To those who overcome...
Revelation 11:3-8,
“And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. They are 'the two olive trees' and the two lampstands, and 'they stand before the Lord of the earth.' If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”
Coming back to my writing from last week, where in Acts 1:8 Jesus says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” As I noted, witnesses here is the word martus, Strongs #3144, and means to be martyred, witnesses of Christ by their death. [1]
So what does it look like to be witnesses (martyred) for Christ?
Death through Salvation
In Revelation 12:10-12 John says,
“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 'Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.'”
What gave the accuser no more right to accuse man before God? When the penalty for their sin was paid by Jesus. Wesley's Notes state, “By the blood of the Lamb - Which cleanses the soul from all sin, and so leaves no room for accusing.” [2] They triumphed by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.
Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
And Romans 6:3 says, “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
Our witness starts at salvation. The first death that we experience as Christians, is that of salvation. We die and are born again in Christ. We do not love our lives separated from God so much as to shrink from receiving His invitation of death of the old man.
Laying Down our Lives Daily for Christ
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And Jesus said in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Going back to last week, we live out our salvation on a daily basis by dying to our old self. Bonhoeffer writes, “The daily dying of the Christian life is merely the consequence of the one baptismal death, just as the tree dies after its roots have been cut away.” [3]
1 John 1:7-10 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”
Receiving the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ, we have a new disposition. Instead of being disposed towards sin, we are disposed towards righteousness. [4] We desire to put the old to death and pursue righteousness.
1 John 3:9-10 says, “Those who are born of God will not continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they know they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are: Those who do not do what is right are not God's children; nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.”
The old nature is that of sin and that of the world. Having our hearts turned towards the things of the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). Concerns for the style car we drive, the size of our house, our job title at work, our past successes and achievements, and/or the size of our office as compared to others is all friendship with the world. James 3:16 says, “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
John says in 1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If you love the world, love for the Father is not in you. For everything in the world -the cravings of sinful people, the lust of their eyes and their boasting about what they have and do -comes not from the Father but from the world.”
As Mother Teresa notes, people are hungry for more than just bread. People are hungry for love, to be known, and to be taken into account. [5] When people seek to get this from the world rather than seeking their life from God, it comes out in striving to obtain recognition/validation, power, and stuff.
Even more damaging is doing harm to ones neighbors. James 4:11 says, “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.”
1 Peter 5:5 says, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.'”
Jude 16 refers to the ungodly and notes, “These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.”
Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
We are to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, running with “perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
However, no longer conforming to this world is more than what we do, sin includes what we fail to do. James 4:17 says, “So then, if you know the good you ought to do and don't do it, you sin.” James then moves into a discussion on hording wealth. He writes, “Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have horded wealth in the last days... You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.”
Proverbs 21:13 says, “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered.” And John says in 1 John 3:17-18, “If anyone of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you? Dear children, let us not love with word or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
These scriptures are not to guilt us into action but to open our eyes and our hearts to the cry of the poor around us and get us to really listen. Somewhere I read that one big difference between my generation and the upcoming generation is their tolerance for injustice. This young generation is not as willing (or able) to shut their eyes and ears to the injustice of poverty and oppression. They do not just go on with life saying it is too big of a problem to deal with but stop and ask, what can be done?
Proverbs 31:8-9 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
A significant part of this has to do with our choices on our priorities in life. Thomas a Kempis writes, “Many often err and accomplish little or nothing because they try to become learned rather than live well... How many there are who perish because of vain worldly knowledge and too little care for serving God. They become vain in their own conceits because they choose to be great rather than humble. He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly that he may gain Christ.” [6]
We empty ourselves so that we may be filled with God. 1 Peter 1:14-15 says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.”
Mother Teresa writes, “Sacrifice, in order to be genuine, has to empty us of ourselves. Jesus has chosen each one of us to be His love and His light in the world... Love, in order to survive, must be nourished by sacrifices, especially the sacrifice of self. Renouncing means to offer my free will, my life, in an attitude of faith.” [7]
Peter says in 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's might hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6) At times I have heard this scripture used in the context of being exalted before man. However, this was not the end result of Jesus. He was lifted up on a cross, while despised by man. God does not desire us to humble ourselves so that we gain approval of man but that of God. We humble ourselves is to make more room in our hearts to be with, hear and be filled with God.
Laying Down Our Lives for Others
More significant than our witness to others by our words is our witness by our actions. 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”
The strongest witness to others is love in action, even in the midst of hate and persecution. Jesus fully gave his life for us. In Revelation 1:45 it says that He is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead.
