"Not Without Witness"

"Not Without Witness"   

   

    

   From the moment of our conception, the greatest influence on our hearts and lives has been the working of God to reveal Himself and lead us to His Truth.

   "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20).

    Our circumstances, situations, conditions, heritage, religious influence, geography, experience - whatever their nature - all speak first and foremost of our Lord's reality and His moving within our hearts to reveal Himself and His truth.  "Clearly seen" declares the Apostle Paul of God's "eternal power and godhead."  Thus, we are all rendered "without excuse" because we have all been so graced with "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9).  Of course, excuses for rejecting God's light comprise the default position of our flesh, beginning with Adam and Eve's blame shifting long ago in Eden (Genesis 3:11-13).  The devil would offer a thousand different questions about God's revelation of Himself, all seeking to foment unrest about the Lord's justice, and our responsibility.  "Well, what about this?  And what about that?  Or what about this and that?!"  Again, the Biblical answer is "clearly seen" regarding the reality of God regardless of appearance, because "the things that are made" all bear witness to "the invisible things."  

   We are always preaching to the choir, as it were, when we bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel.  Of course, some may have more awareness of the conceptual realities regarding God's truth.  Those reared in Christian environments will certainly possess more immediate knowledge about the propositions of Scripture.  However, as missionaries to remote lands have often discovered, God never leaves Himself without a witness.  "The Light shineth in darkness" declared the Apostle John (John 1:5).  Consider that the Lord Jesus Himself made and sustains the existence of those to whom we bear witness of His saving grace.  They also "live and move and have their being" in Him.  He gives to them "life and breath and all things" (John 1:1-2; Colossians 1:17; Acts 17:25-28).  The fact of the matter is that everybody has immediate experience of God.  Thus, everybody knows.  The most ardent atheist knows.  He may sneer, bluster, and mock the notion of God.  But deeply within, he knows.  This is why the atheist often feels so much passion about his rejection of God.  He fights against the primary truth of his existence, thus creating the most frustrating and miserable conflict within himself.  He shouts his unbelief, crying against the Voice that so plainly speaks to his heart.  Indeed, the issue never really involves intellect, but rather heart.  "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).

    Let us then go forth to the choir.  Every human being whose paths cross ours today has heard the Voice and seen the Reality from the moment of conception until this present hour.  When we speak of the Lord Jesus, our words resonate in familiar halls wherein God's Truth has long sounded and resounded.  Those who reject the Lord and the Gospel act not from inability to respond, but from unwillingness.  Everybody knows.  Remembering that our witness simply provides a corresponding voice to the Spirit of God's moving to shine light in human hearts encourages us to speak the Word to those who have continually seen God in His world.

"He left not Himself without witness."

(Acts 14:17)

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me.  And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning."

(John 15:26-27)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears.

(II Samuel 22:7)