I. The Pattern 259
II. Diagrams and Lessons 261
III. Commentary regarding The Testimony and the Witness 262

I. The Pattern

II. Diagrams and Lessons

III. Commentary regarding The Testimony and The Witness

We will be looking at the Resurrection. However let us begin in John's gospel chapter 11 at the exchange between Martha and the Lord Jesus. "Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again." (Jn 11:21-23). The King James Version reads, "Thy brother shall rise again." However, the Concordant Literal New Testament translation indicates an ongoing thing, "Your brother will be rising." Also, in verse 24 of the Concordant Literal New Testament it reads, "Martha is saying to Him, I am aware that he will be rising in the resurrection in the last day." Again, Martha is stating an ongoing thing, saying that she knows that he will be rising in the resurrection in the last day. Then in verse 25-26 (KJV), "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"

The Lord states, "…I am the resurrection, and the life…" (Jn 11:25). There is no way, regardless of how we look at this, that we can translate this as, "I do resurrections". It is stated very clearly, "I am the resurrection and the life." This statement should challenge our understanding of the meaning of resurrection. We must seek to comprehend the resurrection as it is in Christ Jesus. We must come to understand, in an ever-broadening way, the truth of which Christ is the embodiment so that in our comprehending of Him, we may experience more of Him, and He may find expression and manifestation in our lives now.

Reference:
Jn 11:25
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

There is a tremendous area of study regarding the references to Christ being "I am…" When Jesus says, "…I am the way…" (Jn 14:6), we should understand that he is not saying that He will show us the way. It is difficult for the natural mind to grasp this, because the tendency is to want someone to show us a way-either a direction, method or manner. However, Jesus quite emphatically states, "…I am the way, the truth, and the life…" (Jn 14:6). In so doing, He takes those things out of the natural realm and brings them into the very person of Himself. He unravels the natural concepts of a way, a truth and a life and declares Himself to be the way, the truth and the life.

Reference:
Jn 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus also says of Himself, "I am the door…" (Jn 10:9). When he says, "I am the good shepherd" (Jn 10:11), this is easier to agree with or comprehend, but again, it might be difficult to comprehend Him as "the door". He personifies these things, and in so doing creates a distinction between "I am" and "I do" requiring that we recognize them in terms of a person rather than things a person does. The terms "I" and "am" in these instances are not pronouns as they might seem. They are expressions that are only used in the very emphatic term having to do with the Self-Existing One. So Christ is incorporating into Himself these particulars-the way, the truth, the life, the door, the good shepherd and the resurrection.

Reference:
Jn 10:9-11
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

The cross is the center of all things with God. All things must sooner or later be brought into the cross, and all that is of Christ proceeds forth from the cross. The cross is the very center of God's universe; it is the very center of God's plan and purpose. The cross is summed up in the person of His death, His burial and His resurrection. Not merely a place or a time or an object, the cross stands for Christ and Him crucified.

On one side of the cross, we have the Testimony. This involved everything from Genesis and Malachi. On the other side of the cross, we have, what is referred to by the scriptures themselves, the Witness. The Testimony and the Witness are tied together, and you can not actually have one truth without the other. However, for purposes of this search, we want to divide, in our hearts, the Testimony from the Witness so that we can see how they are distinguished one from the other. The word for testimony is used repeatedly throughout the scriptures from Genesis to Malachi. It begins as early as Exodus 16:34, "As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it [the manna] up before the Testimony, to be kept." It is interesting that everything comes in contact with the Testimony.

Exodus 25:16, "And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee." The Testimony referenced here is that which God wrote, with His finger, on the two tables of stone. That is called the Testimony. It answers directly to the Witness, because everything of the Old Testament is summed up in the Testimony. It is summed up in those two tables that God gave to Moses. Everything from Genesis to Malachi is given meaning by what the scripture calls "the Testimony".

Reference:
Ex 25:21-22
And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony…

When the testimony comes into the ark, the ark becomes "the ark of the testimony". Note the references as follows:

References:
Ex 26:33-34
And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

Ex 27:21
In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony…

Ex 30:26
And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony,

Ex 30:36
And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.

Ex 31:7
The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle,

Ex 31:18
And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

Ex 32:15
And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.

Ex 34:29
And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

Notice in these verses how the order has changed. "The ark" becomes "the ark of the testimony". In Numbers, "the tabernacle" becomes "…the tabernacle of testimony." Everything wherein this Testimony dwells bears its name and its identity from then on. This is extremely important when it comes over to the Witness side. In the scripture, we can see how the testimony changed the name of everything, the relationship of everything, and determined the camping order of all of Israel. Everything was determined by the Testimony. This indicates how tremendous this Testimony is if everything is determined by it! We see two stones with some writing on them. God sees the Testimony. It is much more than the obvious Ten Commandments. It is God, with His finger, writing upon two tablets and giving it to Israel as a Testimony. A whole piece of furniture was built that in it may be placed the Testimony. Other objects were placed in there, but they are always referenced to the Testimony, because the ark is the place of the Testimony. As "the ark" becomes the "ark of the testimony" due to the placement of the Testimony in it, and "the tabernacle" becomes the "tabernacle of the testimony" due to the placement of the Testimony in it, so now Israel becomes a Testimony due to the placement of the Testimony in the midst. The Testimony determined the encampment and indeed their marching order. So Israel becomes a Testimony unto the Lord in the midst of the earth. Consequently, everything from Genesis to Malachi is of the Testimony, because it actually has the tabernacle as its center piece. A type and shadow of this can be seen in the ark that Noah built. Even in this ark there was in fact a Testimony. And what went into this ark as a Testimony came up out of the flood as a Witness.

Reference:
Num 1:53
But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.

So this whole thing is summed up as the Testimony. In John 5:39 Jesus says, "[You] search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." The scriptures are a Testimony of Jesus Christ. It is important that we understand that the one side of the cross is a Testimony. It is not enough to understand that part of it is a Testimony. All and every part of it is a Testimony. If we search it enough, any part that we might not yet understand will come into relationship to the Testimony. It will all relate itself to the Testimony in the ark, in the tabernacle, in the midst of Israel, in the earth-God giving a Testimony of that which His Son not only would do, but what His Son would become. God is giving a Testimony of the cross, not as a place or an instrument but rather as a reality established in a person and worked in a people. God is giving Testimony of that which would come by death, by burial, by resurrection-God testifying of His Son. There is no possible way to come to the tabernacle and not see the cross. There is no possible way to come to the feasts and festivals of Israel and not comprehend His death, His burial and His resurrection as those three days, those three Sabbath days. There is no way to look at the priesthood and the ministry there and not understand the working of the cross. There is no way if we look at it in light of that Testimony of God.

In the midst of all of this there dwells a Testimony so tremendous, so weighty that everything in which it dwells becomes identified with it! This is important to understand. Nothing escapes the attention of God. Nothing is without the order of The Lord. He ordered it all according to the Testimony. Every part of creation was ordered according to the Testimony. The Testimony-that which God set forth in open Testimony, predetermined and fulfilled in His Son. The Testimony of the way, the truth and the life. Jesus says that He is that way, that truth and that life. He is that death, that burial, and that resurrection. The Testimony speaks of the door upon which the blood of the lamb was placed during the Passover. In John's gospel, Jesus says that He is that door (Jn 10:7). There is no other door by which we can enter (Jn 14:6).

References:
Jn 10:7
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

Jn 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

The whole of Genesis to Malachi represents the Testimony. Jesus answers the Testimony. This sums up not only people, places and things but the scriptures themselves that record those people, places and things are testifying of Him. When Jesus declares to the Jews that the scripture testifies of Him (John 5:39), He is speaking of the volume of the entire Book. In the very next verse He says to them, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." (John 5:40). How do we do that? It is by the cross. The Testimony brings us to the cross!

Reference:
Jn 5:39-40
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

Regarding the Witness, consider the following verses in Revelation:

The Testimony and the Witness both represent a comprehension of Christ. At one time Christ was nothing more than a Testimony. He was a word of prophecy; He was a piece of furniture; He was an Isaac; He was a staff in the hand of Moses; He was a Testimony. He was a word in the mouth of the prophets as He whose right it is. "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son [to answer the Testimony], made of a woman, made under the law," (Galatians 4:4), "…made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,…" (Hebrews 2:9), "but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:7-8). Christ fulfilled the Testimony, and He came forth as the living Witness. The Testimony is in word; the Witness is in Spirit. The Testimony is no good without the death of the Testator. Having fulfilled the Testimony He came forth and now is the living Witness. Just as Jesus spoke to the apostles, He says to us, "…ye shall be witnesses unto me…" (Acts. 1:8).

References:
Gal 4:4
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

Heb 2:9
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Phil 2:7-8
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

It is not testimonies that the Lord is after but rather living expressions of Himself! What is the Witness? It is the embodiment, in Spirit and truth of all that of which the Testimony spoke. And where is it summed up? Where does the Testimony bring us? The Testimony brings us to death! There must be the death of the Testator or else all from Genesis to Malachi would have been worthless. What good are sacrifices if the Lamb does not come? What good is the priesthood if it were only summed up in the blood of bulls and goats? Take any aspect of The Testimony, and if Christ had not come, if He had not died, if he is not risen, then what good is it? What purpose does it serve? The Testimony comes to the cross - not beyond the cross; it comes to the cross, Here in the death of the Testator (His death, His burial, His resurrection) it is finished and fulfilled. Then, He comes forth in resurrection as the living, faithful and true Witness. He does not come as a Testimony, as one speaking of something or someone yet to come but as the Witness of all of which has been spoken. He comes as the Witness of all of which has been testified.
Where is it that this Witness lives, except in you? How is it that we live except by Him? Why do we live then, except as witnesses of all that He, the faithful and true Witness is? Indeed how can we be witnesses unto Him except as witnesses of all that He is?

There are two definitions of the term "witness" from the Greek. One of them is "an eyewitness". This is tremendous because of the references to the Apostles. They were not telling fables or stories. They saw Him! Paul stood before King Agrippa, the Sanhedrin and many other people, and he declared the Resurrection. Paul says that God revealed His Son in him (Galatians 1:15-16). And Paul speaks to the saints in Ephesus saying, oh, that "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;…" (Ephesians 1:17-18) that you may know Him and see Him. You can not be a witness without being an "eyewitness"-not in the term that "witness" is used. You must see Him in the Resurrection, because that is how He appears. He appears in the resurrection, because He is the resurrection. He appears living! In the book of Revelation, He speaks to John saying, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,…" (Revelation 1:18). He appears to John in the midst of the throne as a Lamb as though he were slain; and yet He was empowered with seven horns and with seven eyes and is very much alive! (Revelation 5:6). Who is this? It is He that comes by death, burial and resurrection. It is the appearing of The Lord - it is the Witness of God!

References:
Gal 1:15-16
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

Eph 1:17-18
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Rev 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Rev 5:6
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

The Resurrection proves all things. Leviticus chapter 16 describes in detail the Testimony in the sin offering made on the Day of Atonement. One time each year, the High Priest goes behind the veil to the ark of the Covenant, which is also called the ark of the Testimony. This is the only time he enters behind the veil. During the Feast of Atonement, the High Priest enters with the blood of the sacrifice. (However, our High Priest entered not by the blood of bulls or goats, but by His own blood.) The Priest enters each year offering blood for his own sins along with the sins of Israel. And while he is inside, Israel stands outside-waiting. This is a Sabbath day, a particular Sabbath day, and they do no work but wait to see if the sacrifice is accepted. The priest has taken the blood in, symbolizing his death and the death of Israel. He has taken it to the very throne of God and sprinkled it there. He does this in fear and trembling, carefully prepared so that everything is exactly right. He must be dressed correctly. The animal must be the right animal and slaughtered correctly. Everything must be done in absolute obedience to the Testimony or else the Priest will not come out alive. They know that the sacrifice is accepted if the Priest comes out alive. Of what could this be a testimony except the Resurrection?

References:
Lev 16:2-4
And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.

Lev 16:11-16
And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

Lev 16:29-34
And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Heb 9:11-12
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Heb 9:25-28
Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Ex 28:31-35
And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent. And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.

Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: Exodus 28:31-35 PP6, "and he shall not die"
…Bähr, Oehler, and others, regard the words as referring to the whole of the high priest's robes, and understand them as meaning, that he would be threatened with death if he appeared before Jehovah without his robes, inasmuch as he was merely a private individual without this holy dress, and could not in that case represent the nation….

