Hence the two loaves of Pentecost.

The rain cycle of Palestine consists of the seed rain of the fall, at which time seed is planted; sporadic rains throughout the winter season; and then the latter, harvest rain which brings the grain to mature size in preparation for the harvest.

The Scripture teaches that the outpouring of God's Spirit will come both as a seed (former) rain and harvest (latter) rain. Since this undeniably is true (Joel 2:23; Hosea 6:3; for example), it appears that we can expect in our day a full restoration of all that took place in the Book of Acts along with an exceedingly greater fullness of power, revelation, and holiness falling from Heaven on the face of the earth.

The Spirit is indicating that the "greater works" are at hand. Let us gather all the containers of oil we can, to borrow a figure from the ministry of Elisha (the double-portion, harvest-rain prophet). When the oil of the end-time revival begins to flow it will continue until every vessel has been filled.

The purpose of the end-time rain of the Spirit is to bring the wheat and the tares to harvest in preparation for the coming of the Divine Farmer, who has had to exercise patience as He awaits the precious fruit of the earth (the forming of Christ in the Church).

The testimony of unparalleled power and authority that now is upon us will cause the righteous to attain the fullness of righteousness, which is the image of Christ, and the wicked to attain the fullness of wickedness, which is the image of Satan.

The testimony of the saints (Revelation, Chapter 11) speaks of the true Word of repentance and of the love of God in salvation. It must include also the spectacular works of power that testify to mankind that the God of Heaven is speaking. By the Word of repentance and of God's grace, and also by the tremendous works of power, we overcome the accuser of the brothers.

It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to preach wrath and grace, and it is the Holy Spirit who performs the mighty acts of power. The Holy Spirit is in charge of the testimony of Christ, Christ being the One who bears on Himself the fullness of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Pure Gold—Christ Himself wrought in us. The third of the four ways by which the Holy Spirit brings forth the testimony of Christ has to do with the "pure gold" of the Divinely wrought nature and character of the saints. What the Lampstand is, as we have stated, is pure gold beaten into shape. God places more importance on what the saints are than He does on what they "accomplish." If we practice lawlessness we will be removed from His Presence even though we have performed tremendous feats in the Kingdom.

The golden Lampstand was hammered into shape rather than being cast in a mold, as we saw earlier; although it appears that the technique of casting metal was known to the Israelites of that day. The time-consuming method of hammering into shape portrays the perfecting-through-suffering method of creating the Divine testimony in us.

The Word of God must be tried in the fire seven times (Psalms 12:6). Our faith is tested just as gold is purified in the fire. The Substance of Christ in us, being purified in the fire of afflictions and temptations, must be hammered into shape by innumerable carefully aimed blows.

Have you felt yourself being hammered on lately? The testimony of Christ is accomplished by the Divine Substance given to us but it must be worked into shape. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was perfected by the things He suffered. We also are being fashioned by the things we are suffering.

When the Lampstand of God, which is Christ—Head and Body, has been completed and perfected, the oil can be placed in the lamps and the fullness of the power and revelation of God in Christ can shine as the light of the world.

One of the main purposes of the Holy Spirit during the present age is the perfecting of the testimony of God. As soon as the testimony, the Body of Christ, has been perfected, the world will believe that God indeed has sent the Lord Jesus Christ and that Christ brings to the world the true Word of God.

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 17:21)

The shaping of the Church will continue until the Church has become one in the Father and the Son. It is not that the Church is being made one that is so important, it is that it is being made one in the Father and the Son.

The unity of the members of the Body of Christ is not one of sameness of doctrine or of uniformity of ways of doing things (all going to the same church, and so forth). The unity of the Church goes far deeper than that. The unity of the Church in Christ in God is identical to the unity of the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father. It is an organic unity, a unity that proceeds from all members being of the same Substance and of the same Spirit.

As soon as the Church has been made one in the Father and the Son, the world will believe that the Father has sent the Son and that the Father loves the saints as He loves His Son. The testimony will be received by the world because of the oneness of the Church in the Son and in the Father.

When we possess in ourselves the certain knowledge that this oneness actually will be brought about, and that the world actually will accept the Divine appointment of Christ because of it, then our hope is anchored in Christ in God and our Christian discipleship takes on strength because of so great a hope.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:22)

The Church receives the same glory that has been given to the Head, Christ. The purpose of giving the Divine glory is that the Church may be made one in the Godhead.

