Key Text: “Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev 19:10)

Introduction

The spirituality of the contemporary Western Christians has been vastly reduced to inner subjective experiences, moods, hopes and preferences. Our churches stress the sovereign freedom of the individual’s will, but Paul speaks of, “having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph 1:11). We have narrowed destiny to the successful future of a person, but scripture proclaims God’s “purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph 1:10). The average Christian today lacks a sense of the magnitude, gravity, holiness and the greatness of the things of God, because the church of God has forgotten that the principal reason for its existence is to bear witness. An authentic biblical spirituality is a spirituality of witness, and it is grasped by the reality that everything exists to testify to the glory of God.

The Creator of All

All reality bears witness to its Creator. “The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork..” (Ps 19:1). The whole created order reveals God,[1] “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” (Rom 1:19-20).

Inside creation, at its peak, humans exist to willingly testify to the glory of God (Isa 43:7; 1 Cor 11:7). Created by the Word of God and breathed upon by the Spirit of God (Gen 1:26; 2:7), humanity was perfectly formed as the image of God (Gen 1:26-28) to receive revelation from God and to communicate this revelation with constant witness. This was the original dignity of men and women, their own created glory.

“What then was the content of the witness of Adam and Eve and to whom were they meant to witness?” They could surely have testified to the goodness of God experienced in the pleasure of the garden, its delightful fruit and the fellowship they enjoyed with each other (Gen 2:9, 23-24). To testify about effortless blessings from God is easy, but God had something deeper for his children, he has commanded Adam not only to enjoy the garden but to guard it (Gen 2:15). Adam was to guard the holy sanctuary of Eden, the dwelling place of God with man, through his faithfulness to the single specific command that demanded obedience, ““of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”” (Gen 2:17). Whether Adam and Eve considered God’s Word, and so his honour, worth proclaiming and defending, at any cost, was the issue behind the Satanic temptation.

The Anti-Witness

As a part of intelligent creation Satan too was made to give glory to God. In becoming evil, he reversed his created purpose; he has become the anti-witness who challenges everything God says. As Jesus said, “there is no truth in him…he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

In his confident pronouncement to Eve, ““You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”” (Gen 3:5-6), Satan promised the woman immortality apart from God’s Word. He denied that God’s Word is the foundation of all creation. He contradicted the commandment that “man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut 8:3).

Satan’s suggestion appeared plausible but it was impossible. Since God created all things by his Word and Spirit (Gen 1:1ff), human beings can only know their purpose for existing by the immediate revelatory action of the Word in the power of the Spirit. Only God can testify to them that they are his image and glory and open their eyes to his presence shining all around them (Isa 6:3).

When Adam and Eve obeyed the anti-witness of Satan they lost the indwelling Word and Spirit of God, they were stripped of the glory of God (Rom 3:23) and became unable to radiate God’s presence and truth to each other and all creation. Ceasing to be God’s witnesses, they lost the purpose for their being and became “dead even while they were alive” (1 Tim 5:6 cf. Eph 2:1, 5). When Adam and Eve sinned, fallen human nature came into existence, this is what the New Testament calls “flesh”. Jesus said of this, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is useless” (John 6:63). Flesh is useless because it cannot testify to the glory of God and it cannot witness because it is full of shame.

Filled with shame instead of glory, Adam and Eve immediately covered up their nakedness and fled from the divine presence[2]. Even when confronted by God they refused to witness to the truth that God was in the right and they were in the wrong. Such shame is not only barren of true testimony; it seeks to silence those who bear witness to God. Jesus said, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19-20).

Created with an inbuilt drive to testify, when humanity refuses to bear witness to the glory of the one true God, it gives praise to false gods, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” (Rom 1:22-23). Idols, of all sorts, dominate the story of fallen humanity.

The History of Testimony

God loves people and refuses to share his glory with idols (Isa 42:8), as such he never leaves himself without a testimony. Throughout history he calls men and women to uncompromisingly speak his truth; this is the meaning of prophecy. History is a conflict between true and false witnesses, true and false prophets, and most of the time the false prophets seem to win.

As Jesus said of his own time and destiny, “the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah” (Luke 11:50-51). The prophetic testimony is always opposed by idol worshippers because behind them is the power of demons (Deut 32:17; Ps 106:37; 1 Cor 10:20).

When you seek to speak out for Jesus uncompromisingly all sorts of strange things happen to you e.g. I have been screamed at by a pastors’ wife as being Satanic; called the most unchristian person ever met; told that I am a false prophet; accused of having the Jezebel spirit; shouted and pointed at publicly with the charge I was in ministry for money. Many other things, inspired by evil spirits, have taken place. This is the sort of thing that happens to those who would bear testimony of Jesus.

