| Christian Life and Doctrine | November 1966 |
Witnesses for Jesus
“I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, … and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” —Revelation 20:4
WHEN Jesus met with his apostles for the last time before returning to the heavenly courts they made bold to ask him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) These disciples verily believed that Jesus was the foretold Messiah, and while they were greatly disappointed when he was taken from them and crucified, they now had their faith restored by the many “infallible” proofs of his resurrection, and they were anxious to know if the due time had come for the establishment of his kingdom.
Jesus’ reply to their question on this point was, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” (vs. 7) To this Jesus quickly added, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” We are informed that “when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”—vss. 8,9
So there they were without the presence of their Leader, the One who they trusted should have redeemed Israel. But there was a note of reassurance, for we read that “while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”—vss. 10,11
Yes, Jesus was to come again, but they knew not when; and meanwhile they were to be his witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Instead of being exalted to high positions in his government, as they had expected, they were to lay down their lives in his service. True, they were to tarry at Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them, but this was not a long wait, and soon the disciples were embarked on their mission of being witnesses of Jesus and for the Word of God, their first activity being in Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit came upon them.
The Work Begun
The work of witnessing for Jesus began at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the waiting disciples. We read that “suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”—ch. 2:24
The Lord, through the Holy Spirit, gave those first disciples great assistance in their witness. We read that “there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.” These Jews probably spoke little other than the language of the country in which they were raised, but when the exciting news of the pentecostal day was “noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.”—vss. 5,6
Jesus had told his disciples that they would receive power, but they did not realize that one of the manifestations of this power would be in giving them ability to speak languages with which they had previously been unacquainted. And there is a lesson in this, even for the Lord’s people today. When he gives us an assignment in his service we may be sure that he will provide the necessary help to carry out that assignment, if we but show our willingness to co-operate with him.
Jesus Resurrected
It was the Jewish enemies of Jesus who had succeeded in having him put to death, and representatives of these were in Jerusalem on that pentecostal day. When these heard what was taking place, they accused the disciples of being intoxicated. But Peter quickly refuted this charge, and at the same time delivered his Spirit-inspired sermon as a witness for Jesus. He explained that the manifestations of divine power which they witnessed were in fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. (See Acts 2:14-20)
Then Peter proclaimed that the One whom the Jews had crucified had been raised from the dead. We quote: “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.”—vss. 22-28
Peter explained that these words could not possibly refer to David, but were a prophecy of the death and resurrection of Jesus; that it was Jesus who had been brought back from hell and highly exalted to the right hand of God. David, Peter explained, was still dead, and was not in heaven. It was a powerful sermon which bore testimony to the fact that while Jesus had been crucified, he was now alive, and that the good news of the kingdom centered in him would continue to be preached.
Pricked in Heart
When the people heard Peter’s testimony of the resurrection of Jesus, “they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” To this question Peter replied, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”—vss. 37-39
The record states that those who received the word gladly, and were baptized, were “about three thousand souls.” (vs. 41) These, we read, “continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (vs. 42) The apostles continued to do “many wonders and signs.” For a time these first Christians “had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”—vss. 43-45
It was a happy group of people, “praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” (vs. 47) In this record two statements appear which are of vital interest. Peter explained that the promises of the Gospel, in addition to being “to your children, and to all that are afar off,” are also to “as many as the Lord our God shall call.” And again, “The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” (vss. 39,47) These statements remind us that while we are to lay our lives down in bearing witness to the truth, we are to remember that the message will reach and bless in this age only as many as the Lord calls; that this is not the age for converting the whole world.
