Revelation 12:10-11
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
In our justice system, one of the most powerful pieces of evidence is eyewitness testimony before the court. In the days before DNA and other scientific and forensic advances, the testimony of an eyewitness could make or break a case. An eyewitness could identify the guilty party or solidify an alibi and free an innocent person. The assignment for an eyewitness is to tell the truth about what they saw, heard, and experienced. A testimony is powerful as it can give account to certain events.
When Jesus ended his earthly ministry and gave us the Great Commission, he declared, "You will be my witnesses." We are called - commanded, even - to be eyewitnesses to the saving, healing grace of Jesus. In the Bible, there is a wonderful story of someone who did just that. The story in found in the 9th chapter of John. The story begins with a theological discussion, continues with a miracle, and ends with a powerful testimony.
As Jesus and His disciples were traveling, they saw a man who had been blind since birth. The Disciples (sadly like many of us sometimes) were more interested in the theological ramifications of the man's situation than they were in the man himself “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him."
Jesus then told His disciples, " 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.." For many years, I didn't understand why He said this - it didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story. But it seemed Jesus was saying to the disciples was you are wasting precious time trying to find someone to blame for this man's blindness when you should be ministering to him. (There's a sermon unto itself there...)
Immediately after saying this, Jesus made mud, put it on the man's eyes and told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam, which ironically means "sent." As soon as the man obeyed what Jesus had told him, he was able to see for the first time in his life! The town, which had known him all his life as a blind beggar, was buzzing with the news that he could now see. He was healed!! There was such a change in him that people who had known him all his life didn't think it was the same person.
There was a problem, though. The man had been healed on the Sabbath, and that was, according to Pharisaic Law, not legal. There were so many people that were angry about Jesus healing on the Sabbath. So they marched this man to the Pharisees to see what they thought. When they heard the story, there was a deep division among the Pharisees. Some of them were still spiritually minded enough to realize and recognize that this was of God. Others unfortunately were so mired in their self-imposed legalism that they refused to believe this was of God or that Jesus might be a prophet, much less the Messiah.
They called the formerly blind man to appear before them to hear his story.
Some of the Pharisees thought they were being tricked, so they hauled the man's parents in front of them to identify him. The parents, who were deathly afraid of the Jewish leaders, acknowledged this man was there son and that he used to be blind, but said they had no idea what had happened to him. "He is of age, ask him yourself" they said.
The Pharisees would love to have discredited this man and thereby discredited Jesus. One thing stood in their way: his simple yet powerful personal eyewitness testimony."All I know is this: Once I was blind, and now I can see!" his testimony spoke for itself.
You and I are often given the opportunity to use the power of our eyewitness testimony to convince others of God's grace love and mercy and to encourage our brothers and sisters in their walk in life. Let's be alert for opportunities that the Holy Spirit will give us today to tell our story of his working in our lives! There are so many individuals that are broken, that are dealing with issues that can heal from someone else’s testimony and how someone else had overcame and been healed and delivered from a situation.
A testimony is powerful! Do not be afraid to tell your story.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:10
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