The amazing thing about the Lord is that, in one sense, He knows no age. As we know from reading the Bible, the Lord gives a burden to young people as well as to old. He lays hold of people late in their lives sometimes, and sometimes at a very young age.
He grabbed hold of David and made his whole life about Him. So, even though David was a king, a great warrior, a handsome man, and eventually very rich, that was not the center or focus of his life. His focus was, “I want everything the Lord wants. The Lord wants a house; we need to get Him a house. The Lord wants His throne. The Lord wants a city.” There is a really good young person.
Well, now we want to turn to the book of Revelation and read a few verses in Chapter 1, because we want to talk about this matter of the testimony of Jesus. You remember last time we talked about the passing of the torch of the testimony.
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,
who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.— Revelation 1:1–2
Could we just stop right there and define the apostle John? Because we will be talking about him tonight. Notice what it says: “His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”
Then again, in Revelation 1:9:
I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
— Revelation 1:9
Now, I just want you to see that in both of these passages, John bore the testimony of Jesus. Because of that, he was being exiled and persecuted. When people bear the testimony of Jesus, often they are persecuted—not just by the world, believe it or not, but many times by religious people.
Now, let us go back to yesterday, because we talked about this passing of the torch. If this passing of the torch of the testimony were left up to man, we would be in serious trouble. But there is a sovereign God.
This sovereign God loves His Son Jesus so much that He says, “I will always have on planet Earth some who hold this torch of the testimony and proclaim Jesus for who He is.” God has not allowed the torch to fall to the ground through all the centuries of history.
Sometimes the church was in the Dark Ages, and there were not many people who understood or bore the testimony of Jesus, but there were always some. It is because our God is a sovereign God.
We said there are three components in this passing of the torch that you will notice every time it is truly passed:
We looked at Timothy yesterday. Timothy was being prepared by God throughout his life, even when he was a child being raised by his mother and grandmother. God was preparing him for the day when he would take the torch from Paul’s hand, carry it, and pass it on to others.
The second component is that God always has one who has been faithful to carry the torch and give it to the person who is being prepared. You have this second vessel who has been pressing on with the torch, and he passes it to the person whom God has prepared.
The third component is that there is a divine and sovereign moment when the torch gets passed. Paul told Timothy, “Timothy, my life is just about over. I have run my race. Strengthen yourself in the grace of Christ Jesus, take this torch, and pass it on.”
Those were just about the last words we heard from the apostle Paul, who soon went to glory. When Paul went to glory, that was a sovereign act. From that moment on, Timothy and others who held the testimony of Jesus—the churches and the workers—carried the torch.
Paul passed away, but before he did, he passed on the torch. Timothy then ran with the torch, as we saw in 2 Timothy.
Today we are going to look at somebody who passed the torch. Tomorrow we will look at somebody who took the torch. As we speak about someone who passed the torch of the testimony, we are speaking about the apostle John.
Our brother Stephen spoke about this on the first morning, concerning John and the fact that he bore the testimony of Jesus. I just want to make it simple so that we can understand this fact: John bore the testimony of Jesus.
It got him into trouble, but throughout his life he was faithful. God honored him, blessed him, used him, and showed him many wonderful things.
Do not think that if you are faithful to the Lord and do what you are commissioned to do, your life will be only hardship, struggle, and persecution. Do you know what happens to somebody who obeys and serves the Lord? You are blessed more than anybody else in the world.
It is not necessarily with all the world’s things, like money and stuff like that. Here is what you are blessed by: you get to walk with Him, and you talk with Him, and He tells me I am His own.
There are a lot of Christians who do not really walk with Jesus. If you truly love the Lord, you will find this to be the most wonderful privilege of your life as you serve Him.
What does it mean that John bore the testimony of Jesus? Before we consider that, we have to understand in a very simple way that Jesus came to this earth to bear testimony.
Let us look at John 1:14 and John 1:18.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
— John 1:14, 18
Jesus came to this earth to bear testimony. He is the only Person in all history who could do this. Jesus bore a double testimony while He was on this earth.
First of all, Jesus Himself, while He walked on earth, bore testimony of God. In other words, when you looked at Jesus, you saw what God was like. In Jesus’ life, you could look at Him and understand God.
John says, “We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Gospel of John declares this about Jesus: “When I looked at Jesus,” John said, “I saw God’s grace.”
The Jews loved God and worshiped God, but they were afraid of God. When Jesus came with His disciples and they asked Him how to pray, what He said was a revelation. He said, “When you pray, say this: Abba.” They said, “What? God is our Father?”