This historical conflict over true and false witness comes to a climax in the manifestation of the ultimate false witness, the anti-Christ. In a vision John sees, “the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.” (Rev 20:4). In the wider purposes of God, evil is allowed to conquer good on the plane of ordinary human history. “And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. …it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.” (Rev 13:5, 7). Often, the power of evil seems to annihilate the testimony of God. The visible triumph of good over evil only makes sense through the witness of Jesus life, and particularly his death.

Jesus is the Final Witness

In the book of Revelation Jesus calls himself “the Amen, the faithful and true witness” (Rev 3:14), and in conversation with Nicodemus, he explains the certainty he had about his witness. “He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.” (John 3:31-33).

It is Jesus’ consciousness of the heavenly origin of his words and works that fills him with assurance that he is the true witness. What he says and does finds it origin in the heart of his Father in heaven (cf. John 1:18). “For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.” (John 5:36-37). Jesus did not focus on the extraordinary power of his signs and wonders, but that they pointed to his Father[3].

As the Word who became “flesh” Jesus entered into fallen creation (John 1:14) to bear true witness to God and lead the world back to the Father. The witness he gave to God came from the very depths of his created humanity, “34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:34-36). Jesus exercised authority over creation – nature, demons and human bodies, because he was in touch with the fullness of the Spirit and the Word through which all things (including his own humanity) were made. Thus, to believe in his witness is to have eternal life, to disobey his word is to remain under the judgment of God.

As he stood on the threshold of execution Jesus explained the purpose of his coming in terms of testifying. “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37). The cross is the final challenge concerning the truth of God in a world ravaged by sin.

The Witness of God of the Cross

There is no depth of witness without suffering, and the deepest witness will involve ultimate suffering.[4] It is the suffering of his death that establishes the final truth of Jesus witness in the world. When Jesus cried out in a loud voice from the cross, ““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mk 15:34), he publicly testified that he had no witness in himself to the reality of Father’s love. Everything in his experience of abandonment testified to him that God is not faithful to his suffering creation. It seemed as though it was Satan’s witness that was true. For Jesus, who is the Truth (John 1:17; 14:6; Eph 4:21) this was utterly unbearable. What actually happened on the cross occurs at a level deeper than natural discernment (1 Cor 2:12-14).

In “becoming sin” (2 Cor 5:21) on the cross, Jesus took into himself the full weight of evils witness against God. In taking the place of our sin, Jesus is moved by God’s judgement against humanity’s lies into “the outer darkness” (Matt 8:12) (hell) where no divine truth can be seen, known or heard. Jesus alienation from the witness of God, his experience of the separation of himself as the Word of God from the Spirit of God is intolerable –it is an experience of holy anguish that is for us unimaginable.

(I have had a number of experiences under the hand of God when I felt that my whole insides were going to split in two and I could only cry out in pain. Once in the middle of such agony I sincerely believe I heard the laughter of the devil. But this is nothing compared to the anguish of the cross.)

The cross is the final and the absolute witness to the truth that God has nothing to do with sin and evil, he is not its cause, he does not tolerate it, he does not sustain it and he has no final purpose for it. The death of Jesus is heaven’s final evidence against man’s accusation that God does not care. Through the tortured cries of Jesus, God reveals that he has fought sin and evil to the very end. The resurrection testifies that Jesus is the one true witness and in him evil has been defeated forever. The resurrection however is not the scandal of God in history.

Without special revelation the cross is so scandalous as to be unbelievable. It is “a stumbling block to Jews” because it is impossible that God’s Messiah could be crucified, it is “folly to gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23) because no divine figure could ever be so humiliated. The Koran calls Jesus the Word of God, teaches his virgin birth and believes he will come again, but it mocks the notion that a true prophet of God could die such a shameful death.

Even the unbelieving disciples needed help to get over the scandal of the cross, ““O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”” (Luke 24:25-26). Jesus refers to the prophets because they are the chief witnesses of the plan of God. The prophets did not simple predict the future (as some clairvoyants and mediums can- e.g. D. T. experience), true prophets always foretell the shape of the future as a pattern of death and resurrection. This is why Peter says, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.” (1 Pet 1:10-11). The prophets understood that the plan of God is only ever brought to pass through suffering, and they understood this because they lived the pattern of apparent defeat and victory in their own lives.

In revealing this pattern to his disciples Jesus said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Jesus teaches that his suffering flows into resurrection which flows into Spirit empowered witness. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” (Acts 1:8). The church exists as a witness.

