Well, good morning.
I’d like to ask you to turn with me in your Bibles to the last book, as you know, the book of Revelation. We’ll read some verses from the last book of the Bible and then from earlier in the Bible, to begin to share the things on my heart.
Beginning at the very beginning of Revelation, Revelation 1:1-3. You’re familiar with these:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His bondmen what must shortly take place; and He signified it, sending by His angel to His bondman John, who testified the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written in it; for the time is near.
Later on in that same book, Revelation 12:17:
And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus.
And then in Revelation 19:10. This is John speaking:
And I fell before his feet to do him homage. And he says to me, “See thou do it not. I am thy fellow bondman, and fellow bondman of thy brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. Do homage to God. For the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.”
Now, I would just like to read a few in the Old Testament. Turn to Exodus—Exodus 16. It is one of my favorite books in the Old Testament. Beginning in verse 32:
And Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread that I gave you to eat in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot, and put in it an omer full of manna, and deposit it before the Lord”—or “lay it up before the Lord,” as the Authorized Version puts it—“to keep for your generations.”
As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron deposited it before the testimony, to be kept.
Notice that word: “So Aaron deposited it before the testimony,” or laid it before the testimony.
Then Exodus 25. Some of you may have read these verses in the past. Verse 14:
And put the staves into the rings upon the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
The staves shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not come out from it.
And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.
And finally, Exodus 38:21:
These are the things numbered of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which were counted according to the commandment of Moses, by the service of the Levites, under the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.
Lord, we always come to You when we read Your Word and say, “Lord, open Your Word to us.” If You do not, what good is it? We think of the psalmist who said, “The entrance of Thy words giveth light.” That is the only way.
And we remind You again and again that You have the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go? Speak, Lord. As we wait upon You, we ask that You take some of these familiar, and some of these not-so-familiar, verses and breathe upon them, that we may see into them the things You intended, so that Your Word would not return unto You void, as You promise. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, I think it is clear, at least from the words and verses that we read, that the burden is on testimony. This word, this single word, has been very much on my heart for some years now, and recently upon our heart as brothers and sisters for some eighteen months or even more, as we have prayed about passing the torch of the testimony.
You will remember last year’s Christian Family Conference. The theme of it was Passing the Torch of Testimony. These words that I will share with you today and in subsequent times, I actually shared in Richmond. I know some of you do not remember—many of you probably do not remember—ten years ago. Ten years ago, I was younger, and so were you, and you probably do not remember.
But recently, Mari and Bea and Linda and I had the privilege to go to the Netherlands, and we shared these things at a conference as the theme for the weekend: The Testimony of God.
Now, I want today to share the first part. Maybe it is the introductory part, but it is the testimony of God revealed. I believe, brothers and sisters, that we should not let this thought go—the thought that the Lord is so impressing upon us as the need in this generation.
This single word is my burden: testimony. I wonder, as much as we have prayed, do you say, “What is the testimony? What does the testimony really mean? How do we take up the torch of testimony? How do we enter into bearing the testimony?” It is a word we have often prayed.
I hope maybe at the end of this series the Lord will help us all and shed some light. I think this word testimony, first of all, is a very familiar word to Christians. All of us know that word. We understand the concept. If you are a Christian, you need to give testimony. We understand the concept of our testimony. I think you get that. Testimony is what we are to do. It simply means to bear witness to.
That is what I believe—and I do not think this is an exaggeration—is the subject of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I hope maybe this morning you will believe that after we share a few things.
You think of 1 Peter, when you think of personal testimony. I know many of you have memorized this verse. It is a very precious verse: 1 Peter 3:15. It talks about always being prepared to give an answer, right, for the hope that is within you—to give an account of the hope that is in you—but with meekness and fear. That is personal testimony.
As believers, we should be giving personal testimony. Now, I think that is absolutely vital, absolutely important, and we should never forget that. But there is something more important than just our testimony. There is something more important in the Bible than just personal testimony.
There is something overarching in the Bible, I believe, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, and that is God’s testimony. That is what we are to be about. In the framework—or the context—of God’s testimony, we are to have our own testimony, and we are to give personal testimony, and we are to enter into testimony.