Jesus, through His years of walking on earth, showed that God was our Father. “I bear testimony of My Father. I want you to know My Father. I want you to know what He is really like.”
Forget everything other religions say He is. Forget when they say He is mean. Forget when they say He is harsh. Forget when they say He is way up there and you cannot find Him. Forget when they say He is a sheep, a tree, or a crystal. Forget all that stuff. Look at Jesus, and you will see God.
Everywhere Jesus went, He healed people and showed grace. Everywhere Jesus went, people saw the truth, because He was full of grace and truth. They saw God.
Jesus said to His disciples just before He went to the cross, “Have I been with you so long, and you have not seen the Father? Do you not know that the Father is in Me?”
When Jesus walked on earth, we received the first clear idea, without distortion, of what God is really like. Do you want to know what God is like? Then look at Jesus. Study Him. Look at Him in the Bible, because you will see not just Jesus, but God. It is a wonderful revelation of who God is.
But Jesus bore a double testimony. He not only bore testimony of God; He also bore testimony of man. Jesus was not only God, but Jesus was man. Wherever He walked, you could see the way a man was created to be.
Indeed, He was the last Adam. He was the way man was meant to be: as wise as man was supposed to be, as gracious as man was supposed to be, as truthful as man was supposed to be, and as loving as man was supposed to be.
When Jesus came among sinners, those sinners immediately realized, “I should not be living this way—lying, living in darkness, knowing only sickness and death. That is not the way I should be.”
Everywhere Jesus walked, you understood what a man was like. He bore testimony: “This is man. Look at the noble man. Look at the calling of man. Look at the authority of man. Look at the love of man. This is a man.”
Here was a man who walked on earth, yet His highest desire was to fulfill the purpose of God in His life. Here was a man who walked on earth, but whose destiny was to become a Son—a glorified Son. What a high calling.
Here was a man who walked upon the earth, yet He did not walk by His own strength. He was a vessel in whom God could dwell. God did His works through Him, spoke through Him, and loved through Him. Jesus was a vessel holding the life of God.
What was man created to be? When Adam was created in the garden, he was meant to take from the tree of life—to eat the Lord Jesus, as it were—and to grow by the life of God. Man is meant to be a dwelling place of God.
When Jesus walked upon the earth, you could see man and you could see God.
Now we come to how John bore the testimony of Jesus. John was one of the Lord’s apostles, the disciple whom Jesus loved. John lived a long time. Most of the other apostles died or were martyred early on, or at various points in history. But at the end of the first century, John was still alive.
John bore testimony of Jesus, as it says in the book of Revelation. What does that mean? The first thing it means is this: John bore the truthful testimony about Jesus. He did that primarily in the Gospel of John.
Let us look at John 21:24–25:
This is the disciple who testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written.
— John 21:24–25
John bore testimony about who Jesus is and what He did. That is why we have the Gospel of John.
If you are a student and want to study the Word of God, go back and read the Gospel of John. Underline every time you see the words testimony, testify, or witness. They are all similar in Greek—almost the same word. You will find them about forty-five times.
The Gospel of John is a testimony about who Jesus is. The first meaning of the testimony of Jesus is a truthful testimony about Jesus.
What is the difference between sharing the gospel of Jesus and bearing the testimony of Jesus? This is a thinking question.
As witnesses, we are to bear testimony about Jesus as we share the gospel. We share the facts of Jesus—His love, His coming, His death on the cross, and His resurrection. Matthew, Mark, and Luke show Jesus walking, doing miracles, teaching, dying on the cross, and rising again. This is testimony about Jesus as gospel.
But John bears the testimony of Jesus in a deeper way. Why? Because his testimony comes out of seeing a revelation of who Jesus really was. It is more than facts.
In the Gospel of John, we not only see the miracles Jesus did; behind almost every miracle John shows us a revelation. Behind the feeding of the multitude is this revelation: “I am the bread come down from heaven.”
Some people saw the miracle and said, “Isn’t this wonderful? Jesus made us a lot of bread. Jesus, will You please make us whole wheat?” That is the way most people are.
But John beheld Jesus until he said, “Ah, I see. He is the I AM.” The Gospel of John records seven great “I AM” declarations:
The Gospel is still about Jesus and His saving life, but there is something more. John says, “I saw who Jesus really was. He is the I AM,” which, of course, means that He is God come down in the flesh.
Why did John see that? Because he laid hold of the gospel facts, his life with Jesus, and he thought about it, prayed about it, and God revealed these things. Jesus said, “I am the bread,” but we do not find that in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. There is nothing wrong with those Gospels, but John is bearing testimony because he has seen something.
