Jesus Christ the True Witness

The whole world is in darkness. It lies in the power of the evil one (1 Jn 5:19). Men love darkness because their deeds are evil (Jn 3:19). They are children of the devil (1 Jn 3:10), who want to do the desires of their father (Jn 8:44). Men love the world (1 Jn 2:15–17), but they are haters of God (Rom 1:30), having no love of God in them (Jn 5:42).

With deceitful hearts (Jer 17:9), only given to do evil all the time (Gen 6:5), humanity does not seek after God (Rom 3:11). Rather, people pursue the satisfaction of their fleshly lusts (1 Pet 2:11). This pursuit has many appendages of sin. Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4), which means every man is a lawbreaker because all sin (Rom 3:23; 5:12).

The extent of man’s rebellion against God is unfathomable. Only from the witness of Holy Scripture do we understand that plight of man. People are immersed in an ocean of sin. In their state of total depravity, they have no ability to rescue themselves. Life is but a vapor (Jas 4:14), for even those who dwell 100 years upon the earth. Then comes the judgment (Heb 9:27).

Being deceived by the devil’s false witness, people are blind to the peril they encounter each day. Everyone alive is on the precipice of eternity. The danger of eternity is the judgment leading to fiery hell in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14–15). This is the reserve for fallen angels and the devil, but man has been incorporated into their sentence because of sin and the corporate rebellion against God (Rev 20:10).

A truthful witness saves lives, but he who utters lies is treacherous (Prv 14:25). John the Baptist was one who testified to the truth (Jn 5:33), a witness to the Light (Jn 1:6–7). What did the content of his witness sound like? “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29).” The true witness does not say, “Look at me.” He persuades men to look to Jesus Christ (Heb 12:2), the faithful and true witness (Rev 3:14).

Jesus’ testimony of Himself was greater than John’s testimony of Jesus (Jn 5:36). John figured out who Jesus was (Jn 1:30–34), but Jesus knew who He was (Jn 8:14). Because Jesus is fully God and fully man, it is impossible for Him to lie (Heb 6:18). No man, besides Jesus has ever claimed to be the personification of truth (Jn 14:6). All men are liars (Rom 3:4), and they know it.

The task of every man and woman is to believe the claims of Jesus (Jn 11:25; 14:1), the faithful and true witness (Rev 3:14). There are some who do not have faith (2 Thess 3:2). These people do not belong to Christ, the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:26). For it is the work of God to allot a measure of faith (Rom 12:3), to those who believe in Him, whom He has sent (Jn 6:29). These who were granted faith (Phil 1:29) were also granted repentance at the same time (Acts 5:31).

Thus, it is imperative to see that in order to believe Jesus and His testimony of Himself, we must have a faithful witness about Jesus. This is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Jn 5:6; Rev 19:10), who brought forth the Scriptures. The Spirit-filled preacher, like John the Baptist, is using the Scriptures to declare Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 1:23; 2:2).

We proclaim Christ, so we may present every man complete in Christ (Col 1:28), for Christ is our life (Col 3:4), our all and in all (Col 3:11). It is God who opens us a door to speak forth the mystery of Christ (Col 4:3), and it is the Spirit of Christ, who causes men to be born again of God (1 Pet 1:3). This accompanies the preaching of the Word of truth (Col 1:5; 2 Tim 2:15; Jas 1:18), which causes them to hear and believe (Rom 10:17).

The faithful and true witness did not leave His people alone as orphans (Jn 14:18). In giving the Holy Spirit (1 Jn 4:13), God gave His Word to those He came to indwell (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; Jas 4:5). He does not leave them nor forsake them (Heb 13:5), and He grows them in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). They become His witnesses, even to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). The mission is to preach the Gospel to all creation (Mk 16:15), making disciples by teaching them to obey all that He has commanded (Mt 28:19–20).

Guided into all truth, by His Spirit (Jn 16:13), the sons of God are led by the Spirit (Rom 8:14; Gal 5:18), to live as God’s adopted children in the world (Rom 8:15, 23). These are children of light in the domain of darkness (Col 1:13). These cannot help but shine because God’s Spirit abides in them (Jn 14:17; 1 Jn 3:24). This makes the Christian peculiar (Dt 14:2; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9).

The Christ-filled Christian is a faithful and true witness, when the Spirit of Christ brings forth the Word of Christ through him. Christians speak in a different tongue than the inhabitants of the world around them. Abiding in God’s Word, their speech is gracious and seasoned with salt (Col 4:6) because they speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15). Where else can men go? These have the words of eternal life.

The Christian knows that the truth of Christ sets people free from the lies and deception that hold them in bondage, as slaves to sin (Rom 6:6). In loving our neighbor, we must be faithful, and we must be true. The only way this is accomplished is Christ in us (Col 1:27). We live by faith in Him (Gal 2:20), trusting that He is willing and doing His good pleasure (Phil 2:13), to accomplish all that concerns us (Ps 57:2; 138:8), and bringing glory to Himself and to the Father.

Friend, examine yourself. Is the Gospel witness in you, that is, Jesus Christ, who is eternally faithful and true? If your communication is void of pointing people to Him, then know His witness is against you. Believe it or not.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

December 21, 2022