In 1 Kgs 19:18 God, in His awesomeness testified about the people of Israel who had not bowed to baal despite the oppression, intimidation and high-handedness of King Ahab and Jezebel his wife. “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” The testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, He told the Jewish leaders in Jn 5:31-34 which says, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favour, and I know that his testimony about Me is valid. You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.”
Someone can testify about himself. A fellow human being can testify on his behalf. But the most important and valid testimony is the one from God. It doesn’t matter what someone says about himself or what other people say about him; what is important is what God testifies about the person.
You may not tell the truth about yourself. People may tell lies about you. They may flatter you or speak about you out of hatred or envy. But whatever God says about you is accurate. If He says you are all right, you are. If He says He is not pleased with your life, it is because you have some things you should deal with.
If anyone is serious about living to please God, He or she will be concerned about what God says about his or her life rather than seeking the praise of men or being worried by the unfair criticisms of human beings that could be motivated by different reasons.
Nobody will be saved because of the testimonies of others or his testimony about himself. No one will spend eternity with God based on the good testimonies of others about Him. What matters is the testimony that God bears concerning you.
The testimony by God is the truest and best testimony. We should let His testimony be more important to us than the best words anyone says about us.
Jesus said beyond John the Baptist and His teachings and miracles, which testified about Him, the Father Himself had also testified about Him. As pleasing as the good testimony of people about you may be, don’t make it your focus in life. Neither should you allow an unfavourable testimony by others to worry you if you are doing the will of God or obeying Him. What does God testify about you?
Jesus heard the voice of God testifying about Him on the day John the Baptist baptised Him. As He came up out of the water, the heavens were opened to Him. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. Suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17). Mk 1:11 and Lk 3:22 record the same thing.
At that time, Jesus had not even started His ministry; He had not performed any miracle. Therefore, He didn’t derive His identity from His ministry but from God, who called Him His beloved Son. What is God’s testimony about you? Are you truly His Son? Does He call you His son?
At the Mount of Transfiguration, a similar voice that came out of the cloud testified about Jesus, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matt 17:5). Peter also referred to this event in 2 Pet 1:17: “For He received from God the Father honour and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’”. What is God saying about you?
The Apostle John says, “We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about His Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 Jn 5:9-11). God’s testimony is greater than that of man.
Anyone can call himself a super apostle or a major prophet! But what God calls him is what is important. This is what God says about Abraham to Abimelech who had taken Sarah, Abraham’s wife, as his wife because Abraham said that she was her sister: “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours” (Gen 20:7).
It is not the title you give yourself or some people give you that is important; it is what God calls you. Abraham did not call himself a prophet and most people today would not have regarded him as one. God’s testimony is greater than that of man.
It is amasing that despite the circumstances of Moses’ death, God still testified after his death that he was His servant. God said to Joshua, Moses’ assistant who would take over from him, “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel” (Josh 1:2). Again, God referred to Moses as His servant in verse 7. Does God know you as His servant? Does He bear testimony that you are His servant?
Don’t look for titles or people’s commendations. Desire the God’s testimony. God said concerning David, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22). That’s a reference to what God said in 1 Sam 13:14 when He announced to Saul his rejection as king.
David didn’t testify about himself that he was a man after God’s heart; God did. In 1 Chro 17:7, God called him His servant even when He was sending the Prophet Nathan to confront him with his sin of adultery.
What about Job? Though Job’s friends saw him as a sinner being punished for his sins, God’s testimony about him was that he was His servant and there was none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:8). What a testimony! He gave the same testimony about Job a second time in Job 2:3.
Furthermore, in two verses in the last chapter of the book of Job, God referred to Job as His servant four times, as if to stress it to Eliphaz the Temanite and the two other friends of Job who had condemned him as a sinner: “And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, ‘My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has’” (Job 42:7-8).
The Apostle John said that Demetrius, a Christian, had a good testimony from all (3 Jn 12). It is good to have good testimony from all, including non-Christians (1 Tim 3:7). But the greatest testimony is from God. May your life attract a good testimony from the Almighty God, in the name of Jesus.
Shalom!
