"I have declared, and have saved, and I have proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you. Therefore, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God." Isaiah 43:12
"...ye are witnesses of these things." Luke 24:48
I believe that it is safe to say that we have lost a true understanding of the meaning of the term "witnessing." More often than not, we take it to mean that we are memorizing a cue card, spouting out the "ABC's" of salvation in order to score points with God. There is nothing real anymore, nothing pertinent, nothing driving, nothing that says, "I have seen these things, and know that they are." Neither Israel nor the disciples where to pay lip services; they were to be speaking facts: God's presence really did abide in the temple, and God really did become flesh and die on a cross for our sins. These were not fancy phrases and beautiful speeches to Israel or the disciples: they were actualities; deep, abiding truths.
"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believe." (John 20:29b) We who believe now are still witnesses, though of the unseen. We have not seen the inauguration of salvation at Golgotha, but we have seen its effects in ourselves: we who were once dead have been raised to life. Therefore, we can witness that the things that God has said happened really did happen. Our witness is not a matter of duty; it is a natural outgrowth of our believing in an unseen reality, i.e., redemption, Immanuel, God with us. How would our witness increase if we took God at face value that redemption is an abiding reality and not an abstract principle?
We are the storytellers, and the tale that we tell is true. We do not merely speak of traditions handed down to us, but of a reality that we have not seen but have known. We are the bards who do not tell of knights and dragons because the story is nice to hear but because we, upon hearing and believing it, felt the burns of battle. Likewise, we do not tell of the death and resurrection of God and the redemption of man because the story is nice to hear but because we, upon hearing and believing it, had redemption wrought in us. The tale that we tell, the reality that we witness to is not mere words; it is an overwhelming presence, an all-consuming fire, and those touched by it are not left unchanged.
"Ye are witnesses," witnesses to what is real; not what is possible, not what is fanciful, not what is dreamy, but what is, has been, and ever shall be. Now live like it.
"Why do we escape to dreams
When we have been bound to the Real?
We are not slaves to lies;
We are servants of the Truth..."
-Jon Vowell
"...ye are witnesses of these things." Luke 24:48
I believe that it is safe to say that we have lost a true understanding of the meaning of the term "witnessing." More often than not, we take it to mean that we are memorizing a cue card, spouting out the "ABC's" of salvation in order to score points with God. There is nothing real anymore, nothing pertinent, nothing driving, nothing that says, "I have seen these things, and know that they are." Neither Israel nor the disciples where to pay lip services; they were to be speaking facts: God's presence really did abide in the temple, and God really did become flesh and die on a cross for our sins. These were not fancy phrases and beautiful speeches to Israel or the disciples: they were actualities; deep, abiding truths.
"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believe." (John 20:29b) We who believe now are still witnesses, though of the unseen. We have not seen the inauguration of salvation at Golgotha, but we have seen its effects in ourselves: we who were once dead have been raised to life. Therefore, we can witness that the things that God has said happened really did happen. Our witness is not a matter of duty; it is a natural outgrowth of our believing in an unseen reality, i.e., redemption, Immanuel, God with us. How would our witness increase if we took God at face value that redemption is an abiding reality and not an abstract principle?
We are the storytellers, and the tale that we tell is true. We do not merely speak of traditions handed down to us, but of a reality that we have not seen but have known. We are the bards who do not tell of knights and dragons because the story is nice to hear but because we, upon hearing and believing it, felt the burns of battle. Likewise, we do not tell of the death and resurrection of God and the redemption of man because the story is nice to hear but because we, upon hearing and believing it, had redemption wrought in us. The tale that we tell, the reality that we witness to is not mere words; it is an overwhelming presence, an all-consuming fire, and those touched by it are not left unchanged.
"Ye are witnesses," witnesses to what is real; not what is possible, not what is fanciful, not what is dreamy, but what is, has been, and ever shall be. Now live like it.
"Why do we escape to dreams
When we have been bound to the Real?
We are not slaves to lies;
We are servants of the Truth..."
-Jon Vowell
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