QUALIFICATION FOR WITNESS
[p. 10] QUALIFICATION FOR WITNESS
Luke 23:47; Acts 22:11 - 15; Luke 24:28 - 35
I have in mind to speak a little tonight about qualification for witness. God witnessed in the creation, as Scripture says, “He left not himself without witness”. Acts 14:17. That witness remains, but at the same time He witnesses through man. The Lord had said to His disciples that they should witness of Him because they were with Him from the beginning. He spoke of the Spirit witnessing, saying that He should send Him forth from the Father, or from being with the Father, and that as coming He would be a witness; and then they also should witness because they had been with Him from the beginning.
I need not speak of the qualification of the Spirit to be a witness, being a divine Person, but it is noteworthy that in that connection it is said that He came forth as being with the Father. The Holy Spirit is here as sent by Christ, but sent as having been with the Father, and then the Lord adds, “Ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning”, John 15:27.
You can see in that the Lord’s intent, that whilst all the previous witnesses which God gave stood, there is at the present time the greatest vessel of witness. There had been, as I have said, a witness in the created universe. The invisible things of Him are clearly seen in the things that are made — His eternal power and divinity; and then, more particularly, that which meets man’s requirements on earth. “God”, it says, “left not himself without witness”. Acts 14:17 Not now exactly in his eternal power, for that was already there, but His goodness, sending rain from heaven and giving fruitful seasons, “filling your hearts with food and gladness”, Acts 14:17.
Then again, the Lord refers to “the prophets and the law” for that is how the passage stands Matthew 11: 13.
[p. 11] The prophets come first. The prophets and the law, the Lord says, prophesied until John. That is to say, there was a living voice from God, not as in inanimate things, but as in holy men of old, as Scripture says, who were “under the power of the Holy Spirit” 2 Peter 1:21 — a very different kind of witness, a prophetic witness. The law itself is connected with the prophets as it prophesied the mind of God, brought in first in Moses and then in the prophets. All prophesied until John. But the Lord adds in Luke, “Since that time the kingdom of God is preached” Luke 16:16 — a further testimony or witness. The kingdom has come as a means of deliverance and protection for man. It was already there from John’s time and men were pressing into it, so that there was a living thing now, a system of power for man from John’s time. It was a spiritual thing. The Lord enlarged on it and set it before men in His ministry. It was there as a witness. He said, “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you”, Luke 17:21.
Then in regard to John, it is said of him that he was a man sent from God. These are things to be noted, dear brethren, if we are to understand the divine witness. A man sent from God! The prophets and the law prophesied, the prophets themselves bearing witness to the long-suffering of God — a great feature of His witness, that He is long-suffering. And the law witnesses to His rights, that He has the right to man’s affections. But the nature of the ministry was prophetic, for it anticipated the necessity of the incarnation of Christ and the death of Christ, in order that the things prophesied should be resultant for God. But nevertheless the witness was there, and then it says, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John”, John 1:6.
The Holy Spirit in John’s gospel particularly rests on John the baptist as a typical witness, so that it is said he was sent from God, and the force of the passage [p. 12] implies that he was sent as having been with God, as the disciples of the Lord were said to have been with Him from the beginning. The idea of witness implies therefore that the witnesses are with the persons of whom they are to witness, hence John was sent from being with God. And his witness is beautiful. In John 1 there are passages which dwell on the things to which John witnessed, but in the end it says, “I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God”. John 1:34 What had he seen? “He who sent me to baptise with water, he said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit”. John 1:33 And, “Again, on the morrow, there stood John and two of his disciples. And, looking at Jesus as he walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God”. John 1:35,36. He had been working. He had been baptising. He had been ministering. But now he stops, for the Son of God has come before Him and he bears witness to Him. John’s work is done. As he introduces the Son of God, the Son of God takes up the work. And so he says, “Behold the Lamb of God”.
The Son of God is an expression conveying power. The Lamb of God is a suggestion of how precious He was in the eyes of God. And so those two who were with John “heard him speaking”, John 1:37 a beautiful tribute to the manner of his witness. They heard John speak and they followed Jesus. The Baptist’s witness is effective. What God is looking for, beloved brethren, is effective testimony. We have an expression of it in John 16. The Lord says that when the Spirit of truth is come He will bring demonstration or conviction, of sin, righteousness, and judgment into the world. The thing is there. The witness is irrefutable. He brings into the world demonstration of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment. “Of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged”. John 16:9 - 11.