Mother Teresa writes about Jesus, “In his passion our Lord says, 'Thy will be done. Do with me what you want.' And that was the hardest thing for our Lord even at the last moment. They say that the passion in Gethsemane was much greater than even the crucifixion. Because it was His heart, His soul that was being crucified, while on the cross, it was His body that was crucified. And the only way that we know that it was so difficult for Him that hour is that He asked, 'Why could you not spend one hour with me?' We know He needed consolation. This is total surrender – not to be loved by anybody, not to be wanted by anybody, just to be a nobody because we have given all to Christ.” [8]
And she writes about his death on the cross, “On the cross Christ was deprived of everything. The cross itself had been given Him by Pilate; nails and the crown, by the soldiers. He was naked. [I would add, mocked, ridiculed and denied any human dignity]. He was wrapped in a piece of canvas donated by a charitable soul, and He was buried in a tomb that did not belong to Him. Despite all that, Jesus could have died like a king and could even have been spared death. He chose poverty because He knew that it was the genuine means to possess God and to bring His love to the earth.”[9]
John writes in 1 John:4:17, “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”
Our testimony and our witness come from how we chose to live our lives. We can choose to live them shrinking back from death and living for ourselves or embracing and entering into death as witnesses of Christ.
Jesus tells the church in Smyrna, “These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty -yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Those who are victorious will not be heart by the second death.”
When Jesus spoke to the seven churches in Revelation, He was not condemning them for their wrong choices, failures and shortcomings, but calling them out into more. In all seven churches, Christ was calling them to some form of further death so they could come more into the fullness of all He had for them. He told each church “To those who overcome...” Strong's Enhanced dictionary notes that he was calling Christians to “hold fast their faith even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions.”
Jesus, forgive me for the so many ways I do not choose rightly and fail to love You. I am so thankful for your grace and mercy. Would you teach me how to use my time more wisely, choosing to die to self. I long to live for your kingdom purposes, embracing all that you have for me, being Your witness in the way I live and love.
Holy Spirit come. Make us your witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Empty us of ourselves so that we would be filled with more of You.
1. Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W. (1996). Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words. Witnesses. Nashville: T. Nelson
2. Wesley's Notes. Located at: http://biblecommenter.com/revelation/12-11.htm. Last Accessed: 9/1/10
3. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
4. Willard, Dallas.
5, 7-9. Mother Teresa. No Greater Love. New World library. Novato, California. 1989.
6. Kempis, Thomas a. The Imitation of Christ. Translated by Aloysius Croft and Harold Bolton. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola, New York. Dover Thrift Editions. 2003.
“And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. They are 'the two olive trees' and the two lampstands, and 'they stand before the Lord of the earth.' If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”
Coming back to my writing from last week, where in Acts 1:8 Jesus says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” As I noted, witnesses here is the word martus, Strongs #3144, and means to be martyred, witnesses of Christ by their death. [1]
So what does it look like to be witnesses (martyred) for Christ?
Death through Salvation
In Revelation 12:10-12 John says,
“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 'Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.'”
What gave the accuser no more right to accuse man before God? When the penalty for their sin was paid by Jesus. Wesley's Notes state, “By the blood of the Lamb - Which cleanses the soul from all sin, and so leaves no room for accusing.” [2] They triumphed by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.
Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
And Romans 6:3 says, “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
Our witness starts at salvation. The first death that we experience as Christians, is that of salvation. We die and are born again in Christ. We do not love our lives separated from God so much as to shrink from receiving His invitation of death of the old man.
Laying Down our Lives Daily for Christ
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And Jesus said in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Going back to last week, we live out our salvation on a daily basis by dying to our old self. Bonhoeffer writes, “The daily dying of the Christian life is merely the consequence of the one baptismal death, just as the tree dies after its roots have been cut away.” [3]
1 John 1:7-10 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”
Receiving the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ, we have a new disposition. Instead of being disposed towards sin, we are disposed towards righteousness. [4] We desire to put the old to death and pursue righteousness.
1 John 3:9-10 says, “Those who are born of God will not continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they know they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are: Those who do not do what is right are not God's children; nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.”
The old nature is that of sin and that of the world. Having our hearts turned towards the things of the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). Concerns for the style car we drive, the size of our house, our job title at work, our past successes and achievements, and/or the size of our office as compared to others is all friendship with the world. James 3:16 says, “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
John says in 1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If you love the world, love for the Father is not in you. For everything in the world -the cravings of sinful people, the lust of their eyes and their boasting about what they have and do -comes not from the Father but from the world.”
As Mother Teresa notes, people are hungry for more than just bread. People are hungry for love, to be known, and to be taken into account. [5] When people seek to get this from the world rather than seeking their life from God, it comes out in striving to obtain recognition/validation, power, and stuff.
Even more damaging is doing harm to ones neighbors. James 4:11 says, “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.”
1 Peter 5:5 says, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.'”
Jude 16 refers to the ungodly and notes, “These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.”
Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
We are to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, running with “perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
However, no longer conforming to this world is more than what we do, sin includes what we fail to do. James 4:17 says, “So then, if you know the good you ought to do and don't do it, you sin.” James then moves into a discussion on hording wealth. He writes, “Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have horded wealth in the last days... You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.”
Proverbs 21:13 says, “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered.” And John says in 1 John 3:17-18, “If anyone of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you? Dear children, let us not love with word or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
These scriptures are not to guilt us into action but to open our eyes and our hearts to the cry of the poor around us and get us to really listen. Somewhere I read that one big difference between my generation and the upcoming generation is their tolerance for injustice. This young generation is not as willing (or able) to shut their eyes and ears to the injustice of poverty and oppression. They do not just go on with life saying it is too big of a problem to deal with but stop and ask, what can be done?
Proverbs 31:8-9 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
A significant part of this has to do with our choices on our priorities in life. Thomas a Kempis writes, “Many often err and accomplish little or nothing because they try to become learned rather than live well... How many there are who perish because of vain worldly knowledge and too little care for serving God. They become vain in their own conceits because they choose to be great rather than humble. He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly that he may gain Christ.” [6]
We empty ourselves so that we may be filled with God. 1 Peter 1:14-15 says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.”
Mother Teresa writes, “Sacrifice, in order to be genuine, has to empty us of ourselves. Jesus has chosen each one of us to be His love and His light in the world... Love, in order to survive, must be nourished by sacrifices, especially the sacrifice of self. Renouncing means to offer my free will, my life, in an attitude of faith.” [7]
Peter says in 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's might hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6) At times I have heard this scripture used in the context of being exalted before man. However, this was not the end result of Jesus. He was lifted up on a cross, while despised by man. God does not desire us to humble ourselves so that we gain approval of man but that of God. We humble ourselves is to make more room in our hearts to be with, hear and be filled with God.
Laying Down Our Lives for Others
More significant than our witness to others by our words is our witness by our actions. 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”
The strongest witness to others is love in action, even in the midst of hate and persecution. Jesus fully gave his life for us. In Revelation 1:45 it says that He is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead.
Mother Teresa writes about Jesus, “In his passion our Lord says, 'Thy will be done. Do with me what you want.' And that was the hardest thing for our Lord even at the last moment. They say that the passion in Gethsemane was much greater than even the crucifixion. Because it was His heart, His soul that was being crucified, while on the cross, it was His body that was crucified. And the only way that we know that it was so difficult for Him that hour is that He asked, 'Why could you not spend one hour with me?' We know He needed consolation. This is total surrender – not to be loved by anybody, not to be wanted by anybody, just to be a nobody because we have given all to Christ.” [8]
And she writes about his death on the cross, “On the cross Christ was deprived of everything. The cross itself had been given Him by Pilate; nails and the crown, by the soldiers. He was naked. [I would add, mocked, ridiculed and denied any human dignity]. He was wrapped in a piece of canvas donated by a charitable soul, and He was buried in a tomb that did not belong to Him. Despite all that, Jesus could have died like a king and could even have been spared death. He chose poverty because He knew that it was the genuine means to possess God and to bring His love to the earth.”[9]
John writes in 1 John:4:17, “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”
Our testimony and our witness come from how we chose to live our lives. We can choose to live them shrinking back from death and living for ourselves or embracing and entering into death as witnesses of Christ.
Jesus tells the church in Smyrna, “These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty -yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Those who are victorious will not be heart by the second death.”
When Jesus spoke to the seven churches in Revelation, He was not condemning them for their wrong choices, failures and shortcomings, but calling them out into more. In all seven churches, Christ was calling them to some form of further death so they could come more into the fullness of all He had for them. He told each church “To those who overcome...” Strong's Enhanced dictionary notes that he was calling Christians to “hold fast their faith even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions.”
Jesus, forgive me for the so many ways I do not choose rightly and fail to love You. I am so thankful for your grace and mercy. Would you teach me how to use my time more wisely, choosing to die to self. I long to live for your kingdom purposes, embracing all that you have for me, being Your witness in the way I live and love.
Holy Spirit come. Make us your witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Empty us of ourselves so that we would be filled with more of You.
1. Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W. (1996). Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words. Witnesses. Nashville: T. Nelson
2. Wesley's Notes. Located at: http://biblecommenter.com/revelation/12-11.htm. Last Accessed: 9/1/10
3. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
4. Willard, Dallas.
5, 7-9. Mother Teresa. No Greater Love. New World library. Novato, California. 1989.
6. Kempis, Thomas a. The Imitation of Christ. Translated by Aloysius Croft and Harold Bolton. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola, New York. Dover Thrift Editions. 2003.
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