This is a Testimony of Him who is obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This is absolute, perfect obedience. This is what God is looking for in the Testimony. This is why the law is so rigid and stringent. If the animal is to be cut in half, Jewish tradition demands that one too many hairs better not be on the wrong half of the carcass. Why would it be this way? It is because it is a Testimony of a perfect death, Testimony of a perfect offering, Testimony of a perfect priest, Testimony of perfect obedience. In itself the Testimony is not accepted, because the Testimony always points beyond itself! The Testimony will fail without a Witness. The Testimony is unto death; the Witness is unto life-resurrection. That is why the apostles gave witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reference:
Easton's Revised Bible Dictionary: "sacrifice"
…In the Mosaic period of Old Testament history definite laws were prescribed by God regarding the different kinds of sacrifices that were to be offered and the manner in which the offering was to be made. The offering of stated sacrifices became indeed a prominent and distinctive feature of the whole period #Ex 12:3-27 Le 23:5-8 #Nu 9:2-14…

As we continue looking at the Witness, we will find that the Witness is connected to the Resurrection or the Life. The Witness is unto Life. The Testimony is in Word; the Witness is in Spirit. Consider the following verses in Acts:

The Testimony is true, but it is proven by the Witness. The Testimony is true but would be made void without the Witness. It does not matter how much of the Testimony we preach if we are not living witnesses. It means nothing in our lives! God has the Testimony; He has the fulfillment. God desires expression of the Witness, the proof that is set forth in the Resurrection. So much of our problem is that we try to bring the Testimony to the finished side of the cross and fail to see the Witness any differently than the Testimony. We would rather look ahead to some future event instead of being living witnesses. It is much easier to talk about a future judgment than to bear the judgment that has come. It is much easier to talk about a future with Jesus than to live in Christ now. It is easier to continue in the promise of the Testimony than to be firmly established in completion of the Witness. It is established in the cross, and the world awaits a Witness. Christ is the faithful Witness. He is the true Witness.

In the Testimony, God chose Solomon to build a temple. This temple was a tremendous building, probably the greatest building that was ever built upon the face of the earth. It is difficult to even imagine the splendor of that edifice or the greatness of the man who could command it built. This temple is a Testimony of that temple which was to come. Unfortunately, most of the church world is still looking and talking of a temple to come. In so doing, the Testimony is, in our minds, brought to the finished side of the cross. Where is the Witness? Christ, the cross, Christ crucified, His death, His burial, His resurrection is the standard for the Testimony. If we eliminate that, we can go anywhere we want with the Testimony. We can imagine the temple to be anything and imagine the city to be any way we want it. We could put ferris wheels in it and have gold ponds with real gold fish. We can have everybody living on a gold street with pearl door knobs and living in big mansions that would make anything on the French Riviera look like a pup tent! If we do not bring the Testimony here to the cross, we can take it anywhere our minds want to go. Why? Because if there is no witness, it is vain, worthless imaginations that will follow it. We will still preach the Testimony but with no fulfillment! The Testimony was finished in Him. The Testator died, and He rose again to bring forth in a people the Witness! He who was just a Testimony is now the faithful and true Witness! He who was to come, did, in the fulness of time, come! He fulfilled every part of the Testimony. There is no part that in His death, burial and resurrection He did not fulfill with the purpose of manifesting it in a people. We still sing our songs about the joy of crossing over Jordan. Jordan is part of the Testimony, and as such it is brought over into Christ. Is not the joy of crossing over Jordan the Lord Himself?

It is easier to sing of a joy when we cross over Jordan, because it gives us a reason for being so sad now. It gives us a hope that one day it will all be different. But it is all different now! It depends upon what day we are living in. It depends upon our comprehension of Christ. It depends upon whether He is still a Testimony to us or the living Witness of the Testimony! It depends upon whether God has revealed His Son in us or not. It depends upon whether we have seen Him in the resurrection. That is an eyewitness.

The second thing a witness is, is a martyr. We naturally assume that a martyr is someone who dies for some cause-it could even be a wrong cause. However, a true martyr comes to the cross. God does not ask us to die for a cause. A true martyr comes to death at the cross, to burial at the cross and come forth in the comprehension that he has no life but Christ! It is not in being willing to give a time, energy or even natural life that makes one a martyr. It is one who has laid down, in comprehending the cross, his own life. It is one who has seen with his eyes that through Christ, he is dead by Christ and made alive in Christ and consequently no longer lives but Christ lives in him. That is a martyr, because the standard of that martyrdom is Christ Himself. God is not desiring those who would die for a cause but rather living witnesses-living dead men, those who are dead to sin but alive unto God through Christ Jesus the Lord. He desires those who comprehend, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…" (Galatians 2:20).

We must come from the Testimony to the Witness-from the words to the spirit of the matter. We must do this, because He did. Everything from Genesis to Malachi testifies of Christ! Man testifies of Christ. Man is brought into His death, His burial and His resurrection; because the first man is a Testimony, and the second Man is the Witness. The first man is a Testimony of what God wants, but is not what God actually wants. The second Man is the Witness, and the Witness is what God wants. A Witness is not a Testimony. A Witness is this expressive reality. The first is a Testimony of the second. When the second is come, we have no need of the first. Thus He comes to do the will of God, as it is written of Him in the volume of the book. "…He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second." (Hebrews 10:9) The Testimony is the first, and the Witness is the second. The difference is the cross. We can not pass from the first to the second except by the cross.

References:
Jn 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Heb 10:7-9
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,)to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

Lk 24:27
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

We can only cross from the first to the second by the cross. We can only pass over this Jordan by His death, His burial and His resurrection. It is the only way in which we can come from that which is a Testimony to that which is the Witness Himself. So the question arises, "When are we going to pass over? How many times will we look at the place of crossing, discuss the subject more thoroughly, and learn more details of the crossing? How, in fact, do we pass over?" We pass over in obedience to His death. We do not pass over by any works. Consider Israel-consider the Testimony. God brought Israel out of Egypt in obedience to the death of the Red Sea, the death of the lamb's blood on the door, the death of their being buried in baptism in the sea. However, they disobeyed and would not enter into His rest or His resurrection. (His rest and His resurrection are the same thing, because here none lives but Him; here all cease from their works.) A few days after Israel disobeyed and refused to enter in, they tried to cross over on their own. That had disastrous results.

References:
Rom 6:3-5
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

1Cor 10:2
And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

Ex 14:27-31
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.

Ex 12:12-13
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

We cross over in obedience to death. That death is His death, and this is why we come short of comprehending the real truth of the Resurrection. We want us to be involved in it. We have drummed up a doctrine of resurrection centered upon us rather than Him. Christ could not come from the one side to the other except through absolute, total obedience-"…unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). He learned obedience through that which He suffered, being made lower than angels, taking upon Himself no reputation, being in fashion as a servant, in the likeness of men. He suffered being found as a man. The first man disobeyed; the last man obeyed! He gathered all men up into Himself, and He became all men. All men had been known in Adam, but all men came to be known in the last Adam. That is what He suffered. In what He learned, He exercised or expressed obedience.

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). Whose death is this obedience unto? It is the death of that which He became, the death of that which He suffered Himself to be made, the death of the first man who was disobedient to God. This Man was obedient, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). Christ came by obedience, and the only way we can experientially come is by that same obedience. If not, we will be hopelessly stuck in the Testimony until we die. It need not be that way, because the work is finished. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Spirit is come to lead us there in full comprehension of Him for the purpose that we may be, instead of dead testimonies, living witnesses unto Him in all of the earth! We do a lot of testifying, but where is the Witness?

It is necessary to all spiritual truth that we come from the Testimony to the Witness. It is not possible to make a Testimony out of a finished work. The Testimony spoke of One to come. Now He has come and has fulfilled the Testimony. The Witness is unto life; the Witness is in resurrection; the Witness is in the Spirit; the Witness is living; the Witness is real; the Witness is now! As we mentioned earlier, if there is no Witness, the Testimony is worthless. Paul says that if Christ is not risen, then our whole faith is in vain (1Corinthians 15:14). Paul proves everything by the Resurrection, Who is Christ Himself! He reasons here that it is in one man that all die, therefore in one man all live (1Corinthians 15:22). If this is not so, then in this respect, it is no different to be Buddhist or Hindu. Many religions teach some type of afterlife.

References:
1Cor 15:14
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

1Cor 15:22
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Let us look at the contrast between the Testimony and the Witness. How do we come from the Testimony to the Witness:

Man can come together in the Testimony and become "…the voice of one…" (John 1:23). However, how do we become One Voice in the earth? How do we progress beyond talking and become divine expression of Truth? We are only in glory when we die His death! Our physical death only gets us buried in the dirt. If we are not already in glory when we physically die, then that physical death is not going to take us there. The death at the cross is the only death that gets us into glory. This is the suffering that brings us into glorification. This is the death that has attached to it the promise of the resurrection. Consequently, it is this death that He brought all mankind into. Natural death does not hold this promise, but Jesus Christ's death on the cross has with it the hope and certainty of resurrection. And for those who will come by Him by this death, and will take this death as it is indeed to be their very own, obeying Him in this death, shall know Him in the Resurrection.

How do we come from time to no time, from day to Day, from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to God, My Father; from the Living God to the Ever Living One? In Revelation 1:18, He says, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore." The translation of this verse means that He can never die again. It is that One who can never die again whose Body we are. It is that One who can never die again who is the Resurrection and the Life. We all know Him as the living God, but do we know Him as the one who lives in us and shall never die again? Do we know Him that way? When will we come from the living God to the ever living One? I am speaking in terms of comprehension. When will we come from the Testimony to the Witness?

When will we come from the statement, "…Sir, we would see Jesus" (John 12:21) to the reality, "But we see Jesus…" (Hebrews 2:9)? It relates to the obedience of our heart and our soul. "…The first man Adam was made a living soul…" (1Corinthians 15:45) and is disobedient. How can we be obedient? "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). The word "let" in this verse signifies the need for obedience. We come from one to the other by His obedience unto the death of the cross. It is not something He gave us to do. We must be obedient to what is already done and established in Christ. He has not left something for us to do. He has set forth what we are simply to obey. It is a working of the Spirit that will bring us from one side to the other.

In 2Corinthians 3:18, Paul says that we are changed from the glory of the old covenant types and shadows (which was a Testimony of a greater glory to come) to the more excellent or greater glory of Christ by, "…beholding…the glory of the Lord…". That act of beholding the incarnate Lord of glory, who Himself is the manifest glory of God, is the work of the Spirit.

References:
2Cor 3:7-11
But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

2Cor 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

We are changed from being a Testimony of one to come into being a living Witness (a face-to-face Witness) of the One Who is come and is revealed in us. "…Beholding as in a glass…" (2Corinthians 3:18) refers to a mirror. Christ Himself is the mirror of the Father. However, He is not reflecting but rather is the manifest exactness, the divine expression, of His Person. Christ is the glory, the bright shining, of God.

Moses and the old covenant were a reflection of the Testimony of the greater glory to come. However, even the Testimony (lesser glory) was veiled by the dead letter of the law so that under the law, Israel could not look steadfast to the end of the lessor glory and behold Christ as the greater glory. "But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart." (2Corinthians 3:15) The Jews keep the veil of the dead letter of the law upon their hearts and are not willing to acknowledge that it is done away in Christ. They do not see that Christ is the end of the law and that Christ is the glory that the old covenant said should come. So hardened are they by the law that even when Moses (the old covenant Testimony of Christ) is read, their hearts are veiled (blinded) by the letter, and they will not hear the Spirit. If their hearts would turn from the law (veil) to see its fulfillment in Christ, then the glory of the Lord would be seen by them as it is by us in whom this very glory is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. "But we all, with unveiled face [are] beholding…"(2Corinthians 3:18, ASV) the Lord of glory. This is not as old covenant Israel who was a veiled reflection of the glory to come-much as the moon reflects the light of the sun. We are changed from a mere reflection to a manifest expression of the glory revealed in us. Christ does not shine upon us but rather is revealed in us and transforms us into a living expression of Himself. And this answers the question of how we come from the Testimony to the Witness. We know that the transformation is of the heart (soul) when we behold His glory. This appearing takes place "…even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2Corinthians 3:18). A better translation of the portion of the verse would be "as from the Lord the Spirit". This agrees with verse 17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit…" (2Corinthians 3:17). The work of transformation is the work of the Spirit revealing Christ in the believer that Christ may work in us the very substance of Himself "until Christ be formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).

It is in the Witness that we come to face and comprehend the Resurrection as it is in Christ. In the scripture we can see the Resurrection as it is in Christ, as it is in the Testimony and as it is made manifest in the Witness, for the purpose of our then being witnesses of the Resurrection. Paul expresses this earnest desire in the following verses, and let us desire to learn the Truth as it is in Christ.

