Tag Archives: The Testimony

God Is My Witness

Posted on September 7, 2021 by Allan Halton

Just before His ascension Jesus promised His disciples that upon His sending the Holy Spirit, “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me” (Acts 1:8). But have you noticed in reading the epistles of Paul how often he mentions God being his witness? This is the “flip side” of receiving the Holy Spirit and thereby being made one of Jesus’ witnesses. Here are a few instances:

In his epistle to the Philippians: “For God is my record [witness], how greatly I long after you all in the bowels [tender mercies] of Jesus Christ” (Phi 1:9).

Also to the Thessalonians: “For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness; God is witness…” (1 Thes 2:5). And a few lines further on: “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe…” (1 Thes 2:10). You mean, Paul, you had a conscious awareness of God witnessing your activities, your behaviour, 24/7?

And to the Corinthians, where Paul as it were called God to the witness stand to vouch for his motive in delaying to come to Corinth: “Moreover I call God for a record [witness] upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth” (2 Cor 1:23).

And here, to the Romans: “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost…” (Rom 9:1). Here Paul is speaking of the witness of the Spirit. This is one and the same as the witness of God.

Again to the Romans he writes of this witness of the Spirit: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God…” (Rom 8:15,16).

Now this one, again to the Romans, in which we discover that God bore witness to Paul’s prayers; this is what we want to focus on just now:

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. (Rom 1:8-10)

Here again, as Paul clarifies in verse 13, he wanted the Romans to know his motives—that he had not been unmindful of them, in fact had often wanted to come to them but had been hindered from coming. And who better to vouch for one’s motives than God Himself? And so he writes, “For God is my witness…” The question is, how did he know that God bore witness that he continually brought up the Roman saints in his prayers, asking that he might now “at last” have a prosperous journey in the will of God to come to them? As if God were saying, Yes, that’s right, Paul does that continually.

It was because Paul in all things—and especially as he prayed—was conscious of God. He knew God was hearing him.

It was two or three years from the writing of the epistle to the Romans before God answered Paul’s prayer, and it appears he had been praying about this even earlier. Nevertheless all that time he had the assurance that God would indeed answer his prayer in His time. He had the witness of God about it.

UK Bible teacher Ron Bailey says, “The first criterion of prayer is not need consciousness but God consciousness.” This accords with what Samuel Chadwick has written about prayer: “God is in secret. Let the first act [of prayer] be to affirm the fact of the Holy Presence” (The Path of Prayer, Samuel Chadwick). Later in that same book Chadwick again emphasizes, “Never leave without a conscious season of real communion.”

How vitally important. This is what Paul enjoyed and practiced, this is what enabled him to say that God was his witness to his prayers. He was conscious of God when he prayed; this—God consciousness—was the beachhead that with the help of the grace of God he established in prayer and maintained as he advanced throughout the day.

But know this. Paul, man of great stature that he was, had no other access to the Father than you and I. Let me say that a different way. You and I have the same access to the Father—faith in the blood of Jesus Christ—that Paul did. And so you and I may also enjoy the same witness of God not only in our prayers but in all we say and do.

You mean… God watching us with His eye continually upon us so that He is witness to all we say and do and think? Who could bear that, who could live under such scrutiny? I recall from years ago the testimony of an old man who said that when he was young he saw an Eye in the sky, and fled to hide from it. Well might he flee, and well might we all, and find no hiding place—that is, if we have not received the witness of God that He bore concerning His Son. This is what happened to the youth who saw the Eye in the sky. Somehow he knew it was a portent of a Day to come, and it led to his earnestly seeking God, and discovering the one and only Hiding Place that God Himself has provided—His Son Jesus Christ. For, when the eyes of God bear witness to what Jesus Christ the Son of God accomplished at Calvary on behalf of sinners, those who receive this witness enjoy that most happy and blessed state of a heart cleansed from all sin. Yes. All. No lesser purity than the very purity of God did the Son of God accomplish for sinful man, who washed us from our sins in His own blood. God Himself bears witness to this, as Peter confirmed regarding the Gentiles of Cornelius’ house who had come to faith in Jesus: “And the heart-knowing God did bare them testimony [witness], having given to them the Holy Spirit, even as also to us, and did put no difference also between us and them, by the faith having purified their hearts” (Acts 15:8,9 YLT).

And so since God bears witness to this, what is the result but a conscience that bears witness to this, a conscience that now has no awareness of sin. Far from it being unbearable, who wants to live without this?

And with it we have boldness and confidence in prayer.