There is no way to attain the desired oneness other than by receiving the Glory of God. The Glory of God is the Divine virtue given us through Christ: the Word of God in general and specific application to us; the body and blood of Christ; and the resurrection life and anointing for service given by the Holy Spirit.

The glory of the virtue of God is given to Christ without measure, and Christ gives His own Body the Divine Glory without measure. We are part of Him, and what He gives us actually is Himself if we truly are abiding in Him.

The Glory never leaves the Father because Christ and His Body are one in God Himself. God never will give His Glory to anyone other than His own Being and those who are part of His own Being. To receive the eternal abiding of the fullness of the Glory of God we must become an eternal part of God's Being.

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)

We are being made one in Christ and Christ in us. Christ is One in God and with God. Our perfection in the Father through the Son is a testimony to the world. The testimony bears witness to the fact that the Father has sent Christ and that the Father loves the Body of Christ as He loves Christ Himself.

The world must understand that God has sent Christ. The world must understand also that the Father loves the members of the Body of Christ as He loves Christ.

The world must understand that God has sent Christ and that there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The world cannot receive the blessing of God apart from Christ. He is the Way. He is the Resurrection. He is the Life.

The world must understand that the Father loves the members of the Body of Christ as He loves Christ and that the only path to Christ is through the members of the Church. If the world rejects the Body of Christ it rejects the Head also. The person receiving Christ's ambassador receives Christ Himself. The person rejecting Christ's ambassador rejects Christ Himself and also rejects God who sent Christ.

When the world rejects the member of the Body of Christ it rejects Christ and thereby rejects God. The world must understand that God has sent Christ to be the Savior of the world, and also that God loves the members of the Body of Christ as He loves Christ, His only begotten Son.

There are many people who would like to come to God but they refuse to come through Christ. In the future there will be many people who would like to come to Christ but they will refuse to come through the members of His Body. The members of the Body are not one with Christ now, but in the future there will be no way to approach Christ and God other than through the new Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb.

The next passages portray the overcoming of the accuser of the brothers.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)

The same thought is found in Revelation 12:5:

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Again, in Revelation 3:21:

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

That they may "be with me where I am." "Caught up unto God, and to his throne." "To sit with me in my throne."

The Lord is at the right hand of the Father in Glory. He is calling us up to His throne. We are being resisted by the accuser who apparently covets this authority for Himself.

Jesus overcame the world and therefore has been raised above the lords of wickedness. Jesus is over all. Now our turn has come. We are fighting to establish our position in the throne of Christ.

By faith and by the Word of God we are raised to the throne of Christ when we are baptized in water. Now we must learn to maintain the heavenly position by diligently exercising our Divinely given faith—faith that enables us to conquer the spirit of the world.

The accuser does not want to lose any preeminence and so he resists every one of God's saints. Yet we press on in Christ. We keep on testifying to the truth of what God has declared concerning Christ and concerning those who are in Christ. We keep on asserting and keep on living by the fact of the realities that God has proclaimed in the Scriptures.

We always are being deceived and coaxed down from the throne by the wiles of the enemy. We always are being invited and exhorted to live in the throne by the Spirit of Jesus. The potential for victory or humiliating defeat is present with us. It is our testimony of what God has declared in His Word that makes it possible for us to be ever victorious in Christ.

Jesus has prayed for us and yet prays for us. Let us be faithful to Him who has called us, and conduct ourselves as men and women of God.

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:25,26)

The world is ignorant of the Person, will, purpose, and way of God. Christ knows the Father. Christ has revealed to the Church that the Father has sent Him. He also is declaring to the Church the Name of God.

The Name of God is the Nature, the Character, the Disposition, the Personality of God. He who is coming to know the Name of God is coming to know God personally, as did Moses. The purpose of causing us to come to know God personally is that the love that God has for Christ may be experienced by us, and that Christ may abide eternally in the love of God that is dwelling in us.

As soon as the Divine love is abiding in us, and Christ is in us, the world will receive the testimony that Christ is not a mortal seeking his own glory but was sent of God; and also that God loves the members of the Body as He loves the Head of the Body.

The fullness of the answer to the prayer of Jesus in John, Chapter 17 is portrayed throughout the Book of Isaiah and in other writings of the Prophets of Israel. The testimony of the true Nature of God will fill the earth in the days to come. There will not be a soul on the earth who will not be able to behold the truth of God in Christ and in His Body.