Is it not time that we come from a Testimony to a living Witness? How long can we say that we are His Body without actually functioning in that way? However, this is not something we do; it is something we obey. It is simply obeying the Truth as the Truth is in Jesus. God did not command Israel to built a land; He said to walk in it. God did not command them to create the land, He said to possess it. If this is so in the Testimony, it is so much greater in the Witness! If all of this bears the name of the Testimony, and He, the living Witness is in us, then surely we can be a living Witness. If the tabernacle of the Old Testament is the tabernacle of the Testimony, surely we are the tabernacle of the Witness!

We have seen the cross as the determining factor of all things with God. We do not understand the full significance of this, but as we come to a greater and all-encompassing view of Christ, our understanding will also increase. It is one thing to say that Christ is everything and quite another to see, as the Lord reveals Him in us, all things gathered up in the light of Him. As the light increases, the fulness, which has been there all along, is seen. "…In Him dwelleth all the fulness…" (Colossians 2:9). Now, in the light, it becomes apparent to us. As it does, we benefit from all that is there. It becomes experiential to us. We lay hold of and comprehend Him. As this comprehension grows in the Lord, the cross becomes more significant. We will look at the necessity of the cross in relationship to the Resurrection. As we see Him as the Resurrection and the Resurrection finding its definition in the Person of Him, it gives greater emphasis and significance to the cross.

The essence of this comes from the Testimony, out from a people who only know Him as a Testimony, although a true Testimony, still only a Testimony. The Testimony is typed as that which is written on stone, parchment or paper. Although it is real, there is a more significant writing and reality. It is not a different one but rather the Testimony made more real. This is Christ written in us! The Testimony itself gives testimony of that reality. The question is "Has this taken place in us?" There is no doubt that the Lord has come from one side to the other. He has fulfilled it all in His death, burial, and the full significance of His Resurrection: what He has brought forth in Himself, including that Body, that people, that temple, that kingdom. He has fulfilled the Testimony. He has moved from the Testimony, and now He is the faithful Witness. The Resurrection is the proof, in that God raised Christ up from among the dead, in that He was by the glory of the Father raised up from among the dead. The Resurrection is the proof that Christ is the perfect fulfillment. Nothing is lacking.

Christ has come from the Testimony to the Witness, but do we know Him in this way? Is our experiential knowledge of the Lord still very much along the lines of the Testimony? Is it something that we, with all of our hearts, believe and are convinced of its truth, and yet is it still very much a Testimony? Each of us probably knows the answer to these questions. We know whether or not we are convinced of these things because they are simply written in the scripture or because Christ Himself is revealed in us. These are two different comprehensions. One says, "I believe we are in Christ because the scripture declares it over 230 times!" This is admirable, but it still comes very much in the Testimony. It is still something we believe that is written upon the parchment. It puts us in the position of continually trying to believe and trust. Then, when circumstances test our beliefs, we have to reread the scriptures and convince God and ourselves that we do indeed believe it. This might be admirable, and perhaps even necessary, but it is still very much the Testimony.

Jesus attests to this when he speaks to the Pharisees and says to them, "You search the scriptures; [I know you believe them;] for in them ye think ye have eternal life…" (John 5:39). Jesus tells them that the problem is simply that they will not come to Him! Many believers have come to a belief in Jesus rather than a revealing of Him. We must come from Testimony to being living Witness-from those who believe to those who have Christ revealed in them. It is a work of the Spirit of God. We could not even believe except by the work of the Spirit of God. However, there is a greater work of that Spirit. He convinces us that the Testimony is true, and then He reveals in us that of which the scripture testifies. At one point in time, it must become a Person. It must go beyond sound doctrine and teaching and become reality. Unfortunately, with many believers it has not gotten beyond this point. Consequently, many believers know a great deal and preach and teach, but it is a real effort for them to live it.

The Witness, on the other hand, is an automatic expression of that which God has revealed in us. In other words, it is not accomplished by our effort or by power or might. We are not trying to be what we think He is. We are becoming expressions. This is happening in us not of our doing. We come to realize that this is real and beyond our efforts of trying to live in the appearance of something we think is godly. We witness that change, that transformation. We come from knowing we are in Christ mentally to knowing we are in Christ experientially. We come from knowing we are in Christ to knowing of Christ working in us. Perhaps we come from not apprehending to apprehending that for which God has laid hold of us. Both the Testimony and the Witness are a work of the Spirit. This is not bad being overcome by good. This is the lesser giving way to the greater. There is a Testimony, but without the Witness it is useless, because the Witness is the proof of the Testimony. The words of prophecy without the prophecy made more sure are useless. In other words they must be fulfilled in Him. So then the questions arise, "How is it with us, with our comprehension? Are we simply believing the Testimony or is there in us the revealing of the Witness?"

The Testimony is covered, or veiled. The Witness is revealed, open-faced. In Exodus, the arrangement of the furniture in the tabernacle is described as being outside of the veil of the Testimony (Exodus 40:1-8, 21-30). Indeed everything, except the presence of God and the ark of the Testimony, is outside of the veil. The Testimony however is inside, behind the veil, and there it stays…until the cross. The veil in the tabernacle was elaborately embroidered (Exodus 26:31). Yet this veil that speaks of the Testimony is the same veil that hides it. The veil is removed by Christ's death, followed by His burial and resurrection. And when the veil is removed, the Testimony becomes the living Witness. What was Testimony is transformed into living Witness. When Christ died, that veil was torn apart. Paul speaks of that veil being taken off of our heart (2Corinthians 3:14-18). As long as the veil is over our heart, it is still Testimony, and our comprehending of our Lord is still covered. This veil is our own understanding, our flesh, our self, our humanity. This is our speaking of Him while simultaneously Him being concealed. We were not brought into Christ to simply speak of the glory of God but rather to be Witnesses of His glory, Christ in you, the Witness!

References:
Ex 40:1-8
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle. And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein. And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang up the hanging at the court gate.

Ex 40:21-30
And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the vail of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail. And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD had commanded Moses. And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he lighted the lamps before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail: And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle. And he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal.

Ex 26:31
And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:

2Cor 3:14-18
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

We might wonder why the Testimony is behind the veil. There might be many reasons, but one that we want to address is in reference to the cross. It is a tremendous thing that the Testimony is veiled until Christ's death. With His resurrection, that which has been hidden is unveiled, and He comes forth in triumphant glory! He is no longer merely the Testimony, but the Witness of all that was testified! The natural man can not perceive this. Paul states that when the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is removed (2Corinthians 3:16). Then, with an open face, an unveiled heart, we pass in our hearts from Testimony to Witness. The Testimony and Witness are two comprehensions of the same One. We must pass from the one to the other, and this is accomplished with the taking away of the veil.

Reference:
2Cor 3:14-16
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

The Testimony is covered and stays covered as is illustrated, "And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it" (Numbers 4:5). Consider the word "hidden" found in First Corinthians. "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1Corinthians 2:6-8) Paul continues, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1Corinthians 2:10, 14) This is what is hidden. We speak the wisdom of God, but He hid it. He set it forth in a piece of furniture, placed it in the tabernacle, and then, He put it behind the veil. There it remained hidden. These verses follow 1Corinthians 1:29, "That no flesh should glory in his presence." We preach the cross. "…We preach Christ crucified…" (1Corinthians 1:23). "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1Corinthians 2:2) God is bringing all of this into light by the cross. This wisdom was hidden, but God ordained this before the world-unto our glory.

The glory of God was in the ark of the Covenant which was hidden behind the veil in the tabernacle. The ark represents the corporate work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is illustrated in the description of the box, the mercy seat, the pure gold, and the cherubim. These show a New Creation, a New Man, in the midst of which dwells the glory of God. This is the expectation that Israel had for a future event, but in us, His Creation, He now dwells! And He is revealed in "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2Corinthians 4:6). We do not enter in behind the veil, but rather through Christ's death, burial and resurrection, the veil is removed. This same removal takes place in our hearts that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, which is Christ in us, may literally fill our hearts and fill our souls for the purpose that we become witnesses of Him and of His glory. This is not an artificial light, such as the candlestick in the tabernacle, but Christ Himself.

To believe this is a Testimony; to be partaking of this reality is a Witness. It is all spoken of in the Testimony; it is manifested in the Witness. Paul speaks of this saying, "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom…" (1Corinthians 2:7). It is no longer hidden behind a veil, because the veil is done away in Christ Jesus. Paul more thoroughly addresses this in his second letter to this same group of people, but let us continue here in his letter, First Corinthians.

1Corinthians 4:1-5; emphasis added
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. [Paul is not changing subjects but continuing along the same theme.] Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

In the context of this passage it is evident from a word-by-word search in the Interlinear version that the "hidden things" here have not changed from that which is under cover in the Testimony, that which has always been hidden and that which is brought to light in His appearing. In the light of these things, the counsels of our hearts are made manifest. In this passage, Paul is not speaking of bad things in us being revealed. (Paul speaks of that elsewhere with regard to the man of sin.) It would be convenient to use this scripture to support the truth that Christ revealed in us brings everything to light, and nothing is hidden from Him. Although this is true and there is ample Testimony throughout the scripture that supports this truth, this passage refers directly to what is under the veil, what has been hidden from generations. In Colossians 1:26-29, we can see the same language used with regard to the glory that is in us, but that is under a veil. It remains a Testimony even though we may declare our belief that Christ is in us. It is not a light thing to make this declaration, but there is much effort on our part to believe and continue to believe in the face of conditions that require the reality of that statement. We are left quoting scripture and trying to control ourselves. We must move from "I believe He is in me because the scripture says so" to "I believe the scripture that says He is in me, because He is revealed in me, because I have seen Him with my own eyes. The eyes of my understanding have been enlightened (Ephesians 1:18). The Lord has appeared. The Lord has appeared in me."

References:
Col 1:26-29
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Eph 1:18
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

The process has come from the effort to believe to the revealing of the Spirit. The greatest thing about this is that the result is a greater appreciation of the Testimony. Unlike some who might be ready to throw away their Bible because they themselves have become the Word of God, we are more dependent upon the Testimony than ever before because it has been confirmed in the Witness. The Testimony has become more sure because we see Him of Whom it speaks. The more we search the Testimony, the more we see Him. The Testimony is necessary to the Witness, but without the Witness, do we not see that the Testimony is in vain? Except He be revealed in us, the Testimony, God's Word, is still something we are trying to believe. When we refuse to move from the Testimony to the Witness, we leave ourselves open for so many incorrect things and interpretations. The Testimony must be interpreted in view of the Witness. Learning Hebrew and Greek is not enough. The scriptures were written in Hebrew and Greek. Yet the Hebrews and Greeks themselves did not understand. Knowing Hebrew and Greek might help give us the proper wording for the Testimony and bring our thinking into line, but the only true judge of the Testimony is the Witness Himself! Let Christ be revealed in us that we would behold the Witness who answers the Testimony. Let the Testimony become even more so confirmed in our hearts.

Compare Paul's statement, "…until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things…" (1Corinthians 4:5) with the type and shadow regarding the veil and the ark. The ark of the Testimony was hidden behind the veil. If a person went back there behind the veil with the ark, he would not see anything because there is no artificial light. It would be completely dark. The piece of furniture is illuminated by the glory that appears in the midst of it. This light comes down upon the covering, the mercy seat. He Who is the glory of God gives light to the things that are concealed, to the things that are kept secret. He Himself is the light, the light of the knowledge of the glory.
Paul brings out this aspect more in the second letter. He says, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness…" (2Corinthians 4:6). This is not referring to creation. In creation God separated the light from the darkness. God commanded light to shine out of darkness when the glory of God filled the Holy of Holies. Paul continues his statement, "…hath shined in [not into] our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2Corinthians 4:6) Paul is saying that what happened in that Testimony happens in us in the Witness. What God set forth in the Testimony, in type and shadow, He has performed in us, in the revealing of His Son. He has performed it in the face of Jesus Christ. The word "face" in 2Corinthians 4:6 references back to 2Corinthians 3:18, "with open face beholding the glory of the Lord". Paul is bringing it from the Testimony to the Witness so that we may be Witnesses, not to what He said, but to Him!

Let us refer back to 1Corinthians 4:5. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come …" The point here is to judge nothing prior to His appearing. Judgment is the act of dividing the living from the dead. It is the same judgment the Lord brings right into the cross which is the place of judgment. Hebrews says it is appointed unto man once to die (Hebrews 9:27). The judgment is not between right and wrong. The judgment is not found in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that is described in Genesis in the Garden of Eden. We might try to judge between good and evil, but the greater judgment is between what is Christ and what is not Christ. Our judgment might determine when man is right or wrong, but the greater judgment says that the whole man must go! This judgment comes at the cross and declares not that we are right or wrong, but that we are dead and have no life but Christ! Even the term "crisis" that is translated "judgment" will bring us to that. The meanings of decision, discernment, discerning between and an inferred penalty can all be seen in the cross. All of that is seen at the cross, a death penalty and a final penalty. It is the judgment of God, not man, which goes to the bone of the matter and divides the living from among the dead.
When Christ appears, He judges between "the quick and the dead" (2Timothy 4:1). This judgment is spoken of again in a greater way in the second letter to the same Corinthians when in chapter 5, verse 14 Paul says, "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead". The conclusion of that judgment goes on in verse 15, "…that they which live should not henceforth [after this discernment, this judgment] live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again." In reading scriptures pertaining to the judgment, the terminology sounds like a legal document. For example 2Corinthians 5:16-17 says, "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ…". This is the judgment dividing the living from the dead. It is the judgment that is established in our heart. It is coming from the Testimony to the Witness.

