Will you please turn to Isaiah 43:10, the first sentence?
Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord.
And will you please turn to Revelation 1:9?
I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
And again in the same chapter, Revelation 1:17-18:
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead.
And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last,
and the Living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together this morning. We know Thy presence is here, for Thou hast promised us, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Thank You, Lord. We are in Your presence.
Lord, what hast Thou to say to us this morning? We are hearing. We open our hearts to Thee, and may Thy Spirit send Thy living Word into our hearts.
Lord, we want Thee to be highly exalted in our midst. We commit this time into Your hands. May we be conscious only of Thy presence and nothing else. Speak, Lord; Thy servants hear. In Thy name, amen.
Thank the Lord for gathering us again this morning.
Does God need testimony? He is God. He is the beginning and the end. He is His own testimony. But why is it that we find in the Word of God that He says, “You are My witnesses. You are My testimony”?
To answer this question, we have to go back to the very beginning.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That is how the Bible begins. God is the beginning. And then, in the beginning, He created the heavens and the earth. So this is not the beginning of God; this is the beginning of the heavens and the earth.
We all know that when God begins, He never leaves anything half done or undone. So we are assured that when, in the beginning of creation, He began the heavens and the earth, He must have completed it.
In other words, it is not that He begins to do something and then waits a long time for it to be finished. We believe that when the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” the heavens and the earth were finished. It was a finished product, because nothing out of God’s hand is left unfinished.
He is the Creator. When He created the heavens and the earth, in the beginning, the highest of His creation was not man; it was angels. God had not yet created man.
The Bible tells us that when He began to lay the foundation of the earth, the angels shouted for joy. We do not know how long ago this was, but we do know that in the beginning everything was fine and good as God had created it.
Among God’s creation, the highest were angels. And among the angels, God created one archangel, Lucifer, the angel of light.
As we find in the Book, he was created almost perfect. I will not say perfect, but almost perfect, because he was adorned with all the talents and beauty.
How do we know? Because we find in Ezekiel 28, when God was speaking of the king of Tyre, He began to say something for which the king of Tyre did not qualify. In other words, He used the king of Tyre as a background, and then He began to describe the archangel that He created.
So in Ezekiel 28, we find a very detailed description of this archangel. He was full of beauty, full of talent, and he was to be the anointed cherub over the throne of God. In other words, he was supposed to lead the angels in serving God and in worshipping God.
In the beginning everything was right. But gradually, because of his beauty, his talent, his position, and his power, he began to be proud of himself. He wanted to be something higher than what God had created him to be.
We find, both in Isaiah 14:12-15 and also Ezekiel 28:11-19, that one day this archangel was dissatisfied with what God had created him for. He began to look into himself. He began to think of himself. He wanted to be someone more than what he was created for.
As we find in Isaiah 14, five times he said, “I will.” In other words, he wanted to be equal with God. He wanted to take the place of the Son of God, instead of the Son of God Himself.
And because of his ambition, you find that his ways began to be corrupted, to the extent that God had to drive him out from the third heaven, from the throne of God.
And that marks the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis. In other words, Genesis 1:1 was the former heaven and earth, created complete. But in Genesis 1:2, the earth was waste and void, and it was surrounded by water.
In other words, once upon a time, before our time, because of the rebellion of the archangel, the earth suffered a great judgment. Evidently the earth was under the rule of that archangel. So in the fall of that archangel, the earth went into ruin, and it was covered with water.
So far as we are concerned, this is prehistoric. We do not know how long that continued on. We only know that once upon a time there was an ice age. This, actually, was the judgment of God over the created angel.
Now, for God to destroy this angel would be an easy thing. He may say a word, and he is done. But this does not give God glory. It is as if a big man were beating a little child. There is no glory in it.
So God, in His wisdom and strength, wanted to have someone a little lower than the angels. And through that one, a little lower than the angels, He would defeat the angel, the archangel, Satan. And that would be His glory.
So this is where man comes in.
