THE TESTIMONY
2 Timothy 1: 8
Revelation 1: 9
1 Corinthians 1: 4-9
RWMcC I wondered if we could enquire into the thought of the testimony. It is a big subject and has many facets, but I wondered if we could look at these three aspects that are in the scriptures that we have read. In Timothy it speaks about the “testimony of our Lord”; in Revelation “the testimony of Jesus”; and in Corinthians “the testimony of the Christ”. I wondered if we could enquire into those together.
The thought that I had in mind with regard to Timothy was the way that the testimony might be related to the assembly. If we think in general terms of Christendom, not to be critical, in principle Paul is in prison. Paul speaks here about “the testimony of our Lord” - that would relate to those who own the lordship of Christ. There are various aspects of Paul’s ministry which are not held in certain parts of Christendom; that is a very sad matter. But what a privilege it would be to be in “the testimony of our Lord”. Think of how He was here and all that entered into every step of His pathway. Mary could speak of Him, “they have taken away my Lord”, John 20: 13. Then she recognises Him as ‘my Teacher’, v 16. I wondered if we might be encouraged in relation to that, the maintenance of the testimony of our Lord, not to be ashamed of it, and to hold fast to Paul's ministry.
In Revelation, John was in the island of Patmos; he was also a prisoner, and it says where we read that it was “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus”. I thought about how Jesus, His personal name, is despised in the world and His name is taken in vain. We hear that such a lot. The name of God is too. The testimony of Jesus involves what it would be to be here for the Lord Himself as Jesus. The authorities had put John there in Patmos. It was not the church - the religious side which was involved in Paul’s imprisonment initially - but it was the civil authorities. And yet we know that Jesus will have dominion. We know from that wonderful scripture in Philippians that every knee will bow to Jesus, chap 2: 10. We rejoice in that, but what it is to bow to Him now and hold Him in our hearts, to be faithful to that aspect of the testimony related to His Name.
Then in Corinthians we read a little more to get the context, but it was particularly this expression, “according as the testimony of the Christ has been confirmed in you”. My thought there was that the testimony of the Christ was in the persons. We may look at the Corinthians and wonder at them, but we should not be too critical. We should be thankful for these epistles because of the way that they bring out the truth. Paul is looking at them and saying, “I thank my God always about you”. He speaks about the assembly of God which is in Corinth, “with all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours”, 1 Cor 1: 2. That is the introduction to the epistle and something that we should hold in our hearts, “all that in every place”. There is just one assembly; we cannot divide it. We cannot say that an assembly in a place is one assembly and then another one in another place is a different assembly. There is just one assembly, “all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. But then he goes on, “I thank my God always about you, in respect of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus”, and he speaks of them being enriched. And then he says, “according as the testimony of the Christ has been confirmed in you”. That is, there was a witness in the persons in Corinth to God’s man, “the testimony of the Christ” was confirmed in them. Mr Raven says, ”the testimony is of the Christ”, vol 19 p466.
I trust we may get help together about these different aspects. In one sense it is all one because it is not as if they are separate pockets in the cloak of the testimony, but they are all part of the whole. It speaks of the Lord’s body-coat that it was seamless, and woven through the whole from the top, John 19: 23.
DAB I am very glad you suggest this. I have been thinking as you spoke about the Lord Jesus; when He Himself was here, we can say that He was the Vessel of testimony, and He was the testimony; and yet He said that He did not bear witness of Himself. I wondered if that is something that we need to grasp. Mr E M Walkinshaw used to say that this scripture does not say, ‘our testimony to the Lord’, but “the testimony of our Lord”. In other words, we are here to uphold the honour and glory of somebody else; we should therefore not ignore our state or anything, but think less about how things affect us and more about how they reflect upon the Lord.
RWMcC I do feel that; it is His testimony, “the testimony of our Lord”; but it is really an exercise and responsibility to be here according to His will. It is an administrative thought.
DAB I was struck as you had the scriptures read that the first two set the testimony in reproach. We had a word in the preaching last Lord’s day about the way that the Lord Jesus has been under reproach. I think it is very powerful to have that from time to time in the preaching, that we preach One who has been rejected. The testimony cannot therefore be part of the world that had no place for Him; it must be over against Him.
