We will be dealing now with The Testimony and The Witness; the coming from one side of The Cross; that side which is The Testimony, to the other side which is The Witness. Now everything from Genesis to Malachi is The Testimony - not just the types and the shadows, the priesthood, the tabernacle and its furnishings, but Israel itself, and men and women who are involved in the plan of God as set forth in Israel; but also the prophets, the law and the psalms. All of this Testimony is contained in the scripture. I know that the creation was an act, and that the tabernacle and the temple was a real building, and the priesthood was a real priesthood, but all of this is summed up in the scripture; we know about these things because of the scripture. So everything from Genesis to Malachi makes up The Testimony, and we know that Jesus summed that Testimony up in Himself when He said, ‘You do search the scriptures, for in them you think you have life, They are they which testify of Me, but you won’t come to Me that you might have life."

THE TESTIMONY AND THE WITNESS - moving from The Testimony of Him to the reality of Him. And of course this is accomplished in The Cross; it is accomplished in His death, and in His burial, and in His resurrection. He brings all of The Testimony right into Himself, and He brings it all right into The Cross, where it is all fulfilled. There is not one jot or one tittle, not one word, not one event of The Testimony that does not find its absolute fulfillment in His death or burial or resurrection - that One Work called Christ and Him Crucified; that One Work called The Cross.

By His obedience He moved from The Testimony to The Witness. What we’re going to be talking about here is moving out of works into the reality of manifestation; moving out of our gospel being words, and our life being words, to our gospel and our lives being The Living Witness Himself! That’s what we’re going to be dealing with: the actuality of moving from The Testimony to the very Witness. The scriptures say a great deal about The Testimony, and from Genesis to Malachi, whenever you see the term "The Testimony" you know that it is pointing right to THE CROSS.

Exodus 25:16, "And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee." From then on out The Ark is called "The Ark of The Testimony". And The Ark is set in the tabernacle, so the tabernacle is called "The Tabernacle of The Testimony." So the tabernacle is set in the midst of Israel, so Israel and everything connected to Israel - the prophets, the law, the kings, priests - become The Testimony, which is fulfilled in The Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is fulfilled in Him through His death and burial and resurrection. Revelation 1:5 says, "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Revelation 3:14,

"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen.." HE IS THE AMEN TO THE TESTIMONY! IT IS FINISHED! "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." THE TESTIMONY AND THE WITNESS - moving from The Testimony of Him to that reality of Him that constitutes The Witness. He moved from Testimony to Witness by His obedience. The scriptures declare He was obedient unto death, even the death of The Cross. The obedience of Christ is fully set forth and manifestly displayed by The Cross - by His death, His burial, His resurrection.

Once again I say, He has gone from Testimony to Witness by His obedience - by His death: not just death - not just a death; by HIS death. His death was the death of obedience. And by HIS burial - not just a burial. No - things were going on during His burial. And by HIS resurrection - not just a resurrection; HIS resurrection. We can study this in the scripture where it says He is raised up from among the dead. Where He is spoken of as being resurrected, the original term is always "raised up out from among the dead." The King James Version says "from the dead": as distinct from "the resurrection of the dead." And there is a distinction between those terms. He has fulfilled all The Testimony and He is The Faithful Witness. He has come from the one side of The Cross to the other. The question is, how do we come? How do we come to comprehend Him from The Testimony to The Witness? How do we come in our comprehension of Him from the Testimony to The Witness, because most people’s comprehension of Christ is still bound up with The Testimony. Are we yet knowing Him in The Testimony or have we moved from The Testimony to the Witness?

How do we come in our comprehension of Him from The Testimony to The Witness? He has said, "I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE; NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME." John 14:6. That is distinct from His saying I will show you how to do it; I will show you a way; I will show you how to live, I will show you a life. No - I AM The Way, I AM The Truth, I AM The Life, no man cometh but by ME. Coming from The Testimony to The Witness is not just a matter of theology; it’s not just a matter of different thinking. It isn’t a matter of using different words, different terminology. It is not a matter of teaching or mind power. It is a matter of spirit transformation. This crossover can only be made by the revelation of Jesus Christ - by us knowing Him in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection. It is by the Spirit that we come according to 1 Corinthians 3:18 from the glory of The Testimony to the glory of The Witness. Paul says there "Beholding as in a glass". That means beholding as in the face of the Lord, beholding as in the vision of the Lord, as in a mirror. Mirror and vision is the same thing. It is looking into a mirror and not seeing ourselves. How Anti Christ it is to look into a mirror and see yourself! This is the man in James who goes there looking for The Witness, looking for the Most Excellent One, looking for The One remaining, The One in Whom God is glorified and in Whom God is fulfilled. He looks for the Most Excellent Man, but refusing to wait in The Testimony, and continue in The Testimony, he simply goes there in the quickness of his own heart, and he beholds his own self. And he goes his own way, and is deceived. He deceives himself! Why? Because he thinks he saw The Witness, and all he saw was himself!