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. (Isaiah 43:10)

And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles [nations], and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. (Isaiah 61:9)

The destiny of Christ, Head and Body, is to be a living testimony in the earth of the Person and ways of the Father. By beholding the Seed of Abraham every man, woman, boy, and girl on the earth will come to an understanding of the Nature of the true God.

Just as the Tabernacle of the Congregation was a testimony of the holiness, mercy, and power of God Almighty, so also is the Body of Christ—and the individual saint as well—a testimony of the holiness, mercy, and power of God Almighty.

Because the Church has been made one in God, the nations of the earth will realize that Christ was sent by the Father and that the Father loves the Church as He loves His beloved Son. Everyone on the earth will acknowledge the saints—that they are the Seed whom the Lord has blessed.

Any person who resists and rebels against the testimony of the saints in that day will be destroyed. All wicked spirits will be torn down from their positions in the heavenlies because they will not receive the rule of Christ and the saints.

We have stated that there are at least four ways by which the Holy Spirit brings forth the testimony of Christ in the members of the Body of Christ. We have just finished discussing the third way—the testimony that proceeds from the pure gold of the Divinely-wrought character of the saints.

First-hand testimony. The fourth manner in which the Holy Spirit brings forth the testimony of Christ in the members of the Body of Christ is by the witness of Christian people concerning what they have seen, heard, and otherwise experienced of the work of the resurrected Christ in their own lives and in the lives of other people.

Notice how the Apostle John participated in the fourth aspect of the witness of Christ:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (I John 1:1)

In a court of law there must be no conclusion drawn by a witness. The witness on the stand is to tell under oath what he has heard or has seen with his eyes or has handled with his hands. He is not to conclude from these observations, only to report them.

The Apostle John had the rare opportunity of walking with the Lord Jesus Christ in Person. He heard Christ with his own ears, saw Christ with his own eyes, touched Christ with his own hands. It is lawful for such a witness to report the things he has observed.

It is lawful for us—and part of the Christian testimony—to report the things we actually have seen Christ do. The people of Jesus' day ran about telling of the miracles that had happened before their eyes.

"Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did" cried the woman of Samaria.

"Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed Christ, the Savior of the world," responded the people after Jesus Himself had spoken to them.

Many of us may never have seen a spectacular miracle or have had the Lord Jesus appear to us. Our testimony may consist, for the most part, of the wonderful manner in which our own behavior has been changed (miracle enough!); of the things the Holy Spirit, through the ministry and in our own heart is affirming to be true; and of the facts we declare to be true on the basis of our faith in the Scriptures.

There are not many of us who have heard Christ Himself speaking in an audible voice, who have seen His face or form in a vision, or who have touched Him with our hands. Yet we have believed the report of those who have had such experiences.

Jesus declared that we who believe without seeing have an even greater blessing because we have not been allowed to see, and yet have believed (John 20:29; 17:20).

(For the life was manifest, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifest unto us;) (I John 1:2)

John, in his Epistle, bears witness of the eternal life that was manifest to him in the Person of Christ. By so testifying he adds to the tearing down of the strength of the accuser.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)

When we bear witness of the things Christ has shown us we bring other people into the fellowship we have with the Father and with the Son. In this way the Body of Christ is built up and brought into oneness in God, in answer to the prayer of Jesus in John, Chapter 17. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (I John 1:5)

Here is one of the principal facts of the testimony: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." The true testimony concerning the Person and Nature of God always asserts the holiness of God. Is this what the Church of Christ is testifying to the peoples of the earth today?

If we are not declaring that God is light and that there is no darkness in Him we are not giving a true testimony of the Person of God. Jesus always testifies of the righteousness and holiness of the Father.

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (I John 1:6)

Another fact of the true testimony is that God will not accept us if we continue to walk in the spiritual darkness of the world.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (I John 1:7)

A third and very important testimony of John is that God has given us the blood of Christ in order to cleanse us from our sins. The remainder of the Book of First John bears witness to the fact that whoever continues to walk in sin has not been born of God.

John learned from Jesus that God is love and that we cannot abide in the Father and at the same time hate our brother.

We see, then, that John was able to bear witness of what he had seen and heard of the Person and work of Christ. By faithfully giving his testimony, John was making—and continues to make—a powerful contribution toward our overcoming the accuser.

The Apostle Paul also was able to bear witness of what he had seen and heard, verifying the hope of salvation by faith in Christ.

