The Testimony Of Jesus – Part Two

The Testimony of Jesus – Part Two

“He is despised and rejected of men…”
Isaiah 53:3

The Hebrew language used here is in the present tense; “He IS despised…”. The Son had not yet been manifested as a man — yet Isaiah, as well as the other prophets of God, were moving and ministering by the Spirit of Christ.

“searching for what, or what sort of time the Spirit of Christ made clear within them; testifying beforehand of the sufferings belonging to Christ, and the glories after these”
1 Peter 1:11

Even in their day His testimony through them was despised. As Hebrews 11 bears witness to them and to all who in the succeeding generations remained faithful to testify of His present truth.

“they were stoned; they were tried; they were sawn in two; they died by murder of sword; they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins, being in need, being afflicted, being ill-treated; of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and the holes of the earth”
Hebrews 11:37-38

Jesus spoke to the religious leaders of His day who claimed that they would have responded differently had they been alive back then.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.”
Matthew 23:29-30

So it is with every generation. They fully believe they would have embraced the truth of the former prophets while yet disregarding those who bear His testimony in the present day.

The testimony of Jesus is ever despised “presently”. It is His Living Testimony that decries the religious culture, the error, and the grievous sins of the current generation. The deceived tell themselves: “If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets”. Yet in the eyes of God they walk in the same spirit of unbelief and stubbornness (Matthew 23:12-34) and they will partake of the same righteous judgment.

The True Testimony of Jesus

“…He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him,
and no beauty that we should desire Him”
Isaiah 53:2

There is no form or beauty of Jesus that will ever appeal to the natural man. His meekness, His humility and His wisdom will always be an offense to the fallen nature of man. Some will follow Him for a season but sooner or later the offense of Him and His ways causes them to turn from Him. They may continue to speak of Him, teach about Him, even declare their love for Him, but inwardly they follow at a great distance.

“From that time many of his disciples went back,
and walked no more with Him”
John 6:66
(an interesting verse number)

His Way is invasive; He is ever admonishing and confronting the ways of men. To follow Him is to deny self; those who seek to love Him but hold on to self will come to a point of decision sooner or later. He will not make allowances for us. He will not compromise His way for our stubbornness and self-love. One life must die that the other may live. Jesus emphatically declared; “You cannot serve two masters”!

“Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life will keep it”
Luke 17:33

We may wear the cross as a religious symbol, we may hang it on the walls and the steeples of our buildings and in our homes, but few allow its inner workings. We determine whether we embrace Him and His testimony through those who walk in His way, or we choose a life of compromise and follow Him from afar.

Please Read Related Post in this series: The Testimony of Jesus Part One

The cry and testimony of His Spirit echoes to every generation:

“Choose you this day
whom ye will serve”
Joshua 24:15

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“He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”
Revelation 2:11,17,29; 3:6,13,22

Related Post: The Discipline of Trial

Brian Troxel