They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Isaiah 61:4
God's world has been defiled and desolated as darkness engulfs the earth. It is during this time of engulfing darkness that the ancient power of the witness will go forth. If you are to survive the Tribulation, Days of Slaughter, you are required to enter through a venerable door. Those who overcome will enter through an ancient and rarely understood Door of the Witness. Today there is interest in opening interdimensional doorways and portals accessing wickedness but doorways were originally designed, from the foundation of the earth, to access the conquering power of God. Jesus Christ is calling you to reassert the long lost strength of the witness.
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10: 9-10
Overcoming as a Witness
They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death. Revelation 12:11
Faithful witnesses will return or repeat what he saw and experienced. Being a witness requires more than just to see. A witness is be a presence or force to observe and to testify to an act that is formal or legally.
The English word witness and testimony in their ancient setting, mean to see or observe the door. The door of the house is the most repeatedly used part of the whole structure. We constantly go in and out of the door. It is a repeated action and probably one of the most daily, cyclical things we do. The ancient meaning of this word in its root is to observe and/or repeat an action. In the original language time is cyclical and not linear.
- Witness is translated as forever and ever in Exodus 15.
- Witness means evidence
- Witness means the person who testifies
- Witness bears evidence or proof in a legal or societal proceeding.
- Witness can speak or write or heap stones of their evidence or proof.
You are the Living Stones Delineating God's Boundary
You, my dear friends are God's witness, a living stone, delineating God's boundary. You may not think of yourself as such, but you are His precious treasure.
Throughout history heaps of stones were used as a boundary marker, covenant or allegiance such as between Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31:44,52; Rueben and Gad as covenant between tribes in Joshua 22:10-34; and Joshua used stone witness pledging Israel's allegiance to God in Joshua 24:26-27.
Sacred Stones
The Canaanites, pagans in the Middle East, erected sacred stones to honor their gods, to declare covenants and treaties between cities, or to honor an important event that could only be explained by the supernatural. These stones were extremely heavy and stood as tall as twenty feet high.
Witnesses can signify evil. Idols witness to the worthlessness of the false gods they represent. Isaiah 44:9
Gezer Stones
Although many standing stones were simple and small, archaeologists uncovered several impressive stones at Tel Gezer. The stones, which were probably put in place before 3000 BC, weigh more than 25 tons each, stand 20 feet tall, and are sunk 20 feet into the earth.
Hebrew Practice
The Hebrew word translated standing stones means to set up. The Israelite's followed ancient customs by setting up standing stones as a reminder of God's covenant and supernatural acts on their behalf. The story of the stone was passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition.
Biblical Examples
Jacob set up stone pillars at Bethel in order to remember his powerful dream.
Moses built twelve standing stones at the foot of Mount Sinai after receiving the Ten Commandments and other laws.
The Israelite's erected standing stones to remember their miraculous crossing of the Jordan River.
New Testament
In the New Testament, Peter builds on standing stone imagery when he describes believers as living stones, 1 Peter 2:5. Peter wants his readers to think of themselves as living standing stones as people who live out their faith so boldly that others take notice.
Witness is masculine alluding to the power of that position.
- Emphatically affirming
- Absolute Genesis 31:48
- Testimony, evidence of things heap of stones Genesis 31:44,48,52
- Eternity
- A person in heaven as in Job 16:19 or earth as in I Samuel 12:5
- Against persons as in Jeremiah 29:23 or Malachi 3:5
- Between persons as in Genesis 31:50
- To nations Isaiah 55:4
Witnesses are required for the following:
- Transfer of property
- Betrothal
- Testimony in court
- Mouth is critical to the witness:
There are also false witnesses which we shall see dramatically increase as Satanic powers arise. The first occasion of a false witness is in Exodus 20:16. According to Deuteronomy 19:16-21 a person convicted false witness bears the penalty that would have been inflicted upon the accused.