Listen, you must abide in The Testimony. You don’t throw away your Bibles, you don’t throw away The Testimony. But in our hearts we come from what the Testimony sets forth to the reality of Who that really is. And we don’t come there in just thinking; we don’t come there just in theology. We come there through the revelation of Jesus Christ! "Beholding as in a glass, as in a vision the glory of the Lord, we are changed from the glory unto glory." That means from the glory of the administration spoken of a few verses above; the administration of the law, the administration of Sinai, the administration of words, the administration of Moses - the administration of The Testimony; unto the glory of The Witness Himself! There’s only one reason for going to The Testimony - and that is to behold The Witness! My point is if you go to The Testimony and behold nothing more than The Testimony, then The Testimony becomes nothing but dead letter. But if you go to The Testimony and behold The Living Witness, then The Witness becomes the working of The Spirit in you, conforming the soul into the very image of Christ; bringing you from the glory of The Testimony - and The Testimony is glorious! It’s glorious because it’s of Him!

If the tabernacle were nothing more than a testimony of man’s ability to build a tent in the wilderness - where is the glory? If the furniture is nothing more than the ability of men to do wonderful works of art with gold, brass, silver, linens and skins - where then is The Testimony? It is of man. That’s like going to the scripture and seeing yourself; and that’s what multitudes of people are doing today. They are going to the scripture and seeing themselves. The scripture was never written so that you and I could see ourselves. The scripture, and all that is in it, down to the dotting of the i and the crossing of the t - all that is in it is in testimony of HIM! And only when you see Him do you come from The Testimony to The Witness. If The Testimony is simply a testimony of man’s history... well then it is dead, dead, dead! But thank God The Testimony is fulfilled in The Person of Him. And yet The Testimony comes to a conclusion in The Cross. That is, you can not bring it beyond The Cross. The Testimony in fact, brings you and I to Christ - to Christ and Him crucified; to Christ through His death, His burial, His resurrection. It brings us there. It is then knowing Him in His death, burial and resurrection that we are brought from the one to the other.

What do I mean when I say ‘come from The Testimony to The Witness?’ I mean how do we come from the law to His Faith? How do we come from the dead letter to The Living Word? Hear Paul say, ‘That ye might know, that ye might comprehend what is!’ How do we come from the types to the evidence? How do we come from the shadows to the substance? How do we come from the prophets to the more sure word of prophecy? How do we come from that creation that is soul, to that New Creation that is Spirit? How do we come from man to Christ? How do we come from the first man to the Second Man, from the soulish to the spiritual, from the first to the last? How do we come from the beginning to the end? How do we come from The Testimony which is to you, to The Witness Who is in you? How do we come? Remember I’m talking about how do we come to comprehend Him: rather than by the law, comprehending by faith; rather than by dead letter, comprehending Him as Living Word. How do we come in our comprehension of Christ from the one side to the other? How do we come there? For you see, He has brought us, in Him, with Him, from the one to the other - through His death, His burial, His resurrection He has brought us; we who have come to the Lord, we who have Him as our Life, we who dwell in Him. He has brought us indeed from words (plural) to LIVING WORD. He has brought us from soul; man created as a living soul, to the second man, who is a Life giving Spirit.

He has brought us: but how do we, in our hearts, in our comprehension, in our knowing, in our living - how do we move from the one to the other? Because so many of us are stuck, as it were, in The Testimony. It’s always ‘Who He is going to be’, ‘What He’s going to do’, ‘Who we are going to be’, ‘What we’re going to do’, ‘Where we’re going to be, where we’re going to.’ It’s always those things - our songs sound like that, the preaching sounds like that, conversations sound like that. We have this whole school of theology that "one day" we’re going to die and get to go be with Jesus. That’s The Testimony! The death that The Testimony speaks of is already come! It has come in The Cross! We have moved from The Testimony into The Witness. We have by His death, His burial, His resurrection, been brought from being in Adam, the man of the soul, to being in Christ, The Man of The Spirit. But our minds have not come, and by that I’m not talking about your natural mind, because this is not just a "better way of thinking", a different way of thinking as many would have you believe. God is not playing mind games with us! No, no. I’m speaking of a New Mind - the Mind of Christ being formed in you. I’m speaking of Christ Himself - the evidence, the substance, The Witness Himself - being revealed in you. That’s what I’m speaking of.