A Different Situation
Following Pentecost, the Lord’s providence directed Peter and John in a situation that resulted in the miracle of healing a man who had been lame from his birth. (Acts 3:1-8) This opened the way for Peter to preach another sermon—his well-known sermon concerning “the times of restitution of all things,” which he said God had spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.—Acts 3:19-21
But here the situation was different from that at Pentecost. It was not a case of explaining the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and of affirming the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Rather, the healing of the lame man gave opportunity to explain that when the resurrected Jesus returned there would be a time of general restoration. The religious leaders were grieved that the disciples “preached through Christ the resurrection from the dead.”—Acts 4:2
However, as the account relates, “many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.” (vs. 4) Many grains of wheat were being found as a result of this first witness work. Probably there have never been any results since which equaled these first results of witnessing for Jesus and for the Word of God. But it brought persecution, and Peter and John were thrown into prison over night.
Opposition
We read, “And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers and elders, and scribes, and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them [Peter and John] in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?”—that is, by what power had they healed the lame man?
Peter’s reply was forthright and to the point: “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”—Acts 4:5-12
Here was a golden opportunity for the disciples to declare the central theme of their message, and they took full advantage of it. They let it be known not only that Jesus was their Head and Leader, but that there was no salvation apart from belief in him, and obedience to the great messianic cause which he came to earth to fulfill. They made this declaration, knowing that it would set the rulers more actively against them. But to them this did not matter, for after all, how could they witness for Jesus without keeping him in the forefront of their message?
Their Boldness
Naturally the religious rulers of this council did not like what they heard. We read that “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (vs. 13) These opponents of the truth would know little about most of Jesus’ virtues. But they did know that he had been bold and courageous in proclaiming his message, and that he did not hesitate to expose what he considered to be error and tradition. And now they perceived that his followers were displaying this same courageous characteristic.
But what could they do? The man whom they healed was to be seen by all, and to arrest them would be unpopular with the people. The record reads, “They conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.”—vss. 15-18
To this attempted obstruction of the witness work Peter and John replied, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (vss. 19,20) Seeing that Peter and John would not be deterred from their service of the Lord, the religious rulers further threatened them, and let them go.
The brethren courageously carried on their witness work though the persecution continued. The first of the believers to die for the messianic cause was Stephen. (Acts 6:9 – 7:60) As a result of continued and relentless persecution the brethren were scattered; but, as the record indicates, “They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4) This meant that the witness work was spreading out into larger fields in preparation for the proclamation of the Gospel “unto the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Gentiles Also
Saul of Tarsus, one of the religious zealots who participated in the condemnation and martyrdom of Stephen, was shortly thereafter apprehended by God and became an enthusiastic witness for Jesus, and he was appointed by the Lord as a special apostle to the Gentiles. (Acts 9:1-22) Although Peter was the one used to take the message to the first Gentile convert, Paul devoted more time ministering among the Gentiles than did any of the other apostles.—Acts, ch. 10
So the work went on. Groups of dedicated believers sprang up in various cities. One of these was in Antioch. This was a spiritually flourishing group, or ecclesia, as it was called in the Greek language. They caught the missionary spirit of the movement with which they had become associated, and sponsored missionary tours for Paul and Barnabas, and for Paul and Silas. Through the Lord’s many overruling providences the work spread, so that ecclesias began to be formed in Europe. Prominent among these were the groups in Philippi and Rome.
At first many of the meetings of the Early Church were held in private homes, larger rooms being used where they were required. However, there is no record of church-building activities. In those days a “church” was not a building, but a gathering of the Lord’s consecrated people.
There was no centralized control over the local congregations, although there is evidence of a blessed spirit of co-operation and mutual helpfulness among the many ecclesias. The church at Jerusalem seems to have been held in high esteem among the brethren generally, but it did not assume control over them. A number of the apostles were elders, or leaders, in the church at Jerusalem.
The Early Church as a whole was a flourishing community of sacrificing saints who were dedicated to witnessing for Jesus and the Word of God; and these witnesses were also faithful in laying down their lives for one another. The brethren at that time were not without their problems. The coming of Gentiles into the congregations which previously had been made up exclusively of Jewish Christians presented one such problem. But under apostolic guidance and the influence of the Holy Spirit this difficulty was largely solved.