“It is the Spirit that beareth witness…”

Here is a passage of Scripture about the Witness of God. Many of us have found it enigmatic (especially verse 8, for which please see the endnote: [i]) But let’s highlight at least some of it. John is strongly affirming and bearing witness that Jesus is the Son of God in whom alone is the victory:

6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood.
7 And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth.
8 For there are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three agree in one. [ii] (A second endnote.)
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for the witness of God is this, that he hath borne witness concerning his Son.
10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him [in himself]: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son.
11 And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life. (1 Jn 5:6-12 ASV)

John is saying that the witness of God is that which He bore concerning His Son—that is, of what the Son of God, being fully man, accomplished by His death on the cross of Calvary on behalf of sinful man. God in Heaven bears witness to that. So does the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who believe Him. That’s why the heart is cleansed, and the conscience; the Holy Spirit bears witness to that. In fact God could not send the Holy Spirit to abide in us without the Son of God having first become the propitiation for our sins. And so the Holy Spirit is Himself the witness of God, just as Jesus is Himself “the faithful and true witness“ (Rev 3:14). “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth” (1 Jn 5:6 ASV). The Holy Spirit in you and me who believe in Jesus is the witness of God, the testimony of God, the evidence, that Christ has put away your sin and mine. The Holy Spirit in our heart is God’s witness, the witness that He has borne concerning His Son.

That Witness within is one and the same as having eternal life. For Christ has vanquished sin and death.

It is this Witness of God that the apostle Paul as a believer in Jesus enjoyed. We who believe Him may enjoy this same Witness. He is the provision and cleansing for any known sin that is confessed. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). Moreover He is the provision for any lingering sense of a sin conscience:

18 My Little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.
19 Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him:
20 because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God;
22 and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he gave us commandment.
(1 Jn 3:18-23 ASV)

John is saying that if our heart (our conscience) condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things—knoweth that His Son has put away all sin so that we may be free of sin and enjoy a heart (conscience) that does not condemn us. Further to that He has given us commandments to obey—believing in His Name, and loving one another in deed and in truth—so that we may maintain that clear conscience. And with that, since our heart does not condemn us, what do we have? “We have boldness toward God and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.”

It is a boldness, an openness, a confidence, an assurance, brought about by the Witness of God in the conscience.

Here again is that same thought:

13 These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.
14 And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us:
15 and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. (1 Jn 5:13-15 ASV)

This is just what Paul said about God being his witness. He believed the Witness of God. He knew that God heard his prayers. He confidently anticipated the answer.

[i] I am inclined to agree with F.F.Bruce’s comment on 1 John. 5:8.

“The sequence ‘water and blood’ is not accidental, but corresponds to the historical sequence of our Lord’ baptism and passion. Cerinthus, we recall, taught that ‘the Christ’ (a spiritual being) came down on the man Jesus when He was baptized but left Him before He died. The Christ, that is to say, came through water (baptism) but not through blood (death). To this misrepresentation of the truth John replies that the One whom believers acknowledge to be the Son of God (verse 5) came ‘not with the water only but with the water and with the blood’: the One who died on the cross was as truly the Christ, the Son of  God, as the One who was baptized in Jordan.” (The Epistles of John, F.F. Bruce, Eerdmans, 1970.)

Perhaps this false teaching of Cerinthus (AD circa 50-100) is also what John had in mind when he wrote his gospel in about AD 90 and reflected back on what he had witnessed 60 years earlier when the soldier pierced Jesus’ side, “and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe” (Jn. 19:34,35).

[ii]  “The sentence which appears in the AV as 1 Jn 5:7 (‘For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one’) is no part of the original text of the letter. It appears in a treatise written by Priscillian (a Spanish Christian executed on a charge of heresy in AD 385) or by one of his followers…” (F.F. Bruce, The Epistles of John)

Bruce goes on to say that this statement was eventually incorporated into the text of the Vulgate in about AD 800, with the balancing words “in earth” added to the following sentence. Bruce explains further that Erasmus, upon whose 1516 Greek testament the King James Version is based, at the insistence of others included the spurious text against his own better judgement.

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The Eagle Comes To Church

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Allan Halton

Martin Collison who sometimes comments on A Mending Feast emailed me something recently which he quietly calls “a picture.”  He says it was “an impression stamped upon (his) mind,” which is akin to a vision, I would say.  (It’s an experience he has from time to time.)  In any case it strongly impacted my spirit, and I thought I would pass it along.

I had a picture come to me this week. I saw the lectern on the stage of a church; one of those stands that preachers rest their notes on. Then an eagle came down; swooped down and landed on the lectern. The presence of the eagle cut the atmosphere and it carried such spiritual authority. It brought certainty and definitiveness where there had been vacillation. Its authority could not be denied. Many in the congregation ran at its mere appearance on the scene even before it opened its mouth. I knew that the eagle was a symbol of the true prophet and it would tear down falsehoods within the church. Many would not want to hear the words he would speak so they ran for the exits.

I recognize this to be one of our greatest needs—if not our greatest need—the true authority of Christ in the churches.  There’s an old song that’s right in line with Martin’s “picture.”

Touch your people once again
With your precious holy hand, we pray;
Let your kingdom shine upon this earth
Through a living glorious church;
Not for temporary deeds,
But to restore authority and power:
Let a mighty rushing wind come in;
Touch your people once again.