The Church Exists as a Witness

Paul illustrates this perfectly. When Paul was commissioned to witness for the gospel (Acts 22:15) he was told that he would carry Jesus’ name to the nations, that he would suffer much for the sake of this name and he needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:15-17). In Paul’s life the Word of God and the Spirit of God come together for the witness of God in an environment of suffering.[5]

This theme is most forcefully expressed in the book of Revelation. The apostle John receives dreams and visions because he is a suffering witness. “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos (a prison island) on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book” (Rev 1:9-11). Imprisoned on account of the word and testimony John is taken up in the Spirit into the very presence of God and hears what the Spirit is saying to the churches (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).

In his letters to these seven churches, Jesus calls himself “the faithful and true witness” (Rev 3:14). Much of his words are rebukes to congregations who are failing to show his light to the world, but at one point Christ says something amazing, he speaks of “the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells” (Rev 2:13). Antipas, who apparently was roasted alive for his faith, is so identified with Jesus that he is described in the words that Christ uses for himself, “faithful witness”. This is the message of Revelation.

Central to the vision of the whole book is the “Lamb standing, as though it had been slain,” (Rev 5:6). For John, and the whole faithful persecuted church, the blood of the cross is the witness of the Lamb in the face of all evil (particularly as it is directed against them). In the climactic passage of chapter twelve, we are told that when Satan attacks the saints in great wrath “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (v.11). The blood of the Lamb and the death of the martyrs are not separate witnesses, they are the one witness of Jesus Christ to the whole world that ““God so loved the world, that he gave (i.e. in death) his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

The book of Revelation was written to churches most of which had lost their first love and from whom the power of testimony stood in danger of vanishing. Much is the same for the church in Australia today.

Failure to Witness

When I speak of the failure to testify, I am not referring to merely passing on words. Jesus said, ““You are the light of the world.”(Matt 5:14). My whole perspective on testimony was suddenly changed by a revelation I had of the Lord some years ago. At the end of a week of prayer, as I lay face down, I was overcome by a dark heaviness so intense I had to physically grip the carpet to keep going. Suddenly this scripture came to me, “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time comes for the restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” (Acts 3:19-21).

Then I could sense Jesus in heaven, and beneath him were all the spheres of society: politics, education, law, media, business, health etc., Jesus was reigning to restore God’s order in every part of culture. He brings about this restoration through the witness of the church to his wisdom, knowledge, holiness, love, justice and truth in every aspect of life. To have a passion to see Jesus revealed in everything you do and in all your decisions is what it means to be a faithful and true witness.

What is holding back the witness of the people of God? John says, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.” (1 John 5:10a cf. Rev 6:9; 12:17; 19:10). To “have the testimony” means to have something to pass on, and the expression always appears in the context of persecution and possible death. Christians fail to testify to Jesus because they believe the satanic lie that to be mocked, rejected and despised for Christ’s sake is a shameful thing. The truth is that suffering for the testimony of Jesus brings glory. As Peter says, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1 Pet 4:14)

If you stand up for Jesus without compromise you will be harassed, scorned and lied about, both outside and inside the church. If wherever God has placed you, you testify to Jesus, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will hate you, will make war on you, will appear to conquer you and seem to kill off your testimony. B-u-t, God will cause your witness to rise from the dead again and again (Rev 11:1-13 cf. 2 Cor 1:8-10; 4:7-12 etc.). This is how we share in the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus; this is how we understand that suffering is not the cost of glory but the way to glory, this is the way of true and faithful witness.

Conclusion

When Adam and Eve believed Satan’s evil testimony against God guilt and shame distorted every element of his image in man. There has only ever been one exception to this perversion, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). The life of Jesus witnesses to the truth that in this fallen world the only way to know the truth of God is to suffer for his sake and that of the gospel. Until the church of God believes and obeys this testimony of Jesus it will remain in a state of guilt and shame that renders it impotent to impact the lost, “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins” (Acts 26:18).

The “spirituality of witness” is not something you choose; it is something to which God calls you in Christ. It is not a part of your life; it is the purpose of your life. In saying, “necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16), and “the love of Christ leaves me no choice” (2 Cor 5:14), Paul is simply echoing the words of Jesus, “50 I have a baptism to be baptized with (the cross), and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). Those of us who accept Christ’s commission to proclaim him are so identified with Jesus that we are left with no choice but to be his witnesses, whatever the cost. When arrested for preaching Jesus the apostles boldly proclaimed, “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)

What have you seen and heard? Have you seen and heard the depth of Jesus identification with your humanity, your flesh, your fears, your tears? Have you heard his loud cries from the cross and sensed his rising from the tomb – for you and all lost people? Have you seen the face of evil oppose you because you bear Jesus’ name and recognise this opposition is an honour (Matt 5:10-12). If you have, then you have experienced freedom from shame and you will be his witnesses, no matter what. The spirituality of witness is true Christian spirituality, all else is useless.