“You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Testimony: (Gr. Marturion from Martus): A witness, a martyr, evidential, the Decalogue

Ecclesiastes tells us “To everything there is a season; and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die. . .” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a). The fullness of our time of living is the time of our testimony. It is our testimony that must withstand the judgment in the last day and that is the final verdict on our souls.

Jesus tells us the key to standing in the judgment is to receive the power of the Holy Spirit that will produce the testimony of Christ in our lives.

The Apostle confirmed this in his First Epistle to the Corinthians stating: “I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which has been given to you by Jesus Christ; that in everything you are enriched by Him in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you”. (I Corinthians 1:4-6). The testimony of Christ in us is the witness to Christ to the world. That witness is the time of our testimony that shines forth out of our lives. It is that testimony that will either be accepted and believed or hated and persecuted in the world (cf. John 15:18: 17:14). It is also that same testimony that is accepted by the Father, the testimony of His Son in us.

The Apostle John experienced first-hand the rejection of the testimony of Christ by the world and the trials and tribulation that followed, as he writes: “I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the Isle that is called Patmos for the word of God, and for the Testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9). In the time of his testimony, he remained faithful to his witness to Christ to the rulers at Rome and we are the beneficiaries of that testimony.

The Apostle John was, indeed, an overcomer and could write accordingly: “And they overcame the accuser of the brethren by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death” (Revelation 12:11).

This is the time of our testimony. The Apostles and Prophets have gone before; but the same Holy Spirit that was given to them has been given to us. The same Spirit of Christ in power and the same promise given to them was written to us. The testimony of Christ is in His Body. We are the members of that Body, and the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in us as it was in them. Let us bear true faith and witness to Christ to the world as we allow the power of the Holy Spirit to be revealed in us as it was revealed in them. Let us continue the story, the Gospel, the Good News of our salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Be encouraged. We are not alone, the love of the Father is with us, and Himself will give testimony to His Son in us, as it is written: “Long time, therefore abode they, speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (Acts 14:3). In the time of our testimony and witness Christ will be glorified and the Father will be well pleased.

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