How deeply we need this—the restoration of spiritual authority and power—this mighty rushing wind of the Holy Spirit that returns to us the authority of Christ.  Martin says the presence of this eagle “cut the atmosphere.”  It “carried such spiritual authority.”  In fact the eagle is one of the faces of Christ as portrayed in the cherubim (Ezek. 1.10).  And so when this “eagle” speaks all doubt disintegrates.  The Lord Jesus Christ Himself has spoken… and all the place is pregnant with His authority.

Martin adds this:

I have been wondering recently whether we who are the Lord’s and seek to carry the fullness of the Kingdom are not yet fully aware of the contention of the enemy against us.

I wonder that myself.  I think we are largely unaware of the extent to which the Enemy resists us.  For certain, he has always resisted the coming forth of this kind of authoritative word—and will do so vehemently when it begins to break forth again.  I have seen it happen in the past, and I know we are going to see it again.  God’s adversary (and ours) is dead set against His authority.  In fact this is what he challenged from his beginning; it’s what garnered him the name change from Lucifer to Satan.

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most high (Isa. 14.13,14).

This is a glimpse into the rebellion among the angels that the Bible hints at in two or three places, and which the Serpent succeeded in contaminating the family of man with.  As a result we see this same Satanic resistance to the true authority of God all through history—as when Pharaoh decreed the destruction of the newborn Hebrews… as when Herod the Great did the same thing at Bethlehem of Judaea, seeking to wipe out any chance of the true king of Israel coming to the throne of David… as when Ahab’s daughter Athaliah sought to destroy all the seed royal out of Judah (2 Chr. 22.10).

We see it also in Satan’s resistance to the true prophetic word—as in Jezebel’s campaign to exterminate the prophets of the Lord (1 Kings 18.4).  Ultimately she zeroed in on the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19.2).  Her husband Ahab went along with her in all this—reluctantly no doubt, but too weak willed to resist her.  We see the same spirit at work when Herodias sought the head of John the Baptist.  Her husband Herod, again reluctantly, went along with her too.  And we see this same “Jezebel” in The Revelation riding upon a scarlet-coloured beast “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Rev. 17.6).  “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints…” (Rev. 18.24).  She who calls herself a prophetess—and Christ reproved the church of Thyatira for going along with her—is thirsty for the blood of the prophets.  For she stands against the true word of God—the testimony of Jesus Christ.  It is the Spirit of prophesy that is hated—the testimony of Jesus Christ.

And for this very reason the church must be this “lectern” Martin saw with the eagle upon it.  The church must have this prophetic Testimony, this authoritative word, with the presence of the eagle permeating all.  I believe it is a corporate thing, this eagle, and not just one man.  Paul called for the earnest prayers of the saints at Ephesus that he might have liberty to declare the word of God boldly—and make known the “mystery of the Gospel” (Eph. 6.18).  He, the mighty apostle, could not function independently.  He’d been given the revelation of the body of Christ on the Damascus Road, and ever after he recognized his need for the other members of that Body.  He was continually calling for the prayers of the saints.  He needed their support as Moses needed Aaron and Hur to stay up his arms.  Yes, it was Paul’s mouth the word went forth from, but it was a joint operation of the body of Christ that enabled it.  Paul sought the same thing from the Colossians, “that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds…” (Col. 4.3).

I believe we are going to see this eagle in church again—this kind of authoritative word, this kind of anointing.  But let us be ready for the consequences.  The Enemy does not take kindly to this kind of Gospel going forth—the kind in which the eyes of sinful men are opened to see what the mystery of Christ is all about.  The true Gospel of Christ is a very powerful Gospel, a high and far-reaching Gospel.  It’s a Gospel that must go forth in the power and authority of the eagle.  And when it does there is going to be prey for her young ones.

Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.
Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she (Job. 39.27-30).

Lord, open our eyes!  How near-sighted we have become, and blind!  No wonder our young people are in the condition they are in—worldly minded, with little or no interest in spiritual things.  Can they be blamed?  What kind of Gospel do we have for them?  We must have more for them than games and pizza on Friday nights at the church—along with a little side of MacWord, as a friend calls it.  Oh, you protest, but how else can we get them in?  We’ve got to give them games and pizza… and the heavy metal rock music they’re into, or their reggae, or even magicians if necessary, and clowns to entertain them.  Anything to get them to come!  So we can slip in that little gospel MacWord on the side.

Here’s another way to get them to come.  Shut all that down, and cry out like this: Jesus, call your eagles to church—those who dwell and abide upon the Rock, and whose eyes see into the distances of the Spirit… and bring nigh what they see afar off!  Then there will be prey for our young ones—the mystery of Christ—the revelation of God in once-fallen man.  Then there will be young eagles growing up in our midst—a whole new kind of young people!

And our Adversary the Devil will have to cope with the consequences.

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The Wind Is Shifting

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Allan Halton

Be valiant and faithful for God’s truth upon the earth in this day of trial and persecution.