Have you ever seen something about Jesus? I know that for most of you He is your Savior, and I think most of you know that Jesus loves you. But have you ever read the Bible and, one day while reading, something came alive to you about Jesus?
You saw that He was your Father, your Friend, or the great I AM. This is what John shared as his testimony regarding Jesus.
If you and I are going to bear the testimony of Jesus, we need to testify about who Jesus is, what He did, and especially what He means to us by revelation.
You can share the gospel with a friend and say, “You are a sinner, but Jesus died for you, and He rose again.” Someone may hear the gospel words, but they are just words. What if you say, “This Jesus—I took Him into my life. I asked Him to be my Savior. Do you know what He did for me?” Then you share personal testimony of the way Jesus has revealed Himself in your life.
Now the person listens, because it is not just words about Jesus. It is words about Jesus that you have personally experienced. Now you are bearing the testimony about Jesus in a living way.
When we say that we want to be vessels who bear the testimony, it means that we need to know who Jesus is and what He did. We need to be able to tell other people about Him—especially what He has done in us and for us.
But there is more. When it says John bore the testimony of Jesus, it means more than that he wrote the Gospel and revealed who Jesus was and what He did. There is a second stage, which we find in the epistles.
The first testimony is about Jesus. The second aspect of bearing the testimony is this: John bore the testimony of the life of Jesus in him. That is to say, the life of Jesus abode in John.
It is one thing to talk about Jesus and say, “Yes, He is the Savior of the world.” It is another thing when people can see Jesus in you, because Jesus is there.
First John is only five chapters long, but the word abide is used fifteen times. In John 15, Jesus spoke to John and the other disciples, saying, “I am the true vine. My Father is the husbandman. Abide in Me, and let Me abide in you.”
In 1 John, John begins to speak about our Christian life and says that our Christian life needs to be abiding in Jesus, with His life living out in us.
He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.
— 1 John 2:6
If we are going to bear the testimony of Jesus, we need to walk as Jesus walked. We can only do that by walking by the life of Jesus within us.
It is not enough just to talk about Jesus and live a life like the world. If we talk about Jesus and who He is, we should also be walking the walk of Jesus in our lives. I know that is quite a challenge, but the fact of the matter is, you can do it. How? Because Jesus lives in you.
Did you ever know that? I know you know it as a Bible fact, but did you ever realize that Jesus lives in you?
He is a wonderful Savior, but He is also a wonderful Liver. You have two livers: the liver back here, and the Jesus who lives in you. Now, do you let Him live in you?
I have written unto you, fathers, because ye know Him Who is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one.
— 1 John 2:14
How many young men do we have here? There you go—immediately they raised a hand. Most of them are over the hill, but they are raising their hands.
There is something abiding in the young person’s life that makes them able to overcome the enemy.
As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.
— 1 John 2:24
This Word is living, and it abides in you. It has an anointing, and it teaches you the truth from that which is false. There is a life inside you.
Do you bear testimony to that? It is not like you go around saying, “Hi, look at me. Jesus lives in me. I am the greatest in the world because Jesus lives in me.” No, no, no.
But if, as a Christian, you live a loving life, care for people, share the gospel, pray for those who need help, and are not afraid to testify of Jesus, people see something different in you. You do not have to announce it. It is because Jesus abides in you.
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.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.
— 1 John 5:9–10
The testimony is not just outward—what you say about Jesus. The testimony is something in you.
And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.
— 1 John 5:11–12
What is the difference between you and the rest of the world? You may have friends who are smarter than you, handsomer than you, or prettier than you. But there is a great difference: you have Jesus in you, and that is life. They do not have that life.
He who has the Son has the life. Something is bubbling. Is there something bubbling in you? Maybe it was that hot dog at lunch, huh? No, no, no. I am not talking about bubbling in your stomach.
Is there something bubbling in you? Can people look at you and say, “Something is alive there. They have hope. They have joy. They have peace. They have love. There is something bubbling in there”? It is Jesus’ life, and you have that life.
The testimony is in every believer. Oh, how wonderful it is when this testimony becomes manifest. What does that mean? It means that the testimony is not just hiding in you. When other people can see it, then it is manifest.
Is the testimony of Jesus that abides in you manifest in you? May you ask the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit and allow His life to control, lead, and fill your life.
I know it sounds very hard, but while we are walking on this earth, brothers and sisters, I give you the calling of your life. Here is your calling—no kidding around:
This is a very high calling, but that is exactly why we are here on this earth. We are to be Jesus here on this earth.
The testimony is when you testify about Him. The testimony is when there is a manifest testimony within. The first part is about; the second part is within.
