Ye Are My Witnesses

(#139, Hinkley, 11/2/47; Imperial, 1962)
Read Isaiah 43:1-13; Acts 1:8.

In the Old Testament the people of Israel were to be God's witnesses.  But witnessing is not confined to Jewish people; it is for the Church and the individual believer.  Nor is witnessing con-fined to a select few.  "Ye are my witnesses."

The witness and his message.
ƒ    The witness.  Three important truths are given in Isaiah con-cerning the witness and his relationship to God.
1.    He belongs to God (v1-2).  He need not fear.
2.    He is precious in God's sight and loved by God (v4).
3.    He is created for God's glory.

ƒ    The message.
In Isaiah 43:10-13 God says you are "my witnesses".  That is, the witness is to tell Who God is and what He has done.  And note that for the witness to have integrity he must first "know and believe" God himself (v10) that others might see the message lived out.
In Acts 1:8 Jesus told the disciples they were to be "witnesses unto me."  The message of the Christian is about Christ.  He is to share of good news, again, about Who Christ is and what He has done.  It is the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins through Christ (Acts 5:30-32).

The Holy Spirit in witnessing.
Why is it that the church must resort to worldly entertainment to gain a crowd?  It is because the Holy Spirit is not present and active.  "It is the Spirit that quickeneth -- the flesh profiteth noth-ing" (John 6:63).

The responsibility of the witness.
Ezekiel 33:7-9 describes the witness as a "watchman", one that must warn all those around him.  The responsibility is on the one who knows to tell those who don't.  In Rom. 1:14 the witness is a "debtor", again reflecting his responsibility to others.  Those around him must hear the same way the witness heard.
"What we need is not more machinery or better, not new or-ganization or more and novel methods, but men and women filled with the Spirit." -- E.M.Bounds