“You are My Witnesses.”
What is a witness? And how can we be a witness?
A witness is someone who saw something –– so what did we see, hear, and experience? Having spoken of the fact “He is there, and he is not silent,” in my last programme, –– I was attempting to establish that the evidence of God’s existence is possible to comprehend. This is a philosophical question that many individuals have endeavoured to explain. Proof and comprehension are not the same, and this difference is important explain. In the medical profession, there are different branches of medicine –– There are general practitioners who have the overall ability to diagnose medical issues, but then there are specialists who fulfil the vital role of firstly diagnosing an illness and then prescribing the treatment. A broken arm or leg is easy to treat, however, and internal illness is another matter –– The is a whole branch of Internal Medicine, that is totally dependent on diagnostic techniques.
The reason is that to effect the suitable treatment that is required is not as straightforward and treating a visible problem such as that broken leg or visible wound. When it comes to attempting to prove that God is there it is much more like internal medicine that has to depend on the symptomatic evidence than a visual matter.
So what is the evidence? Eye witness accounts are the most important, for the testimony of those who were actually contemporary with Yeshua will count for the most.
Internal and external accounts –– In 1 John we read,
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[a] joy complete. We need to take a closer look at what John has said,..
“which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it,”…
• Heard –– So what did they hear? His words; the words of others; the words of the prophets; and most of all the word of the Father –– “this is my beloved Son, hear him/listen to him!”
• Seen –– So what did the see? The saw Yeshua in the flesh –– as a Jewish, first century person; they saw his works, his betrayal, death, and subsequently his resurrection and ascension.
• Touched –– So what or who did they touch? The had physical contact with him over a three year period –– his warm embrace, etc…
A Quest for the Historical Jesus/ The Jesus Quest/ A Quest for The Jewish Jesus! –– It is not so easy to reconstruct an event that took place two thousand years ago!
So how can we do it? This poses a huge challenge that is part of my quest, and which I continually attempt to answer – but let’s not lose sight of my subject at hand ––
“You are my witnesses!”
A personal testimony is in order. How did I become a convinced and dedicated witness of Jesus/Yeshua? My journey to faith was a process that developed and took many years to unfold.
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