Jesus commanded everyone, who believes in Him and decided to follow Him, to be His witness. But what does it mean to be a witness of Jesus Christ according to the Bible? How do you become a witness of Christ and what do you need to be a witness of Jesus Christ in this world?
Jesus, the faithful Witness
Behold, I have given Him for a Witness to the people, a Leader and Commander to the people. Behold, Thou shalt call a nation that Thou knowest not, and nations that knew not Thee shall run unto Thee because of the Lord Thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified Thee (Isaiah 55:4-5)
I can of Mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just (righteous); because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of Me; and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of Me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
He was a burning and a shining light (lamp): and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hat sent Me. And the Father Himself, which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of Me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape (form). And ye have not His word abiding in you: for whom He hath sent, Him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life (John 5:30-40).
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, and the first Begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:4-5)
Jesus came to the earth and was a faithful Witness of His Father and His Kingdom. Jesus could be a Witness of His Father because Jesus had laid down His own will and life. He was fully yielded to the will of His Father and obeyed His commandments.
Jesus loved His Father and spent a lot of time with His Father in prayer and the Scriptures.
Jesus spoke the truth
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour (Exodus 20:16, Matthew 15:19, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20, Romans 13:9)
Jesus was a faithful Witness, who didn’t speak lies. He didn’t compromise in order to be liked and accepted by the people and gain followers.
Jesus spoke only the words of His Father and spoke what He had seen with His Father (John 8:38).
Jesus spoke the truth and didn’t speak lies, which was not always appreciated by the people.
Many people followed Jesus for the signs and wonders and became His disciples. However many didn’t like the words of Jesus.
The people considered His words hard and were not able to bear His words. The words of Jesus made them uncomfortable. Therefore they left Him (John 6:60-66).
And so everywhere Jesus came, Jesus caused a commotion. Because everywhere Jesus came, Jesus witnessed of His Father and His Kingdom and the signs and wonders of the authority and the power of God’s Kingdom, followed Him and caused a change in the lives of people and situations.
Jesus, the faithful Witness, and Saviour of souls
A true witness delivers souls: but a deceitful witness speaks lies (Proverbs 14:25)
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house (Hebrews 3:1-2)
Jesus, the faithful Witness, was sent by His Father and came to serve people. However, this didn’t mean that Jesus yielded Himself to the people and changed and adjusted the words of His Father and the standards of God’s Kingdom to the generation of fallen man. Jesus didn’t become a wishy-washy and weathercock, who bowed to the lusts, desires, and will of the carnal man and allowed the people to live in their sins.
Jesus walked after the Spirit in the authority of His Father and was not intimidated by people. He didn’t compromise and adjust His words, to what people wanted to hear. But Jesus stayed faithful to His Father.
Jesus kept preaching the truth and testified of the evil works. He did all the works in the Name of His Father and delivered many souls, from the power of the devil, which led to persecution and eventually death (John 7:7; 10:25, Acts 10:38, Hebrews 5:7-8).
Jesus taught His disciples and gave them commandments
Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high (Luke 24:45-49)
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8)
Jesus had spent much time with His disciples during His walk on earth. He taught them about the things of God and His Kingdom.
The disciples of Jesus knew the Word and they knew about the Kingdom of God. However, because they were not born again and therefore unspiritual, they didn’t understand everything Jesus taught them. However, that would change when they would receive the Holy Spirit.
After Jesus was raised from the dead and spent 40 days with His disciples, Jesus opened their understanding so that they would understand the Scriptures. He spoke again about the Kingdom of God and gave His disciples commandments and promised them that He would send the promise of the Father (a.o. Acts 1:1-4).
What did the disciples need to be a witness of Jesus Christ and fulfill His commandments?
The disciples needed the Holy Spirit to be a witness of Jesus Christ and to fulfill His commandments. They needed to be endowed with power from on high.
After the disciples would receive the Holy Spirit, and because of that, receive power, they were able to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Just like Jesus was clothed with power, after His baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and became a Witness of God the Father and began to preach the Kingdom of Heaven to the people and testify of their evil works and call the people of the house of Israel to repentance and remission of sins.
Although the disciples knew the Word, they couldn’t go out and be a witness of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven, until they would receive the Holy Spirit.
Because without the Holy Spirit, they couldn’t walk after the Spirit, reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. They would not be able to represent, preach, and bring the Kingdom of God to the people.As a witnesses of Jesus Christ, they would not be able to persevere and stand when persecution would arise, but they would succumb, fall away, or run away.
We saw this behavior when Jesus was arrested and everyone left Jesus. Even Peter denied Jesus, while Peter said, just a few days before, that he wouldn’t deny Jesus Christ and that he was even prepared to die with Jesus. But when the moment of temptation and testing came Peter didn’t have the power to bear the consequences of His relationship with Jesus Christ. When the people confronted Peter about his relationship with Jesus, Peter denied Jesus three times. Due to Simon Peter’s denial, he broke his relationship with Jesus and was (temporarily) not His disciple (Mark 16:7)
Unfortunately, we see the same phenomenon these days. Many Christians deny Jesus Christ to please and keep their family members, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, etc. satisfied and not lose them.