The six days in Genesis 1 are actually the restoration of the earth to be habitable. It is not the first creation of the earth. Why did God restore the earth to be habitable? Because He was thinking of creating man.
The Bible tells us man was created a little lower than the angels. The angels are spirits, but man has a body, a soul, and a spirit.
So, brothers and sisters, the reason why God created man is not because of man himself. Man was created for the purpose of God. God wanted man, a little lower than the angels, to defeat Satan, the archangel, and that would bring glory to God.
So this is why man was created. Man was created not for himself. Man was created for the purpose of God: in defeating His enemy and in glorifying God. And that is the real purpose of man.
So we find that after God created man according to His image, according to His likeness—the image speaks of the inward quality, and the likeness speaks of His outward form—man was wonderfully created.
And God put man in the garden of Eden. He gave man a command. Everything in the garden, all the wonderful fruit trees, he could freely eat.
In the midst of the garden there was the tree of life, and by its side, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said, “You shall not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.”
God did not say that man could not eat of the tree of life. In other words, God was trying to show man that he should eat the fruit of the tree of life. And if he did that, he would have the life of God in him, and he would be able to fulfil God’s purpose for him.
Otherwise, if he should eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, surely he would have that knowledge of good and evil, which is the highest knowledge; and yet he would be a sinner. He would be under the enemy of God instead of defeating God’s enemy.
So that is what we find in the Scripture. God Himself needs no testimony. But for the sake of the glory of God, He wants man to be the vessel, the instrument, of His testimony. To whom? To His enemy.
So, brothers and sisters, this is where the testimony comes in.
In the beginning of human history, after the fall of man, God did not give up His purpose. Instead, He sent His only begotten Son into this wretched world to be our Saviour.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus came into this world to save us and to lead us back to the very purpose of God.
You know, in Old Testament times, God gave His testimony to Abraham. Because even at that time the whole world rebelled against God, God chose Abraham. And through Abraham came the nation of Israel.
And to Israel, God committed His testimony. In other words, at that time the whole world rebelled against God, but there was a nation that bore the testimony of God: that only God is God.
But unfortunately, the nation of Israel failed in this testimony.
So when we came to New Testament times, God raised up the church. And to the church, He committed the testimony of Jesus.
So, brothers and sisters, what is the testimony of Jesus? What are we supposed to bear witness to—not just by word, but by life? What is God’s commitment to us who believe in the Lord Jesus?
You find how the enemy hated the church, because the church was to carry the testimony of Jesus, and that would be his downfall.
So even in the first century, you find how John, the last remaining one of the original twelve apostles, in his old age was exiled to the island of Patmos. And he told us that he was exiled for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.
Actually, he was at that time the only remaining one of the original twelve apostles. He was serving God in Asia—not Asia as a continent, but Asia as a Roman province, Asia Minor.
And because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus, he was exiled by Domitian to Patmos, a small island in the Aegean Sea, to work among the mines.
Then, as you turn to Revelation, you find that on the Lord’s Day, somehow he got some time off. He must have been sitting on a rock, looking across the Aegean Sea to the continent there, because on a clear day you can faintly see the coast of Asia Minor from Patmos.
John must have been thinking about the churches that he served before he was exiled. While he was doing that, he heard a voice behind him. So he looked back, and he saw a vision.
It was the vision of seven golden lampstands. In the midst of them stood One like unto a son of man.
Now, we all know that of all the apostles, John was the closest to the Lord. He lay upon the breast of the Lord. He knew the Lord more than anybody else.
But there on the island of Patmos, he was given a vision of the risen Lord that he had never known before.
Brothers and sisters, we all know that our Lord Jesus has risen to heaven, and He is now seated at the right hand of God, waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool. But what was He doing there in heaven?
When an elderly lady wanted to be baptized, according to the custom at that time, anyone who wanted to be baptized would be questioned by the elders. So she was seated among the elders, and the elders asked her a question: “Do you know what the Lord is doing in heaven today?”
This elderly lady thought for a while, and she said, “The Lord is seated in heaven, looking down upon me, trying to find fault with me, to see if I have sinned anywhere.”