Cycles of Time
Each of us comes from the earth and so at the end of our days we shall return at the completion of a cycle within time. In the time between our birth and death we have an opportunity of salvation.
Salvation is likened unto a betrothal and so a witness can be understood as someone who adorns, arrays, or adorns them. Clothes and adornments testify of the nature, seasons and even attitudes of a person. The idea is consistent within cyclical patterns. Our witness is not under the constraints of time.
Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in God, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
This reminds of the good tidings that... In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. John 1:1-8
John the Baptist came to bear witness to the Light, though his garments were of humility and repentance, not the adornment of salvation. When one is grieving over his sin, calling upon his Savior in true grief over his or her sin, one refrains temporarily from the adornments of salvation. Humble clothing, sackcloth and ashes, is like the widow's garb of repentance.
The very first appearance of witness is in Genesis 3:
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Our most common use of this word relates to a courtroom scene. Part of the nuance of this word is evidence. When Noah and his family walked back on solid ground, God told them that as long as the earth remains there will be seedtime, harvest, summer and winter. A constant testimony of the creation and how our heavenly Father teaches us according to Psalm 19: A testimony of two or three witnesses is a repeating of the evidence. The witness of His people takes us back to the testimony. There is only one thing in all of Scripture that is called the testimony and that is the Ark of the Covenant.
Exodus 25:16And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.
What was placed into the ark? The manna, the rod of Aaron, and the Commandments which established the template for overcoming at the End of the Age: THE TESTIMONY, THE WITNESS, and SUBMISSION.
The Art of Testimony
When Jesus sends his witnesses out in Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:4-8 He tells them to go and teach all nations and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth to restore again the kingdom to Israel
There are two types of witnesses are the two types of witnesses one that attests to and one that testifies to the absoluteness of God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit.
No testimony per se is required in order to prove the existence of the immanent Divine power that sustains all of creation.
At this juncture in history we should be immersed and to contemplate the Word as Truth. In Job’s words, "By [contemplating] my flesh, I behold God" Job 19:26 — just as the soul fills and animates the body, so must energy that fill and animate the universe.
No testimony is required to substantiate the existence of God's power that brings reality into our being.
What does require testimony is that salvation offered by Jesus is not an abstract concept but attainable. The veracity of this notion must be established by witnesses who will attest and testify that their salvation is in Jesus. This calls for boldness.
God Himself, as Witness
When walk in the power of the witness we emulate our Creator for He set this power into motion. The Lord God Himself is sometimes called upon as witness as in Genesis 31:50 and Malachi 2:14. He can also be the prosecuting witness as we see in I Samuel 12:5; Jeremiah 29:23; 49:5; Micah 1:2; Malachi. 3:5.
Heaven, Earth, and Inanimate Objects as Witnesses
Lasting inanimate objects, such as stones, Genesis 31:48, the moon, Psalms 89:38, or poems can be invoked as witnesses: Therefore, write down this poem and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, in order that this poem may be my witness against the people of Israel. Deuteronomy 31:19.
The Bible refers to "heaven and earth" as God’s testifying witnesses in Deuteronomy 30:19. Relative to individual human beings, heaven and earth symbolizes eternity.
Heaven and earth testify that there is God's infinite power is embedded within creation in a way that is infinitely beyond our ability to conceive.
We are the attesting witnesses to the inconceivable nature of God’s essence, believers in Jesus Christ, His Son.
Whereas heaven and earth only testify to God’s infinity, the Believer's attest this infinity, by actualizing it, so to speak. The character of God becomes alive when we use the fruit of the Spirit, His gifting, and serve Him wholeheartedly, implying explicitly that God’s existence is the only true existence, that all other forms of existence are contingent upon His and that "nothing exists besides Him".
These two types of witness are reflected Divine mission in life. One is motivation and enthusiastic dedication to our mission, resorting to supra-logical means to accomplish logical ends. But the highest form of dedication to our Divine mission is unlimited, unconditional self-sacrifice that ignores logic altogether. Such self-sacrifice can only stem from the sense of self-identification with God that is wholly beyond the ability of the intellect to conceive.