Don’t forget Jesus says the whole purpose of this is - ‘And ye shall be witnesses unto Me.’ There’s nothing said about you and I being "testimonies" of Him, and yet the Church is full of testimonies. WHERE IS THE LIVING WITNESS? That’s my question: full of testimonies, but where is The Witness that shakes the foundations of hell, that shakes the foundations of death, that shakes the foundations of captivity - and sets the captives free? Where is The Living Witness? Now there are some who have tried to go from The Testimony to The Witness simply in mind games: they have seen themselves in The Testimony, so their idea of The Witness is you and I being all we can be, being the best we can be, being what God intended for us to be. Listen - other than by His death, His burial, His resurrection - you can not make the transition! Because The Witness is not a better you - THE WITNESS IS CHRIST IN YOU! And you and I living as those who understand we have no life but Him; but more than that - those who live learning all that He is. If He is our Life, shouldn’t we then know Him in His length, in His breadth, in His depth, in His height - in His fulness? Should we not be witnesses unto Him? Not of ourselves - that’s Anti Christ theology!

Are you beginning to see what I’m talking about? Moving from The Testimony which is to you, though it is not of you; to The Witness Who is in you. It takes the Holy Spirit to even apply The Testimony to you. If you go into The Testimony other than by The Living Spirit of God, I promise you, you will see YOURSELF. That’s what you’ll see. The Testimony is to you of HIM. And it takes the Holy Spirit to rightly apply The Testimony, and then having done that, The Testimony rightly applied brings you to the end - E-N-D! Israel would not look to the end, the end of that which is abolished. "I come", He says, "In the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first." How does He do that? He fulfils it in Himself. He replaces it then with Himself so that He is the Better Word, the Better Tabernacle, the Better Priesthood, the Better Mountain! He is not a prophecy - HE IS THE SURE WORD of Whom all the prophets spoke! Do you hear me? He is not a prophecy of something yet to come: He is The More Sure Word of all the prophets! Peter says having seen Him we have the prophets made more sure. They spake of Him; we have seen Him.

Have you seen Him? I know many of you have read of Him; you have "received" The Testimony, but have you seen The Witness? Has The Holy Spirit revealed Him in you, and brought you from The Testimony side to the side of The Witness; brought you from words to LIVING WORD; from types to Living Manifestation? This has to do with The Resurrection - moving from The Promised Son to The Son of Promise; from the promised Seed to the Seed of Promise; from the promised City, which Abraham looked for, to the City of God unto which you are now come - The City of God which you now are! Have we, in our comprehension, moved from one to the other? Many will say, yes we have! NO YOU HAVEN’T! NO, YOU HAVEN’T: NOT IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM. Be careful! Many have moved from The Testimony to The Witness, but they’ve moved there in view of themselves. You can never behold The Son, The Seed, or The City except in beholding HIM. You and I are nothing - n-o-t-h-i-n-g - but what He is made unto us. This life of The Witness is not one of beholding ourselves, but one of looking unto Jesus and always as those who exist by Him. Our existence is by Him, in Him, through Him, with Him. Looking unto Him as those who have no existence but Him, who have no appearing but in His appearing, who have no purpose but in His fulness, and no place but in His Person.

Yes, moving from The Testimony to The Witness, from the promise to The Person, from earth to heaven. Moving from earth to heaven - not talking about it, not singing about it, not ‘one day when I die!’ The death that gets you there has already taken place! It’s His death - it’s The Cross! Your bodily functions ceasing and someone putting you in a grave and covering you up doesn’t change anything having to do with earth and heaven, having to do with eternity. It changes nothing! But The Cross changes everything! It brings you from the first Adam to the Second, from the first man to the Second, from earth to heaven, from the old creation to The New Creation.

