Jesus: The Witness

Dutch Sheets (Prayer Leader ) relates that a Messianic Jews told him: We believe that when we decree what God did yesterday that the same power is released today.

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The renowned nobility and dignity of our divine Lord’s personal character continues to increase magnificently the further we proceed with our investigation of His names, titles, and vocations. In this capacity He by far exceeds all other witnesses, because of the manifoldness of the witness He bears. Let us mention a few of these ere we deal with the witness of His good confession before Pontius Pilate the governor, which is recorded in all four of the Gospels and stated also by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 6:13.

His memorable witness to the Father and His love. On seven occasions in the Gospel by John, Christ affirms this. he stated, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand” (John 3:35). So the degree of the Father’s love is demonstrated by His cheerful generosity in bestowing His great gifts. The first man, Adam, had all things entrusted to him and he lost everything. When all things were committed to the second man (1 Corinthians 15:47), the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47), He said, “This is the Father’s will that hath sent me, that of all that He hath given Me I should lose nothing” (John 6:39).

The Father’s love is the choicest and wealthiest of all treasured virtue, and is as dateless as the abiding ages, as boundless as the azure skies, and as changeless as the eternal Godhead. The whole volume of love’s fullness and faithfulness flows forth from the Father ceaselessly, and rests in unabating immensity and complacency on the Well-Beloved Son.

The Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things that He Himself doeth (John 5:20). Love fully confides and wholly entrusts all secrets. The mutual cooperation is perfect and without variableness. The Father regards the Son in the highest fervor of love and endows Him with the holiest favor of love conceivable. The declaration Christ here makes, betokens the absolute agreement and inviolable harmony that exists in divine relationships. This steadfast harmony is inestimably precious and expresses the fact of the Father’s love, which the Son reciprocates and which is fathomless, yea, and measureless.

In further witness He affirmed, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again” (John 10:17). In this case the Father’s love is the outcome of the Son’s obedience unto death. By so doing the Son honored the Father, magnified His mercy, and glorified His name forevermore. In continuing His witness He said, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love” (John 15:9). The “as … so” used here is one of the twelve correlatives Christ mentioned in His teaching as recorded by John.

There is no example in human history, throughout the entire course of natural relationships, that Christ was able to use as an illustration of His love to His people. Not even the fragrant love of Jacob for Rachel, or the fervent love of Boaz for Ruth, or the fascinating love of Jonathan for David, could in any wise furnish the requirement. He had to go altogether outside the realm of mankind to find a love similar in character to His own. In the whole range of knowledge there is but one whose love is equal in integrity and intensity to His own love. Wherefore He went far back to the very source of the spring of infinite love, to the everliving, everlasting Father, when stating, “As, the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you.”

Furthermore He said, “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one … that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me” (John 17:22–23).

Here are words that deal with matters that are too profound and too mysterious for mortal minds to grasp. Could love do more than Christ has done for those who receive Him? In view of the value of His mediatorial merit as an intercessor, He secures for us participation in the enjoyment of the Father’s infinite love. The assurance He gave to His disciples, of His love for them, was not merely a note of superficial sentiment, for He proved to them the intensity of His affection by offering Himself in sacrifice and in passing through the sepulcher to secure for them the Father’s love, such as he himself enjoyed. Could we today but partially estimate the crucial suffering, self denial, and self-sacrifice He encountered to emancipate the enslaved, we also would have convincing evidence of His superlative love for us.

The quality of this is certainly that of a special love, a dynamic love, a majestic love, yea, of an intrinsic love, belonging solely to the infinite Father and His incomparable Son.

In the final witness He gave to this wonderful love He said, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee.… I declared to them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:25–26). What an unveiling this really is of celestial secrets that are homed in the eternal counsels of the Most High! What an affiliation, to be associated with God’s beloved Son! What a glorious relationship we are brought into by virtue of His gracious regard! The Son affirms that He is speaking of matters that are known to Him and no one else could have told us what He did, of that love which is the special glory of the Father. He said, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not out witness” (John 3:11).

His reliable witness to the former personalities in early Jewish history. We chose the word reliable with care, to express this phase of His witness, because He knew each one of the patriarchs and spoke to them personally. He knew each of the prophets from Samuel to John and gave to them the messages they delivered to the nation. He was fully acquainted with all of the priests and kings of Israel and established their official positions. Yea, He knew all men and did not require witnesses to inform Him concerning anyone (John 2:25). By Him every family in Heaven and earth is named (Ephesians 3:14). He determined names for Jacob’s twelve sons, which had meanings suitable for inscription on the twelve gates of the city of God.