This is from the letters of George Fox the Quaker apostle, which I have been reading.  Fox often encouraged his friends with words such as these.  The early Quakers suffered grievously at the hands of the apostate church of their day, and the government.  Many of them had their goods and houses confiscated because they refused to pay the mandatory tithe the established churches required.  They were thrown in jail for the same reason, or because they would not swear an oath or doff their hats to dignitaries.  They also reproved those in authority for their wicked ways, and paid the price for this as well.  So Fox—who himself spent much time behind bars—would encourage his fellow sufferers to take heart by recognizing that this kind of thing is the lot of those who follow Jesus Christ in “this day”—this present evil age.

How we in western lands need to recognize that we are still in this same day!  We are thankful for the liberty we have enjoyed; we in western lands can be Christians and still enjoy great security and safety and prosperity.  But wet your finger and hold it up to the wind.  You will discover the wind is shifting these days.  The warm west wind of prosperity is shifting—and is beginning to come out of the north.  The “world” is not going to be so amicable to us as it has been in the past.  Western nations don’t want to be recognized as “Christian” nations any more.  There is arising a “new king over Egypt,” who does not know “Joseph” (Ex. 1.8).

There is another factor that is going to provoke this coming persecution—a deeper manifestation of Christ in His people.  It’s heartbreaking to read of the things our brothers and sisters go through in other lands simply for being named a Christian.  Over here being identified as a Christian doesn’t seem to provoke the same reaction it does in many other places.  But the persecution is going to be just as severe here, if not more so, when the Spirit of Christ takes up His habitation in us in a more manifest way—something many are now seeking.

I recall many years ago reading one of the “Visions of Annie,” in which she said it seemed to her almost a deceitful thing when God gave His own that Spirit of His Presence they had so long been seeking.  For it provoked a severe reaction from those who hated Him—much suffering, pain, and persecution.

Some of us have been waiting a long time for this—not the trouble, but the Presence.  It is at the door, I believe.  Others bear the same witness.  And we long for this.  Nothing less than this will meet the need of this day.  But at the same time, this Presence is going to bring upon us here in western lands the measure of suffering many of our brothers and sisters in other lands are already enduring for merely being Christian in name.

Jesus told His disciples, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you” (Jn. 15.18).  It’s important to note the context in which Jesus said this.  He was speaking of the coming of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.  In other words, a world that has already demonstrated it hates Jesus Christ is going to hate those in whom the Spirit of Jesus Christ has come to abide.

And so if we are seeking God and greatly longing for a deeper reality of His Spirit in our lives, let’s be sure we understand what the implications are.

And let us start preparing for this.

How?  Peter’s words come to mind.

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind… (1 Pt. 4.1).

This is the key, I believe.  The servant is not greater than his lord, Jesus warned.  “If they have persecuted me they will also persecute you…” (Jn. 15.20).  If Christ suffered in the flesh, so shall we.  Let us arm ourselves with the same mind, then.   If we are armed beforehand with the realization that suffering and persecution is our portion in this day, and not some strange thing that has come upon us, we will not be undone when it comes upon us.

John exhorted, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 Jn. 3.13).  We are inclined to “marvel” when the world hates us, and to think it a strange thing when the trial of fire comes our way.  And we go under because we were not prepared for this.  No, we must go into the day before us with our eyes open, our minds armed, our hearts prepared.  We are greatly longing for a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ that will enable us to have a Testimony that is greater than mere words—something that is able to deal effectively with the forces of darkness in our world, something that brings genuine conviction.  God is going to answer our cry.

Let us be ready for the consequences.

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The Lampstand—The Corporate Testimony Of Jesus Christ (Pt. 4)

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Allan Halton

Last time we talked of individuals who had the testimony of Jesus Christ.  John on Patmos had this testimony.  The messenger who was showing John the things he wrote about in the Revelation had this testimony—so powerful a testimony of Jesus Christ that John was tempted to worship him.  He thought the man was Jesus Himself.

This is a very tremendous thing—individual men coming into the testimony of Jesus Christ.  But as great as it is, it doesn’t hold a candle to what God has in mind.  We admire great saints, but God is not satisfied with just one person here and there coming into this tremendous testimony.  His desire is that this testimony be revealed in something called the church, where all the members—every man and woman and boy and girl—are shining forth this pure testimony together as one Man.

Remember that in the Old Testament it was the tabernacle that was called the “tabernacle of the testimony.”  The tabernacle in the wilderness had a testimony—had something to reveal about God, something to say about God.  But the tabernacle was just a “figure” foreshadowing Christ—the corporate Christ, that is—Christ in union with His bride, His body.  Some very good teachings are available on this, showing how every aspect of the tabernacle speaks of Christ and His church.  The bread on the table of showbread, for example.  This speaks of the body of Christ.  Paul said, “For we, being many, are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Cor. 10.17).