Two by Two
God created Adam, and He brought Eve to Adam, and then there were two. I am beginning to see a pattern.
From our youth we were told that the animals came two by two to the ark to be saved during the flood at the time of Noah. The unclean animals came two by two, one female and one male. The clean animals came in seven's according to Genesis 7. In this day where mankind seeks to erase man and woman, husband and wife from our culture God joined male and female to accomplish His will on earth. It is as if together they formed one unit of testimony with God as we see in Ecclesiastes where the three corded strand is no easily broken.
In the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 17:6 two witnesses were required to establish any accusation and also in the New Testament in II Corinthians 13:1. And so it is established in God's kingdom.
Two Witnesses
In Revelation 11, during the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, John describes Two Witnesses with supernatural protected and empowered called to witness and bring fire down from heaven to destroy their enemies and smite the earth with plagues. This is God's last warning to humanity and the demonic powers of earth just before the final Trumpet sounds. The Two Witnesses come into our view at the same time the Anti-Christ shows up for the ultimate End Time power struggle.
Before the start of their 3½-year commission, the Two Witnesses will already have been witnessing by their example and through their preaching. They will preach to humanity comprised of Jews and Gentiles.
And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
The word power is not in the Greek text, which simply reads, I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy. . . . Paraphrased, God says, I will grant to My Two Witnesses the right or power of prophesying during the time specified. Translators must add a word like power, privilege, opportunity, or boldness to convey the original intent of the message.
The meaning is not that God would send two witnesses to prophesy, but that they are existing witnesses who receive additional gifts and powers. During that time God will give them the privilege and the strength to proclaim the truth that they will be commissioned to communicate as His witnesses to mankind. Revelation 11:3
The phrase and they will prophesy does not necessarily mean that they would predict future events; instead they proclaim the truth as God had revealed it. The indication here is that the Two Witnesses would publicly preach or maintain the truth before the world that is rapidly losing the truth due to ubiquitous deception (falsehood).
God decides for His own purpose how he wants us to represent Him. He has His own witness protection program, If anyone wants to harm [the Two Witnesses]; fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies.
John is told that the court of God's temple would be trampled on by the nations for 42 months. During that period for 1,260 days (or 42 months, or 3½ years), two witnesses would be granted authority to prophesy. They are described as two olive trees and two lampstands who stand before the Lord of the earth. Both are able to devour their enemies with fire that flows out of their mouths. In addition, they have power over the weather, sky, waters, and are able to strike the earth with plague.
After their testimony, the beast overcomes the two witnesses and kills them. For three and a half days, the people of the earth celebrate the two witnesses' death (who have tormented them for three and a half years) and will not permit the witnesses a proper burial. After this time, God resurrects the two witnesses; their resurrection strikes fear on everyone witnessing their revival, and the two witnesses then ascend to heaven. In the next hour, a great earthquake occurs and kills 7000 men, destroying a tenth of the city.
Who are the Two Witnesses?
There are varying views as to the identity of the two witnesses who will appear in the Last Days. As with all Scripture there can be different levels of understanding of who may be the Two Witnesses. Holy Scripture does not name them consequently the Lord is highlighting to us that it is what they do that is important.
Early Christians believed (and it is my belief) that the two witnesses were Enoch and Elijah the prophets who did not die because God took them according to other Biblical passages. These are the likely candidates.
Some propose Moses to be one of the witnesses. It is my belief that Moses as a witness is highly unlikely because he tasted death. According to the biblical text and Legend, God leans down from the heavens and ends Moses’ life with a soft, gentle kiss. This is derived from Deuteronomy 34:5, where it is written, So Moses, the servant of the Eternal, died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of the Eternal. The Hebrew reads, al pi Adonai, “by the mouth of the Eternal.” [who took the breath of Moses from his body].