Paul is saying here in 1Corinthians chapter 4 that he is not judging whether he is right or wrong. "…I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come…" (1Corinthians 4:3-5). "The time" in this verse is a set time. Consider this in terms of the account in Genesis 17 where Abraham has made a mistake or a willful act of an unsubmitted soul. Abraham at this point has not yet been obedient unto death. God did not wait until they were too old to conceive a child simply to perform a miracle. He waited in order for them to see themselves dead with no hope of life except through the seed of God. This is the judgment for them and for us. This is the judgment we must come to-that by Him we are dead. This is not a type or shadow. This is not a Testimony. This is the Witness, the reality-we are indeed dead! We are by Him made death that we by Him may live. There is a tremendous obedience that must come, because we will try every alternative way possible to produce the promise of God without admitting that we are dead, without becoming obedient unto death. Abraham's alternative method was to get a younger wife. Rather than be obedient unto death, Sarah laughed at God and then lied about it. The whole issue was that they would not come to that place where they admitted that they were absolutely dead and obeyed that and therefore declared the only possible way is by the Seed of God. After they produced Ishmael, they had to get rid of him and his mother and all that they represented. This illustrates the struggle that we go through today. It is beautifully written in Genesis 17:21. "But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year." (emphasis mine) Now Paul's statement in 1Corinthians 4:5 is specifically referring to the Witness. Here is the Testimony of the Witness as it relates to time and as time relates to the coming of the Lord-in fulfillment of the Testimony. There is a set time in the Testimony (as illustrated with Abraham and Sarah) and a set time in the Witness (fulfilled in the coming of the Lord).

Let us look at the three-fold illustration-"set time", "appointed time", and "time of life". In Genesis 17:21 it is the "set time". In Genesis 18:14, it is, "At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." The set time, which is the time of life, is the time when life comes. It is the summing up of all that is life. This is brought over into the cross in "the fulness of the time" (Galatians 4:4). At the fulness of the set time, the time of life and the appointed time, God sent forth not an Isaac, but His Son. Where? - At the cross. He was made of woman, made under the law to redeem and to die. He brought us into the adoption that the Spirit may work in us the reality of the adoption that is bringing us from the Testimony to the Witness through the revealing of the Son in us. This set time is unmistakably fulfilled in Him by His death, burial and resurrection.

It is beautiful that this is a three-fold time brought together and fulfilled in His death, His burial and His resurrection. Genesis 18:10 says, "…I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life…". Genesis 17:21 says, "But my covenant will I establish… at this set time…". These scriptures relate to the different usage of set time, time of life and appointed time, but it is all the same time when it is summed up in the Lord, the covenant and the return. "Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." (Genesis 18:14) Bless the Lord! It is thrilling to see this confirmed in the Lord. We have quoted Galatians 4:1-6, and the fulness of time referenced here means: according to the time appointed, the set time. According to Strong's # 4138, the word "fullness" includes the meaning: something "put in to fill up". In our case it means someone coming down into time to fill it up. In Him, the saying that time shall be no more (Revelation 10:6) does not necessarily refer to doing away with time. Eternity is defined as "no time", and we are not governed by time in Christ Jesus, but this scripture indicates that time will no longer be restrained but rather come to its fulness. That is how it translates. This is tremendous, and it is true in Him!

Reference:
Strong's Greek Lexicon: Gal 4:4, "fulness" <4138>
4138. plhrwma pleroma play'-ro-mah; from 4137; repletion or completion, i.e. (subjectively) what fills (as contents, supplement, copiousness, multitude), or (objectively) what is filled (as container, performance, period):- which is put in to fill up, piece that filled up, fulfilling, full, fulness.

We will continue in 1Corinthians 4:5 which says, "…until the Lord come…". The word "come" is translated as, "appear, bring, pass, be set" (Strong's). It can also be translated, "to come forth" (Thayer's). The verse can thus be translated, "…until the Lord bring to pass…". There are several translations of this word "come". In one place it means "manifestly so"; another place means "unveiled". Here in 1Corinthians 4:5, it means that the Lord brings to pass this very thing, this very judgment. This brings us from the Testimony to the Witness. Every place where the term "it shall come to pass" is used, there is a Testimony of the cross. The cross is where all things come to pass. God looks ahead at the cross when He says, "…it shall come to pass that…" (120 verses). There might be a primary fulfillment of it-that king might actually die, that people might actually do this or that. God speaks of it and uses examples, and because the Testimony is true, what is foretold happens. However, the more perfect understanding is pointed right at the cross where everything that comes to pass, comes to pass. Nothing is really perfectly done except by the cross!

References:
Strong's Greek Lexicon: 1Cor 4:5, "come" <2064>
2064. ercomai erchomai er'-khom-ahee; middle voice of a primary verb (used only in the present and imperfect tenses, the others being supplied by a kindred [middle voice] eleuyomai eleuthomai el-yoo'-thom-ahee; or [active] elyw eltho el'-tho; which do not otherwise occur); to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively):- accompany, appear, bring, come, enter, fall out, go, grow, X light, X next, pass, resort, be set.

Thayer's Greek Lexicon: 1Cor 4:5, "come" <2064>
2064 erchomai-
1) to come; used of persons:

2) metaphorically:

3) to go, to follow one

When the scripture says that Noah built an ark, it means that he built a very large boat, but we do not comprehend that ark perfectly except in Christ Jesus. The Testimony is true. Consequently, when God said that it shall come to pass that there will be a flood, there was indeed a flood. However, it perfectly happened in the cross. It is amazing to run references on this term and see the dimension it gives to the cross and the guarantee behind what the Lord was saying. The guarantee stated in the Testimony is the cross. It is a small thing for God to say that in this day that man shall die (Genesis 6:17). However, He is ultimately talking about an altogether other man of which this man is a type. He is speaking of something that is guaranteed by the cross. He can speak of that because His Son is already committed to it. God is already committed, and in His heart it is already so. Consequently, He speaks of it in those terms. We see how everything, in God's dealings with man and everything else, is determined by the cross.

Reference:
Gen 6:17
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

So the word "come" here means "to bring to pass". This coming is to bring to pass judgments of which the Testimony speaks. Now, "…will bring to light the hidden things…" (1Corinthians 4:5) refers to the hidden wisdom that the ark represented. It is that glory that is in us that is not to be hidden but rather revealed. The Testimony is hidden; the Witness is revealed. Until He is revealed, He is not the Witness. This is not the Witness that is to be revealed. The Witness is the revealing of Him. It is taking away the veil that makes the Testimony become the Witness. They are the same-the veil makes the difference. "Will bring to light" means "enlighten". That is a word Paul used praying, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened…" (Ephesians 1:17-18). "Will bring to light" or "will enlighten" could also be said "will make seen". The things made seen are the hidden, secret, mysteries that are concealed. These verses in 1Corinthians might appear to be referring to the things hidden in our hearts, but the context of the scripture does not support that perspective. It is the things which are the mystery of God, things that are hidden as a Testimony that when revealed become a Witness. He comes to bring us from the Testimony of it, which is of Himself to the Witness, which is Himself.

The next portions of 1Corinthians 4:5 are as follows:

So, this portion of 1Corinthians 4:5 could be translated, "…then shall the purpose of every man be seen." Then shall God's thought and purpose for all men be seen. When the Lord shall appear, when He shall show the hidden things, when the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is shined in us in the face of Jesus Christ, then shall the purpose of every man be seen. That which our brains can not understand, that thing that always says there is more to this and that we are meant for something else, this answers those thoughts as only God's purpose can. God's divine thought concerning every man is seen in Christ Jesus! This means that Christ shows Himself to be God's thought and purpose concerning every man. This happens when the veil is rent, when the Lord appears and judgment is come.

In 2Corinthians 5:14, Paul says, "…and we thus judge…". God shows us His purpose for man in the revealing of His Son. In Him we see the divine purpose of God made real for every man. That which is hidden is brought to light in the light of Him. Our eyes are enlightened, and in Him we see the purpose that our hearts have been panting after. We see the divine thought of God concerning mankind. We see why God has "visited" man. We see Jesus who became that man, made a little lower. We see Jesus magnified and glorified. We see Jesus bringing many sons to glory. We see Jesus in their midst unashamed to call them brethren. We see the Man of God's heart in Christ, and we realize this New Man is His thought and intention. He brings forth One New Man in Christ Jesus. That is God's purpose worked in us. That is the "hidden counsels" referred to in 1Corinthians that are brought to light in the appearing of Christ. It brings us from the Testimony to the Witness.
The Testimony is hidden, veiled and covered. When the Witness is come, come forth in judgment by the cross, the veil is done away. We, in the seeing of God and the glory (2Corinthians 3:18) are changed. We are transformed in the inner man from Testimony to Witness.

Things concerning the Testimony must be searched thoroughly, and as a result of this searching, the Witness is revealed in us. Where there is no searching of the Testimony, in spirit and in truth, there is no revealing of the Witness. The Testimony is primarily that which is written, the scripture, and includes everything that is contained in that writing. We read of creation, and creation is then involved in the Testimony. We read of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; we read of Israel, Moses and Joshua; the feasts, priests, sacrifices, people, places and things-all that is embodied in the scripture becomes part of the Testimony of which He is the absolute finish and fulfillment. We must search the Testimony that the Holy Spirit may reveal in us the Witness. We can not have one without the other. We can not simply take the Testimony but not allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into the living Witness of it. Otherwise we would have only dead letter and a real hopelessness, because we would always be looking for something that is never coming. In the same way, we can not have the Witness apart from the Testimony. If we disregard the Testimony, we will just have unrestrained works of the flesh.

There are those who seek to maintain the Testimony without ever coming to the Witness, without coming to a revealing of Christ. The Testimony is designed to bring us to a revealing of Christ, but we must let all the Testimony that is embodied in the scripture do that. Beginning in Hebrews chapter 10, we will search these things concerning Christ. "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,)…" (Hebrews 10:7). If we do not allow that which is the volume of the book bring us to the Witness of Him, then we will come to absolute frustration. The Testimony is designed not to show us how to live better but to bring us to that better Life, that One Life which Christ is. It is not designed to show us ten ways to happiness, fifteen ways to love, and seven ways to the Throne. It is designed to either bring us to the living Witness or else bring us to absolute frustration from our not allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ in us. Paul came to that frustration.

In Romans chapter 7, he speaks of that great frustration in that when he tried to do good things, they turned out to be evil, and the evil that he did not want to do, he did. We are not referring to a bank robber or a rapist. We are speaking of a man who was seeking to be righteous and who by keeping the law is ending up in frustration. He sees that his best efforts fall short of the righteousness to which the law, the Testimony as a whole, is pointing. He sees that the good that he would do is evil, and the evil that he would not do is present with him. He had offered the sacrifices and kept the law. He was, a "Hebrew of the Hebrews," a Pharisee. Paul, in his frustration, cries out to God "…Who shall deliver me from the body of this death [this humanity]? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord…" (Romans 7:24-25). Paul determines that what is meant to lead him to life, first becomes unto him death itself, because the Testimony is unto death. The one reason for the Testimony is to work in us the obedience to His death, to work in us the realization that regardless of what we do this Testimony is not speaking of us. This Testimony is speaking of a righteousness, a holiness, a kingdom, a tabernacle that I am not. This Testimony is speaking of a Man beyond what I know man to be, beyond what I know myself to be. It brings us to the realization that the Testimony is fulfilled in Christ-fulfilled in His death, His burial and His resurrection. The Testimony brings us to the cross. It is written this way. The Testimony is set forth in the scriptures this way. The order of it is in His death, burial and resurrection.