You have to have personal testimony. You know, if you go to court and you do not have personal testimony, and you are called upon to be a witness, it is nothing more than hearsay evidence. And I want you to know that hearsay evidence is not even admissible in courts in the United States of America.
And I will tell you what: hearsay evidence is not admissible in the eternal court either. You must know it for yourself. You must believe it for yourself. You must have this testimony yourself. You have to have it. That is the only way.
You remember the story—I love the story—of the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19, and how they went to rebuke the demon. You remember the story. It is somewhat humorous, actually. They said, “In the name of Jesus, in the name that Paul preaches.” That is what they said: “That Paul preaches, I adjure you.”
That is what they thought would do it. And the demon—believe it or not—the demon answered. The demon said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I am acquainted with, but who are you?” Now, what if he said that to us?
You have to have personal testimony. They were relating hearsay evidence: this testimony of Jesus only, this testimony that Paul preached. But, brothers and sisters, we must have our own testimony. It must be a real and personal thing.
But beyond that, I hope you get the point. Beyond that, there is a greater definition in the Bible of testimony. It is not just your personal revelation. It is not just your personal relationship. It is not just your personal walk and what you somehow know of the Lord Jesus—which you should know. It is God’s own testimony, and that is what I believe we should be concerned with.
Another thing I want to say about that is that God’s own testimony is about who He is. That is what it is all about. It is simple. We sit here and say, “We have been praying for this testimony. What is the testimony? What does this testimony mean?”
It simply means who He is and what His purpose is. It is no more complicated than that. If we see throughout the pages of the Bible who He is and what His purpose is, then we have an understanding of what God’s testimony is.
The second thing that I think is absolutely important is that God’s testimony is not hidden. Thank God for that. It is not a hidden treasure. It is not a hidden revelation. It is a revealed mystery.
And, brothers and sisters, think of that. God, in His mercy, opens to us the thing that is in His heart, and He makes it known to us. I love that phrase in Ephesians. You cannot understand the book of Ephesians without understanding that phrase in Ephesians 1:9-10: “having made known.”
That is the beauty of revelation. That is the beauty of God’s testimony. You cannot understand it except you see it in Ephesians 3:10, where it says that the all-various wisdom might be made known through the church.
I think the bottom line is this: the testimony of God is not only about Himself and His purpose, but the glory of it is that it is revealed to us. And we can enter into it. Well, I think this is absolutely important.
First of all, think about the testimony of God in creation, in the very beginning. Turn to the first book of the Bible. This is where I want to start and hopefully convince you of something. This is what the Bible is all about.
Just look at the first few words—four words—of the Bible. This is enough. It says, “In the beginning, God.” Now, brothers and sisters, that is testimony. That is what it is all about.
You do not need to turn any further in your Bible. You do not need to delve any deeper into your Bible. You begin to understand that God’s testimony is about who He is. As we begin the book, we see that in the very beginning, before there was anything created, before we explore His creative genius, we begin to see this profound testimony that begins our Bible: “In the beginning, God.”
Everything was in Him. Everything was centered in Him. Everything was concerning Him. Everything was focused on Him. We could go on and on, but I believe that, to understand this concept of God’s testimony, you have to understand that it precedes us. We are a part of it, but it precedes us. And you have to understand: what is it about? It is about Him.
That is what the Bible makes absolutely clear. Now, here is another part about the creation story. Not only is the testimony about Him, but this will blow you away, if I am allowed to use such a phrase. This will excite you to no end when you begin to understand, as you turn through these pages, that the testimony of God includes us.
It says, “Let Us make man in Our own image.” And it says, “So therefore, He made man in the image of God.” That is incredible.
Now, it says, “Let Us.” I do not know if you have ever noticed that. You think, “Who is the ‘Us’ there?” That may be a little confusing to you. Well, actually, in this first verse in the Bible—“In the beginning, God”—it is Elohim, the Supreme. It is the plural God. It is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
And so, when He inserts man into this great vision of God’s testimony, He says, “Let Us make man in Our image.” Think of the privilege of that. Brothers and sisters, surely it must excite you when you read these words, that with all the creative genius displayed in these opening chapters, man alone has this privilege of bearing the image and likeness of God Himself.