Modern theologians comparing the "two lampstands" and the "two olive trees" of Revelation 11 to the two golden pipes and two olive trees/branches of Zechariah 4. By the identification of the two olive branches as two anointed one" or two sons of the oil, in Zechariah, this reinforces the literal interpretation that the two witnesses are two people.
Other Views of the Two Witnesses
The 1599 Geneva Study Bible asserted that the two witnesses are the exclusive purview of the church.
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible gives one church interpretation as consisting of believing Jews and that of the Gentiles
John Gill's Exposition of the Bible interprets the two witnesses as the true Church in apart from to the antichrist system of Roman Catholicism.
Ross Taylor's Verse by Verse Commentary on Revelation clearly defines the Church as the two olive trees and the two lampstands.
The two witnesses can also be thought of as Israel and the Christian Church.
The olive tree in the Scripture signifies Israel. The witness of the Church is signified by the two lampstands, whose identity was disclosed by the seven golden lampstands revealed in Revelation 2-3 as the churches.
It has also been proposed that the two witnesses are the witnessing church, because Jesus sent out his disciples "two by two".
There are some who speculate the two witnesses to be a manifestation or a reincarnation of biblical prophets or personages. Manifestation is of the demonic camp and reincarnation is a belief of the Eastern religions including Hinduism and pantheism.
Symbolically, we can look at the two witnesses as the Old and New Testaments or Mercy and Grace. You must remember though there were actually two witnesses, not symbols.
Possibly, the biblical text is silent on who these two witnesses so that we do not focus on these individuals but what they accomplish in the Name of God. It is our human nature to sometimes miss the forest through the trees while getting stuck on one thing.
Witnesses Obligation as Executioner
Not only are witnesses call to testify to what they have seen but may be surprised to learn that being a witness may result, at least biblically, in being the executioner, Deuteronomy 13:9, 17:7. This is also true in the New Testament according to Acts 7:58.
As witness executioner you were obligated to cast the first stone. (Deut. 13: Num. 15:33).
Judges: You Gotta Get it Right
As you delve into the pages of Holy Scripture you will see that having good judges were essential for a biblical and civil society.
In biblical times a judge was required to verify it by the testimony of at least one other witness. If a witness was found to be unreliable and false, he received the same penalty that the accused would have received had he been found guilty.
Martyr
In the New Testament, the word witness is derived from the Greek word martus, which means martyr in English. It represents a record, report, evidence given or testimony one who, amidst great sufferings or by his death, bears witness to the truth. Paul mentions Stephen's witness and martyrdom in Acts 22:20 as an example of this kind of witness.
In the New Testament, a witness takes on the more personal form of one who attests his belief in Christ and His teachings by personal suffering. The apostles frequently appear as witnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, Luke 24:46-48. The faithful are called so great a cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1. While in Revelation 6:9. speaks of those who had been slain for the testimony which they held.
In the letter to the Laodiceans in Revelation 3:14, Jesus Himself is referred to as "the Faithful and True Witness" (martyr). Christ emphasizes His own faithful and true character because the Laodiceans so completely lack these two qualities. Christ's example shows that to be a fitting witness of God, one must be faithful and true reflecting the example of the life of Jesus Christ in word and behavior.
The Force of the Witness
In the Kingdom of God, you the saints will continue to be witnesses of God's way of life. We are all witnesses of something, and we continue to witness as long as we exist or are remembered.
We a unified and cumulative force—as the Church—a witness or testify for Jesus
- We witness that He is God. Isaiah 43:10, 12 says, speaking of spiritual Israel, the church: "You are My witnesses . . . that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. . . . Therefore you are My witnesses,' says the Lord, ‘that I am God'" Isaiah 44:8
- We testify that Jesus is the Christ Acts 18:5
- We proclaim that God the Father raised up Jesus to be Prince and Savior Acts 5:30-32.
- We show that Christ was ordained by God the Father to be Judge Acts 10:40-42.
