Dear Ones:
A witness is a person who sees and hears…observes something or someone. On the day of Pentecost, there was a mighty rushing wind. The disciples HEARD. Then there were the “cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” (Acts 2:2-3) The disciples SAW. But what made the disciples true witnesses was the moment when the Holy Spirit FILLED them…they KNEW that God had come by His Spirit to dwell in the heart. And yet, not only to dwell, but to fill the life. It will be the Spirit who will give them the capacity and power to speak, declaring the “wonderful works of God.” (v.11)
Before Jesus was crucified, He spoke so very clearly concerning the ministry of the Spirit, a ministry that applies to every believer. We find in John 14-16 that the Holy Spirit not only dwells with the disciples, but dwells IN them…and this, forever. We find that this Spirit of truth will convince the disciples of His indwelling: “…I will come to you…at that day, ye shall KNOW that I am in my Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” (Jn. 14:18,19) There is the testimony of the indwelling Spirit to the heart and mind of the believer. Christ goes on to declare that He (the Holy Spirit), “…will teach you all things…and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” (14:26) And then, we find this partiular aspect of the ministry of the Spirit: “…He shall testify of Me….and ye also shall bear witness.” (15:26-27). The point is this…God, by His Spirit lives in the heart. Part of the ministry of the Spirit is to witness to our spirits of His presence. Paul reiterates this in Romans 8:16 when he writes: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God.” If He witnesses to the veracity of this relationship with God by the manifestation of His indwelling, then how much does He desire to work in and through us, witnessing to the world that Christ is INDEED the Son of God, and that there is real salvation through His name? We may be those who have not only seen and heard the reality of the presence of God, but have not trusted the Spirit to witness wholly and profoundly to our spirits, and through our hearts and lives, to a lost and dying world without Christ.
You ask, “How can this be, and how can I know the reality of such a witness?” It all comes back to our vision of God, and of Christ’s work. When God told Abraham to walk before Him and be perfect, He prefaced it by saying, “I am the Almighty God.” We need to see that He indeed, is Almighty God, and because of this, all is possible by Him. Secondly, we need to take a good look at Christ, upon the tree of suffering, and then in heaven at the right hand of God, and ask ourselves: “How much does He desire and will that I (we) KNOW the power of His indwelling, the witness to our spirits, that we in turn may testify by His strength and power of the reality of His person and work.” The Father SPARED NOT His Son…this should give us some grasp of His intent, and the eternal intensity of that intent and purpose.
So then, what are we to do? We pray and trust the Lord to give us that “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” (Eph 1:17) We need the vision. Secondly, we pray and ask the Father, “…to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man…to believe.” For we shall only know the indwelling of Christ BY FAITH, and God alone can strengthen us to the point where this becomes a reality to us. God the Father gave the Holy Spirit at the request of Christ, that He should WITNESS to our spirits that we ARE children of God, but also, that others might KNOW that God is real, and that there is real and lasting salvation in Christ alone.
Love, Dad