But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; (Acts 26:16)

Paul told many people about his extraordinary experience on the road to Damascus. He boldly gave his testimony to Jews and Gentiles alike, whether they thanked him for it or stoned him for it. Paul suffered many tribulations because of his faithfulness in recounting the things he had received from the Lord Jesus.

Many Christians in the hour in which we live are able to report miraculous healing, visions of Christ, and other Divine interventions in their lives. By testifying of the things they have experienced they give impetus to the overcoming of the accuser and help each of us establish our position in the heavenlies with Christ.

We understand, therefore, that the Holy Spirit bears witness of Christ by the declaration of the Word of God, by the power of mighty miracles, by the Divinely wrought character of the saints, and by the witness of Christian people concerning the things they have experienced of the resurrected Christ.

As God perfects the ultimate testimony, which is His living Word given in visible form in the Person of Christ, Head and Body, the Church of God draws nearer to victory over the accuser of the brothers.

Christ, the living Word, the testimony of God, comes to destroy the works of the devil. The wisdom and efforts of the flesh of man cannot harm the works of the devil. Only the Spirit of God can do so.

Our part is to meditate constantly in the truth of the Word of God, holding to it without yielding; to receive and be obedient to the full revelation and power of the Holy Spirit; to receive the full virtue of the precious body and blood of Christ; and to bear witness faithfully to the things in which Christ appears to us.

We keep on in the Word, in the Spirit, and in the blood, to the point of the complete denial of our own life. We never hold back from declaring the fullness of what we know to be true, when the situation is appropriate for such declaration, no matter what the consequences may be.

If we follow on to the maturing of the testimony of God in us, the Lord will overcome the accuser by His own testimony concerning Himself that we, who are members of the Body of Christ, have faithfully, consistently affirmed to be true in every respect.

Two distinctions.

A description of the testimony, and the testimony itself.

Ministry, and the testimony.

We have pointed out previously that the Lampstand, which typifies the Divine testimony, contained no wood. It was pure gold signifying that there is nothing human in the Divine testimony.

When Christian people tell about what they know of Jesus or about what Jesus has done for them or for others, they are not, in a strict sense testifying but rather describing the testimony. As in the case of the woman of Samaria, they are bringing people to the Testimony, to the Day Star Himself—Christ. The people were interested in her story but wanted to see Jesus Himself.

Sometimes the churches of our day send people forth to "testify." Though they may recount what they know, the Divine testimony is not given unless the Holy Spirit anoints what they say or do. We have not testified just because we have left a tract somewhere or have "told someone about Jesus." Christian people have, in some instances, done harm to the Gospel because in their zeal to "testify" they have driven people away from the Lord, who is the true Testimony.

The Jews, for example, detest the efforts of Christians to convert them. Sometimes the Jews are resisting the Spirit of God. In other instances they are reacting negatively to the fleshly zeal of well-intentioned Christians—Christians who believe they are "testifying" to the Jews but actually are working in the flesh to gain converts to their particular beliefs.

We cannot truly testify except as the Lord guides and empowers us. The testimony is always Divine, never human.

Another important distinction is the one existing between ministry and the testimony. The testimony may be given by the ministry, the true Word of God may be declared, miracles may be worked.

Throughout Church history there have been numerous instances in which the true Word of God was given but the people involved in presenting the Word were not abiding in Christ. They were immoral or seeking their own glory.

The division between the Divine testimony, and the sinful vessels bearing the testimony, was illustrated by the design of the Table of Showbread. The area in which the bread was placed on the Table was surrounded by a golden crown.

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. (Exodus 25:24,25)

Then there was a border, or ledge, that also was surrounded by a crown of gold to keep the utensils from falling off. The utensils were kept on the border of the Table, separated from the showbread by the crown of gold that surrounded the showbread.

The design reveals that the gifts and ministries, the utensils, are kept separate from the showbread itself. This is how it can happen that a gifted minister, having had outstanding results in his ministry, is found to be living in sin.

The Word he gave is of God and is the Divine testimony. It is the holy showbread. The minister himself, the utensil of service, should be holy as is the Word he is presenting. But whether he is or not, he is kept separate from the Divine bread. It is the Lord’s will, however, that the minister grow in Christ until he himself has become the Word of God, the flesh made the Word.

Back to Three Deaths and Three Resurrections: Vol 2