- We declare that through Christ's name whoever believes in and obeys Him will be forgiven of sin Acts 10:43.
- We testify to man repentance toward God the Father and faith toward Jesus Christ Acts 20:21.
- We herald or proclaim the coming Kingdom of God Matthew 24:14.
Exemptions
During biblical times there were classes of people that could not be witnesses including women, children, slaves and others. Primarily, men were witnesses. This is not a slight on any of these populations but rather for purposes of practicality and validity of their ability to witness.
Oftentimes, kings are exempt from testifying and many times priests, as well, although they must answer to the king.
We Must Make Inquiry
There is a biblical injunction, thou shalt then inquire and make search and ask diligently Deuteronomy 13:15, was literally interpreted to require testifying witnesses to be subjected to three different kinds of examination: inquiry, investigation, and interrogation. Originally, the rule was held to apply in all cases, both civil and criminal cases.
The purpose of the examination is, of course, to find out if the witnesses are truthful and consistent; even though all potentially untruthful witnesses have already been sifted and excluded by disqualification, further precautionary rules were deemed necessary to make sure of the witness' veracity.
What about the Testimony of the Wicked?
In Job we see Satan before God making brazen accusations in the Divine Council. While biblical wicked testimony is not allowed we will see the the fullness of wickedness so that evil can be eliminated.
According to the Bible, "the wicked" or "the guilty" are unjust witnesses as seen in Exodus 23:1, therefore they are a priori disqualified. They may be divided into five groups: criminals, swindlers, perjurers, illiterates, and informers. Into the category of swindlers fall thieves and robbers; usurers; tricksters, gamblers, and gamesters, as well as idlers and vagabonds who are suspected of spending their leisure in criminal. Tax collectors were considered incompetent witnesses. A man who has no inkling of Bible, nor of civilized standards of conduct is presumed to be idle and disorderly and therefore incompetent as a witness. A fortiori, agnostics and heretics were considered irrevocably disqualified as well as informants, who were considered worse than criminals. Consider how that plays out with today's heavy emphasis on surveillance as technological informants.
As we move into an ever corrupt environment consider the following general guidelines for witnesses:
Persons who were 'planted' and hidden on the premises to overlook a certain act or overhear certain words are not admitted as a witness.
A witness whose memory is defective may be allowed to refresh it by looking at what he had written at the time, or even by listening to the evidence of other witnesses.
There is no presumption that the passage of time adversely affects any witness' memory.
The Contemptible
It is presumed that people who do not conform to the conventions of society thus being contemptible were considered not valid witnesses. Possibly this is another reason why God brings the Two Witnesses because by this time Christians will be concerned social outcasts with their voice and testimony eliminated, except in the heart.
Relatives
The biblical injunction that parents shall not be put to death "for" their children, nor children "for" their parents Deuteronomy 24:16, was interpreted as prohibiting the testimony of parents against children and of children against parents and served as the source for the disqualification of relatives in general. This admonition of Scripture is being turned on its head as news headlines reveal parents going to court against children and even more evil, children going to court against parents.
The Interested Party
A witness is disqualified where any benefit, such as strategic advantage, may accrue to him from his testimony. The question whether some such direct or indirect benefit may accrue to a witness is often puzzling: "these things depend on the discretion of the judge and the depth of his understanding as to what is the gist of the case at issue."
Our Duty to Testify
Any person able to testify as one who has seen or learned of the matter who does not come forward to testify is liable to punishment, but the punishment will be meted out to him by God Himself.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal savior then you are under no obligation to testify to things of which you have no personal knowledge. But if you have seen the glory and salvation of Jesus Christ in your life then you have the privilege of being His witness, His Living Stone of testimony, to the darkened world.
Witnessing of Jesus Christ is not a spare-time occupation or a once-a-week activity. It must be a Quality of Life (QoL).
You do not go witnessing, you are a witness.
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Growing Food At Home: Montana Organic Farmer Celeste Bishop Solum
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