Have we moved yet, saints of God, from The Testimony to The Witness? How is it we do that? How do we come from "The One to come" to "HE IS COME"! How do we come in comprehending Him as He whose right it is; to He who is The Heir of God? How do we move from The Testimony of One to The Witness Who is One? How do we move from John, and that administration that He represents to Jesus - to JESUS - to JESUS? For He hath exalted Him, raised Him, and gave Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of JESUS...How do we move from the Voice of One to One Voice? Remember what John said: "I am not He, but I am the voice of one." How do we move from the Voice of One to One Voice? There is no doubt in my mind that those that have been joined in fellowship do constitute the Voice of One, but how do we move from the Voice of One to One Voice? And this is the movement of the Spirit in our midst right now. This is where the Spirit is bringing us as a fellowship, as a corporate ministry. How do we make that move? How do we move from time to "no time"? How do we move from days to "The Day"? How do we move from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; to God, My Father? You don’t do that in terminology, you don’t do that in theology. How do we move from ‘Sir, we would see Jesus", to ‘BUT WE SEE JESUS"? How do we come from The Testimony to The Witness?

In the gospel of John chapter 10, verse 9 Jesus says, "I AM THE DOOR." Verse 8 says, "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them." Hear this, all of you who would move from The Testimony to The Witness in view of yourself! There is nothing more repugnant to God than those who try to bring themselves from The Testimony to The Witness other than by Christ, and come up with this doctrine of being the best we can be - seeing ourselves. Well, if you want to see yourself, you ought to go where yourself is really seen. The Testimony tells you of that place - it’s the brazen altar. It’s where he who brings the sacrifice lays his hands on the sacrifice, and he who brings the sacrifice - the person - is seen, fully seen as the sacrifice itself - fit for death, and that’s all it’s fit for! It’s fit to be killed - fit to die! That The Witness may be seen in its place: the smoke going up is The Witness! Not the dead sacrifice! Not the sacrifice brought, not the sacrifice slain, not the sacrifice filleted, and not the sacrifice burnt - that’s The Testimony. The Witness is the smoke going up into the nostrils of God!

I’m telling you, you and I are not the One who is seen. In The Witness HE IS! Oh - those who would bring themselves from The Testimony to The Witness are nothing short of cursed of God, for they have brought the curse of The Cross upon themselves in that they have refused the death of it. So they abide under the curse of God: for only The Cross answers the curse. He that is dead is freed from sin. We are reconciled by His death; we are saved by His Life.

How do we come? No man cometh...but by Me. "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." I AM THE DOOR. Reconciled by His death. There’s only one description of one Door in the Bible, and that’s the one with the blood up its side, across its top and down its side. It is the blood stained door. It is The Cross, it is His death. We then go into His burial, where we eat nothing but His flesh and we drink nothing but His blood - and then we come out. Yet not us, but CHRIST - in the power of His resurrection! Knowing that I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. ‘If any man enter by me, he shall be saved.’ Reconciled by His death, we shall be saved by His Life. How do we make the cross over? We make it the same way that He did.

Hebrews 2:5. First we find there The Testimony. "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 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." There is The Testimony. And if it ended there and that was all there was to it, it would be a dismal failure, and even our being human beings would be absolutely and totally without purpose to exist. Do you understand the mystery that is set forth here? It is not fulfilled in the first man - it is testified to in the first man. It is set forth in testimony in the first man. Verse 9, "But we see Jesus..." From verse 5 to 8 leaves us saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. We would see the One that God was looking at when He made man; we would see the One that God had in mind when He made man, when He made Adam as a testimony of Him; when He set Adam in the earth as a forerunner, as a Testimony - WE WOULD SEE JESUS!

But we have come by The Cross from The Testimony to The Witness. We have read The Testimony, and if it ended at verse 8, "But we see not yet all things put under him..." - that’s failure upon failure. But it doesn’t stop there! The Cross took it beyond there. The writer of the Hebrews is taking it beyond there! "But we see Jesus..." The original translation says, "who for a little while was made lower than the angels..." Man was made lower; Jesus for a little while was made lower that He might bring you and I to be The Man that God intended man to be. He was made a little lower. Philippians 2 says He took upon Himself no reputation, put off the form of God and took on Himself the form of a servant and was found in fashion as a man. He took on Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. Here’s the secret - He humbled Himself, became obedient unto death, unto man, unto The Testimony - "thou shalt surely die" - even the death of The Cross! There’s no way to come from The Testimony to The Witness but by obedience to the death of The Cross - OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH! MOST OF US HAVE NOT BECOME YET OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH. We don’t really think we ought to die: we think there ought to just be some way we can be made better. We don’t really think that we need, as a race, as a seed, as a type, as a creation - we don’t really think we need to be annihilated by The Cross, brought to nothing, made of no effect. We will not become obedient to that idea - God having said, ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ We are not obedient to The Testimony.