There were individuals in some of the congregations who tended to cause trouble for the brethren by preaching false doctrine or practice. Some of these are particularly identified in the epistles of Paul and John. There were those in the church at Corinth who did not recognize the headship of Christ to the extent that they should, and attached themselves to their favorite leaders. All these characteristics have troubled the Lord’s people throughout the age, and will continue to do so as long as the church, or any part of it, remains in the flesh.
The Message
The message proclaimed by the witnesses of Jesus during the period of the Early Church was “the Gospel of Christ.” (Rom. 1:16) Christ of the New Testament is the Messiah of the Old Testament, and “the Gospel of Christ,” therefore, would be the messianic Gospel. Briefly, that Gospel stressed the redeeming work of Christ by his death on Calvary’s cross, his resurrection from the dead by the power of his Heavenly Father, and his return to set up his long-promised kingdom for the blessing of all the families of the earth.
The apostles were inspired leaders in the Early Church, and after they fell asleep in death, ambitious ones within the church began to make changes, not only in the message, but in the general conduct of church affairs. Many of the elders, or bishops, in the congregations began to exercise more authority than was rightly theirs, and also began to meddle in civil affairs. The result was that within a couple of hundred years the purity of the Gospel was lost, and the simplicity of church arrangements was buried under the weight of ecclesiastical-civil authority and power. The return of the Lord and the establishment of his thousand-year kingdom was not proclaimed by the apostate church, and faithful individuals held to and preached this Gospel at the risk of persecution—a persecution which frequently led to death.
The Roman Catholic Church claimed to be the kingdom of Christ, Augustine being the first to proclaim this error. Naturally, if the kingdom of Christ was already established, it would be erroneous to teach that it would be set up at a later date, following the return of Christ. Thus the hope of a future messianic kingdom was officially banished from the apostate church. But individuals and certain small groups still held to this precious doctrine of the Word. Concerning this, Encyclopedia Britannica says:
“It [the messianic kingdom hope] still lived on, however, in the lower strata of Christian society; and in certain under-currents of tradition it was transmitted from century to century. At various periods in the history of the middle ages we encounter certain outbreaks of millenarianism, sometimes as the tenet of a small sect, sometimes as a far-reaching movement.”—vol. 15, p. 496
The Witness Continued
There were only a few throughout the centuries who espoused the Gospel of the kingdom, but we can be sure that to the extent of their ability and opportunity they kept the torch of the Gospel burning. We can be safe in assuming that it was never completely extinguished, even during the Dark Ages. They were handicapped by the scarcity of Bibles, but they kept the Word in their hearts and minds and proclaimed it to the fullest extent possible, and many literally gave their lives as witnesses for Jesus.
Meanwhile, nominal Christianity spread over Europe, not by the power of the Word, but at the point of the sword. When the armies of Rome subjugated a nation, it was officially declared to have become a Christian nation, though actually the people of that nation knew nothing of the teachings of Christ, the Gospel of the kingdom. But everywhere, nevertheless, there were the few faithful witnesses who, in the Lord’s providence, had gained access to the Word, and who were willing to sacrifice themselves in the Lord’s service.
The Reformation movement helped to break the shackles of Papacy and produced a climate of greater freedom. Translations of the Bible began to appear in the languages of the people. Around the beginning of the nineteenth century, Bible societies were organized for the distribution of the Bible. These factors were most favorable for those who, knowing something of the Gospel of Christ, were zealous in making it known within the sphere of their influence.
Christ’s Return and the Kingdom
It was during the nineteenth century that the Miller movement helped to revive interest in the second coming of Christ, although in that movement little or nothing was known or said about the establishment of the kingdom of Christ on the earth when he returned. The general expectation was that when Christ returned, the earth would be burned up. However, as throughout the past centuries, so during the twentieth century, there were individuals who looked for the kingdom, and for “the times of restitution of all things.”