Now we come to the third part. It is not just about Jesus, and it is not just Jesus within. The testimony of Jesus is when Jesus is among His church—His people.
We now see how important the testimony of Jesus is in the church. It is true that John bore the testimony of Jesus in his personal life, but John and the other faithful brothers held the testimony of Jesus together. It is something you have to hold together: Jesus is among us.
Just as Jesus needs to abide in your life so that people see Jesus in you, when the church gathers for worship, ministry, or whatever it is, people should be able to see Jesus in the church—upon the church.
The church is not in the right position unless Jesus is abiding among the church, unless Jesus is upon the church.
The best illustration I know is from the Old Testament. The tabernacle was just a tent. But because it was God’s tabernacle and the ark was inside it, the tabernacle had something special about it.
What made the tabernacle special? It had a cloud over it by day and a light over it by night. The glory of God was over the tabernacle. That is what made it special.
When the children of Israel walked through the wilderness, Balaam looked out at them and saw the glory of God with them. The surrounding nations were afraid to attack. Why? Not because the Israelites were the biggest tribe. They were afraid because they could see that light—that fire burning at night—and that cloud following and leading them during the day.
This is what made the people of God special.
When the people of God sinned, God said to Moses on the mountain, “You take the children of Israel into the promised land. I am not going with you, but I will send My angel.”
Do you know what Moses said? “No, no, no, no. Unless Your presence goes with us, I do not want to go.” Why? Because it is the Lord’s presence that makes us special.
Dear brothers and sisters, I know this may sound a little difficult to understand, but I want to present an ideal to you. What would it be like if, whenever you gathered together, not only were you gathered there, but you could sense the presence of Jesus gathered there?
What if, whenever you worshiped, you not only had a wonderful time of worship, but as you were lost in worship, you could hear the Son—the glorified Son—joining in the assembly of worship?
What if His presence was very precious? What if you said, “I cannot wait to go to the meeting this Sunday, because I know that Jesus is upon us, Jesus is among us, and Jesus is over us”? He is the glory of the church.
The church is wonderful when His glory is there. The church is in trouble when His glory is not there.
That is what John came to do at the end of his life. Here was a very elderly brother on the island of Patmos. He had served the church, ministered to the church, and spoken the truth of the testimony of Jesus to the church. Now he was out there on the isle of Patmos.
What was he going to do? How would he pass the torch? Maybe he would never see his brothers and sisters again in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and the other churches. What if he died out there on the island? How could the testimony ever go forward?
John was thinking about this. After a whole life of service, now over ninety years old, he had given so much. He looked around Asia Minor and could see the churches, but he was looking for the glory over the church. In some of the churches, it was missing.
They were meeting, but it was like a tabernacle without the fire. Something was missing. The Lord was not among them. The testimony needed to be recovered. The full testimony of who Jesus is needed to be there so that Jesus could be there—testifying, protecting, and leading His people.
Then, in His sovereign moment, God showed John how the torch would be passed on. Let us turn again to Revelation 1.
John was praying, holding the churches before the Lord, and interceding for them. He was burdened, seeking the Lord, and worshiping. On the Lord’s Day, when he was in the Spirit, it was as if the heavens opened up. Indeed, they did.
God sovereignly showed John and explained to him how the testimony would be passed on. First, he saw glorious Jesus—a glorious vision of Jesus: the Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, standing in the midst of the churches.
Who is the best Person we can get to recover the testimony of Jesus to the church? The apostle John? He was mighty good. The apostle Paul? Let us bring him back from the grave. Maybe he can help the church out. No, no, no.
Even John did the best he could with all his heart. But he saw a revelation: Jesus will recover His testimony. He is standing in the midst of the churches, working right now. Even if you cannot see it, He is there and He is working.
If Jesus is there, it is a promise that the testimony will be recovered. Nobody can minister like Jesus.
The second thing John saw was what Jesus was doing. He was ministering to the seven churches. What did the church look like? It was gold—a golden lampstand.
You may think the church looks like something made out of pipe cleaners, some old twisted-up thing, some kind of erector-set construction, or a Lego-block city all messed up. No. Do you know what the church looks like? It looks like gold.
Jesus is building a church of gold, and He will have His church of gold because He is building it. He promised, “I will build My church.”
What church do you look at most often? It is where you go to meetings. Maybe you go to Seattle Christian Assembly. Maybe you go to San Francisco House of God. What do you see? A bunch of Legos.
But remember this: what Jesus sees is gold. He is building gold into His people. Only He can do this.