That has to be overwhelming to me. That is God’s testimony.
But God’s testimony is also to be corporate in a people. I know a lot of people, a lot of dear Christians, a lot of Christians we love, a lot of them that we know well—everything about God is God in them. God bless them.
I think it is a little bit like my grandchildren. Everything is about them. I love them to death, but they are sort of immature, to speak frankly, and quite selfish, on the other hand. And we sometimes think it is all about me. It is all about what God does for me.
Linda is not here, so I can repeat the story if you promise not to tell her. One of my favorite stories—I repeat it again and again—was that bumper sticker of that little girl. I left this meeting, riding Huguenot Road home, and it said, “I am the center of the universe.” I thought, “How remarkable that you would think that, much less put it on your car.”
Surely, it is more than just us. It includes us—how precious—but it is about God Himself, and it includes a people, a people for His own possession.
God does love us as individuals. He saves us as individuals, and we enter into His life as an individual. But we are to go beyond just being individual in our Christian walk. We are to begin to understand, if we are going to understand God’s testimony, that it is bigger than me and God. It is us.
It includes all of us, and His testimony can only be expressed corporately in a people. There are people that are saved out of bondage, as you remember, from Egypt—the world. If you take that into New Testament understanding, we are saved from the enemy’s kingdom, and we are brought from this world system, and we are saved in Christ Jesus.
So this people, this corporate people, must first of all be a redeemed people, and they are redeemed for Himself. It says in Deuteronomy 26:8, “by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” That is how you were saved. That is how the children of Israel were saved. And the reason they were saved is for God’s testimony.
When you look further, it says they were saved with a purpose. Look in Deuteronomy 14:2 as an example:
And thee hath the Lord chosen as a people of possession for Himself.
This is God’s testimony. If you look—and I challenge you, go to your concordance, look it up—the word testimony that we have prayed about and talked about so often is most often used in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus. It is most often used in the New Testament in the closing book of Revelation.
Its context is a corporate people saved from bondage, brought to Himself, living to be a living expression of who He is. That is the context. If you look at Exodus very carefully, you begin to see that word testimony over and over again.
But when you come to the New Testament, we have the clearest example of what this testimony is. We come to that ultimate phrase: the testimony of Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I do not think it is any mistake that Revelation begins with John’s understanding that he was there for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus. I do not think it is any mistake whatsoever that the phrase “the testimony of Jesus” is only in the book of Revelation, and it is saved to the end to make a point.
I believe the singular point of utmost importance is that, in the end, what is vital is the testimony of Jesus. We have read those words.
I used a phrase in, I think, the Netherlands—and maybe ten years ago; no one will remember. It is a biblically concluding phrase. I like that. I believe it is. It is the capstone phrase of the New Testament. This is what everything is about.
In the end—understand, this is a play on words—Revelation is the end of the Bible. We looked at creation in the beginning. Now we have jumped over to the end of the Bible, and we are looking at Revelation. We understand that the emphasis phrase, the closing phrase, is the testimony of Jesus.
If you miss this phrase, you miss everything Revelation is about. Surely, you will see seals, and you will see wars, and you will see calamity, and you will see letters to churches which do not feel like they measure up to that One walking in their midst. But if you do not see this phrase that John emphasized as he began to write, you miss what Revelation is about.
I would go so far—and you may not agree with me—that if you do not see this phrase, you do not understand what the Bible is all about, because in the end, this is what the Bible is about.
I remember reading ten years ago something Brother Sparks said. It touched me very deeply. It was along the lines of what I just shared with you and what I believe the Lord showed me. He said this—and it is beautiful, much better rendered than I could say it:
You find that all-governing phrase of the whole book is this one phrase: “the testimony of Jesus.”
Brothers and sisters, this is what the Bible is about.