They’d rather break their relationship with Jesus Christ than break their relationship with them. (Read also: Do you confess Jesus before man or do you deny Him?).
The birth of the new creation, who together are the Church
The disciples received the Holy Spirit. As a result, they spoke in other tongues and preached the gospel in boldness to the people, and called them to repentance.
They began in Jerusalem and preached to the Jewish people, who were assembled from all over the world to celebrate the feast of the firstlings.
Although some of them considered the disciples foolish, about three thousand souls repented and were saved, when they heard the words of Peter and his testimony of Jesus Christ and the conviction of their sins by the Holy Spirit.
They immediately were baptized and received the Holy Spirit and became also sons of God (this applies to both males and females), who received power to be able to be a witness of Jesus Christ and preach the gospel.
The persecution of the Church
But while the Church grew and thousands of people, who belonged to the House of Israel, repented and were born again and became members of the Church, persecution arose. The (religious) leaders of the House of Israel did everything they could to silence the witnesses of Jesus Christ; the Church.
Some of the witnesses of Jesus Christ were taken captive and put in prison. They were put to silence, and/or found guilty and were killed. Yes, many Christians were killed because of their testimony of Jesus Christ and became a martyr because of Jesus.
However, because they loved Jesus so much and had become a new creation and received power through the Holy Spirit, all the threats, persecutions, and deaths of others didn’t intimidate, scare, or stop them. They continued and persevered and didn’t deviate from the commandment of Jesus Christ to be His witness and preach the truth and call the people to repentance, so that many souls would be saved.
Everything went according to God’s plan, even the persecution of the Church.
This may be hard to believe and understand in today’s world and from a modern gospel view, since the modern gospel teaches that all negative things are from the devil and that he directs all things. But God is greater than the devil, who is created by God. He allows things to the glory and honor of His Name.
When we read the Book of Revelation, then we don’t read all kinds of positive prophecies about the end times. The vials of the wrath of God and the seals, which were opened by the Lamb are not positive.
Neither are the words, which Jesus spoke to the churches. The words of Jesus were also hard and confronting words, calling the churches to repentance.
This is contrary to what is preached today and the false image that is created of Jesus, who is supposed to approve and tolerate everything, including sins, which Jesus hates in reality. (Read also: How a counterfeit Jesus produces counterfeit Christians’).
Jesus called the churches to repentance and if they would not listen and obey His words but reject His words, then Jesus would a.o. remove the lampstand and the Holy Spirit would no longer be present and the church would be removed from their position in Christ and no longer belong to Jesus Christ, but would be separated from Christ and the Father.
The persecution of the Church was a continuation of the persecution of Jesus
The persecution of the Church was a continuation of the persecution of Jesus Christ, Who was a faithful Witness of His Father and the Kingdom of Heaven.
As a result of the persecution, the witnesses of Jesus Christ were forced to leave Jerusalem and go to the cities around Jerusalem and to the rest of the world, so that the words of Jesus would be fulfilled.
They went and witnessed about Jesus Christ and preached the truth and saved many souls.
And so the gospel of Jesus Christ and the call to repentance and remission of sin was preached by the faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ, who had laid down their will and their own life and loved Jesus and kept His commandments until their death.
What do you need to be a witness of Jesus Christ?
The commandment of Jesus Christ has not ceased but still applies today. However, you need the power of the Holy Spirit to be a witness of Jesus Christ in this world.
Because without the Holy Spirit, you shall not be able to be a witness of Jesus Christ. You shall not be able to preach the truth of God and witness of Jesus Christ and call the people to repentance and the remission of sin, so that souls be saved.
Without the Holy Spirit, you shall not be able to reprove the people of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. You shall not be able to expose the lies and the works of the devil and darkness and bring them into the light and destroy them.
Without the Holy Spirit, you shall not be able to stand and not give up, despite the resistance and persecution of people.
What does it mean to be a witness of Jesus Christ in this world?
Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it (Matthew 16:24-25)
Being a witness of Jesus Christ means that you have laid down your own life. It’s not about your will anymore and what you think, but it’s all about the will of Jesus Christ and what He thinks. Jesus is not interested in your opinion, but Jesus wants you to become interested in His opinion and yield to it.
As a witness of Jesus Christ, you yield yourself to Jesus Christ and serve Him. Just like Jesus laid down His own life and yielded to the Father and didn’t live after His own will, but after the will of the Father.
You are not a witness of yourself, but a witness of Jesus Christ. Therefore you shall not preach yourself, but you shall preach Jesus Christ.
Jesus spoke what He heard and saw of His Father and did His works and so Jesus lived in His Father’s will. The same applies to every witness of Jesus Christ. Every witness of Jesus Christ should speak His words, do His works, and abide and live in His will.
You are called to be a faithful witness of Jesus Christ
You are called and sent by Jesus Christ to be His faithful witness in this world. You are called to preach the truth; the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone, who lives in darkness and call them to repentance so that their sins may be forgiven, and by faith, they be born again in Christ and be saved and reconciled with God and inherit eternal life.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