Regardless of whether we are reading in the first chapter of Genesis or the twelfth through the fiftieth, over and over again we will find that the Testimony is unto death. Its requirement is not that we be better but that we become obedient unto death. We can not look at the tabernacle or the offerings without seeing this. Bringing the bullock did not improve the person. The requirement demanded that the person lay his hands on the bullock and identify with that bullock in death. The obedience was unto death. The obedience was not bringing the animal sacrifice; the obedience was killing it! Many believers have not crossed from the Testimony unto the living Witness. We have not become obedient. We look at the scripture, "…present your bodies a living sacrifice…" (Romans 12:1) and try to do that. We will bring the sacrifice, but somehow it fails to work. We bring the sacrifice, but we do not know how to give it. Our reasoning might be that we pray 30 minutes each day or read our Bibles 15 minutes each day-or pray 12 hours or read 18 hours! How do we present our bodies a living sacrifice? It could be compared to an Israelite bringing the bullock or sheep and then saying, "Now what am I supposed to do?"

We are supposed to kill it! We are supposed to reckon it dead! We do not want to kill it, because it is the best we have. We searched throughout our flock and found the best sheep. We would rather kill an old cow, but we brought the best of the firstlings. Now we are expected to kill it? Surely God wants the best. I want to give it to God, but I do not want to kill it! If we want to give it to God, we must kill it. We must identify with it, put our hands on it and then kill it! All God is requiring of us is obedience unto death that Christ may become manifestly your life. He is not someone teaching us how to live. He is our Life. All it requires of us is obedience unto His death, because His death embodies everything you as the first man are. "…He that is dead is freed from sin" (Romans 6:7), justified by His death, reconciled by His death and saved by His Life! All that is required is obedience unto His death!

By the Holy Spirit, we need to come into agreement with the scripture and the Testimony that we have no life! When He died, we died with Him. That is what the death is all about. In that He lives, we live by Him. He is our life. This realization will come in us through obedience unto His death. Obedience unto His death is a work of the Spirit, and the Spirit of Truth is ever ready to bring us to that obedience and to that realization of Life.

When a Christian witnesses to a person who is not born again, he tells the unbeliever that he needs simply to repent, and the Lord will become his life. With such simplicity and assurance of an ever-ready Spirit, why is it so difficult for those of us who are born of the Spirit to believe that the Spirit is ever ready to bring us from one comprehension of Christ to a greater comprehension-from the Testimony to the Witness? The reason is illustrated with the Israelites. Consider that the difficulty for Israel was not in leaving Egypt. Pharaoh was chasing them, and the Israelites were seeking to save their own lives. The difficulty was going into Canaan where it would cost them the recognition of their own lives. We have come out from Egypt. We are born-again believers, children of God. Why is it so difficult for us to pass over this Jordan and live in all the fulness of which Canaan is a Testimony? The reason for the difficulty is due to the necessity of a different kind of obedience. Consider that most of salvation is not presented as a forsaking of our life. It is presented primarily as the saving of it. However, the Spirit of God begins to deal with us and the Spirit of Truth begins to show us what has actually taken place in the saving of our lives is that we lose our lives! We were crucified with Him, and He is our life. If we want to walk in this salvation, we must walk in truth, and we must become obedient to the Truth-when He died, we died. Christ lives in us, and we have no life but Him. The Spirit of Truth is always dealing with us in this way. However, He hits obstacles in us that would prevent us from being fully obedient. Sadly, if modern religion has not actually put those obstacles there, they certainly have enforced them. One might say, "I am saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost and on my way to heaven. I do not really have time to think about this. I am going to go be with Jesus. I belong to the church, and I am just as good as everybody else." This person might have a religious work that reinforces this type of thinking and builds an entire congregation upon it, but it still is not the truth.

The truth is still that when one died, all died with Him (2Corinthians 5:14)! The truth is still that we have no life but Christ. The truth is still that this whole Testimony is intended to bring us to one obedience-the obedience unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). The truth of the matter is that the Testimony brings us unto death, and Christ brings us forth in His resurrection unto life. Paul sums this up when he says, "I am crucified with Christ…" (Galatians 2:20). This is where the Testimony has brought us. This is where the whole volume of this book, that we search and study, would bring us. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) This understanding is working in us a realization concerning Christ, our life. This is Paul's Witness, and he was brought there by the Testimony. He was brought there by realizing Christ is the fulfillment of all of the sacrifices, priesthood, feast days, and all that is spoken of in the tabernacle and Canaan. He is the fulfillment of it, and it was all fulfilled in the cross. So it is Paul who says the preaching of the cross is unto us the power of God; to the Jews it is a stumbling stone, and to the Greeks it is foolishness. To us, it is the power of God (1Corinthians 1:18). It is Paul who saw this reality, and it is Paul who presents it to us in epistle after epistle. Presented to Paul by the Spirit of God, it was witnessed in the revealing of the Son. So Paul literally came from the Testimony into the living Witness, seeing everything of the Testimony fulfilled in Christ, in Christ's death, burial and resurrection and seeing that He brought us into His death, burial and brought us forth in His resurrection. And now to live in His Resurrection, to live in Christ, all that is required is obedience unto the work that Christ has done.

References:
2Cor 5:14
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

Phil 2:8
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Phil 2:5
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Gal 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1Cor 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

This is obedience unto the fact that when He died, I died; obedience unto the fact that I go down into His death, am buried in the burial as one body (the body of humanity), and I come forth as a member of a New Body (the Body of Jesus Christ)! The bodies that we have must become servants of the Body of which we are! This is how we present them as living sacrifices. It is not just in doing things, but it is a divine comprehension that in burial, I went down as one body. Paul stated that what is sown, that which is buried, is not that which comes forth. We go in as a natural body; we come forth a spiritual body (1Corinthians 15:37, 44). "…There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body" (1Corinthians 15:44). Therefore Paul says, "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." (1Corinthians 15:47) As we have borne the image of the earthy [the first], so must we bear the image of the heavenly [the second] (1Corinthians 15:49). Where did we bear the image of the first? We bore it in our souls. Now we must bear the image of the second. This is not a future event. Some translations of verse 49 seem to indicate that it is futuristic, but in consulting the Thayer's Definition, the present tense verb is indicated. If we have lived as the body of humanity, if these bodies have served the body of humanity (the body of Adam), so these bodies must now serve the Body of Christ. This Body we are by His death, burial and resurrection. This is the gospel that is presented by Paul to us, bringing us from the temple that speaks of this to the living Temple of which we are. It is a living Temple because he lives in us, and we, His Temple, live by Him!

Reference:
Thayer's Greek Lexicon: 1Cor 15:49, "we shall bear" <5409>
5409 phoreo-
to bear constantly, to wear; used of clothing, garments, armor

Many are still looking for a living temple because of one issue-the living Temple does not live by us but by Him! We must be obedient unto His death. We must understand that first tabernacle spoke of humanity in relationship to Christ. Humanity is always seen by the cross in relationship to Christ. Humanity relates to Christ through His death, burial and resurrection. Therefore humanity can only relate to him as He related to us. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Except Christ had been made lower for a little while; except Christ had become obedient to the death of Adam; except Christ had identified with humanity; how would humanity ever have identified with Him? It never could have, and that is the hidden wisdom of God! There is nothing we can do that is good enough or will allow us to ascend into heaven in order to identify with God. Only One ever has. He who descended is the same as He who ascended!

He is Jacob's ladder, not for us to climb up but for the Life that brings heaven to earth and earth to heaven. He is the bridge between humanity and eternity. He came into humanity, took upon Himself the very form of humanity (being found as a human), humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He did that for humanity. He was buried; He came forth. Paul says, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4) The cross is where Christ identified Himself with humanity that we may identify ourselves with Him in His death (which is our death), in His burial (which is where we were buried), and in His resurrection (which is that by which we live). Who is the Resurrection by which we live? Jesus leaves no doubt with His resounding, "…I am the resurrection, and the life…"! All that is required of us is that we be obedient to that Truth, that working of God, that divine operation of the Spirit, that finished work of the Son. We must be obedient to the faith, obedient to the gospel, and obedient to that whereunto He was appointed and we are called. We must be obedient to His death!

That obedience is the only thing that puts us to rest. Then we realize, after untold years of trying to understand, that this is not telling us how to live "good". It is telling us that he is the only good life! It is not telling us how to be like Jesus. It is telling us that there is none like Jesus and that he is our life. It is such a liberating realization! Yet it does not liberate us to live like we want to. The liberating factor is that we are dead and he is our life! We are not set free in the flesh; we are brought to the realization that we are dead! It is not describing ten things that will control us or ten things that we can do to be good enough. We are dead. We have no life but Christ. It is to this realization that we become obedient. The Spirit is continually striving to bring us to that obedience by addressing this thought or thing and subsequently another thought or thing. He is continually working. He teaches by comparing spiritual things with He who is spiritual within us. He compares the things of the Spirit with the Spirit. He compares spiritual things with spiritual fulness. He brings the Testimony to be fulfilled in Christ and brings us to obedience to Him that He may be realized and revealed, and the Witness may come forth in us. The Witness is not of death but of Life. The Testimony has brought us to His death; it will not take us beyond that.

The prophets prophesy of this great gathering coming from this direction and that direction. They describe this great glory, and we say that we want to see and be a part of that gathering. We imagine that one day He will gather us and we will see that glory. However it will not happen until we realize that everything the prophets spoke of is accomplished in the cross and demands our death. When we are obedient to death, then we will see that great gathering of which we are a part-quickened together, raised together and seated together in heavenly places whereby He gathers together all things in One. When we are obedient unto His death, then we will be released to see that great glory. The whole Testimony comes to that obedience-to the obedient One, and the Spirit of God desires to bring us there that we may be released into the fulness of His Life.

This brings us to Hebrews 10:7-10. In verse 10, it says, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." This is a work completed! There is only one way that we can be saved, and it is by the blood of Jesus, accepting Him as a sacrifice for our sins and receiving Him as our Savior. Having done that, there is only one way we can walk in the fulness of Him, walk in the heaven and see the glory. Obedience unto Him is the only way. If we come by His death, burial and resurrection, we can only live by obedience. We can not come one way and then live disobedient to that very way. We can not say, "Yes, I have come by the blood of Jesus. I have received Him as my Savior" and then refuse to be obedient to that blood. Eventually the Holy Spirit will begin to address the true meaning of the blood of Jesus washing away our sins. We will begin to go back to the Testimony to find out what it means, and we will discover that all those washings are related to Christ's death. We will look at the pieces of the sacrifices that were washed, and we will realize that He did not simply make us clean. He washed us and presented us for sacrifice! Then we realize that being saved by His blood is actually coming to His death.

Reference:
Heb 10:7-10
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,)to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus

The Holy Spirit does not require that obedience from a child. However, eventually we say that we would like to be more than a child. Then, the Holy Spirit will tell us that we must be obedient to this way that we have come. If we come by the blood, we must become obedient to all that of which the blood speaks. Because He died for us, we must become obedient to the greater realization, set forth in the scripture, that He died as us. The Holy Spirit deals with all, who receive Him, as being in Him. The Spirit of Truth will cease simply to deal in terms of sin and condemnation and will deal with us in the greater capacity of the Spirit of Truth. At this point, we will either become obedient or else frustrated. If we become frustrated, our frustration will either bring us back to obedience or else it will find a vent in carnality. Each time we desire to grow in the Lord and grow closer to Him, we will come right back to that same point where we were frustrated. We will not be able to go beyond that point. There is only one Jordan River, and that river represents obedience unto death. Years later, God brought Israel back to that same place, the same Jordan River, at the same season. Again, they are told to arise and pass over this Jordan. Notice that the river did not roll back until the priests had stepped out into it in obedience unto faith. At this point, the waters rolled back (Joshua 3:15-16). The Red Sea rolled back before anybody did anything other than Moses stretching forth his hand (Exodus 14:21). However, the Jordan did not stand up and roll back until the priests had put their feet in it. This is obedience. We pass from death unto life, from Testimony unto Witness through obedience unto His death. This is where the Spirit of God is bringing us.

References:
Josh 3:15-16
And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

Ex 14:21
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

"Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:" (Hebrews 9:6-8). These verses tell us that the first must die that the second may be established. They are speaking distinctly of the first and second tabernacle. The writer of Hebrews is referring to the Holy of Holies as the second tabernacle (Hebrews 9:3) and the Sanctuary as the first (Hebrews 9:2). The Holy place is where the priests ministered each day (with the candelabra, the table of showbread and the altar of incense). However, the second tabernacle was only entered by the High Priest and only once per year. The reason for the limited access is seen in verse 8 where "the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing".

References:
Heb 9:2-3
For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;

Heb 9:11
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Heb 9:24
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Heb 10:9
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

While the first tabernacle remained, the way into the Holiest of all is not made manifest. Jesus takes away the first that he may establish the second (Hebrews 10:9). Jesus said, "…Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). This is speaking of the first tabernacle, and it was destroyed at the cross! With the cross, in Christ's death, burial and resurrection, all that the first tabernacle spoke of was destroyed. When Jesus said he would raise it again, he was speaking of His resurrection, and He was speaking of the more perfect Tabernacle which is the Tabernacle of His own Body, of which we now are through Him. However, until there is a doing away of the first, until there is an obedience unto the cross, until there is an obedience unto His death; the way into the second is not made manifest. While we are still seeing the first man we can not see nor comprehend the Second. While we are still embodied in the first tabernacle and all that it represents, the body of humanity, we can not comprehend nor see a new humanity, a New Man.