His infallible witness to the fixity and finality of the Scriptures. On the occasion when He declared Himself to be the Son of God, and referred five times to the witness of the works He did in His Father’s name, to substantiate His claim, He emphatically stated, “The scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). When referring to His betrayer He said, “I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me. Now I tell you before it come that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He” (John 13:18–19). This was further confirmed when He addressed the Father, “Those that Thou gavest Me I kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). On twelve occasions in John’s message reference is made to the Scriptures. Our Lord’s chief witness to the divine inviolability of the Scriptures was spoken in Gethsemane, when His disciples sought to safeguard Him from arrest. “Put up … thy sword.… Thinkest thou that I cannot now call upon My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matthew 26:54 Newberry)

Even though it meant to Him trial, affliction, scourging, and crucifixion, Scripture must be honored. Twelve legions was the number of David’s army at the zenith of his power, 288,000 men (1 Chronicles 27:1). Christ could have requested more than that number of angels at a time of abject weakness. No stronger verification of His statements could be given than when he declared, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

His remarkable witness to features and factors of the far remote past, also to future events. He referred to male and female having been made at the beginning, and told the Apostle John that He was the beginning of the creation of God (Matthew 19:4–6; Revelation 3:14). In this capacity He knew all about origins, for all things were made by Him and for Him (Revelation 4:11). He had the living models of wild animal life, domestic animal life, human life, and bird life in Heaven before He made them on earth. He also had the models of the Tabernacle, Temple, throne, and city of God, with twelve gates in Heaven, before He revealed the patterns on earth. The Tabernacle was for dwelling, the throne for ruling, the Temple for blessing. All are featured in the city of God in Revelation 21, God’s presence, power, and pleasure in blessing His people, in a perfected society. “Known to God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).

He established the official functions of priest, king and prophet for mediation, administration, and instruction. These had to do with the heart, the will, and the mind. Christ fulfills all three of these vocations and in all His dealings with individuals He calls into exercise heart, will, and mind. Those who speak of the Christian faith as merely a sentimental idea, have not investigated its character, for it makes its demand on the human reason and will as well as on the heart.

Our Lord’s witness to future events covers a great variety of forecasts over a very wide field. When there were no printing machines, telegraphic communications, or telecasts, He said the gospel would be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. He said His words would not pass away and today what He said is being printed in millions of copies annually, in three thousand languages and dialects. He told us that the moral corruption and violence that existed in Noah’s day would characterize the close of the present age. Sixteen times in His final message in Matthew, He spoke of coming again, and gave a detailed account of the conditions that would exist when He returned. No power exists in any sphere that can refute His witness or resist the fulfillment of the things He stated would come to pass.

We must forego writing about His undeniable witness, featuring invisible realities in the life to come, the world to come, and the kingdom to come. Or His irrefutable witness, foretelling the resurrection of all that are in the graves and demonstrating it in miniature at Bethany, He Himself being the resurrection and the life, and the greatest verification of His witness. We require also to pass by many other aspects of His authoritative and authentic witness, and conclude the section with His well-known confession.

His admirable witness to the fact of His kingship and kingdom of truth before Pontius Pilate the governor. The Apostle Paul speaks of this witness as a good confession because it was clear, correct, and courageous. Christ boldly claimed to be king when there was not the slightest evidence of regal status or sovereign regency. His outspoken claim was not to gain an advantage or to arouse pity for Himself; His confession tendered to increase derisive sneers from His accusers. He was outwardly divested to the utmost degree of everything that the world considered conducive to kingship. He had no bejeweled crown or golden scepter; no palatial residence or royal possessions; no retinue of servants, or revenue from subjects, and no army ranks or attendant guards. What a sorry spectacle, disdained by rulers, derided by priests, despised by the people, and deserted by His disciples! While in this wretched set of circumstances, Pilate said to Him, “Art Thou a king then?” Jesus answered, “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37).

According to the divine counsels of kingship revealed to Moses, it was specified that the ruler was not to be alienated in nature from the people he governed. No stranger or foreigner was suitable for kingship (Deuteronomy 17:14–15). To fulfill all righteousness Christ was therefore born. Christ is King, by virtue of the inherent power of truth, which is the very nature of His royal might and majesty. Unmingled, unalloyed truth is the predominant and vital factor of His kingdom, a Greek word meaning regency, and to this fact He witnessed. He confessed that He was King of this spiritual regency of truth that governed the minds, wills, and hearts of men, of which He Himself is the personification, as well as witness.

No one else in circumstances of abject humiliation ever made so prodigious a claim while in such a sorrowful plight, on the lowest level of dejection. Moreover, this confession of being a King will yet receive universal acknowledgment, on the loftiest plane of highest honor, by multitudinous hosts. Christ is the King of a kingdom of spiritual truth. He came into this world of mankind and ministered truth in His teaching. He manifested truth in the life He lived. He mirrored truth in all His activities. He maintained truth inwardly and outwardly in all aspirations and attitudes. He is the truth in embodiment, and truth embodied in a person is almighty power. In all witness He is truthful, forceful, and faithful. The truthfulness of His claim as being King, and of His bearing witness to being the Truth, indicates that He is Truth transparent, Truth trenchant, Truth triumphant, and Truth transcendent. As king of the Jews He is a racial king. As king of Israel, He is a national king. As king of saints He is an ecclesiastical king. As king of righteousness and peace, He is a spiritual or moral king. As king of Heaven, He is a celestial king. As king of glory, He is a supernal king. Thrice in the New Testament He is named “King of kings.”

Rolls, C. J. (1985). His Glorious Name: Names and Titles of Jesus Christ: T-Z. Loizeaux Brothers.