And until you get obedient to The Testimony, you are never going to find yourself as partaker of The Witness. Until we say, ‘yes, I ought to die, I deserve to die, there’s nothing in me worth saving’ - only then will you know Him in His death, because His death is the transforming death. It’s the death that takes you from one side to the other side. It’s when you by Him become dead to sin - sin being everything that is not Christ. The Testimony comes in the midst of sin. The Witness comes forth in the midst of Salvation. His death brings us from one side to the other side and nothing else will do it. ‘I am The Door. NO man cometh but by Me. Those who come before Me, who try to come before The Cross, they are thieves and they are robbers, they are false prophets, they are beasts, they are Anti Christ.’ Listen - I am speaking to you the truth as it is in Jesus!

How do we come? We can not come except as He came, because we must come in the comprehension of Him. We can not comprehend Him in one way, and He come in another way. No - our comprehending of Him must be just as He is. How is He? He is dead to sin and alive unto God. By Him we are dead to sin. We must comprehend Him in that way, in that death. By Him we are alive unto God. For Christ is that Life Giving Spirit. He is The Resurrection and The Life, He is the raising up of the dead. He does live in me, in you, and we do live by Him - THANK GOD ALMIGHTY! He was made for a little while lower and became obedient unto death. Why? The scripture says why: that He might bring many sons unto glory - not the glory of The Testimony, but the glory of The Witness. The Witness whereby both He that sanctifieth and they who are by Him sanctified are all of one, whereby He is not ashamed to call them brethren. If you come by any other way He doesn’t call you brethren, He calls you a thief and He calls you a robber. " Who, for a little while..." How long? THREE DAYS! Some will say for thirty three and a half years. No - for three days - that’s where it all came upon Him. That’s where He took it all, that’s where He really became man - not just born of woman, born under the law. He really became man in His death. He really underwent the transition from Testimony to Witness, and He came forth in resurrection, by resurrection, as Resurrection, and is The Living, The True, The Faithful Witness of The Most High God!

We are to be witnesses unto Him in all of the earth. Witnesses don’t say, ‘He is coming.’ Testimony says, "He’s coming" Witnesses say, "HE IS COME!" Witnesses don’t say there’s a better place when you die. Witnesses say, ‘Come, we will show you the better place!’ Witnesses come out from heaven. They are always proceeding out from heaven, they are always descending out from heaven upon the earth, declaring in the earth The Truth as it is in heaven, as it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. How do we come? We come as He came: we come by comprehending Him in His death, His burial and in His resurrection. He was obedient unto the Father, who was in Him, according to 2 Corinthians 5 from verse 14 through 21. According to these verses and this truth set forth here by The Apostle: God was in Him working death. "I must finish what The Father is working in Me." God was in Him - doing what? Reconciling the world unto Himself. Now, reconciliation is by His death. He has committed unto us the Word of reconciliation and that word is - all must die! That Word is - all men did die! That Word is - you must be obedient unto His death. When one died, all died with Him - you must be obedient unto His death!

The only way you can come from The Testimony to The Witness is through obedience unto His death. The Father was in Him working death, working reconciliation; even as Christ is now in us, working His death, working obedience unto His death, working reconciliation; but we are saved by His Life. So Paul says, "so then, death worketh in us, but life in you!" You can’t minister His Life to anybody except by the working of His death in you. To the degree that you are obedient to His death; to that degree you are The Witness of His Life - no more and no less! My Lord, have mercy! Reconciled by His death, saved by His Life. By what power is He working His death in us? By the power of HIS RESURRECTION! No wonder Paul says in Philippians 3, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss, yea doubtless, I count all things but loss..." What was it? It was he, himself! It was circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, concerning righteousness which was in the law - it was Paul. It wasn’t things as things; it wasn’t the loss of all of his camels, or the burning up of all of his tents. It was Paul! "...and count them but dung, THAT I MAY WIN CHRIST!" What are you talking about - Paul winning Christ? "That I may be found in Him...that I may attain the resurrection, which is out from among the dead." The resurrection which is out from among the dead; not merely that resurrection of the dead, but the resurrection which is out form among the dead. That is what the original term is.