Now, the last two points about this phrase, “the testimony of Jesus,” are in those last two verses: Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 19:10. It says in both those occasions, “those that have the testimony of Jesus.”
Brothers and sisters, let me tell you: ten years ago, that single word, though you might consider it irrelevant, flew off the page to me. I thought, “This is the secret. This is, in the end, the secret: that we have the testimony of Jesus.”
When that angel spoke to John, when he wrongly bowed in what he saw of the wedding feast of the Lamb, and he bowed, the angel said, “See that you do it not. I am one of your fellow brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.”
Then we see the same in the remnant being persecuted: those who have the testimony of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I want to emphasize this very much as we go through this series.
In the end, listen to me very carefully. If you forget everything I said, listen to me very carefully: if we do not have the testimony of Jesus, then we do not have what God is looking for.
We may speak about the conference, the testimony of Jesus. We may even have conferences on the testimony of Jesus. But, brothers and sisters, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit saves its emphasis to these last two occasions and makes it explicitly clear that what is vital is that we have the testimony of Jesus.
So I hope this sort of helps you to understand what the burden is. I think this summarizes the whole burden.
Another thing in Revelation 19:10 is that concluding phrase: “For the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.” Now, have you ever thought about that verse?
I want to tell you, as a young believer, that verse used to trouble me so much. I used to wonder, “What on earth did John mean, that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus?” I used to wonder about it.
One time I was reading from the Amplified Version, which I do not often do, by the way. Miss Carolyn is here; she would read from it. It used the word essence, and I thought, “That is it.” It is the essence of all prophecy. It is the essence of every spoken word. It is the essence of everything that is revealed from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation.
The spirit of prophecy is the essence of the testimony of Jesus.
Now, I am a businessman, and all my good business things. I remember when this perfume company—I know, I know this is a no-perfume zone, I hear, so disregard this illustration if you like—but this perfume company came out with a marketing program that I thought was absolute genius. They named their perfume Essence.
Now, you may think, “Well, that is a silly little name for a perfume,” but it is not. One of the definitions of essence is a perfume. It is one that is not often used. So, in this brilliant marketing effort, I can imagine all those marketing people laughing around the table and yucking it up that they had the name Essence. It is the essence of fragrance. It is the essence of perfume.
So, the testimony of Jesus is the essence of every prophecy, every utterance, and everything that is revealed in the Bible. Well, that is the burden, the overall burden that is on my heart, and I hope I can share some things that make sense.
Now, let us think of another point I would like to make. Let us look, beginning in the Old Testament today, at the testimony of God revealed. Look at it in the Old Testament.
This is important. You understand the connection between have and revealed in a moment, but unless the testimony of God is revealed, then what good is it? You may have some deeper understanding of what the Bible teaches. You may have some deeper comprehension beyond what God has just done for you, of what is in all these pages. But it does not do us any good if it is not revealed.
That is the burden that is on my heart explicitly for this morning. We see it with the children of Israel. Turn to Psalm 78. I love this verse.
I never knew this verse until ten years ago, despite the many times I have read through the book of Psalms. Psalm 78 is called an instruction of Asaph. I think that is a good way to look at it. This is one of those historic psalms that gives an unveiling of the historic reason and dealings of the children of Israel.
Look at verse 5. This came so alive to me:
For He established a testimony in Jacob.
That is the whole purpose, brothers and sisters, in this instruction. What the psalmist was trying to tell us is that what Israel was about was the establishment of God’s testimony in a people. That is what it was about.
That is why He singled them out. That is why He saved them out of the nations. That is why He brought them together to Himself. That is why He so disciplined them as a nation. That is why He allowed them to go into captivity: to save from them a remnant that would return for the testimony of Jesus.
“For He established a testimony in Jacob.” This is the divine will. This is the divine thing. This is what God was after in Israel, and this is what God is after in us.
When you think about God’s testimony, maybe I have not given you a good definition. This is not my definition. You may have a better definition. Certainly, I think Brother Stephen would have a better definition. But this is my definition, and I leave it with you:
God’s testimony is the revelation of God Himself, first of all, and the expression of that revelation in and through a people.