And the lampstand in the tabernacle.  John saw the Son of man walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.  And he said these seven lampstands were “the seven churches” (Rev. 1.20).  A single lampstand, then, represents the local church, which is to have the light and testimony of Jesus Christ shining in it.  (See also Rev. 11.3,4, Zech. Ch. 4.)

To some extent—certainly not in full measure, but to some extent—the church in Corinth had this testimony.  It was a lampstand in which the Testimony of Jesus Christ was shining.  As we read 1 Corinthians we discover the wick in the lamp needed trimming, but nevertheless the Corinthian church was a genuine lampstand shining forth the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Earlier we quoted the passage in which Paul said he had come to the Corinthians with “the testimony of God.”  How did Paul come to them with this testimony?  It was not the Torah Paul came to Corinth with.  It was “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,” that Paul testified of.  And the result of his testimony was that the testimony of Jesus Christ was reproduced in the Corinthian church.

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1.4-9).

This is quite the thing.  The Corinthian church had the “testimony of Christ” confirmed in their midst—a living word expressed corporately, as well as the manifestation of the Spirit, the shining forth of Christ in the gifts of the Spirit—also a corporate expression.  It’s quite something, isn’t it, that this church that is given the reputation for being such a carnal church had a testimony like that.  “The testimony of Christ was confirmed in you…” Paul said.  That is awesome to read!  In other words, people coming into the Corinthian assembly became aware of Christ.

What was the evidence that the testimony of Christ the Anointed One was confirmed (established, made firm) in the Corinthian church?  It was that, as a result of the Spirit of Christ in their midst they were enriched “in all utterance, and in all knowledge.”  They had spiritual knowledge, and not only that, they could give it forth; there was a vital “discourse” taking place in their assembly—the sharing together of the things of Christ with one another.  And they came behind “in no gift.”  Paul brings these more fully into view in Chapter Twelve.  Diverse manifestations of the Spirit were abundant in the Corinthian assembly, and functioning together produced “the testimony of Christ.”  With a word, a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, an interpretation, a prophecy, a revelation, a healing… each one of the Corinthians in differing ways and differing measures participated in the Testimony of Christ.  All were involved in this (1 Cor. 14.26).

There’s a lot of emphasis on the ministry these days.  There are a lot of great pastors around.  Because of the Internet there are a lot of great messages available.  But it’s painful how little of the corporate testimony there is—of this “one loaf, one body,” of this lampstand wherein the Oil of the Holy Spirit is aflame and light shines forth, light shines forth in the lampstand—in a church, I mean, every single member being vitally involved in the shining testimony.  You hear of anointed preaching.  But where is the corporate anointing that enables all in the body of Christ to function vitally?  As it is, the saints are pretty much used to leaving it all up to “the ministry,” and the ministry for the most part are content to leave it that way.  But this kind of church order is short of the glory of God.  We must seek the corporate testimony for Christ’s sake—for the glory of His Name.  It’s only as this corporate testimony comes into being that the communities around us will see the glory of the Lord.

“By one Spirit are ye baptized into one body,” said Paul.  I anticipate, then, that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire—it is my conviction that this is yet ahead for us, though I know we have seen a measure of it in the past—is going to cause great shakings throughout the ten thousand denominations of Christendom.  God is going to bring into being local churches that function as one anointed body in which every member is vital—not just the pastor behind the pulpit.

And these local lampstands are going to be one in the Spirit with all other lampstands.  This thing called denominational Christianity is going to go up in smoke as a result of this powerful baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.

And this baptism is going to cause great shakings in the “come-out-of-her” groups as well.  For, there is as much a sense of oldness about the come-outer groups and home fellowships these days as there is about the denominational system.  (I am encouraged by this; something new is at the door.)  In fact I would say there are many out there in the denominational system who, walking in the light they have, are walking a closer walk with Jesus than some of the “come-outers.”

Come-outers like to remind people that the true meaning of ekklesia is the called out assembly.  And they are the called-out ones, they insist.  But so was the Corinthian church a called-out assembly.  Just how far had they come out?  They were still in many ways carnal, Paul said, and walked as men. Because of it their lamp sent up a dirty, sooty flame.  There were divisions in their midst.  There was immorality.  And though they had been given abundant knowledge, they ended up priding themselves in the knowledge they had.  They thought they knew a lot.  Paul had to humble them on this account.  I think it is something like ten times in his first letter to the Corinthians that Paul—obviously deliberately—provoked them with the words, “Know ye not…?”  “Know ye not…?”  “Know ye not…?”

It isn’t knowledge that is the light that must shine in the lampstand, Paul said.  It is love that is light.

And so the great High Priest through His servant Paul had to trim the wick of this lampstand in order that the Testimony of Christ continue to shine brightly in Corinth.

The lampstand—a church—is a corporate witness.  Yes, each of us is to have a testimony which is the Testimony of Jesus Christ.  But the fullness of the Testimony of Jesus Christ is the corporate testimony.  Jesus prayed in His high-priestly prayer, “I have made known unto them Thy Name, and will make it known, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in THEM, and I in THEM.”  Them, He says.  I in them.  It is a corporate thing.  If Jesus is in you as well as in me, how can there be any discord or division between us?  Or between churches?