There is a term "resurrection of the dead" that is what Christ is to all those that are dead. All that were dead previously to The Cross, those who died in faith and those who died out of faith - he was the resurrection of the dead. And they had to face Him as the just or the unjust. But for you and I who are resurrected by Him, you and I who are in Christ - He is the Resurrection out from among the dead. This is how Paul wanted to know Him. Paul wanted to know Him in the comprehension of Life; and to know Him in the comprehension of Life, you must comprehend Him in His death. By what power is He working His death in us? By the power, by the comprehension of His resurrection! THAT I MAY KNOW HIM IN THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION. I used to think this order in Philippians 3 was wrong. No, it’s right, because it is by the power of His Resurrection that we are brought into the fellowship of His sufferings. It is by the power of His Resurrection that we are conformed to His death. It is by the power which worketh in us.

Look at it in Colossians 1:24-29. Verse 29 says, "Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." His working, which worketh in me mightily. Look in Ephesians 3:16-21. Verse 20 says, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Now look at Philippians 3 at the end of verse 21, "...according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." This is His working in you, that working is by the power of His Resurrection. When the Holy Spirit reveals Him in you, He reveals Him in you as The One Who liveth, was dead, and is alive forever more! And by He Who liveth, by working in you the power of His Resurrection, we are made obedient to His death; we are bound up together with Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. How do we move from The Testimony to The Witness? THROUGH OBEDIENCE UNTO HIS DEATH.

Now let’s continue. The Testimony is unto death, but The Witness is unto Life everlasting. But The Witness comes out from The Testimony. You can’t throw away The Testimony and have The Witness - not in any aspect. You can’t throw away the scripture and come to have Christ revealed in you. You can’t throw away the volume of The Testimony and maintain The Witness. But you must allow The Testimony to bring you unto death, that The Witness may come forth in the fulness of Life. The Testimony is unto death, The Witness is unto Life, and Life everlasting. THE WITNESS IS THE RESURRECTION. If you’ll search the book of Acts you’ll find these references - the Apostles were witnesses of The Resurrection. Paul certainly was: "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me." Look in Acts 4:2, " Being grieved (that is, the Jews) that they (the Apostles) taught the people (Israel), and preached through Jesus the resurrection from (among) 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 say? Other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection." 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." Throughout the book of Acts you will find this. Romans 1:4, " And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from (among) the dead."

Now beloved, what did they preach? They preached The Resurrection - not as an event; not as an event yet to come, and not as an event past. They preached through Jesus The Resurrection. Paul warned against preaching that the resurrection is past. We’re not telling you the resurrection is past - we’re telling you The Resurrection is present! We’re telling you The Resurrection is a Person! They preached The Resurrection from among the dead through Jesus. The Apostles were witnesses of The Resurrection! They had seen Him! Peter said we beheld His glory as of the glory of the only begotten of The Father.

Yes, I know that this reference goes to the Mount of Transfiguration, but it goes beyond there. What did Jesus say? He said don’t say this to anybody until the Son of Man be raised from the dead! And after He was raised He appeared to Peter and Peter saw Him and recognized who he saw, and now he’s declaring Him - "And we beheld His glory!" They had seen Him. Now a witness is firstly an eyewitness, and then a witness is a martyr. A martyr is not, in the truest sense of the term, in Biblical terms, is not just one who goes out and dies for Jesus; he’s not just one who goes out and lays down his life for Jesus - that’s the Catholic thinking. And unfortunately that has become the thinking of many people. A true witness is one who is an eyewitness of Jesus - he sees Him in Resurrection, he sees Him as The Resurrection, and he understands I have no life - I am dead, I have no life but Him! That’s the True Witness; that’s the two fold Witness. That is the Witness of His death and The Witness of His Resurrection. We are eyewitness of Him and we are as those who have no life but Him. The Apostles were this kind of witness. Paul was this kind of witness. And I’m not too sure that this is not the two Witnesses spoken of in the book of Revelation, but I’m telling you the two fold Witness is just as we have stated it to be.