That is what I think God’s testimony is. I think it is true in the Old Testament. I think it is true in the New Testament. How glorious that this God, who was Elohim—the Supreme, completely in and of Himself all-sufficient—would think somehow to make man in His own image, and that man, with this corporate God, Elohim, would bear an eternal testimony.
This thought is what it is all about.
I like what Brother Nee said in The Testimony of God. I think it is so simply profound. It is beautiful. It hits the mark so well. He spoke of the testimony of God and said:
Testimony is the self-revelation of God.
Is that not good? I think that is really good. I wish I could have thought of something like that. I think that is powerful. It is who He is, and everything begins with that revelation of who He is.
Now, I know some of you weary when we use the word revelation, and we pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. But, brothers and sisters, the bottom line is this: when it comes to God’s testimony, when it comes to His eternal purpose, you cannot even understand it, and you certainly cannot enter into it, without the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We have to have it.
Again and again, there are a plethora of examples in the Bible that show how the eyes of His own were opened, and when they saw who He was, they were changed. Think of Moses, for just an example, at the burning bush. When he saw the I AM, he was changed.
Think of Job. At the end, confused Job said:
I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee.
How beautiful. What revelation does to us: it brings us out of the fog, and it brings us into the light.
If God would be so merciful to us as to give us, like Paul prayed—his first and most important prayer for the Ephesian church—the spirit of wisdom and revelation. What? Not of the church. Not of salvation. He did not pray that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation about all of His benefits. He did not utter it.
He said that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him. Brothers and sisters, that is God’s testimony: the self-revelation of God.
It changed Peter forever. We have read those verses in Matthew 16 so many times, I will not dare read them again. But it was at that moment when He said, “Who do men say that I am?” And then He turned more precisely to His own and said, “Who do you say that I am?”
You see, in the end, have you seen it? In the end, what is important is that you have it. And so it is personalized: “Who do you say that I am?”
You remember Peter uttered those words. Thank God for Peter. You can blame Peter all you want for all of his indiscretions, but I would to God I were more like Peter, and had the passion Peter had, and the love Peter had, and the desire Peter had.
Surely, that longing for the Lord opened many things for him. And He said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.”
So understand, first of all, when it comes to God’s testimony, the essential thing is revelation. That is what happened in the Old Testament. That is what happens in the New Testament. Everything begins with revelation, and everything flows out of revelation.
Remember when the apostle Paul said to the Galatian believers, “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb, was pleased to reveal His Son in me”—that is the secret. That is the beginning.
I am so thankful that one day in 1972, the God of glory revealed Himself to me. Brothers and sisters, I have told it before, so I will not waste your time today, but that day I met the living God. There was no doubt in my mind, and I was changed in an instant. I remember it like it was yesterday.
That is the beginning of everything. So may the Lord really help us to see that everything in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and with us, begins with revelation.
This is the essential point. We cannot understand God’s testimony, and we certainly will not enter into God’s testimony—and use that New Testament word, have—without the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
So whether you are tired or not of hearing that word, I adjure you to keep praying that prayer: that God would give you that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.
Now I want to look also in the Old Testament at this word testimony in several of its occurrences. If you see it in its context, I believe it will begin to make sense.
Let us go back to Exodus 16:32. This is the first occurrence: Exodus 16:32. We have read and discussed quite a bit the last occurrences of the word testimony in Revelation. Let us go back, when we look at the testimony of God in Israel, and look at the first occurrence.
It says:
And Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: Fill an omer”—by the way, that is, I think, about four pints in our measure—“of manna, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread that I gave you to eat in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot, and put in it an omer full of manna, and deposit it before the Lord,” or “lay it up before the Lord.”
As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron deposited it, or laid it up, before the testimony to be kept.
Now, I hope you noticed the difference in that repeated part. He said, first of all, “Take this omer of manna and lay it up before the Lord.” Right? You got that. But then he repeats himself: “Take this omer of manna and lay it up before the testimony.”
I think that is very important. As a matter of fact, you can check me on this. You are welcome to check me. I think, in this case at least, you will find me right: this is the only time in all of the English Bible that the word Testimony is capitalized.