We must understand that everything Jesus did as the Son of God must be done in us by the faith of the Son of God. This faith is comprehending Him, by the Spirit, in the fulness of what He has done. It is coming to realize that when He died He did not simply die as some Jewish building. He died as everything that first tabernacle represented. That first tabernacle represented the body of humanity. His purpose in dying was that He may bring forth that of which that tabernacle, that body of humanity, points to and testifies. He died to bring forth the greater tabernacle and the greater body of the New Humanity, which is the Body of Christ. It is not simply a tent, or Jewish building, that is done away with but rather the representation of the first creation and the first man. He takes away that which simply points to the second by fulfilling it in Himself. This is accomplished in His death, burial and resurrection. "By the which will [by the doing of which] we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). How do we walk in it? We walk in obedience to His death that His life may abound in us. "…I am the resurrection, and the life…" (John 11:25)!

The High Priest of one order had a tabernacle of that same order. The High priest was not better than the tabernacle, and the tabernacle was not better than the High Priest. The High Priest offered sacrifices for the people and himself also. However, Hebrews chapter 8 says that we have a better High Priest and consequently Hebrews 9:26-28 shows the better tabernacle. Our High Priest has brought forth a better offering than goats and bulls. He offered Himself, once and for all! Better blood than that of lambs was His own blood, once and for all! A better death was His death; for His death is not in type of mankind but is in fact the transition from the body of humanity to a spiritual body, which body we are. A better resurrection was His resurrection; for it was not men coming to life again but Christ Himself living in men! A better tabernacle is this Tabernacle, for we are by Him what all the saints of Hebrews 11:35-40 looked for, longed for, died for, and yet could not receive without us!

References:
Heb 8:1
Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

Heb 9:26-28
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Heb 11:35-40
Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Because we are that which comes forth by Him, we are not a tabernacle made by hands but rather a Tabernacle made by God through the Spirit. He has quickened us with His Spirit, raised us by his Spirit, established us in Christ by His Spirit, and he dwells in us as His own house. We are a better House, not because we are better but because our High Priest is better. We have Him not by prophecy but by reality of Spirit. We have and are made to be, by Him, that of which the prophets saw and spoke: the Great City, the Tabernacle of God, the Mountain of the Most High. We have come there in Christ Jesus! Yet because of carnality and the lie that has worked disobedience unto the reality of the cross, we have multitudes of Christians looking themselves for what the Old Testament saints looked. They looked for a city, and we are still looking for a city. They looked for a temple, and we are still looking for a temple. They looked in obedience, but we are looking in disobedience! They looked in faith, but we are looking because we do not have faith. If we had faith, we would manifest the reality of the City for which they looked. This is what Hebrews 11:35-40 refers to. "…That it was not possible for them to become complete without us" (Hebrews 11:40). They could not be complete because their completion is the City that we are. They are made complete in that Resurrection of Christ of which we are also partakers. Yet somehow we have been robbed of that reality. Consequently, we are looking for a better place to go and a better city to live in.

All of these things are in Him for those who have faith, for those who will be obedient unto his death that they may live in the surety of His resurrection and manifest the reality of salvation in the earth of which every prophet saw and testified. Each of the saints of God listed in Hebrews 11 died in faith waiting for the greater death of the cross, the greater burial, the greater resurrection-all of which is to be witnessed in a greater City, a greater Country, a greater Mountain, a greater Body, a greater Tabernacle which by Him we are! It is only in seeing Him that we know what and who we are. Some people have taken hold of and preached some of these truths such as us being the Temple or being the City. However, without seeing Him the reality of these truths does not work. On one side we have those still looking for a city, and on the other we have those who say that we are the city, but there is no light, no evidence or witness. The key to it all is seeing Him. We will never know whose Body we are until we see the face of that Body. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ (2Corinthians 4:6).

We can preach that we are the city, but until the Lamb is the Light, what light have we? Where is the Witness? There is little difference between those who say there is still a city coming than with those who say that we are the city but who have no light or whose light is actually themselves. There are those who would call attention to themselves as being something. However, the Witness is not in preaching "sonship" but rather in manifesting the Son. The Witness is not preaching "kingdom" but rather in the sovereign rule of the King in a people. The Witness is not preaching "the body" but rather is the Body exhibiting Christ. If we simply take these things of the Testimony and preach them as things without seeing the true Witness of them, then all we are doing is yet still extending the Testimony. It is little progress to go from seeking a futuristic city where we can walk on streets of gold to acknowledging we are the city of God without the light and character thereof. What is anybody seeing?

The real Witness to all that Christ is, is seen in the revealing of Him. The scriptures declare that He is the light. "When Christ, who is our life shall appear [the word "appear" means "shall be made manifest" or "shall be manifestly seen"] then shall ye also appear [made manifest] with him in glory [as being one with Him]" (Colossians 3:4). The scripture is saying that the City shall be seen when the Lord is seen in the City. The City shall become apparent when the Lord becomes apparent in the City. The City shall be seen when the Light is turned on in it. When He who is the Light shines forth, then the City will be seen as being One with Him. We want to show the City rather than be seen as the City. It is in the City showing Him that the City itself has visibility. We are not preaching ourselves as the City of God. In showing Him, the existence of the City is validated. He is the faithful and true Witness. Oh, that there shall come a hunger in our hearts to pray that the Father will show us the Witness. If we are the City, let the Witness come forth in us. If we are His Body, reveal the One whose Body we are. Bring us from the Testimony to the Witness.

All the speaking is in vain if it does not reach a person in a way that results in the seeing of Christ. Regardless of the study materials and preparation, this must be the result. Otherwise it is simply a great many words. However, there are hearts ever hungry to see Him more and more, and the Lord desires to bring forth great Witness in the great revealing of His Son. Consequently, the constraint to speak forth regarding the area of obedience unto His death is not a reaction to disobedience, but rather a result of the knowledge that there are people desiring to be obedient unto that death and know Him in the power of His resurrection. There is a reality that the Spirit would work, a Witness that would come forth that together with the knowledge of Him would go virtually to the ends of the earth. This would empower and join itself with that Witness coming forth in others and actually go to the uttermost parts of the earth. Simply sending out religious people and calling them missionaries is meaningless. It is the Witness that has significance.

We must determine what is Testimony and what is Witness. We need to understand that having a person saved and sent out as a missionary does not necessarily constitute Witness unless they have indeed come from words to Spirit, from what is said to what is real, from what is coming to Him Who is come. Witness is a result of indeed being an eyewitness of Him and His resurrection and martyr Witness by understanding and obedience unto death, having no life but Christ. That is the twofold meaning of Witness-eyewitness and martyrdom. This is not the willingness to go die but rather the realization that we are dead and He is our life. The true martyr is not one who is hoping to see Jesus one day but one in whom God has revealed His Son.

Obedience unto His death releases us unto the working in us by the power of His resurrection. We understand that He is not in us working life. He is the life. He is in us working death to the first that the second may become all the more apparent. He is in us working obedience to a finished work that the end of that work, which is the power of Christ in His resurrection, may work in us a manifestation of Him. It is Christ working in us as Paul says, "…according to his working, which worketh in me mightily" (Colossians 1:29). In Philippians, Paul speaks of "…the power of his resurrection…" (Philippians 3:10). We have not yet seen the power of His resurrection that would be released in us through obedience unto His death. It is obedience that the Lord is calling for, that there may be, as a result, the working of His resurrection in us. Without having seen, we can not imagine the transformation that would take place in us and in others around us if we would be obedient to what He has done. This obedience is to His death, to the end of the first that the second may be made fully manifest in us, that He may have expression through us.

We have heard preaching regarding obedience, but to what are we to obey? Paul had determined to obey the law, and he found that the law led him to death. Attempts to obey the sacrifices lead to death, because death is that of which they speak. Being honestly obedient to the Testimony, without trying to find a way out, will bring one to death, because the Testimony itself is fulfilled in His death. The Testimony is unto death, and the Witness is unto Life. Where is the end of the Witness? There is no end of the Witness. Where is the end of Life? There is no end of the Life. We are missing the great in our disobedience to the lesser. We pray for the Lord to work in our hearts this obedience, and He will bring us there through the Testimony.

The first man Adam would not lose, or forsake, his own life. God made man a soul living (Genesis 2:7; original text states that order-soul living). 1Corinthians 15:45 also says that the first man was made a soul living. This first man is contrasted with a second man, whom Jesus wants us to see. In John 12:23-24, Jesus is introducing the cross as being His death, His burial and His resurrection. Verse 20 describes certain men who come saying, "…Sir, we would see Jesus" (John 12:21). Here is a time when the question is whether one wants to see the Jesus after the flesh or Jesus by the Spirit. Jesus begins to speak to them of the Jesus that is shown to Paul. When Paul was rounding up Christians and putting them to death, when Paul was killing the Body of Christ, the Lord spoke to Paul saying, "…Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" (Acts 9:4) Paul asks, "…Who art thou Lord?…" (Acts 9:5) and Lord answers, "…I am Jesus whom thou persecutest…" (Acts 9:5). It is the same Jesus but a different view than what we would have in the flesh. While being the same Jesus, this is a different comprehension of Him in a different body.

References:
Interlinear Bible: Gen 2:7
And formed <3335^> the LORD <3068^> God <430> man [<853>] <120^> {of} <9999> the dust <6083^> of <4480> the ground <127^> and breathed <5301> into his nostrils <639^> the breath of <5397> life <2416^>. became <1961^> and man <120^> a soul <5315^> living <2416^>.

Interlinear Bible: 1Cor 15:45
So <3779^> And <2532^> it is written: <1125^> "was made <1096^> The <3588> first <4413^> man <444^> Adam <76> [1519] a soul <5590^> living" <2198^>. …

Jn 12:20-21
And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

Jn 12:23-24
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

When the men in John 12:20 were taken to Jesus, "Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified." (John 12:23) They asked to see Jesus, and He tells them that they will not see the Jesus that He wants them to see unless He dies. Jesus then says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die [speaking of Himself], it abideth alone…" (John 12:24). The Jesus He wanted them to see was not the Jesus in a body that is intended for death but rather the Jesus in His living Body. He wanted them to see that which He brings forth of Himself through death, burial and resurrection. He is not describing a bunch of little Jesuses. He is speaking of One Body bearing One Name and manifesting this same Jesus. We are not Jesus. However, we have no life but Jesus and we have been made to be together a Body that has no name except Jesus. We must sacrifice the body that we have to the Body that we are. We must sacrifice the name that we have to the name by which we have been named.

There is a Body that comes forth in the resurrection. It is the same Jesus in a different Body! When Jesus speaks of a kernel of corn falling into the ground, He is speaking of Himself. More than simply born of a woman, He took that very body into the earth. "If a kernel of grain, falling into the earth, should not be dying, it is remaining alone, yet if it should be dying, it is bringing forth much fruit…" (John 12:24-25, Concordant Literal New Testament). Jesus is speaking of Himself becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This is the obedience, and it is this Jesus that comes forth. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). He is exalted in the resurrection! He says, "I am the resurrection…" (John 11:25), but He lives in us! God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name! And thankfully "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow" (Philippians 2:10, emphasis added)-including our own knees! He has claimed us as His own Body and written His Name upon and in us, that we become greater manifestation of Him and the manifestation of His greater being!

It is evident that it was Jesus whom Saul persecuted even though Saul was not throwing rocks at Him when He was walking in the body of His death. Jesus's statement, "…I am Jesus whom thou persecutest…" (Acts 9:5) was referring to Saul's treatment of the saints who were alive in the Resurrection, by the Lord Jesus, who are His Body. Paul could never look at the Church or the Body as others did. The carnal mind could take the statement and say, "I am Jesus!". The flesh is foolish enough to take that kind of statement unto itself. We are not Jesus! However, we are His Body and named by His Name. He puts His name upon us because we are His. We live by Him because He lives in us. When He appears, we appear to be one with Him. When He appears, we see that as He is, so are we in this earth!
"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" (Jn 12:25). Another translation reads: "…He who is fond of his soul is destroying it, and he who is hating his soul in this world, shall be guarding it for life eonian" (John 12:25, Concordant Literal New Testament). We know that Adam would not surrender his soul. The first man Adam would not die, that is, forsake his own soul life. The tree of life in the Garden of Eden spoke of another life, a life that Adam did not have. This tree demanded the forsaking of his own soul life. This was something Adam was unwilling to do, so he chose the tree that did not make that demand but merely promised the knowledge of good and evil. By the lie of the devil, he thought we would be like God-knowing good and evil. When Adam disobeyed God in eating of that tree, the tree gave him knowledge of evil because he ceased doing good. He experienced evil in disobedience. Adam kept his own independent soul life, and this is what the enemy would have us do-keep our independent soul life. These are the same grounds upon which the enemy tempted the Lord.