He is perfecting the church, the bride, making her ready. Jesus alone is able to do this. He is trimming the lamps so that they can burn brightly. He is standing in the midst of the lampstands.
You would think Jesus would go far away from His church and say, “Wow, what a lousy Lego. I am just going to go start something else.” But no. In every city, Jesus has a golden lampstand, and He is examining it.
He is not going to let us get away with wood, hay, and stubble. We are supposed to be a golden church. You and I—what do you think you are? Wood, hay, and stubble? Wrong. You are gold.
Jesus will refine you and mold you. The lampstand for the tabernacle was made from one large ingot of gold. A craftsman took a hammer and began striking it: bup, bup, bup, bup, bup. Then, two weeks later, he had flattened it out. More bup, bup, bup, until fingers and branches began to appear.
The craftsman hammered the whole thing out until that golden lampstand was made perfect from one piece of gold. That is what Jesus is doing in your life right now. He is taking out the wood, the hay, and the stubble, and He is replacing them with gold.
What a wonderful thing the Lord is doing.
John also saw that Jesus had seven angels in His hand—the seven messengers for the churches. This means that Jesus would pass on the torch of the testimony to other men who could preach and recover the testimony of Jesus for the church, even if John died on the isle of Patmos.
Jesus has in His hands those servants of God who will preach and recover the testimony of Jesus for the church. There was one angel for each of the seven churches in Revelation.
Our Lord Jesus is perfecting His church right now. He wants permission from you to allow Him to work in your life and mine. He does not only want to work individually—you over there and me over here—but when we get together, He works on us. He forges out this lampstand that He is producing right now.
So many of you young people are gold in a lot of ways because you love the Lord. Some of you are so crazy for the Lord that you are even taking notes. I think this is beautiful. It is a good start.
If you keep allowing the Lord to work in your life, He will refine you as gold and make you a real testimony that shines. Then, when the church gets together, you will see Jesus among us and Jesus upon us, like the fire and like the cloud.
So there is John, an old man. How is he going to pass on the torch of the testimony? Let us go back to the beginning of Revelation:
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto His bond-servants the things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His bond-servant John;
who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw.Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
— Revelation 1:1–3
Here is what God gave to John: “John, I want you to pass on the testimony. Here is how I want you to do it: write down whatever I reveal to you and pass it on to your fellow bond-servants. They will take that message, and God will recover His church through that message.”
It is very unique. Only John could do this. John passed on to us the ultimate torch, because it still burns to this day.
When you open the book of Revelation, you see seven marvelous visions of the glorified Jesus. You realize something right away: He is on the throne. He is in control. He will have His bride. Hallelujah. That is what the book of Revelation is all about.
Down through the centuries, John did not just pass this torch to Titus, Timothy, Clement, or somebody in his own day. He passed the torch to all of us who love the Lord.
As we see this vision that John saw, it becomes part of the work God uses to recover our lives.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Lord wants you to bear the testimony of Jesus. That means to bear the testimony about Jesus, to bear the testimony of Jesus within you, and to bear the testimony of Jesus among you.
May the Lord help us. Even when you get together as a young people’s group, it can be a most unusual group if you allow the Lord Jesus to lead you. When you get together for fellowship, or whatever it is you feel led to do, let the Lord Jesus lead you, and you will see something wonderful: the Lord Jesus among His people.
How the Lord loves to dwell among His people—not only inside me and inside you, but among us together.
When two or three gather, He loves to come into the midst and be there with us, helping us, enlightening us, and leading us. This is the testimony of Jesus.
I hope that was not too complicated, but I want us to understand because our brothers are speaking about this matter, especially in relation to the church.
It is sometimes hard to know the spiritual condition of a church. Sometimes, when a church is going through hard times, the testimony of the Lord is really there. Sometimes, when a church is going through what we call good times, there is no testimony. Only the Lord knows.
That is why we have to entrust this whole work to the Lord Jesus Himself. But may the Lord recover His testimony wherever you meet. Wherever you gather with other Christians, the Lord wants to be among you. The Lord wants to reveal Himself. This is the testimony of Jesus. Amen.
Lord, I am so thankful for the life of the apostle John. He loved You all his life. He served You as faithfully as he could, and by the grace of God, You gave him this wonderful privilege of being able to pass on the torch of the testimony through the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Lord, would You give us a new respect for this torch that has been lit, that we might see revealed before us the glory of Jesus? As a result of Your dealing with us, may we repent, and may Your presence be among us.
Thank You for all Your dear children who are here today, those who love You like David. Lord, I pray that You would make their lives a testimony of Jesus, inside and out, for Your coming soon.
Oh, that we could be lights in this world. We pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.