No other place in the English Bible is the word testimony capitalized. So you begin to understand what he is saying: “Lay it up before the Lord. Lay it up before the Testimony.” The emphasis is the Testimony.
You get it? There is an emphasis there. The Word of God emphasizes this, and to further emphasize that the Lord is the Testimony, they add the capital T, just like when it says, “I AM THAT I AM.”
I hope that means something to you as you see this verse. The testimony is the Lord Himself. It is clear: “Lay it up before the Lord. Lay it up before the testimony.” That is the first occurrence of this word in all of the Old Testament, if you use your concordance.
Then you begin to see in Exodus this phrase again and again: “before the testimony”—not capitalized, by the way. But if you begin to look, and you read Exodus in particular, and Numbers somewhat less, you begin to see that before the testimony is a phrase repeated over and over again.
I think that is very important. This first point goes back to what I shared about the testimony being the Lord Himself. That is absolutely clear. You see the phrase “before the testimony,” and you see that as the Lord Himself.
Now, the second mention of testimony in the Old Testament is very important. Let us look at the second mention: Exodus 25:16. We read that verse as well, but go back to it.
Always pay attention when a word is last mentioned in Scripture and when a word is first mentioned in Scripture. Those Bible scholars who understand far more than I understand will often tell you this is the law of first and last mention. It begins to shed light on what the whole thing is about.
Exodus 25:16 says:
And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.
And then it goes on to describe the mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length and a cubit and a half its breadth, and the two cherubim. It describes this ark of the testimony.
Now, the Lord could have easily, in the Holy Spirit’s recording, just called this the ark. As a matter of fact, most of the time when we talk about the ark, we refer to the ark. It is the ark. But the Holy Spirit is very careful to refer to the ark as the ark of the testimony.
I think that is quite illustrative in the Word: this was a special vessel for a special significance, and this special vessel contained everything that God wanted to say about His testimony. This singular vessel: the ark of the testimony.
You know, first of all, that the ark of the testimony was the only thing that was in the holiest of all. You know that, right? You know from your Old Testament studies that the tabernacle of testimony, by the way, is the phrase Exodus uses, is divided into three places: the outer court, the holy place, and then the holiest of all.
In that holiest of all, this vessel, this single vessel, was the only thing that was there. I think that is quite impressive. The holiest of all is where God’s presence was, and in God’s presence, the one thing that is present, the one thing that is there, is this ark of the testimony.
Now, what does it mean? Well, I think if you read and study carefully the ark of the testimony, you begin to understand what it means. You have to see what it was made of and what was inside it. When you begin to understand what it was made of and what was inside of it, you begin to understand what the ark of the testimony is.
First of all, it was made of wood. You know that: acacia wood. If you have acacia wood in the United States, some of you woodworkers could tell me, but it is from the shittim tree. Acacia wood was a wood very resistant to any kind of corruption or decay.
Now think of it: has there been anyone like that in Scripture? There has been. It is the Lord Jesus. It says in Hebrews that our High Priest was like us in all accounts, except it makes one enormous exception: but without sin.
He was the only incorruptible Man. As a matter of fact, when you study the Bible, you begin to see that wood represents man. So wood, in this case—the base layer of this ark of testimony—was acacia wood, this incorruptible wood.
It would not decay for a reason: because it pointed to who the ark really was.
Think of another thing. When you think of the ark of the testimony, it was overlaid with gold on the outside and totally within. When you study your Bible, you begin to understand that gold is the glory of God. Gold speaks of the nature of God. Gold speaks of who God is.
When you look at this illustration of how they were to make this singular vessel, this all-important vessel, they said, “Be sure to overlay it completely on the outside and on the inside, all of gold.”
What does that mean? The Lord Jesus, though He became Man—we read those verses this morning—was altogether God. Altogether God. Very God of very God. This God-Man: this is the perfect vessel. Here is the vessel. It points to the God-Man, the Lord Jesus.
Even though we read in Matthew that He shall be called Emmanuel—God is with us.
