Latest Posts
View the latest posts in an easy-to-read list format, with filtering options.
When an illiterate man signs a contract with an X, it requires witnesses to verify that he was indeed the one who signed the contract and that it was done without coercion. When God signs His name with the tav on our foreheads, He too requires witnesses. 2 Corinthians 13:1 says, “Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
This principle of law is based on Deuteronomy 17:6 and can be applied on many levels. The broadest application appears to be the witness of heaven and earth (Deuteronomy 4:26; 30:19). We are called to do our part to bring heaven to earth to fulfill Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:10,
10 Your Kingdom come, Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
We are called to bear witness to all that God speaks and does in order to accomplish this. Even Jesus Himself required a double witness. So we read in John 1:6, 7,
6 There came a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
The day will come when all things in both heaven and in earth will bear witness to the truth, and then we will see the restoration of all things. At that moment, all things will be under the feet of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:27, 28).
Those who truly bear witness to Him are those on whose foreheads is written the signature of God (Revelation 22:4). Unfortunately, there are many believers who bear witness to a mere fraction of the nature of God and His plans for the earth. There are at least two reasons for this. First, all believers start out with some level of ignorance of God’s plan and need time to learn it so that they can bear witness to it. That is the purpose of Pentecost. Second, many have never heard some of the great truths of the Word because the church has failed to teach these things. One cannot bear witness to what one has never heard or seen.
Even so, we should also recognize that God has not revealed Himself (or His plans) to everyone in the present age. He has chosen to reveal Himself to a few today and the rest in a later age. Romans 11:1-7 speaks of the remnant of grace, which, by definition, is a small minority. Verse 7 tells us that this remnant is “chosen,” and “the rest were hardened” (blinded).
Therefore, even though “the heavens are telling of the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1), visible to all, and the gospel has been preached openly from the beginning of time, most have been blind and cannot bear witness to the truth of God. In the big picture, it is God’s will (thelema) that all would see the truth, but it is God’s plan (boulema) that His will would be fulfilled incrementally over a period of ages. He first has called those who will reign with Christ; and in the ages to come, He will call the rest of humanity.
This, of course, will require resurrection, because most people have already died in years past. But God is in no hurry, for He has drawn up the plans before anything was created. His plan will be fulfilled, even though His will is constantly being violated in the world through sin. It is of great help to understand the difference between God’s will (thelema, Romans 2:18) and God’s plan (boulema, Romans 9:19). “He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 KJV). God will never fail to accomplish His will, but it is His plan that His will should be fulfilled a few at a time from each generation and the rest in the final age.
The revelation of the sovereignty of God is what Jacob had to learn in order to be called Israel, “God rules.” This is what made him an overcomer. Jesus apparently recognized this in Nathanael, for we read in John 1:47,
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit.”
Jacob was a deceiver (as his name indicates), for he thought that God needed his help to fulfill the prophecy spoken before he was born that “the older will serve the younger.” When it appeared that Isaac would give the birthright to Esau, he deceived his father and thereby obtained the birthright. Years later, he had to repent, thereby being renamed Israel.
Nathanael, on the other hand, had “no deceit” and was “an Israelite indeed.”
These and many other great truths in the Word are there for all to see, but yet they are hidden from the blind until God opens their eyes. Whenever Jesus healed the blind, it pointed to this principle. Men are helplessly blind until Jesus comes their way and heals them.
Then they are able to begin bearing witness to the works of God and the plans of heaven for the earth. When they see the signature of God, they are able to bear witness in the divine court that this is of God. When they bear witness, the earth bears witness to the things of heaven, and the two become one.
So let us continue to be God’s witnesses in the earth.