[p. 13] The Holy Spirit, as coming down from heaven, brought into the world an irrefutable testimony to Christ; He was accepted in heaven. The issue was between Him and the Jews. The Jews recognised God, but they rejected Christ. And the issue was in the hands of God, who has decided it by raising Christ from the dead and seating Him down in heaven. He went to the Father, and the Holy Spirit came down as a witness to the fact that He was exalted in heaven. The Jews were exposed and condemned; righteousness was on the side of Christ. The Holy Spirit brought in demonstration of righteousness, and that was, that Jesus was with the Father. Jesus has gone to be with the Father. God had taken Him.
Now, dear brethren, I wanted to enlarge on this in the way of the initial qualifications for witness, and so I selected these passages first, because the Roman centurion who was at the cross, I suppose in charge of the execution, and was responsible in a military way, when he saw what happened said, “Certainly this was a righteous man”. Now it is no question of instruction or of teaching. The centurion was there on duty. He was not there as a mere idle, curious spectator. He was there as a Roman officer on duty, and Luke particularly records that the centurion bore witness to the fact that the man who had just died, who had just given up His spirit on the Cross, was a just man. How the centurion came to know that He was a just man is not recorded. I have no doubt in my mind that he arrived at it on the principle of faith. I have no doubt he arrived at it as the thief had arrived at the knowledge that the Lord was just and that He was a King. I only dwell on the fact that there was a witness, beloved brethren, in that man to His righteousness. And it is as we apprehend Him in that light that the element of [p. 14] righteousness takes root in our souls. If we know, it says in John’s epistle, that He is righteous we know another thing, that everyone that is born of Him practises righteousness.
I am dwelling upon this because it is so important as an element of qualification for witness. We cannot witness save as we apprehend righteousness in Christ and as we are clothed with it. “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness”. Psalm 132:9.
Now the centurion, according to Matthew and Mark, testifies that the Lord was “the Son of God”. Matthew 27:54, Mark 15:39. That is another subject, but it was the same centurion; he believed and witnessed on the one hand to the sonship of Christ, and on the other to the righteousness of Christ. Luke records that he witnessed to the righteousness of Christ.
I wish now to go on to Acts to show you how the apostle Paul was called out to see this “just one”. What is recorded in this chapter is, as you will note, recorded in chapters 9 and 26 as well, only in each chapter it has a particular setting. The apostle Paul is here speaking to a Jewish audience, and one has always to take into account his audience. So you will find particular features in this chapter for the reason that Paul is speaking to a Jewish audience in Jerusalem. You will also find particular features in chapter 26; there Paul is speaking to King Agrippa, representing the gentile powers. And then you will find particular features in chapter 9, for there the Holy Spirit is recording the whole incident for the saints.
Ananias is alluded to as “a devout man”. The Jews in Jerusalem knew what that meant. Although he was a Jew at Damascus he was a believer in Christ, and he was the first man that Paul, after he had been blind, opened his eyes upon. He opened his eyes on Ananias. He opened his eyes on a brother.
It says in verse 13, he “came unto me ... and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him”. This is not mentioned for nothing. The Lord had been with Ananias earlier. He intended that Saul should have a reception that was becoming. We are enjoined in Romans to receive one another as Christ has received us to the glory of God. The Lord was concerned that this extraordinary convert of His should be rightly received, that he should be, as it were, received into the bosom and warmth of the assembly. It has a great bearing on believers afterwards if they are properly received. “Receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God”, Romans 15:7. And He would teach Ananias to receive in His way. He goes beforehand to Ananias and tells him about Saul. Ananias had much to say against Saul, but the Lord had nothing to say against him, but for him. It is a very serious thing to say something against a brother when the Lord is introducing him. The Lord was introducing Saul. He had been with Saul beforehand. We have all to take account of this, dear brethren, in dealing with one another. We have to make due allowance for the Lord’s previous activities. Why is the brother come at all? What is behind his movements? May not the Lord have been with him? May not the Lord have been exercising him? We have to make allowance for that, and not be too critical, yet be good door-keepers surely. But the point is, receive as the Lord receives, “as Christ also received us”. Romans 15:7. If anyone be weak in the faith receive him. The point is, has he faith? It may be weak, but he has got faith. Receive him, but not to the determination of doubtful disputations. Do not put too much on him, but receive him. God has received him.
