[Darris McNeely] What does the phrase "the testimony of Jesus Christ" mean? We find it four times in the book of Revelation. I'm beginning a series here on BT Daily about questions from the book of Revelation. We get a lot of questions here about that and also, it provides a lot of content for us on our Beyond Today television program and our magazine.
This phrase, as I said, is mentioned four times. The first time is in Revelation 1:2 where it opens by talking about the fact that the word, "..the Revelation, has been sent and signified by God's angel to His servant, John, who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ." It's also mentioned in Revelation 1:9...or the phrase is used in the same way in speaking about the testimony of Jesus Christ.
What exactly is this testimony? What do we learn from that?
We come down to Revelation 12:17, we find the third reference to it and this gives us a little bit more definition. Chapter 12 is a very important inset chapter in the book of Revelation talking about the woman who is identified as the church and she is persecuted by the dragon, which is Satan. She flees into the wilderness and then the dragon is enraged and goes to make war with the remnant of, the offspring of the children, who are identified there as "those who keep the commandments of God". It says that the true church there, the people of God, has the testimony of Jesus Christ and they keep the commandments of God.
What Christ said at one point in one his teachings to his disciples that, "If you love me, you will keep my command." So we're beginning to see that this then really speaks to the teaching and the Word of God that is actually the testimony of God itself. And as we keep that ourselves, we are involved with proclaiming that not only by word but also by our example and our life.
The last reference to this is in Revelation 19:10 where the angel that comes to John with a message restrains John from worshipping him. Instead, the angel says, "Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." The spirit of prophecy can be foretelling the future, but it can also be inspired teaching that we are involved with as well.
So when we put all of this together, we understand that the teaching from Revelation through the angel and through John is to worship God, keep His commandments. That is the testimony of Jesus Christ. And when we do that then we can be assured of having a relationship that is on that par that Jesus said is that of friendship.
That's BT Daily. Join us next time.
