Ye are my Witnesses

“Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no saviour. I have declared, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I AM GOD.” Isa. 43:10-12.

God can use us as His witnesses only when there is no strange god in us. “Hear, O My people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto Me; there shall be no strange god in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.” Ps. 81:8, 9.

When we are born again we leave the world and our “strange gods,” and become followers of God. If we are truly re-born, then we may claim God as our Father, our very own Father in Heaven, Source of all our needs. We have renounced other gods, other sources.

When Jesus was born on this earth, His mother received wisdom from God through the Holy Spirit to co-operate with the heavenly agencies in the development of this Child, this Child who could claim only God as His Father. In the same way we need to be taught how to co-operate with the heavenly agencies so that we may be developed into His witnesses. We must be taught as Jesus was taught, and learn as He learned. How did Jesus learn?

“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered”? Heb. 5:8.

Therefore, “beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Pet. 4:12.

When Jesus lived upon this earth He became a Teacher. What did He teach? He taught the things He had learned. “The teaching of Christ was the expression of an inwrought conviction and experience”? Desire of Ages.

Wrought is:
1) put together: carefully wrought
2) shaped by hammering with tools: wrought iron (worked)

Christ?s convictions, and hence His teaching, was the result of being worked upon by God. When He taught He was just voicing His own experience, what He Himself had learned. Learning involves time and suffering. (That is, learning under sin involves time and suffering. Learning after sin is finished will be a whole new glorious experience.)

When Moses fled to the wilderness to spend forty years there unlearning much of what he had learned in Egypt; time, change of surroundings, and communion with God were needed to remove the false impressions he had received. It takes time to become a witness of God; especially when there is a lifetime of unlearning to do, and many “strange gods” to vanquish.

“Man would have dispensed with that long period of toil and obscurity, deeming it a great loss of time. But Infinite Wisdom called him who was to become the leader of His people to spend forty years in the humble work of a shepherd. The habits of caretaking, of self-forgetfulness, and tender solicitude for his flock, thus developed, would prepare him to become the compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel. No advantage that human training or culture could bestow, could be a substitute for this experience. Moses had been learning much that he must un-learn.” Patriarchs and Prophets.

What was one of the major tasks that lay upon Moses in that desolate place? He must renounce error and accept truth. Was this easy? No! Moses would have to undertake a severe struggle in order to remove the impressions that error and superstition had imprinted on his sub-conscious, a struggle as for life. “But God would be His Helper when the conflict should be too severe for human strength.” PP

Are we called to this same struggle? If we want to be saved, we are; if we want to become worthy instruments able to be used by God to save others, our loved ones. (Of course, all of you know this already, but I am just coming more and more to the realization of what an intense battle we are engaged in. Or we can choose to just drift with the downward current, and make no effort to come into harmony with God and truth. But what good is that?)

What was another lesson that Moses had to learn? How about slaying the Egyptian? That was not the way God wanted Moses to act! He was not yet prepared for his great work.

“In slaying the Egyptian, Moses had fallen into the same error so often committed by his fathers, of taking into their own hands the work that God has promised to do. It was not God?s will to deliver His people by warfare, as Moses thought, but by His own mighty power, that the glory might be ascribed to Him alone.” PP

Do we try to deliver the people of their error by warfare. i.e. argument? Moses rashly killed the Egyptian. Sometimes do we rashly expose the error that people believe, and kill it with a convincing Bible text, or three, or ten? The person may be silenced, but are they convinced? Has their own mind been carefully led along, and taught, so that they are convinced, in their own mind? Fully persuaded of the truth?!?

“Yet even this rash act was overruled by God to accomplish His purposes.” Wonderful God!! Able to overrule our rash mistakes!

But, “Moses was not prepared for his great work.” What did he have to learn? “He had yet to learn the same lesson of faith that Abraham and Jacob had been taught.” What was that? “Not to rely upon human strength or wisdom.” What then? “But upon the power of God for the fulfillment of His promises.”

What other lesson did Moses receive wandering all those years amid the solitude of the mountains? The lesson of patience.

What was the school? Self-denial and hardship in the wilderness. He must learn to rule his spirit, temper his passion, control his “self.”

It is not an easy thing to win a soul from the slavery of sin to the freedom of the gospel. Many do not understand that they are slaves! “Moses well knew the perversity and blindness of those who were placed under his care; he knew the difficulties with which he must contend.”

Do we understand the difficulties with which we must contend in order to wrench souls from the grasp of Satan? “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Eph. 6:12.

Are you ever surprised at the unexpected conflicts you meet? We must not be surprised or dismayed. “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delights; I have put My spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench.” (When you feel utterly crushed, and broken, this is a wonderful promise to read.) He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law.” Isa. 42:1-4.

Instead of being surprised or dismayed we must learn to “put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Eph. 6:11. Wiles?

Wile is:
1. a deceitful stratagem or trick.
2. a disarming or seductive manner, device, or procedure
3. trickery. To entice, lure.

“But Moses had learned that in order to prevail with the people, he must have help from God. He pleaded for a clearer revelation of God?s will and for an assurance of His presence.”

In order to “open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoner from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house,” we must have help from God. In order to prevail with the people we must have a clearer revelation of God’s will; and we must have His Presence. “Thy Presence is salvation.” “I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.? “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy Presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Ps. 16:8, 11.

God bless and keep, and make useful in His cause, all His faithful witnesses.
AMEN.

Kathleen Ross, Alberta, Canada