Brethren, You Are a Witness!
Rev Tay Piak Kheng 2 August 2026
God calls His elect to be witnesses to Himself, Christ and the Gospel.
Witnessing is a serious matter in the OT. It is at the heart of the Jewish legal system: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour” (Ex 20:16). It requires two or three eyewitnesses to convict a criminal (Deut 19:15). The Lord Jesus said He had three witnesses to who He is: the Father, the Spirit and the Scripture (John 5).
The Hebrew word ‘witness’ refers to someone or something that secures the certainty of truth, usually as a visible reminder. For instance, Jacob and Laban used the stone pile as a witness to the family treaty; Moses wrote a song as a fore-witness to Israel’s future apostasy; the monumental rock at Shechem when Israel renewed their covenant with the LORD (Ge 31:48, Deut 31, Jos 24:27)… etc. Parallel to these in the New Testament are the ordinances. The Lord’s table and the baptismal waters both serve as visible reminders, keeping the Gospel central to the church’s corporate memory.
In His eternal decree, God appointed a witness to authenticate His covenantal love for the nations (Isa 55:4). He is the Lord Jesus Christ, called “the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation” (Rev 3:14).
As Christ returned to heaven, He passed on the role of witness to the church He bought with His own blood, as He did in His departing command at His ascension: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) The church now carries that role, proclaiming Christ and the Gospel with the same seriousness that the Old Testament law required in court. We, the believers, are accountable to God for being truthful, dependable witnesses to the Gospel.
In NT Greek, the word for witness is martus, the root of the word martyr. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the terms “witness” and “martyr” are synonymous. For instance, Stephen was called “the Lord’s martyr” (Acts 23:10 NIV); the Lord Jesus called Antipas “my faithful martyr” (Rev 2:13 KJV); and “the harlot Babylon is drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Rev 17:6 ESV).
The history of the church is a trail of blood. Beginning with John the Baptist, Jesus, Stephen and the twelve disciples, it continues to the present day and is expected to continue until the Lord Jesus returns. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, many have affirmed their testimony with their lives, without regret, for they rejoice to share Christ’s sufferings and look forward to sharing His glory (1Pe 4:13). Dear saints, God did not allow martyrdom to fall on every Christian; but God did expect all of us to witness with our lives and be living martyrs to His Gospel! Let us take our witness role seriously!
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