Then you look at another thing about this vessel. There is a mercy seat on the top. I read part of it. The mercy seat has the two cherubim, and you know all that; we will not go into that. But God said there—this is God’s Word to the children of Israel—“I will meet with you there.”
Where has the Lord met us? When we read Romans 3, we discover that Christ is our mercy seat. Brothers and sisters, He is that vessel. He is the ark of testimony.
When we read Hebrews, we discover that we are to approach the throne of grace to find grace and mercy in time of need. He is altogether our mercy seat. I think this is very descriptive.
What was on the inside of this second occurrence of the word testimony in the Old Testament? What was put inside the ark of the testimony? I think all of you know this. All of you are well taught from your Bible school, and you know there were three things.
We have already talked about the omer of manna. We did not talk about two other things. What were those two other things? There was Aaron’s rod that budded, right? And what was the third thing? The commandments were inside. As a matter of fact, read your Bible: when it speaks of the commandments in Exodus, it calls them the tables of testimony.
All of this was inside the Lord. What on earth could it mean? Well, we do not know what it means until you come to the New Testament and hear John’s utterance in John 6, when the Lord said:
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, but I am the eternal bread. I am the bread of life.
He said it. He is the heavenly bread. This is what the ark of the testimony is about.
You think of the rod that budded. I do not know how many of you know the story in Numbers 16, but if you look at the story in Numbers 16, you realize it was a testy part of the history of the children of Israel. A great rebellion happened. Aaron and Moses were confronted, and there was an issue of authority.
The Lord showed Aaron what to do: to take all of those rods and place them before the Lord. Aaron’s rod was placed, and all those dead sticks—nothing happened except for Aaron’s rod. You know what happened? It budded. It bloomed, and full fruit came out.
Brothers and sisters, what this is telling us about the ark of testimony is that He is the God of all authority. Remember what the Lord said, one of His last words to His own? He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
But it also tells us what He told those around Lazarus before Lazarus was raised from the dead: “I am the resurrection and the life.” He is the branch that budded and came to full life.
The only way any of you dead sticks—if you do not get offended by that—the only way any of you dead sticks will come to life is if that resurrection life of the Lord Jesus comes into you and quickens you into life.
I think, when Moses wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “This is the ark of the testimony,” he had that view in mind of the Lord Jesus alone. He is alone God’s testimony. Everything is in Him. He is the one thing that is before His presence. To me, brothers and sisters, that seems to be a very precious thing.
Then I think the last thing I want to share with you—this will not take long; I usually save my shortest point for the last. Some of you may have caught on to that.
There is another vessel in Exodus that I think is greatly important. When you look at this word testimony, you have to see it. There is this vessel called the tabernacle of the testimony. It is repeated again and again.
Sometimes it is abbreviated to the tabernacle of testimony, or the tent of testimony, or the veil of testimony that was in the tabernacle of testimony.
I think this is an absolutely important vessel, and this is the point I want to conclude with. I think the context of the Word of God cannot be understood, and the testimony of God cannot be understood, unless you see the importance of the house of God.
Now, I believe that is what Exodus is telling us. After He shows that the testimony is God Himself, and after He shows that the ark of the testimony is the Lord Jesus Himself and everything that comes with Him, He begins to show another vessel.
That other vessel is the tent of the testimony, or the tabernacle of testimony, however you want to refer to it. I believe it is absolutely important.
I know brothers and sisters who all they talk about is their individual relationship with the Lord. I think that is absolutely vital. If you do not have an individual relationship with the Lord, you do not have a relationship with the house of God. You cannot.
But if you have an individual, living relationship with the Lord, you must have a corporate relationship with the people of God. His purpose was never that it would be you and Him. I am sorry if I have burst your spiritual bubble.
As important as that is, His emphasis was always that you would be brought into His house, and there would be a corporate expression of who He is. That is why, when the Holy Spirit continues to emphasize this word testimony, most of the references are used of the tabernacle of testimony.