Now, of course, she did not pass. But we know that the Lord was not doing that. Instead, in Revelation 1, we are told what the Lord was doing.
He was as busy as He was when He was on earth. On earth, He was our Apostle. He came, He accomplished and fulfilled the work of redemption. And now in heaven, He is applying that redemption to us, that we may be complete in Him.
So what the Lord was doing was this: He was looking in the midst of the seven churches in Asia.
Brothers and sisters, we all know that at the time of John the apostle, there were more than seven churches in Asia Minor. For instance, Colossae was not there.
But God chose these seven churches because the conditions of the seven churches could not only represent the churches throughout the first century, but they could also represent the churches throughout the centuries, even in our time.
So, brothers and sisters, what was our Lord looking for in the churches? He knew their faults. He knew their successes. But this was not what He was looking for.
What was He looking for? He was looking for His testimony, because the church is entrusted with the testimony of Jesus.
So, brothers and sisters, it is most important that we know what the testimony of Jesus is. How can we pass on the torch of the testimony if we do not know what that testimony really is? What could we pass on?
So here you find, in the first chapter of the book of Revelation, John was given, in brief, what is the testimony of Jesus.
Now we all know that John knew the Lord most among the children of God at that time—what the Lord was on earth. But so far as Christ in heaven was concerned, John was not familiar with Him.
So when the Lord revealed Himself in the vision on Patmos, we know what John did. John fell as one dead. In other words, he realized that even he had failed the testimony of Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, we are entrusted with the testimony of Jesus. And if the Lord should tarry, we are supposed to be the ones who will pass the torch of the testimony to the next generation.
And we, if we are in the next generation, need to know what is the testimony that will be handed to us for us to carry on until the coming of the Lord. There is nothing more important than this.
So, dear brothers and sisters, it is the burden of our hearts that we may be clear as to the testimony of Jesus: that which we are supposed to keep, and that which, if the Lord should tarry, we are supposed to pass on to the next generation.
So my question here is: What is the testimony of Jesus? We must be very clear about it. Not only clear, but we must be involved in it.
I think it would be a great surprise when we find that John, the one who knew the Lord so well, when he was faced with the testimony of Jesus, fell as one dead. In other words, he realized how far short of the testimony he was.
Brothers and sisters, if we know what the testimony of Jesus is, we will do the same.
Of course, the whole Bible testifies of only one thing: it testifies of our Lord Jesus. But especially, what is the testimony of Jesus?
If we want to put it in a few words, I think there is no better definition of the testimony of Jesus than what our Lord Jesus in heaven told John of Himself. So that is what we find in Revelation 1:17-18.
What did our Lord declare Himself to be? He said, “I am the first and the last, and the Living One.” That refers to His deity. He is the first, and He is the last, and He is the Living One.
Now, what do you mean, He is the first? Does it mean that He is the first and you are the second? Not at all. Because when He says, “I am the first and I am the last,” in other words, He is the beginning and He is the end. Everything in between is Himself.
So the question that is put to us is: Is Christ Jesus the first in our life?
When our Lord was on earth, He challenged His disciples on this matter of whether He is the first.
You know, in the Old Testament, in the Ten Commandments, “Honour thy father and thy mother”: this is the first commandment with promise. And yet our Lord Jesus challenged His disciples, saying, “If you love your father or mother, brother or sister, wife or children, even yourself, more than Me, you are not fit to be My disciples.”
Brothers and sisters, has the Lord ever challenged you with this?
I remember when I was young. The Lord saved me when I was fifteen, and I was so grateful to Him that I gave my life to Him. I wanted to serve Him.
But, brothers and sisters, when the Lord challenged me as to whether He was the first in my life, I fell down.
You know, I loved my father very much. He loved the Lord. But when the Lord challenged me with this, I struggled, because I did love my father more than Him.
My father was a Methodist pastor. He was a true Methodist. He loved the Lord, and he wanted all his children to serve God.