I know there has been much emphasis on “the baptism,” and the gifts of the Spirit over the past century or so—more specifically since the 1948 revival at North Battleford, Saskatchewan, from which the Charismatic movement got its beginnings.  They got that name from the charismata—the gifts of the Spirit.  It wasn’t really God’s plan, but it seems He permitted men to take the charismata back into their denominations instead of coming out of the denominations and by one Spirit being baptized into one body.  Of course they realize they must have unity—the Bible calls for unity among Christians.  But they are determined they will have unity their own way—they will have “the baptism” and maintain their denominations in the process.  It is frightening disobedience to the Spirit of Christ.  Deception—great deception—is inevitable.  We are seeing it already.

And so let us be very watchful not to get drawn into it.

But let us be filled with anticipation also.  Yes, deception abounds.  The beautiful realm of the gifts of the Spirit has become contaminated.  The lights that once burned brightly have faded and yellowed.  Charismatic is almost a dirty word these days.  But there is more ahead of us than behind us.  There is yet a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire ahead for us.  I believe we are yet going to see manifestations of the Spirit, manifestations of Christ, that will utterly—and literally—floor us, and cause us to weep… and cry for joy.  People will fall on their faces and worship God.

And I believe we are going to see a wondrous unity come forth as God baptizes us by one Spirit into one body.  We have known so much of division.  We have mourned and wept over it all.  Who of us has not anguished with Christ over the divided condition of the body of Christ?  But His word still stands.  “By one Spirit are ye baptized into one body.”  The fire of this baptism must, then—and will—consume all that is discordant with the Lord Jesus Christ.  A corporate testimony of Jesus Christ is going to come forth.

Beloved, we must be encouraged in this dark hour to know that our Lord Jesus Christ is not finished yet.  He who walketh among the seven golden lampstands will not rest till His pure testimony is shining forth in every place.  And Jesus Christ Himself is seen in the churches!

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The Testimony Of Jesus Christ–A Mistaken Identity (Pt. 3)

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Allan Halton

Last time we talked about the apostle John being in the isle of Patmos for “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  I think John is speaking of the testimony that back on the mainland got him in trouble.  Jesus had said to His disciples:

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me, and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning… (Jn. 15.26,27).

It was the Spirit of Christ in John that enabled him to have the testimony of Jesus Christ.  John by the Holy Spirit was convicting those around him of sin—the same thing Jesus had done when He was here (Jn. 16.9).  Again it wasn’t appreciated.  It got John banished to Patmos.

But I think this “testimony of Jesus Christ” refers also to what Jesus had in mind to speak to John on Patmos.  He had much yet to say to John, and through John to us all—this prophecy we know as The Revelation of Jesus Christ.  This prophecy is what “God gave unto Him (unto Jesus Christ), to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass” (Rev. 1.1).  And so Jesus the Word of God, the faithful and true witness, is testifying of what God has now given Him.  It is a prophecy.

And He sent and signified it by His angel—His messenger—unto His servant John.

I believe this was the same angel that later in the prophecy John was tempted to worship, thinking this one was Jesus Christ Himself.  But the angel would not permit John to worship him.  He was not Jesus Christ, but had “the testimony of Jesus.”

See thou do it not:  I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19.10).

The Greek original has the article there.  “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of the prophecy.”  The same words are used in Rev. 1.3, which the KJV translates this prophecy.

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy…

It should say, “the words of the prophecy.”

We will speak more of this in a minute.

The word angel simply means “messenger,” and it takes discernment to discover whether it’s referring to one of the heavenly angelic order, or simply a man, a messenger sent by God.  Sometimes the distinction isn’t clear.  But in this case we’re told clearly, for the angel himself tells us clearly: he is a man: “thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren…” So we gather he was one of the saints beyond the veil.  (Very quickly here, this gives us a little glimpse that moving beyond the veil of this life does not mean idly sitting on a cloud playing a harp all day.)

John is tempted a second time in this same manner at the close of the book.

And I John saw these things, and heard them.  And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book.  Worship God” (Rev. 22.8,9).

So here was a man—a prophet—that John was ready to bow down to and worship.  And it happened twice.  John obviously was having trouble with this.  Here before him was a man so like Jesus Christ that John actually thought it was Jesus Himself.  And so he fell at his feet to worship him.

But the man forbade him.  His testimony was, “I’m a man just like you, John.  What you are seeing in my life is actually the Testimony of Jesus Christ.  What you’re hearing me speak—I’m only speaking what Jesus Christ is speaking.  What I am showing you–it’s what Jesus Christ is showing me.  It’s Jesus Christ you’re seeing.  It’s Jesus Christ who is prophesying.  It’s the testimony of Jesus that is the Spirit of the prophecy.”