Take the thief on the cross. Suppose he were to have come down from the cross and lived again on [p. 16] the earth. What questions might arise with people who knew of his previous conduct! And yet when he went up to paradise there was not a question! He was well received, I am sure; I may indeed say, with acclamation. He went up with the Lord. “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”, Luke 23:43 the Lord said.
Surely there can be no question of anyone that came in in the company of the Lord. And yet Ananias was prepared to question one who came up by the Lord’s own service. He says, I have heard such and such things about this man. Did the Lord not know? You see how untrustworthy our hearts are. Ananias thought he was serving God as a good door-keeper, and yet he was missing it, assuming he knew better than the Lord. The Lord made him a good door-keeper. He says, “Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me ...” Acts 9:15. He had said, “Go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire ... for one called Saul ... for, behold, he prayeth”. Acts 9:11. The name of the street was encouraging, and then Saul was praying. Such is the Lord’s commendation of His convert. The word ‘Straight’ is not mentioned for nothing. Ananias goes. You see how firm his steps are now. The Lord says, You go; he is an elect vessel to me to bear my name before kings and the children of Israel.
Ananias says, “Brother Saul, receive thy sight”; Paul adds, “The same hour I looked up upon him”. What a fine sight was Ananias now! It is one of the touches of this book. Peter says to the lame man, “Look on us”. Acts 3:5. These men were the product of the work of Christ.
We all need to be touched by the Lord. As of old the high priest had to use snuffers with the candlestick or the light would grow dim, so the Lord had been using the snuffers on Ananias, and as he went to Saul his reception of him would be a reflection of Christ’s service. He received Saul as Christ received [p. 17] him. That is the principle that underlies our position. It is the principle that underlies the assembly’s position. It should be a reflection of Christ in heaven in all that it does. The Lord is constantly serving us so that we should reflect Him in what we do.
Ananias says, “Brother Saul, receive thy sight”, and Paul tells us, “The same hour I looked up upon him”. Then Ananias said, “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see the Just One”. See the Just One! I wonder if we have all seen Him? It is right surely to emphasise that He is Son of God, that He is the Christ, that He is the Mediator, but it is also right to emphasise the fact that He is the Just One; not simply a just one, but as the Just One He is without an equal. He is the Just One. Have you seen Him? A sight of Christ as the Just One is an element in the soul which ever afterwards characterises a witness, and we cannot witness save as seeing the Just One and taking on the character of righteousness from Him. “That thou shouldest ... see that Just One”, he says, “and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth”.
There is the voice of the Son of God which the dead hear. But it is the voice of the mouth of the Just One! Think of what it is, beloved, for God to have the Just One here, as you consider the course of this world! You see how quickly in the history of the race the idea of righteousness became emphasised. Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. His testimony had been in righteousness, and he suffered martyrdom for it. “Wherefore slew he him?”. Because his (Abel’s) works were righteous 1 John 3:12. God attaches immense importance to practical righteousness in His people.
So it was with Noah: “Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation”. Genesis 7:1 What a testimony to a man when the earth was corrupt! In that righteous man God begins another world. You see what [p. 18] importance God attaches to righteousness, so that Noah was perfect in his generations. He was a just man, perfect in his generations, and he walked with God. God began another world in him. But there is more to be said about Noah than that. It is said, “By faith Noah ... prepared an ark to the saving of his house”, and in that he “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith”, Hebrews 11:7. He inherited righteousness. The practice of righteousness puts us in the line as heirs. It is as if I acquire a fortune by my own industry and then inherit another. That is what came to Noah. He became heir. And so there is an allusion in the New Testament to his preaching. He was an heir of righteousness, and he was a preacher of righteousness. Excellent tributes to Noah!
Further it is said that we are not to suffer for sin, or as evil-doers. It is most humiliating if a believer in Christ comes within the range of the world’s prosecution for evil-doing. We are not to suffer for evil-doing, “for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust”; it was “that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit”. And then it says, “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing”. 1 Peter 3:18 - 20. You see what a position Noah acquired in righteousness! For it is no less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself who went and preached in the days of Noah, through the lips of Noah, to those disobedient ones. What an honoured service it was! He was righteous, and God found him righteous.
Paul saw the Just One, and as seeing Him, he was His witness unto all men of what he had seen and heard. Christ had preached through Noah to those who were disobedient in Noah’s time; and He had [p. 19] preached through Paul to those of our own dispensation. Paul and Noah are thus linked up together in the preaching, and both, we may say, on the ground of righteousness. So you see, beloved brethren, what a place righteousness must have with us if we are to bear witness according to God.
