Two Witnesses, Not One

Today I would like to focus on the following words of Jesus, and look at what they mean to us: “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true" (Jn. 5:31,32). And once again: "It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me" (Jn. 8:17,18). It’s evident by what we have just read that Jesus did not try to authenticate who he was on his own. He was dependent on his father’s witness of him, because as he alluded to, the law said that nothing regarding divine judgment could be established by the mouth of one witness alone (Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6; Deut. 19:15). Now to see what this means to us, it must be first understood that divine judgment works both ways; against a person, and for a person. One example that comes to mind is when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchanezzar and Babylon in the days of Jeremiah. God executed judgment against Judah and Jerusalem because they did not take heed to his word by Jeremiah. But God also executed judgment for Jeremiah by putting it in the heart of Nebuchadnezzar to instruct his chief officer to grant to Jeremiah to do whatever pleased him, whether to go to Babylon freely, or to stay in Jerusalem freely (Jer. 39:11; Jer. 40:1-4). There are plenty of other examples, but that one will suffice to make the point that judgment goes both ways. And the point of this article is to show that God has not left in the hands of men to determine who HAS been, and who has not been born again into his kingdom. Even as Jesus had to have the witness of his Father, who spoke from heaven when he was baptized by John, so we must have a heavenly witness to authenticate our born again experience. Many others claimed to believe in Jesus for who he was, but he wasn’t committed to the testimony of men because the scripture says, "he knew what was in man” (Jn. 2:24). So what is it that Jesus knew that was in man? "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it”(Jer. 17:9)? That is why Jesus wasn’t committed to the testimony of men’s faith when he was here, and that has not changed, that is unless Jesus has changed (Heb. 13:8).

The new birth experience is the greatest gift to ever come from heaven. God’s only begotten son suffered and died so that we might have this wonderful experience of true, literal remission of sins. Do you really believe that God has made allowance for man to claim that he has become a child of God by being born again into his kingdom, when his only begotten Son had to have his witness, and was not committed to the witness of men; regardless of how many? No my friend, God has not changed either (Mal. 4:6; Jas. 1:17). Jesus made it clear that we would need the heavenly witness, even as he needed his heavenly witness: “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" (Jn. 15:26). Being born again means to receive the Spirit of God into one’s life, and the following scripture references confirm that irrefutably (Jn. 3:5; Rom. 8:9; Rom. 15:16; I Cor. 6:11; I Cor. 12:13; II Cor. 5:17; Tit. 3:5). It is certain that we receive the Spirit as a result of believing on Jesus (Jn. 7:37-39; Gal. 3:14). As Jesus stated in the above mentioned scripture, when we receive the Spirit it will testify of that experience, and that we will testify also. Now that is two witnesses, one from heaven and the other by us. So what is the Spirit’s testimony that we must have to authenticate our new birth experience? It is the same one that was furnished by God on the day of Pentecost, the day the body of Christ was born (I Cor. 12:13). "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). After Pentecost it was fully understood that this was the sign, or witness from God of the new birth experience. This is how Peter and those who came with him to the house of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, knew that these people received the Spirit: "For [because] they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" (Acts 10:46). This is how Philip and the apostles in Jerusalem knew that the Samaritans had not received the holy Ghost, even though they had experienced a number of miraculous things by faith in Jesus (Acts 8:14-16). Friend, it doesn’t matter how many people agree with us about what we believe to be our new birth experience. That is just a conglomeration of one witness, that being the witness of men. We still have to have the heavenly witness to confirm that our faith and repentance has met God’s terms, and that he has accepted us into his fold. God alone knows the hearts of men, and he alone has authority to judge for us that we have been made right in his sight through the remission of our sins (Jer. 17:10; Acts 15:8,9; I Jn. 5:9; Prov. 28:26). Amen.