The man called himself a prophet.  The prophecy he was involved in—the prophecy we know as our book of The Revelation—was nothing less than the shining forth of “That Prophet,” the Son of God Himself.  God spake in times past to the fathers through the prophets in various ways—a word here, a word there, a portion here, a portion there (Heb. 1.1).  But in these last days He hath spoken to us in a Son, who is the full, complete message of Himself, the outshining of Himself, the “express image of His Person.”  That is the Testimony of Jesus Christ.  He spoke only what the Father was speaking.  He did only what the Father was doing.  He revealed the Father.  He was so one with the Father that those who saw Him… it was the Father they were seeing.  Yet Jesus was not the Father.  He was the Son of the Father.  He was “the faithful and true Witness,” who by the Holy Spirit bore witness to and shone forth the Father in all He said and did.  That was His testimony.  “The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do…”  That is the Testimony of Jesus Christ.

And that’s what this man had.  “I am of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus…”  We’re inclined to think that it’s blasphemy that an ordinary man should have this kind of testimony—that those seeing him would mistake him for Jesus Christ Himself.  But here is at least one man from the past who had this very testimony.  No doubt there are many others.

I ask the question, then.  Have you or I ever been mistaken for Jesus Christ?  You and I—are we so committed to speaking only what He speaks, and doing only what He does, that we too have the testimony of Jesus Christ?  Have we become so like Him in love, in holiness, in righteousness, in mercy, in patience, in humility… in all His graces… in the power and manifestation of His Spirit and Presence in our lives… there is such Light about us… there is such a shining forth of Jesus Christ Himself in our lives… that people around us are tempted to fall down at our feet and worship us?

Would that we too might have the same opportunity, like that man beyond the veil, to forbid it, and call others to worship God alone!

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The Testimony Of Jesus Christ (Pt. 2)

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Allan Halton

Last time we talked of the Testimony in the days of the Old Covenant.  God’s testimony in the Old Covenant was the Law.

For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel… (Ps. 78.5).

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples (Isa. 8.16).

Under the Old Covenant the law and the testimony were equated, were one—and God bore witness to this with His Presence over the tabernacle.

Now let’s look at certain New Testament scriptures that talk of the Testimony.

Paul, writing to the Corinthians:

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2.1,2).

What an astonishing thing to say.  This man, a Jew steeped in the law and the prophets, comes to Gentiles with “the testimony of God.”  Which is?  The Old Covenant Law, the Torah?  No.  Not any longer.  Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  The New Covenant testimony of God is all bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The scribes and Pharisees, Jesus told His disciples, sat “in Moses’ seat” (Mt. 23.2).  They felt confident they were the custodians of the testimony—the word of God, the Torah, the Scriptures.  And yes, it’s true: to them God had committed the oracles of God.  But when the True Oracle came into their midst—the living Word of God, this Man born of the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, and thereby witnessing faithfully of His Father, doing only what He saw His Father doing, speaking only what He heard His Father speaking—this One became the faithful and true Witness—the testimony of God.

He was crucified for that testimony.

In The Revelation we find in a number of places the phrase, “the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  And we find it coupled with “the word of God.”

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw (Rev. 1.1,2).

I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1.9).

John is not talking of two different things for which he was banished to Patmos—expounding the word of God, and then going out and testifying, witnessing, about Jesus Christ.  What he is saying is that the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ are one and the same thing.  Someone may say they have the word of God, pointing to the Bible.  And indeed, Jesus the Son of God said the Scriptures were those that testified of Him (Jn. 5.39).  But it is He Himself who is the Word of God.  Merely having the words of Scripture or of doctrine is not the kind of testimony that got John in trouble.  Just as Jesus Christ the Word of God was crucified for the testimony He bore, it was “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” that landed John in Patmos.

Now we come to the thing that is of the utmost importance.  How was it possible for John to say he had the testimony of Jesus Christ?  Jesus was in Heaven when John wrote about being in Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.  If Jesus was in Heaven, how could He give His testimony here on earth?  And how could John have this testimony?  It was because John had the Witness in himself.

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness (the Testimony) in himself (1 Jn. 5.10).

The Witness?  What is this speaking of?

And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 Jn. 5.6).

This, really, is the greatest of wonders.  What can be more wonderful than to have Jesus Christ the Son of God Himself in us?  John had this!  He had the Spirit of Christ—the Witness—in Himself.  He had been born again, and had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire.  The Spirit of God, the Spirit of the living Word, dwelt in him.  No doubt John knew much of the letter of the word by memory—the Old Testament scriptures.  But beyond that, the living word of God was dwelling in John, abiding in him, as he taught in one of his letters.  “…The word of God abideth in you…” (1 Jn. 2.14).  He is speaking of the Testimony—the Witness—the Spirit of Jesus Christ the word of God.