Now then, what does John say? 1 John 1; because John is witness, he has seen The Witness and he is a witness. " That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life..." When did this take place? " (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) When was this? It was during the forty days after His Resurrection when He appeared to them as The One who liveth, was dead, and is alive forevermore. But now John knows Him to be that which was from the beginning. He’s The One we saw, He’s The One our hands handled. He’s not talking about the three and a half years of ministry - they knew nothing then! He’s not talking about thirty three years. He’s talking about forty days, he’s talking about The Resurrection, and He is declaring Him NOW! He’s declaring that which was from the beginning. "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." WITNESSES OF THE RESURRECTION! What did Paul say? To make all men see what is the fellowship of this mystery; the fellowship of sufferings, being conformed to His death, by the power of His Resurrection. The mystery - not just men living again, but Christ living again in men! What does Jesus say? "In that day, ye shall know..." That is, you will comprehend by The Spirit, "...I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you." Here is true fellowship. "Because I live, ye shall live also." He says.

Colossians 3:4, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." As to the earth - you are dead! " When Christ, who is our life..." Here is a mystery. Your life is hidden in Christ, with Christ, through Christ, in God. But when He, who is our life, is made manifest, then you are also made manifest as One with Him. In The Resurrection we are not seen - until He is seen. When He, The Resurrection is seen, that is, made manifest, we are seen. You are not witnesses until The Witness is seen! He is The Witness, He is The Living One, He is The Resurrection. He is in you, you are by Him. When The Witness is seen, witnesses are seen. You are not witnesses until The Witness is seen. How many preachers are there who are not witnesses? How many believers are there who are not witnesses? How many groups are there who are not witnesses? When He is seen: "made manifest" is the correct term here - we are made manifest, and we are made manifest to be as He is. Thus the saying in 1 John: "When we shall see Him (the word is ‘manifest’ there), then we shall be made manifest, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." That’s what Paul is saying in Colossians: when He is seen, we shall be seen, and we shall be seen to be as He is. When The Witness is seen, the witnesses are seen to be as He is, or seen to be as One with Him.

"We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord!" This is Christ among you. Paul uses that term "among you". Yes, He is in you, but when The Witness is made manifest and we are seen to be witnesses of Him, this is Christ in the midst of you. This is Christ among you - manifest in corporate form. In This Son the Father is glorified. That’s exactly what John 17:21 says,"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..." Here’s the witness. "...that the world..." The witnesses are seen to be One with The Witness. It is not we who are seen; it is Christ who is seen. If Christ is not seen then we’re just preaching Testimony. When The Witness is made manifest in us, we make manifest The Witness in the earth. "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them..." " 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. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast love me. 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." He is the True Witness. Only in The Witness can The Father be glorified.

When The Witness is revealed in you, you will manifest The Witness in the earth as witnesses, and God is glorified! And the knowledge of the glory of God fills the earth as the waters cover the sea. Jesus says you will be witnesses unto Me. First one to another, as feeding one another, as the New Jerusalem; but then to the uttermost parts of the world. "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." This is The Witness in corporate form. This is The Witness that Jesus says is greater than that of John. This is The Finished Work of The Father. Verse 23 has said, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in One. This is The Finished Work of The Father. This is the firstborn of God, this is the Only Begotten of The Father. This day, He says, have I begotten Thee! That’s the same day that Jesus is speaking of when He says, "In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you." This is The Witness, this is The One that is seen in Revelation 1 verses 13-18. This is The Man that God intended man to be. This is not the man from Hebrews 2:5-8 - not having yet. This is The Man from Hebrews 2:9-12; this is The Man that comes forth in The Lord Jesus Christ! "But we see Jesus..." This is The Man of Isaiah 66:1-2 - The Man to whom God looks, The Man He will see; that is, He can look upon no other man.

When Christ on the tree hung, representing all of the other mankind, God looked away and darkness fell. But of This Son, in The Resurrection, God says, ‘THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED!’ This man is not as Adam was; Adam was afraid. We stand in the presence of God in Christ Jesus! Adam was naked; we stand clothed upon with our house from heaven! Adam said, I hid; we are hidden with Christ in God and are made manifest when He, who is our life, is made manifest! By This One we come from The Testimony to The Witness. In The Testimony they were male and female, and He called their name, Adam. As we have borne the image of the first, so we must bear the image of the second. In The Witness, and this is a great mystery concerning Christ and His Body, He hath given Him to be Head, and they have His Name in their head - they are One. And yet the mystery is This One is neither male nor female - but CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL! This is The Witness. These are they who are obedient unto death, who follow The Lamb whithersoever He goeth, their life and fellowship is in fellowshipping with The Lamb, they are victorious over death and they reign in Life by One! BY HIM WE MOVE FROM THE TESTIMONY TO THE WITNESS!