In John 12, the Lord is speaking of Himself as much as anybody else. He is speaking as the One going to the cross. He is speaking as the One of whom the Psalmist cries out and says, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Psalms 16:10) He is speaking of One who is about to completely lay down His soul life as a man, in obedience to God and in faith and truth that the One to Whom He laid down His soul would bring it forth again in union with that eternal Spirit. Adam turned from the tree of life; he would not release his soul. God had made Adam a soul living. That soul could choose to release that back to God and have it come forth in Spirit; or he could keep it unto himself. Adam kept it unto himself. The second man Adam was obedient unto death. He released that life that God had given, and it was restored by the life giving Spirit! The verse "But if the Spirit of him that has raised up Jesus from [among] the dead dwell in you…" (Romans 8:11) refers to a different life than the soul. This is the living Spirit of God, and He is in us through obedience of the soul unto death-on behalf of Christ. Consequently, we experience the life of the Spirit by bringing our soul into obedience unto death.

Blessed be the Light of God! Christ is the Light! The darkness can not withstand that Light.

There are those who think everything is a battle between God and the devil. There are verses that refer to this darkness without. He "hath delivered us from the power of darkness…" (Colossians 1:13), and children "of darkness" (1Thessalonians 5:5). However, there is a darkness within. Until the glory of God was made manifest, the Holy of Holies was in absolute darkness. This darkness is only dispelled in the manifest appearing of the glory of God Himself. This darkness is only dispelled in the revelation of Jesus Christ. In the Holy of Holies, neither sin nor Satan is an issue. The natural ability to see, the natural mind, is the issue. That room was shrouded to forbid any light other than the glory of God to have penetration. This One Light is the only light that overcomes that darkness. There are not shades of darkness in the Holy of Holies. That place is absolutely dark until the coming of Light. We must understand this in order to respond correctly to the idea that there might be darkness in us. This means that we can not see nor comprehend except by that Light that is Christ. There is no provision in the Holy of Holies for lampstands, sunlight, etc. The only provision there is for the Light of the glory of God.

The Holy of Holies is the one place that answers to Paul's statement in 2Corinthians:

2Corinthians 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

When Paul states that the light shines out of darkness, this is coming from the midst of the darkness (Strong's # 1537; see also Thayer's definition). He goes on to say that it has shined from within our hearts rather than into our hearts. The context of the verse in this passage bears this out. The purpose is "…to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2Cor 4:6). There is the Witness that answers to the Testimony. The Testimony is seen in the Holy of Holies, the tabernacle of the Testimony, concerning the ark of the Testimony. The glory of God descended, filled and became the light of that 10'x10'x10' "cubits" (thousand cubit) place. Yet this was a glory that came and went. It did not abide there. However, in us His glory abides; He dwells in us!

References:
Strong's Greek Lexicon: 2Cor 4:6, "out of" <1537>
1537. ek ek ek or ex ex ex; a primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence action or motion proceeds), from, out (of place, time, or cause; literal or figurative; direct or remote):- after, among, X are, at, betwixt(-yond), by (the means of), exceedingly, (+ abundantly above), for(-th), from (among, forth, up), + grudgingly, + heartily, X heavenly, X hereby, + very highly, in, ...ly, (because, by reason) of, off (from), on, out among (from, of), over, since, X thenceforth, through, X unto, X vehemently, with(-out). Often used in composition, with the same general import; often of completion.

Thayer's Greek Lexicon: 2Cor 4:6, "out of" <1537>
1537 ek or ex-
out of, from, by, away from

Easton's Revised Bible Dictionary: "Tabernacle"
…The holy of holies, a cube of 10 cubits, contained the "ark of the testimony," i.e., the oblong chest containing the two tables of stone, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded.

The Lord says it both ways, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you…" (John 15:7). There is an abiding in Him. This is a condition of the heart. This is walking "…in the light, as he is in the light…" (1John 1:7). It is in this Light that the darkness is dispelled. That darkness that is in us, that place that is in us can not be lighted except by the revelation of Jesus Christ. God has reserved it for that Light alone to shine within it rather than upon it. Consider the verse, "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:4-5) No, the darkness can not understand this Light nor hold it back!

As mentioned before, there are scripture verses that refer to a world of darkness and a world of light. However, these verses quoted here in Ephesians and John are referring to glory. Like these, many scriptures refer to a darkness that is not in relation to evil but rather a place that can only be lighted in the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a place designed of God where none but His Son shall appear. It shall remain covered, veiled, dark and obscure except His Son be revealed there. In the Light of the Son, in the knowledge of the Son, that place in us, prepared of God, begins to be understood and seen. This is the abode of the Most High! Then, we begin to understand in the Light that is Him what our relationship by Him is with our Father. There is that light that shines from within (not into or upon) the darkness of our own mind, that darkness that is behind the veil maintaining the veil upon our minds. It is that veil of flesh that is done away only through obedience unto His death.

References:
Eph 3:17-19
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Jn 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

This is moving from the Testimony to the Witness. This moves from the place where the glory of God comes as a cloud or pillar of fire to that place where the glory of God is Christ revealed in us. Since he is ever abiding, we certainly may ever abide in Him. However, this takes obedience unto death. As we abide in Him Who is the Light, that Light is piercing, exploring and going to the depths of our soul, uncovering the thoughts and intents of our hearts, and exposing God's purpose for man right in the midst of our soul. When we see God's purpose, at times this might come to cross purposes with many of the plans we have made for ourselves. That is what the Light does and that is what Christ revealed in us does. That is why it takes an obedience unto His death, a willingness to forsake all. We are not forsaking all things but rather all that is us, that soul life -ALL-US-ALL. This is for the purpose that He may continue to increasingly abound. All that is brought to light that was formerly in the darkness is faced in obedience. That Light both uncovers the hidden thoughts of our minds and also reveals God's eternal plan and purpose in the midst of our soul. That Light brings us to purpose.

Many of God's people are willing to receive what the Lord shows and provides but are unwilling to obey Him in purpose. Provision is for the wilderness journey. The Testimony clearly shows this. God provided for His people in the wilderness. He did not provide for them in Egypt; the Egyptians provided for them in Egypt. However, in the wilderness, God provided for them in many ways, giving them manna, etc. Sadly, because God's people would not obey Him in purpose, they all died. They all died while eating the manna and receiving of His provision-shoes, clothes, water, and direction by cloud and pillar of fire. In spite of all that God provided, they still died because they disobeyed Him with regard to His purpose. They refused to enter into purpose. Consider that it is much the same today. Many of God's people will obey Him with regard to provision, which are basically things. However, when He begins to unveil in us His eternal purpose in the face of Jesus Christ, He is met with resistance and disobedience. The provision for the purpose itself is Christ Himself. In other words, the ability to walk in purpose is provided in the Person of Christ. Christ works in us His divine nature. God does not call us to do something that He will not do in us. He calls us to walk in purpose while working that very purpose in us-if we will but obey.

The provision is typified in the Testimony. God did not call His people to go into Canaan without first destroying the enemies before them. He did not call them to walk in a place where He would not go before and lead them. And God has not called us to be conformed to the image of His Son, which is His divine purpose, without providing His Son to dwell in us. In the revealing of His Son, His divine purpose is worked out. Paul calls it the "…power of Him who is mightily at work within me" (Colossians 1:29; Weymouth), and he refers to it again as "…the power which he has even to subdue all things to himself" (Philippians 3:21; Darby). Again Paul says, "…him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Ephesians 1:11) and "…the power of his resurrection…" (Philippians 3:10). It is all Christ working in the believer. It is "…not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD…" (Zechariah 4:6). God has not called us into a purpose that He Himself will not perform if we will be obedient. However, many times we find ourselves, like the Israelites in the wilderness, concerned with provision in relation to things instead of purpose in relation to Christ. The point is that when the Israelites got into Canaan, the provision was there. The provision is in the possessing! They ate of the land; they ate what they possessed; they ate what they walked upon; they ate what they laid hold upon!

We have dealt primarily with becoming obedient to the Testimony that is obedient unto His death by which we are released into the knowledge of His resurrection. Now let us deal more specifically with the Witness. As long as we are resisting His death, we are not going to comprehend Him as our life. To resist His death is to save one's own life, one's own soul. John 12:25 says, "He that loveth his life [his soul] shall lose it; and he that hateth [forsakes] his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." We have stated that this was Adam's act of disobedience in that he would not die. He sought to save his own life and would not release his soul for the greater realization in the tree of Life. This disobedience continues and increases as it comes down and is dealt with in Abraham and Jacob and then finally in Israel. The disobedience that Israel displayed in the wilderness was nothing more than the magnification, the increase, of Adam's disobedience in the garden. It is not a different disobedience. Israel would not be obedient unto death. They would not be obedient to the death that got them out of Egypt; they were not obedient unto their baptism into the Red Sea. They never saw themselves as being dead, absolutely dead to Egypt. Egypt remained an alternative to them, a place to which they could return. It finally became so much an obsession that they would not enter into life, rest, promise.

God's intense anger is recounted, "So I sware in my wrath, They [those who in unbelief disobeyed and refused to enter the land] shall not enter into my rest" (Hebrews 3:11). God was not upset that the Israelites refused to cross a river. The Testimony is much greater than that. He saw in the Israelites the same disobedience that He saw in Adam. It is just an increase of that disobedience to the tree of Life, the saving of one's own soul life and in so doing, the losing of it. "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it…" (Luke 17:33).

So we come from a comprehending of Christ in the Testimony to comprehending Him, the Living Witness through obedience unto his death. It is not comprehending Him outside or afar but rather comprehending Him in us. When we come to comprehend Him as the Living Witness, then we shall be witnesses unto Him. The great mystery of God is that He would have expression through a people in all the earth. The mystery is not that there exists a God but rather that God dwells in a people, a New Creation, through death, burial and resurrection. The mystery of God is in the revealing of the Son of God in His Body and that the Body would become an expression of the Son in the earth.

In the Testimony, from Genesis to Malachi, the expectation of glory is set forth. God in us, the expectation of glory was Israel's expectation. The prophets spoke of this glory. Haggai prophesies of this house of glory to Zerubbabel and says that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former (Haggai 2:9). Paul says, "…Christ in you, the hope [expectation-Strong's 1680] of glory" (Colossians 1:27). This is not glory for us. This expectation is the glory of God that is in us! If we look at this verse through the veil of our flesh we will be confused. As mentioned in Part 2, that veil is removed. This veil of His flesh, the veil of humanity, was rent, and the Son of God came forth in the Resurrection! And it is He who lives in us. He dwells in clay pots, which are our physical bodies. However, these are not His Body. We who are alive by Him are His Body. We have physical bodies. He has a Body. We submit the bodies that we have to the Body that we are. The scriptures clearly expresses this in Romans "…present your bodies a living sacrifice…" (Romans 12:1). Jesus already laid down a physical body as a sacrifice. The Body that He comes forth in, that Spiritual Body, that Spiritual Temple (which Body and Temple we are by His dwelling in us) is not going to be sacrificed again. So we sacrifice our physical bodies unto that Body. Again, this is obedience unto His death.

Reference:
Strong's Greek Lexicon: Col 1:27, "hope" <1680>
1680. elpiv elpis el-pece'; from a primary elpw elpo (to anticipate, ususally with pleasure); expectation (abstractly or concretely) or confidence:- faith, hope.

Everything that was an expectation in the Testimony becomes a reality in the Witness--Christ, the expectation of glory. Too often we read the scriptures with erroneous definitions. For example, when we read the term "hope", we might think it pertains to a hope that might or might not happen, such as hoping it does not rain or hoping it does rain, etc. However, there is no Biblical word for that kind of hope. The word "hope" in both Hebrew and Greek carries an implied certainty. It is an expectation in view of certainty. Israel was in hope or expectation in view of certain outcome. Paul addresses this expectation of glory in Romans chapter 8. However, in his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed…" (2Corinthians 3:18). This is no longer expectation. We have moved from expectation to the glory. In so doing, we shall become witnesses. This is important because we are witnesses of His glory. His glory is manifested in His resurrection, and He is resurrected in glory.