RWMcC I think that is important. Our Lord was here under reproach.
RMB I think one of the things we have been taught is that the testimony involves God bearing witness beforehand to what He is going to display publicly in the future, FER vol 18: p80.
RWMcC I did see that and I wondered about it; I would like help about it. It is the testimony to what God is going to display.
DAB That is interesting especially in connection with what you said about Corinthians, that there was something in them; because in that day when Christ will be displayed in glory He will be glorified in His saints. That is the display that is coming. That is what should be here in testimony.
RWMcC I think so.
RMB I was thinking too in connection with reference to “the testimony of our Lord”, that one thing that is going to be set forth in that day is the supremacy of Christ: His will and His rights will be supreme in that day. In the present time He is in rejection and publicly His rights are challenged; so would the testimony involve persons who are seeking to maintain His rights, seeking to maintain the ground for Him against that great day when He will exercise them publicly?
RWMcC I think so. I am often drawn to that wonderful scripture in Philippians, “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to God the Father’s glory”, Phil 2: 11. What a day of display that will be, and indeed the testimony would involve persons seeking to maintain what is His. It is what God gives in relation to what He will do and therefore it lifts the thought of the testimony in our minds. We might say of something, 'that was a bad testimony', or 'that was a good testimony'. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the testimony in the sense that persons have not witnessed Christians gathering in places of worship because of the restrictions. What you are saying elevates the testimony; it is about our Lord, about what God is going to do and hence we need to be exercised to be not ashamed of it.
BHC I was thinking of the flood; do you think there was a testimony before the flood? I was wondering about Noah when the waters had receded, he came out of the ark and offered up a burnt offering. I wondered whether that was a testimony of the work of Christ? Would that be the first thought of testimony in the history?
RWMcC There was testimony before in Abel and Enoch and Noah himself, but in the cleansed earth there was that which was for the savour of God’s nostrils: “Jehovah smelled the sweet odour”, Gen 8: 21. That was really looking on to Christ.
PJW Does testimony involve the thought of witness? I was thinking of what the Lord said to His disciples just before He was taken up: “ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”, Acts 1: 8. I wondered if that was involved in the testimony.
RWMcC I think so. It says of the authorities in early Acts that, “they recognised them that they were with Jesus”, Acts 4: 13. It was really a testimony to the Man that God was going to establish over all, who had been there amongst them. The testimony continues in the Lord’s absence. It has been spoken of as relating to various things, and I think the thought of witness is one of them.
RMB The verse you have read starts with, “Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord”. Why are we likely to be ashamed of it?
RWMcC I think that probably covers a bit of ground. It would include the defending of the Lord’s rights and speaking His Name, and taking His Name on our lips in the company of others.
RMB I think what you have said helps. The very fact that the Lord is in rejection means that at the present time the maintenance of HIs rights involves suffering, and that is true even among the saints as well as in the world.
RWMcC Previous to that it says, “For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion”, and just prior to that he says, “rekindle the gift of God which is in thee”. Mr Darby's very helpful note to 'rekindle' says, ‘”to revive, rekindle, what is drooping” … The whole subject of the epistle is energy in the darkening state of the assembly’. I think that would link with what you say because if there is exercise not to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, it is over against the darkening state of the assembly publicly, and therefore it would involve suffering and reproach.
JRW Does the fact that he says, “our Lord” enter into that? He is One who is “despised and left alone of men” (Isa 53: 3), and there might be the tendency for some to be ashamed of that position at the present time, but He is our Lord and we should be glad to acknowledge and demonstrate it in our walk and our ways.
RWMcC Yes, “our Lord”. It was a feature of warfare in years past that they had a flag, a standard, the ‘colours’, and soldiers in times of difficulty on the battlefield were rallied to the standard. Does that link with what you are saying?
JRW I think that as the believer goes about his life here it should be, and I think we can say with certain confidence it is, evident that they are under the lordship of Christ in all that they do; so that there are certain places we do not go to, certain language that we do not embrace, there are certain things that we do not do; it is all a demonstration that we are governed by One whom we are pleased to call our Lord.