It is the Spirit of God who has the Testimony of Jesus Christ the Word of God.  The Spirit of God here in the earth is the faithful witness of Jesus Christ the Word of God at the right hand of God in the heavens.  John had this Spirit—this Testimony.  And so John’s own testimony, because of the Spirit of Christ that dwelt in Him, was nothing less than the Testimony of Jesus Christ.

What about you and me, then?  Do we have the Spirit of Christ?  We are to bear that same Testimony, then, that same expression of the word of God that manifests the living Christ in and through our lives.

What was the testimony of Jesus Christ the Son of God when He was here?  He did what He saw the Father doing.  He spoke what He heard Him speaking.  He revealed the Father.  He was the faithful and true Witness.  He bore witness of the Father.  He said:

He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (Jn. 14.9).

That was His testimony.  And correspondingly, He said:

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me, and ye also shall bear witness… (Jn. 15.26,27).

What a wonder.  The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, testifies of Jesus Christ.  And because of the Holy Spirit we too are to bear this same precious testimony—which is nothing less than the shining forth of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself—as we too are faithful to do only what the Holy Spirit is doing, and speak only what He is speaking.

…So that—I tremble at this word—you and I by the empowering grace of God are ultimately able to say, “He that has seen me has seen Jesus Christ.”

Do you see why I am held in thrall by this phrase—the testimony of Jesus Christ?

Beloved, this ought to provoke us to a deeper seeking.  This is our greatest need—the testimony of Jesus Christ.  Because oh, how men need to see Him!  Many of us claim to have the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  No doubt we do—in measure.  But to what extent do we have this beautiful pure testimony of Jesus Christ among men?  Can we say yet that, “He that has seen me has seen Jesus?”  You say that’s blasphemy?  But that is the whole purpose of the Holy Spirit.  It’s only blasphemy if the Holy Spirit is not capable of fully and faithfully bearing witness to the Son of God.  Let me ask.  Does the Holy Spirit bear a pure and full and faithful witness to Christ?  It’s blasphemy to say He cannot.

But if the Holy Spirit bears this faithful testimony, so too shall those who are baptized—immersed—in the Holy Spirit.  We who have the Spirit of Christ—He is given to enable us to have the Testimony of Jesus Christ, to shine forth the Testimony of Jesus Christ—nothing less.

Why, then, do we so readily settle for less? Oh, how men need to see Him!

Remember, though.  The Greek word for testimony is marturion—from which we get our English martyr.

There is a price tag on this Testimony.  Jesus was crucified for this Testimony.  John was in exile in Patmos for this Testimony.  We who have this Testimony will also pay that price—even here in our so-called free Christian nations.

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The Testimony Of Jesus Christ (Part 1)

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Allan Halton

I have been held in thrall for a long time by the phrase, “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (You know the meaning of enthral. It means “to hold in or reduce to slavery, to hold spellbound.” A thrall is a servant slave, a bondman.)

And so—the testimony of Jesus Christ. It’s an absolutely captivating phrase. To live a life of liberty outside the thraldom of this Testimony is a life that has been sadly wasted.

The phrase, or a similar one, appears in the New Testament a number of times. But first we need to find out what “the testimony” was in Old Covenant days.

Stephen while giving the testimony for which he was stoned—it was the testimony of Jesus Christ—said this:

Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen (Acts 7.44).

“The tabernacle of witness.” My interlinear shows the article in the Greek: “the tabernacle of the testimony.”

The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, as commanded He who spoke to Moses, to make it according to the model which he had seen.

And so the tabernacle in the wilderness was called “the tabernacle of the testimony.” Why so? We find our answer in Exodus.

And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel (Ex. 25.22).

The tabernacle was called the tabernacle of the testimony because in it was “the testimony” that God commanded was to be placed in the ark—the ten commandments.  This “testimony” was placed in the ark, and therefore the ark itself was called “the ark of the testimony.” And because the ark of the testimony was in the Holy of holies of the tabernacle, the tabernacle itself was called “the tabernacle of the testimony.”

And so the “ten words” in the ark covered by the mercy seat—this was the testimony of God. They summed up the whole of the Torah, the Law. This was God’s testimony revealing who He was, what He was like, the kind of God He was. If Israel would keep this Law, this would be God’s testimony among men. By keeping His commandments, by keeping this Law, they would “bear witness” to God, to the kind of God He was. In this way men would come to see the kind of God He was.  “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me… Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy… Thou shalt not kill… Thou shalt not commit adultery…” and so on. Keeping these commandments—not just reciting them—would result in a true portrayal of God among men, a true testimony of God.

The tragic thing is that Israel never did come to realize that this “testimony” in the ark was actually a testimony against them, as Moses later told them. For they never could keep this testimony, as much as they gloried in having it.

Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee (Dt. 31.26).

That was the Old Covenant testimony—a testimony that forever left Israel a guilty people with no means to relieve that guilt but by the blood of bulls and goats. How dismal if God had left things there. But He didn’t. When we come into the New Covenant we see the testimony of God linked up with a wonderful Name—our Lord Jesus Christ.

More next time. And you will see why I am enthralled.

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