It was early in the 1870’s that an earnest group of Christians, some of them disappointed over the failure of Miller’s prediction concerning the return of Christ, set themselves to review the prophecies and the Word of God in general. These found that Christ’s return was not designed to destroy the earth, but was in preparation for “the times of restitution of all things,” as explained by Peter. (Acts 3:10-21) While a few individuals throughout the age knew about this glorious outcome of the divine plan, now it had become known to those who were in a position to spread these glad tidings of the kingdom.
Brother Charles T. Russell was one of the group, and in the Lord’s providence he was in a position to publish the glorious kingdom message far and wide. By this time printing had developed into the world’s foremost medium of communication, and the Gospel of Christ was printed and distributed at church doors throughout America. Others joined in this general witness work, and so effective did it prove to be that within church circles these “witnesses for Jesus” soon became known as “Millennial Dawnists.”
In his parable of The Wheat and the Tares, Jesus refers to these witnesses as “the children of the kingdom.” (Matt. 13:24-30,36-43) According to the parable, these “children of the kingdom” were to remain among the “tares” throughout the age, but at the end of the age there was to be a separation. So the Gospel of the kingdom served as a sickle to do a reaping work, with the result that a group of “the children of the kingdom” became identifiable throughout the professed Christian world.
These were zealous “witnesses for Jesus.” With the printed page at their disposal, they were able, by the use of tracts and books, to carry on a much wider witness work than had been possible in the Early Church. Also, rapid means of travel were fast developing, enabling messengers of the Gospel to move from place to place much more readily than could the Lord’s witnesses in the beginning of the age.
In this twentieth century the motion picture was widely used to bear witness to the truth. The picture production, “The Photo Drama of Creation,” was witnessed by countless thousands of people during the years 1914 and 1915, and has been used to some extent since. Through this means many became interested in the Gospel of the kingdom and have themselves become ambassadors of Christ.
Radio and Television
Then came the radio, and finally television. What marvelous means of communication these are, and what an assistance they have been in proclaiming the kingdom message! In harmony with the plan of God, it was not expected that the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ throughout the age would result in the conversion of the world, or attract large numbers to walk in “the narrow way.” So now, with all the witness work that has been done in the last ninety years, the number of “the children of the kingdom” willing to sacrifice their all in proclaiming the truth is very small compared with the millions of professed Christians throughout the world.
But with the aid of the printed page, rapid means of travel, the radio and television, these few, through their sacrifices, can publish the Word more widely than has ever been possible publish the Word more widely than has ever been possible before. When the witness work was inaugurated at Pentecost the Lord gave the gift of tongues, so that Jews from various parts of the then known world could hear the message in the tongue of the land whence they came. Now, when the number of witnesses is limited, the Lord through the radio and television, as well as the printed page and rapid means of travel, has again made possible a witness work that could not otherwise have been accomplished.
Shortly after the beginning of the harvest period in 1874, literature was dispatched by telegraph messengers to thousands of churches throughout the land. And now the message is again reaching the churches by means of the film ministry. A witness has already thus been given in more than five thousand churches, and the number is constantly increasing.
In the days of the Early Church, as we have noted, many of the meetings were held in private homes, halls and auditoriums being hired when they were needed. The same thing is true today. What a thrill it is to realize that we today who have heard the joyful sound of present truth can realize that we can have a share in the work of publishing the message which was started at the beginning of the age! Our great advantage is that we are living now at the very threshold of the messianic kingdom—the time when the Lord will soon begin to pour out his promised blessings to all the families of the earth.
In the beginning of the age the brethren encountered the opposition of Israel’s religious leaders and were persecuted also by heathen religionists. That is in the past. Now the opposition is largely the cold indifference of an increasingly unbelieving world. But the joys of the truth and its service are the same. And may that joy continue to be our strength, as daily we do all we can to lay down our lives as witnesses for Jesus and for the Word of God. Paul wrote, “Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come.” (Heb. 10:37) Now that he has come, we can rejoice that that “little while” of waiting is indeed short, and it only remains for us to be faithful through the short time left to prove our faithfulness to the cause we have espoused, which is the Lord’s cause—the cause which ultimately will be triumphant in the enlightenment and blessing of all the families of the earth!