I was at that time in college. The Lord challenged me on this matter of baptism.
You know, I was baptized when I was a baby. I was sprinkled on my head by my father, and I always considered myself as being baptized. But after I was saved, I was challenged again and again on this matter of baptism.
And I always argued with them. I said, “When I was baptized as a baby, it was in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I cannot blaspheme the name of God. So I consider my baptism right.” I refused to be baptized by immersion.
And this happened for many years. Whenever people mentioned that to me, I argued with them.
I remember the last time. I was in college, visiting my friend in Shanghai, and he lived next door to Watchman Nee. He talked to me again on this matter of immersion. I argued with him again. He found that I was hopeless, so he went to sleep.
And I was alone in his room, sitting there, meditating and praying. I said, “Lord, I know immersion is right, because I have been reading the Bible. But it is not convenient for me.”
My father was a Methodist pastor. I did not know that Methodists also immersed people; I thought it was just by sprinkling.
So I told the Lord, “Lord, I know immersion is right, but I cannot do it now. After I become independent, then I promise You I will be baptized by immersion.”
And you know what? This is the first time in my life I heard a voice. I literally heard a voice saying to me, “He who loves his father, mother, and so forth cannot be My disciple.”
I always wanted to be a disciple of Christ. But when that word came to me, nobody was talking to me. I heard it. I broke down.
I said, “Lord, everything, so long as I can be Your disciple.”
So I quietly went down from my friend’s room and knocked next door, which was Brother Nee’s house. And he came down and opened the door. He knew me, and he said, “What do you want?”
I said, “I want to be baptized.”
He said, “Did your father know?”
I said, “No. But I felt the Lord told me to do that.” And I was baptized by immersion the next day.
And that was the beginning of the opening of my eyes.
Brothers and sisters, I am using this illustration just to demonstrate that unless Christ is the first in your life—and not only the first, but He is also the last, and everything in between—we are not fit to be His disciples.
He said, “I am the Living One.” He is life itself. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Brothers and sisters, this is what our Lord Jesus was and eternally is. And the question to every one of us is: Is it true with you?
This is the testimony of Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is not just some teaching. It is not some doctrine that you hold. The testimony of Jesus is life.
Is Christ everything to you? Is there anything in between? And that is the testimony of Jesus.
Unless we absolutely surrender ourselves to the Lord Jesus, brothers and sisters, we have no testimony.
And He said, “I became dead.” That refers to His incarnation: how He came to this wretched world, how He lived thirty-three years in absolute obedience to God His Father, and how He died for our sins.
He took our sins in His own body. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might become the children of God. Dear brothers and sisters, what a price our Lord Jesus has paid for every one of us.
“I became dead.” But that is not the end.
He continues to say, “And behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” He is alive. He lives, and lives for evermore.
And not only does He live, but He overcomes. He holds the keys of death and of Hades.
Brothers and sisters, this is our victorious Lord. This is the Lord who is our testimony. And by testimony, it is not just by word; it is by life.
Is our life a testimony to Jesus?
In Christian life, there is no relativity. It is always absolute. Why? Because the Lord is absolute.
So, brothers and sisters, this morning my burden is: Do you know what is the testimony of Jesus? Do you know that you are called to bear that testimony? Have you been faithful to the Lord?
Because this will not only be our life on earth, but this will be our life forever.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this morning we are faced with the testimony of Jesus. We are supposed to carry the testimony of Jesus, and we are supposed to pass on the torch of testimony.
If this is not true with us, we have nothing to pass on.
So may we bow before the Lord and let the Lord search our hearts.
May our Lord Jesus look down upon us and be satisfied. This is the prayer of our hearts. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we are faced with this serious question: whether we are faithful to Your testimony.
We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt, by Thy Spirit, search each and every one of us here this morning. Do not let us go without this question settled forever.
Lord, Thou hast given Thy all to us. How can we withhold anything from Thee? Take us, O Lord, that we may be those who are faithful in Your testimony and thus, if Thou shalt tarry, be able to pass on the torch.
We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.