Monday, July 6, 2009

Testimony of Jesus

The Testimony of Jesus

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2 Tim {1:7} For God hath not given us the spirit
of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
{1:8} Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
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Rev. {1:1} The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must
shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [it] by his
angel unto his servant John: {1:2} Who bare record of the
word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all
things that he saw.
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Rev.{1:9} I John, who also am your brother, and companion in
tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God,
and for the testimony of Jesus Christ
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Rev.{6:9} And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under
the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of
God, and for the testimony which they held
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Rev. {11:7} And when they shall
have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of
the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall
overcome them, and kill them.
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Rev.{12:11} And
they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto
the death.
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Rev.{12:17} And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep
the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ.
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Rev.{15:5} And after that I looked, and, behold,
the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was
opened:
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Rev. {19:10} And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said
unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of
thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God:
for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
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{2:1} And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the
testimony of God. {2:2} For I determined not to know any
thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
{2:3} And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in
much trembling. {2:4} And my speech and my preaching
[was] not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power: {2:5} That your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. {2:6} Howbeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor
of the princes of this world, that come to nought: {2:7} But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the
hidden [wisdom,] which God ordained before the world
unto our glory: {2:8} Which none of the princes of this
world knew: for had they known [it,] they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. {2:9} But as it is written, Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. {2:10} But God hath revealed [them] unto us
by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God. {2:11} For what man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of
God. {2:12} Now we have received, not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God. {2:13} Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. {2:14} But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them,] because
they are spiritually discerned. {2:15} But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
{2:16} For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he
may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

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The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. From the moment Jesus started preaching what was it He was preaching exactly? The gospel. What is the gospel? The good news. What is the good news? The good news is that we sinners have a was to be forgiven. Us wayward children of God now have a way to become reconciled with God. Our sins can be forgiven by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. How is this the Spirit of prophecy which we are told is the testimony of Jesus? Prophecy is a prediction of a future event. The future event predicted by Christ Himself was total reconciliation with God encompassing us living and dead being made new in Him and being caught up to heaven with Him when He returns to take us with Him. Not once did He tell the disciples they were on their own, that there was no hope of a future with Him, that they had this life on earth now and that was that. Jesus preached hope! Jesus preached salvation! Jesus preached to us of a new world, a new life and the prophectic aspect of receiving the fulness of that hope in time. Jesus' testimony is most certainly prophectic. We accept Jesus Christ and a lot of times people fall back away from Him giving up hope in what? In the prophectic prediction of Jesus' that He will come again. It's like a reliable human being, someone you've always been able to count on in the past, telling you they'll be there to pick you up between a certain time, say 12 noon and 12 midnight. So you wait, and you wait and you wait until finally you grow tired of waiting and you focus on the fact they said 12 noon. Sure they also said 12 midnight, but surely they meant somewhere closer to 12 noon not the later time. So it comes to 6 pm, halfway through the time and you're pacing, and pacing. You begin to lose hope even though you KNOW that they could still be considered on time if they arrive at midnight. Finally it's 9 pm and you don't want to wait any longer. Taking that analogy to Jesus we need to substitute years and years and years for hours but it holds true. The fact remains Jesus predicted He would return and He WILL return. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy simply because He preached prophetically of salvation and life everlasting.


We must have the testimony of Jesus if we are to overcome this world by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. We must have the Spirit of prophecy in us, the willingness to believe and holdfast until Christ comes to redeem us unto Him as He promises.


May we all holdfast to that which is holy, good, and true. May we cling tightly to God and have the Testimony of Jesus.


By His amazing mercy and unending grace now and forever.


Amen.

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