John chapter 17 is the summation of a narrative that was started in chapter 12 regarding "this hour". "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." (John 17:1-4) Jesus is speaking about Himself in relation to His death, burial and resurrection. Consider the following references:

References:
Jn 17:5
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Rom 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

As said earlier, Christ was raised up in glory, and His glory is manifested in the Resurrection. To see Him in resurrection (He Who is the Resurrection and the Life) is to behold Him in His glory. And He is seen in resurrection and glory in us. That is where He is in His glory. It is the veil of flesh remaining upon our hearts that prevents us from seeing Him in His resurrection. That veil is done away if we would be obedient unto His death. Then we, beholding Him with an unveiled face; beholding Him with an unveiled heart and soul; beholding the light of the knowledge of the glory of God; beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed in the inner man by the glory of God.

Colossians 3:4 says, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." This is speaking of the same appearing spoken of in 2Corinthians 3:18. He is not speaking of Christ appearing in a land or place. He is speaking of a relationship. This is the realization and transforming power of His resurrection! He is in us! Notice in John 17:5, Jesus says, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self…" (emphasis added). This is the glory He had with the Father before the world existed (John 17:5). This is the glory that He left in order to be made lower for a little while (Hebrews 2:9). He did not simply leave glory and come back to glory. If so, it might seem a useless trip. His purpose for leaving is shown in Hebrews 2:10, "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory…". Again, this speaks of a relationship in Christ Himself. The mystery of God is not the man God created out of dirt. The mystery of God is the One New Man coming forth in Christ's death, burial and resurrection.

References:
2Cor 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Jn 17:5
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Heb 2:9
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Paul explains to the Corinthians that the body that goes into the ground is not the same body that comes out (1Corinthians 15:42-44). Jesus came in one form, but in the Resurrection, He comes forth in another. And when He said, "…I am the resurrection, and the life…" (John 11:25), He was speaking of that which is eternal and ever ongoing. This is not something to be relegated to an event in the pages of history. It is just as much today as the day He said spoke it to Martha. This is not simply something He said; this is something He is still saying. He does not say that he is the assurance or the certainty of resurrection. He is the Resurrection! Therefore our resurrection is assured and certain because it is He! He is in us! We see in John 17:21 Christ's motive, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe…"

References:
1Cor 15:42-44
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Jn 17:14-18
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Acts 1:8
Jesus says, "…Ye shall be witnesses unto me… unto the uttermost part of the earth."

Jn 17:14-21
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Jn 17:22
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.

We behold Him in His glory, beholding Him, the One, the One glory of God. We behold the One Whose Body we are. We behold the One Whose House we are. Again, this glory is the glory of the Father Himself (John 17:5). Jesus is coming back into that eternal Oneness that He left in order to bring us back to that same place, "…that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." (John 14:20) That glory that the Father gave Jesus is the same glory that He gives us:

References:
Jn 17:23
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect [whole, complete, finished] in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Acts 1:8
…Ye shall be witnesses unto me….

Jn 17:24-26
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

To read these verses and come to comprehend Him in this way is to move from the Testimony to the Witness. This is the living realization that as He is in us, and by virtue of Him being in us, we are in Him. Consequently, we are made to be One Body by One life-giving Spirit. This is the mystery of God, wrought by the Resurrection. This man comes by resurrection. He is not made out of dirt; he is not made a living soul. This One is made Living Spirit to the satisfaction and salvation of our soul. He, the Living Spirit dwells in us. It is by that Living Spirit that we are made One Living Body. This is in fact the Resurrection of the dead. Christ was raised up from among the dead in order to be the Resurrection of the dead, the dead who will hear His voice and live. "…The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection…he that believeth in me…And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:25-26)

This that Jesus speaks of in John chapter 17 is coming from Testimony into Witness. It is coming from death into life. This being brought in Him is to the glory of God. When Jesus says, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one…" (John 17:22), he is not suggesting that we be one "thing" but one as Jesus said, "…I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20). We are brought there by One Living Spirit and united by One Living Spirit. The mystery of the resurrection is not dead men living again. The mystery of the resurrection is Christ living again in men! The Resurrection makes them One New Man. When Nicodemus questioned Jesus about being born again, Jesus told him that it was not him going back into his mother's womb or going back into time. It is not Nicodemus going and coming again. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh…" (John 3:6). Regardless of how many times it is born, if it is flesh, it will remain flesh. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he must be born again, born from above, born from the beginning, born as "original", born of the Spirit. This new birth is Christ being birthed in us, being born again by the incorruptible Seed, by the Word of God which lives and abides forever-the Seed of God.

"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." (Galatians 3:16) "And if ye be Christ's [that is, those who are born of Him], then are ye Abraham's seed…" (Galatians 3:29). Herein is the mystery - Christ in you! The glory expected has come, and He is in us. By virtue that He is in us, we, in our inner man, have been brought unto glory, have been brought unto Him. We are now in union with Him so that the veil may be done away and our soul may behold Him who is our Life and be transformed, that Christ may be formed in us in nature, character and substance. As we have borne the image of the first, we may now bear the image of the second. This is the changing of our heart, the transforming of our soul and the growing up in Him. This is the transformation of salvation.

"…From glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2Corinthians 3:18) speaks of coming from the old glory that is established in Moses (from the Testimony) to the glory which is Christ Himself (the Witness). Here in the third chapter, Paul begins with the glory of one administration and brings it into the glory of the greater administration. We are brought from glory to glory by beholding that glory, which is the Lord. We come from the Testimony of Him to the reality of Him. He is in us! The Witness is the Resurrection and is in Resurrection. The Witness comes forth in the Resurrection. So, that which is of the Resurrection comes forth in the Resurrection.
Seeing Christ as the Resurrection will bring the scriptures alive. Note the following references.

References:
Acts 1:22
Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

Acts 2:31
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Acts 4:2
Being grieved [the Jews] that they [the Apostles] taught the people [Israel], and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

Acts 4:33
And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Acts 17:18
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler [speaking of Paul] say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

Acts 23:6
But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

Acts 24:21
Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day.

Acts 24:15
And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

Paul was declaring the Resurrection, the hope of Israel. He was declaring that for which Israel had expected and hoped. Paul, in arguing his case before Felix, states that he is simply declaring to the Jews the Resurrection that they themselves believe (Acts 24:15, 21). Paul was preaching Christ as the Resurrection of the dead. He declared that Christ, by the glory of God the Father, was the One who was raised up from among the dead so that He may be the Resurrection of the dead in order that the dead may live by Him. All who hear His voice shall live.

All who come in obedience to His death reckon it to be their own and come to the point where they indeed reckon themselves to be dead by Him and alive through Him to God (Romans 6:11). We move from the expectation of glory to Christ revealed in a people, from the type and shadow to its fulfillment in Christ, from the Testimony to the Witness. The Witness is the Resurrection Himself, the glory of the Lord and the Lord of glory! We move from Isaiah's prophecy to its fulfillment in the Temple of God in the Person of Jesus Christ. "…I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple" (Isaiah 6:1), glory filling it up! We are moving from the prophecy to the realization in Christ Jesus, in His Temple. Isaiah speaks in expectation, but Jesus, in John 17 speaks of the fulfillment as He prays to His Father and asks that we would see and know that the glory that the Father has given Him, He gives to us that we would know, and the world would know, that God sent Him.

Reference:
Rom 6:11
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is the same Jesus, but we are moving from "…Sir, we would see Jesus" (John 12:21) to "But we see Jesus…" (Hebrews 2:9). In John chapter 12, Jesus is at the height of His ministry. This event occurs during the Feast of Passover and the crowds following Jesus have never been bigger. This follows the raising of Lazarus, and the Jewish leaders are plotting Jesus' death. At this "there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus." (John 12:20-21) The Lord, knowing that it is not unto Himself in the body of His death (His physical body) that these are to be drawn, hides Himself and says, "…The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified" (John 12:23). Many want to see the image of Jesus that wears a robe and sandals and walks around. However, He understands that unless He dies, He abides alone. But if He dies, He shall bring forth much fruit (John 12:24). He understands that there is a greater Witness of Him, a greater work that His Father gave Him to finish, and that work will bear witness of Him. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained…" (Ephesians 2:10). Paul understood this when God revealed Jesus in Him. It is the same Jesus but not the same body! This same Jesus is in a New Body. It is not the body comprised of these clay pots (our physical bodies). It is that Spiritual Body that is more real and more eternal than these clay pots could ever be!

Reference:
Jn 12:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

"…We have this treasure in earthen vessels…[For what purpose?], that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (2Corinthians 4:7) The treasure is in earthen vessels so "that no flesh should glory in his presence." (1Corinthians 1:29). He has made us One Body, and this is the Jesus He would have us see. This is us coming from "…Sir, we would see Jesus" (John 12:21) to "But we see Jesus…" (Hebrews 2:9). In each chapter of Hebrews, the writer brings us from a part of the Testimony to the fulfillment of the Witness. Chapter 1 brings us from God speaking in a Testimony to God speaking in Witness. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days [at the end of those days] spoken unto us by [in] his Son…" (Hebrews 1:1-2). At one time, God gave a Testimony of Christ using different means. Now, He reveals Christ Himself. God is no longer giving Testimony of Him; He is revealing Him! God moves from Testimony to Witness.

Paul refers to the Testimony of God in his first letter to the Corinthians "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God." (1Corinthians 2:1) Paul did not preach the Testimony of God. He goes on to state clearly what he would declare. "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1Corinthians 2:2) The Testimony comes to the cross! The Witness of God is His Son living in us! It is the Testimony that brings us to the Witness. The Testimony is only of Him and brings us to the Witness, which is none other but Him. We are witnesses unto Him only when He is revealed in us. Otherwise, we do not have anything of which to witness. We can only quote the Testimony. If the Testimony is not brought to its conclusion in the Witness, we pervert it. Although the Testimony is true, we say it is not true when we say it is not finished. If the city of God is not come in Christ Jesus now, then the Testimony is not true. If we are still looking for a city based on the Testimony, then we have made the Testimony to be perverted because the city that the Testimony declares has come in Christ. "But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…" (Hebrews 12:22). We have not come to the mountain of the Testimony (Hebrews 12:20). We have come, in Him, to the mountain of the Witness, where God reveals His Son, sets His King upon His throne and declares, "…this day have I begotten thee…" (Hebrews 1:5). This is where we are come in Christ Jesus. We should not be quoting the Testimony when we are to be Witnesses, manifestations of the reality of who and what He is. We should move from Testimony to Witness.

The desire to see Jesus in this way "…Sir, we would see Jesus" (John 12:21), can only bring us to death, to Hebrews 2:9. Let us look at this more closely beginning in Hebrews 2:5, "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak." "The world to come" is referring to a world that is certain, the world that is coming, not passing. It is the New Creation in Christ Jesus.

References:
Heb 2:6-8
But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

Heb 2:9
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

We do not yet see God's intention for man fulfilled according to the Testimony. However, the writer brings it from the Testimony saying, "But we see Jesus…" (Hebrews 2:9). We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor in the Resurrection. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory…" (Hebrews 2:10). We see Jesus, and in Him, we see many sons. We see God's intention for man fulfilled in Jesus through His death, His burial and His resurrection. "For both he that sanctifieth [that's Jesus] and they who are sanctified [that's us] are all of one [that's John 17]: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Hebrews 2:11)! We see God's purpose for man fulfilled, not in man, but we see Jesus. This Jesus we see is not Jesus in the flesh ("…Sir, we would see Jesus" [John 12:21]). We see Jesus as He speaks of Himself in John 12, falling into the ground, dying and bringing forth much fruit. We see Him crowned with glory and honor. We see Him in Whom many sons are brought to glory. We see Him in Whom God's purpose for man is fulfilled, so much so that we, who are by Him sanctified, and He, who is our sanctification, are One. He is not ashamed to identify Himself with us.

According to the Bible, Jesus was ashamed to identify Himself with Adam. He took upon Himself no reputation. He endured the cross and suffered the shame of it for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). Now we see Him in whom the plan and purpose of God is fulfilled. This is how we must see Him, because His robe and sandal days are over! That view of Jesus is gone, because it was unto death. This view of Him in glory lives, because it is unto Life. It is the same Jesus, exalted of the Father, given a Name above every name. John, in Revelation, sees this same Jesus in the midst of those in whom He dwells and who are in Him. John sees that this Name is given to them. They do not steal it nor do they become Jesus. He writes His Name in them. They have no name other than His name. They are no one's body except His Body. They belong to Him and are for His expression. They would not exist except they exist by Him. They do not live except they live by Him. They bear His Name. This is the Jesus that we are to see "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…" (Philippians 2:10). "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:11) Oh, that our hearts would cry, "Lord, Thou art my Life, my Existence and my Resurrection!"

Reference:
Heb 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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