Article 9

UNDERSTANDING REVELATION - 9

The Word and The Testimony

There are two significant phrases in the introductory section to Revelation 1:2 and 9 that we need to pay attention to.  Those are “to/for the word of God and to/for the testimony of Jesus Christ”.  Their significance is shown by their repeated mention, with slight variations, four more times (6:9; 12:17; 14:12; 20:4) in the book.  The twofold description in these six passages function as the divine standard to distinguish between true and false worship.  They also reveal that the historical range of these texts cover the entire Christian era.

First, John bore witness to the word of God in his gospel, his three letters, and now in the book of Revelation, to say nothing of his day-to-day teaching and ministry.  Specifically, he bore witness to “the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw” (v. 2).  This is a specific reference to the book of Revelation.  Perhaps even more importantly Jesus Himself, at the end of the book (22:16) stated, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you theses things in the churches.”  The book of Revelation testifies to and about Christ like no other book in Scripture.

It is important to note a remarkable parallel to this twofold witness seen in Isaiah’s test for truth and error: “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them”, Isa. 8:20.  So, the final authority within OT Israel was the union of the law (Moses) and the testimony (the prophets).  Jesus referred to this twofold authority in Matt. 5:17.  However, we must not fail to recognize that the personal testimonies of Christ Himself enlarged the old canon of divine authority: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed air of all things, through whom also He made the world's (Heb. 1:1-2).

Jesus, the Son of God, is infinitely greater than every prophet, therefore His testimony functions as the final authority to interpret the law and the prophets of Israel!  Note His own testimony: “He who comes from heaven is above all.  And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives his testimony. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the spirit by measure” (John 3:31-32, 34).  That is, Jesus possessed the Spirit of prophecy in divine fulness.  Thus, we recognize the progressive revelation of God’s word.  Clearly, then, the NT writings possess this progressive revelation because they are Christ-centered and Spirit-inspired (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  Please carefully note Paul’s language in 1 Cor. 1:4-9. 

John wrote that he was exiled to the island of Patmos “for (or, because of) the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9).  Patmos was a penal colony, the “Alcatraz” of John’s time.  Just as Jesus was faithful in proclaiming the good news of the gospel and was persecuted therefore, so John suffered on Patmos for his faithful proclamation of “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ”.  As countless martyrs sacrificed their lives for the same cause (6:9), so it will be for God’s remnant people in the final conflict with the antichrist (12:17) who hold or maintain this testimony – even when threatened with death (13:15-17).  These verses clearly show that to “have” the testimony of Jesus Christ is the essential characteristic of Christ’s faithful followers during the entire Christian age.  It is the same authoritative standard throughout.  Revelation 13 clearly reveals that this “testimony” is perverted and substituted with a counterfeit gospel by the antichrist in an attempt to gain the worship of the whole world (13:3-4, 15-17).  We will closely detail Revelation 13 in future articles to identify the players and issues brought forth in this chapter, however the thrust of this article is to show the integral nature of “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” throughout the entire book of Revelation.

We also need to pay attention to a parallel verse to 12:17b found in 14:12.  In 14:12 “the faith of Jesus” is not primarily a third characteristic of God’s end-time people as it is a parallel to “the testimony of Jesus Christ” in 12:17.  In 14:12 the “saints” not only keep the commandments of God, they [keep] the faith of Jesus.  It is certain that these saints have a deep personal faith in Christ and because of that they “keep” the faith of Jesus.  What does that mean?  In the epistle of Jude v. 3 he exhorts the believers “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”  Paul, in his farewell address to Timothy, states in 2 Timothy 4:7 that “I have kept the faith.”  Please read Galatians 1:11-12.  The gospel that Paul “preached” and taught was “through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  Paul was faithful in practicing, teaching, and preaching the objective gospel that he received from Jesus Christ.  The last day saints will be following the same course.  They are faithful in proclaiming the “everlasting gospel” to the entire world in the setting of the end-times, summarized in Rev. 14:6-12.  Read these verses carefully.  (Yes, much more on this in future articles.)

“The testimony of Jesus” is further clarified by John’s attending angel in Rev. 19:10: “And I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, see that you do not do that!  I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.  Worship God!  For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”  In essence, it is the Holy Spirit who speaks through the prophets.  Amos 3:7 states, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”  And in Ephesians 3:1-7 (please read carefully) Paul teaches us that God’s progressive revelation unfolds “by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets” (v. 7).  These two passages help us to understand the meaning of Rev. 19:10.  It is Christ, by the Spirit, who speaks through His chosen instruments to reveal the Father’s plan and will to this sinful planet.  Rev. 22:9 is very helpful in this context because of its similar language as in 19:10.  The angels, the prophets, “your brethren” and “those who keep the words of this book” “have”, that is, hold to, preserve, maintain the testimony of Jesus Christ.  This has been an essential quality and characteristic of God’s faithful people throughout the ages; it is the ultimate norm for all Christian worship.  Indeed, the testimony of Jesus unmasks the antichrist and the deceitful claims of “the false prophet” of the end-time (see Rev. 16:13, 19:20, 13:11-15).

Rev. 20:4 brings us full circle from John’s time to the millennium when those “who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God gain victory over the beast, his image, and his mark and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

This “word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ” is not just a thread running through Revelation, it is more like a pulsing river that informs all else in this amazing book.  Its effects will be realized for eternity!

~Rex Frost