In finishing I would refer just briefly to the passage in Luke 24 because it brings out a feature of witness that links itself up peculiarly with our own times, the breaking of bread. These two people, the name of one of whom was Cleopas, were going to Emmaus, and in speaking of this incident I cannot refrain from alluding to the peculiar influence of country life on christians. If we discern the inimical nature of our environment to our growth and testimony we have an advantage because we fight against it. Now country life has a peculiarly deadening effect upon spiritual growth. You will pardon me for the simple reference. City life has its own danger. In this gospel the demoniac came “out of the city”, Luke 8:27 according to chapter 8, wearing “no clothes”. The influence of the city is to produce shamelessness in men and women, and as we see that we fight against it, for to be preserved we have to see the dangers of our respective environments and judge them and war against them.
Mark tells us, and I have no doubt they are the same persons, that two of them went into the country — a very indefinite thought because going into the country may mean any direction. The point is, they were going into the country, and the Lord graciously appeared to them as they went there. And what is to be noted further is that Mark says that He appeared to them “in another form”, Mark 16:12. I apprehend He appeared to them in a peculiar form so as to turn them away from that course. I have no doubt that what the Lord would bring in to preserve as an antidote to the influence of the country is the [p. 20] heavenly city, for man needs a city. Whilst it is true there was nothing said about a city to Adam it comes in in connection with Abraham, “the father of all them that believe”; Romans 4:11 he looked for one. The idea had already come into the world, and God brought in the light of His city as a testimony so that those who had faith looked for it; “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. Hebrews 11:10. There is also the heavenly country which they who had faith sought after. I think these are the two things God would bring in, dear brethren, as an antidote to save us from the influence of the country as known in this world. There is God’s city and God’s country; we want to be in the light of both. I have no doubt that was involved in the way the Lord appeared to them as they went into the country so that He might save them. And what you find is that they returned and bore witness of the resurrection of Christ (Mark 16). They became witnesses, for the manifestation of Christ has in view that they should bear witness.
Luke tells us that they went, not into the country, but to Emmaus, a small town or village. The Holy Spirit through Luke says the distance was sixty stadia from Jerusalem. I take that to be compassion; as the Lord said to Saul, “It is hard for thee”, Acts 26:14 so it was a long way for these two people, and the Lord had compassion on them. So it is ever with the Lord. He will go any distance with a view to your recovery. Patience in divine Persons is one of the most touching testimonies in Scripture — the long-suffering of God.
And so the Lord went on with them and “made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us ...”. He was giving them an opportunity. He knew what was in their hearts well, and that is another beautiful touch in Scripture. He knows what is in our hearts.
[p. 21] He knows also what may be covering up what may be of Himself there, and hindering its development. He knew what was in their hearts and He gave them an opportunity to show what was there. They constrained Him to come in, and in going in He takes the house-father’s, place in that house. He gives thanks for the bread, and as He gives thanks and breaks the bread, He vanishes out of their sight, and their eyes were opened and they knew Him. They then go back to Jerusalem the same hour and find the eleven and those who were with them, and they were speaking about the Lord.
The assembly at Jerusalem was not now in an unbelieving state. As Mark puts it they were in an unbelieving state, but in Luke they were saying, “The Lord is risen indeed”. They were not saying the Lord is not risen. They were not disbelieving any more. That was the theme of their conversation, and those two told them what they had experienced. Nothing is more effective in the assembly than experience with the Lord. A little bit of experience with the Lord is most effective. What I have experienced you cannot take away from me. These two had experienced something with Him; they related how the Lord had been made known to them in the breaking of bread.
Dear brethren, this is a feature of the idea of witness which links itself up with us at this peculiar time. It is the way the Lord is made known now. It is no longer in “another form”. Mark 16:12. It is Himself. It was Himself who broke the bread, having given thanks. That is a suggestion of what we have in the assembly, and what every one should understand, and, as understanding, should witness to. They witnessed to it. The eleven apostles were there, and these two are able to contribute to that august company. What can they contribute? Not an oration, but simply an experience. The Lord had appeared to [p. 22] them; He was made known to them in the breaking of bread. They could tell that. Mark says He appeared to Mary Magdalene out of whom He cast seven demons. Luke records that He appeared to Simon; this was grace, for Simon had grievously failed by denying Him. See how wonderfully gracious the Lord is. He appears to the most failing of us. But the appearing is to make witnesses of us.
May the Lord help us in our witness! The object of our being here is to be witnesses, witnesses to Christ.