I believe it is absolutely important. Look at Exodus 38:21. I will just read this verse—in case you do not want to look it up yourself. I must have had the wrong reference. I cannot even read my own writing. It is getting pitiful when you get old. Verse 21—you are right:
These are the things numbered of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of testimony, which were counted according to the commandment of Moses, by the service of the Levites, under the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.
It is absolutely clear when you read this. It is unmistakably clear. God wants a house. It is absolutely clear. Brothers and sisters, we should love God’s house.
As a matter of fact, I think that was one of the reasons David has such a predominant place in the Scriptures. He had a passion for the Lord Himself, but he had a passion for His house as well. I believe that separates David from so many and makes him a man after God’s own heart.
This house is part of the testimony. That is what we need to see.
The tabernacle, like the ark, is a shadow of what happens in the New Testament. When we come into the New Testament, we begin to see God’s passion for His church. We read in Ephesians how He gave Himself for it, how He loved it. We read again and again that the letters, the epistles, are all letters to the churches.
We read in the closing book of the Bible, in those scenes in Revelation 2 and 3, where the Lord Jesus is. Where do we see the Lord Jesus? Walking among the candlesticks—the churches.
What was He looking for? His testimony. What was He looking for? He was looking for the revelation of Himself in that church. Did it measure up to that vision? That is all He was looking for.
I believe you cannot understand the Bible without understanding the house of God.
So let me conclude with these thoughts. Without the Testimony—God Himself—there is no testimony. Notice, that should be the Testimony with a capital T.
Without the ark of the testimony—our Lord Jesus—there is no testimony. Everything comes to us through the Lord Jesus. Everything, in the end, will be summed up in the Lord Jesus.
And finally, without the tabernacle of testimony, or the house of God—the church—there is no full testimony.
Brothers and sisters, I just want to tell you this: if you receive it, receive it. If you refuse it, refuse it. But do not let anybody tell you in your Christian walk that the church is not important.
I have heard the criticism again and again of people who said, “You emphasize the church too much.” I hardly believe that is true. I do not think, if you understand its place in Scripture, in the testimony, you would say that.
But do not let anyone tell you it is not important. Do not let anybody tell you, “As long as you are right with the Lord, that is all that is required.” Do not let anybody tell you, “As long as you have some contact with some believers, that is enough. You do not need to be built with your brothers and sisters.”
Do not let anybody tell you that. If you do, you will never be one that is spoken of in the end as having the testimony of Jesus. These three things are absolutely important.
Brothers and sisters, do you see the importance of this single word in the Bible? Do you see it in Revelation, this concluding thought? Do you see it in Genesis, when God says who He is? Do you see it when He saved a people for Himself?
He said again and again, “It is the testimony. It is the testimony.” Not your testimony. It is the testimony of God in your midst. Do you see it?
I want to pray that we will see it. I want to pray that when we see it, it will make a difference.
I think the problem with many of us, like so many other Christian things, is that we have understanding, but we do not know reality. I believe the Bible makes it very clear from the beginning to the end that this is the reality He is looking for.
May we pray again and again. Well, do me a favor: underline that word. Yes, some of you people, do not worry—I stopped marking in my Bible. I marked up so many Bibles in the past, I made myself promise I would not mark in this Bible, so I am violating my own word.
But mark in your Bible in Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 19:10. Underline that word have. Underline it. More importantly than underlining it, make it your prayer. Make it your prayer.
Say, “Lord, I do not want to just know about these things. I do not want to have some biblical Bible-study exercise that knows where all the words occur and what they might mean. In the end, if Your emphasis in the end was that we have it as a people, this is my prayer: that we would have it, and it would be revealed.”
The testimony of God would be revealed again in our midst.
Lord, we commit these thoughts and words to You, and pray where they are not adequate that the Holy Spirit would just anoint and make real what we cannot say.
But Lord, how we long. How we long to be like David—to be a man or woman after God’s own heart, to have that singular passion for God Himself, to see You and have it change us from inside out.
How we long, Lord, to have a passion for Your house. Help us, Lord. Do not leave these words to just a morning talk, or even a conference where things were so well said.
In our generation, in our day, in our midst, and in our lives, make this real. For we ask it together in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.