Why Does One Need the Spirit's "Testimony"?

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." - (Jn.15:26)

Jesus said that the Comforter himself would testify when he came. Obviously, the Comforter is the holy Spirit. Indeed, in Acts 2, when the Comforter came, he testified through the disciples of the Lord, just as Jesus had promised. Jesus had also told them that "ye also shall bear witness", and this was demonstrated perfectly at Pentecost, in Acts 2. After the Comforter had testified in tongues through Peter and the other disciples, Peter stood up and in his own tongue gave a wonderful, convincing testimony which, with the Spirit's testimony, brought about three thousand souls to Christ. It took the testimony of both the Comforter and Peter to accomplish this remarkable change in so many lives.

We are informed that "two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor" (Eccl. 4:9). Moreover, under Moses's Law, no one was condemned without the testimony of at least two witnesses. Jesus, referring to this rule, said, "It is also written in your Law that the testimony of two men is true." Then he continued, "I am one that beareth witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me" (Jn.8:17-18). Yes, the Father bore witness of the Son many times, especially at his baptism by John in the Jordan River, when the Spirit descended as a dove upon Jesus and a voice from heaven cried, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Many claim to belong to Jesus with only their own testimony - but how many have the second testimony from God...the Comforter's testimony?

The Spirit's witness, the Comforter's Testimony, sets God's way of salvation apart from all religions on earth, for no other religion bears God's mark of approval: the Spirit's testimony. Only God's is a two-testimony religion. Throughout history, men from every culture have claimed to belong to God, but man's testimony alone is insufficient and untrustworthy. It is the second testimony which confirms God's covenant.

Paul wrote (Rom.8:16), "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." These are the two witnesses, my reader: God's Spirit and yours. I know that you have one of them, but what about the one that confirms the covenant, the Comforter's testimony? In other words, did the Spirit of God testify through you in tongues when it entered? Without this witness from God, man's testimony, being alone, carries no weight at all in heaven. No one's claim to be born again is valid until he is baptized with the holy Ghost and speaks in tongues, for the baptism of the Spirit, first given on the day of Pentecost to Jesus's disciples, is the new birth experience (Rom.6:3; 1Cor.12:13; Gal.3:27).

The gift of God's holy Spirit (which is not one among many gifts, but is THE gift), and the miraculous sign it brings with it, came to us at a very great cost. It cost God the sending of His beloved Son from the perfection of his heavenly home to an earth steeped in heartache, sorrow, disease, sin, and death. It cost the Savior inexpressible anguish and ignominious death on Calvary's cross. Other miraculous wonders preceded the death of Christ Jesus, but not the sign of the covenant: the Comforter's Testimony. Upon reading Paul's words, "tongues are for a sign to unbelievers" (1Cor. 14:22), one should ask, "A sign of what?" The obvious answer is that this heavenly utterance is a sign intended by a loving God to guide sinners to the right way.

Not knowing what the Comforter's Testimony is, misguided disciples of Jesus, more full of confidence than of knowledge, often refer to their happy feelings as proof that they possess the Spirit. Eventually, however, such people, if sincere, must admit that this witness is an unreliable one. It will fail them in time of greatest need. Now, while in favor with men, while in health, while financially secure, while surrounded with friends, they feel blessed; but later, when those conditions are reversed, they will feel unhappy. They will lose what they now suppose to be the Comforter's Testimony. Others point to "what the Scriptures say" as proof of their having the Spirit; but, friend, the Bible has never said anything. It is a book. Everything anybody has ever received from the Bible he has read, and whether or not someone understands what he has read is the issue we are discussing.

Some, in the face of Jesus's declaration, "When the Comforter is come . . . he shall testify of me" (Jn.15: 26), think that this testimony of the Comforter is their peace of mind; but when they see many who claim no religion at all apparently having the same peace of mind, their concept of the Comforter's Testimony proves insufficient to sustain their faith, or to give them trustworthy assurance. When the dark hour comes, they, too, must face defeat and surrender their claims as being false and satanic. But what joy, peace, and righteousness come to those who have the witness of God - to those who have the real holy Ghost and who have learned to walk in it!

"When the Comforter is come . . . he shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear witness. . . ." (Jn.15: 26). These are the two witnesses: God's Spirit and yours. Are you among the many who can say only with their voice, "I am born again"? Or do you have the second Witness that you are born of God? Please don't allow a man with nothing but a doctrine to steal your hope of eternal life. Many Christians trust that they are being led rightly, when they are actually being carried by Satan's deception into temptations and pits of evil. Jesus, who loves you, offers you life.

On Pentecost morning, the first group of disciples were born again, and the body of Christ came into existence. Christ is offering to you now your own pentecost experience, your own new birth into the kingdom of God, a kingdom into which no man can take you, and out of which no man can cast you. The only thing men can do is either to dissuade you or encourage you to pursue the thing you need most: the baptism Jesus gives, with the evidence which always accompanies it, known to us as the Comforter's Testimony

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