RWMcC It is not what we can do from our side, exactly, but it is standing with our Lord, owning Him as Lord.
AM Would it help us in our affections to see that the Lord Jesus Himself at the time of His rejection was not ashamed; He “endured the cross, having despised the shame”, Heb 12: 2? He did not accept any shame in relation to His sufferings and as we are attached to Him does it help to strengthen us that we should not be ashamed?
RWMcC It is wonderful to think of that, the Lord as the example. “When suffering, threatened not” (1 Pet 2: 23); He “gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously”.
AM No sin could attach to Him; He was greater morally and in every way than all that was around Him; and so is the testimony.
RWMcC It is. I was thinking as you were speaking that when He receives the voice of adjuration, He answers it and the testimony there is, “the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven”, Matt 24: 30. It is the truth that they used to condemn Him. It cannot be put to shame.
RJF In John we have the words of the Lord Himself, “I have been born for this, and for this I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth”, John 18: 37. Does that encapsulate the thought?
RWMcC It is the testimony of what God is going to do. It was all seen in the Lord, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”, John 14: 6. It is a wonderfully blessed thing to be in the gain of that in some measure and an encouragement to desire that. We speak about building up the saints but we need encouragement and joy and that would be a feature of that, being occupied with the Man. We were occupied last Saturday in the address with the moral worth of the King of glory.
RMB Did you have more in mind as to Paul? You referred earlier as to Paul being in prison, and He links Himself to this reference to the testimony of our Lord.
RWMcC I wondered about it; it is “his prisoner”. It is not the prisoner of Rome or the Jewish nation or anything like that, but it is “his prisoner”. Paul was a remarkable vessel in the testimony and his conversion is still noteworthy even today, giving rise to the expression 'a Damascene conversion'. We think of Paul going out to preach, “And straightway in the synagogues he preached Jesus that he is the Son of God. And all who heard were astonished and said, Is not this he who destroyed in Jerusalem those who called on this name, and here was come for this purpose, that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” Acts 9: 20, 21. Paul’s conversion was absolute. I just thought that there are aspects of Paul’s ministry that are despised. I remember my grandfather saying that he had spoken to somebody about some truth and they had just dismissed it, saying, 'That is only Paul'. I think that was about women being silent in the assemblies, but there are other matters, too. Paul is still a prisoner, the testimony in the Acts closes with that, and his ministry is dismissed in some parts of Christendom.
PJW There was one, Onesiphorus, of whom Paul says, “has not been ashamed of my chain” (2 Tim 1: 16); would that bear on what you are saying? That chain in the way you are applying it still exists?
RWMcC I think so. In this very epistle we find that there are those who have turned away. It happened very early, the decline.
AAC Do you think what Paul sets out in the second epistle of Corinthians helps, “I know a man in Christ … whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not”, 2 Cor 12: 2. He had a vision of Christ in glory and in a sense that characterised everything that Paul ministered. He speaks of not receiving by word of mouth but directly from Christ. I wondered whether, if we are to be a testimony, we have to have some vision of Christ where He is today in glory. It is not exactly a historical thing that we present, as has been brought out; it is something yet to be displayed, but we see that, or something of it, as we see Christ in glory today, do we?
RWMcC I think so. People could have said to Paul that it was just a myth, but he could say, 'No, I have seen Him. I thought he was an imposter, but He has spoken to me’. Paul had that real experience and no one could gainsay it. No one could have come to Paul, Saul as he was then, and say that there was nothing to it, because he had experience of it. I remember a brother saying that you cannot gainsay experience. I think you are right that we need to have some sense of that ourselves and I think that is something we would desire, to have a sense of the Lord where He is in glory, heaven giving Him the place that was due to Him.
RJF Paul says, “I know whom I have believed”, 2 Tim 1: 12. That personal knowledge is so vital; it is not just a casual, ‘I know’, but “I know”; there is an emphasis to it and by having that experience then the testimony flows out from it.
RWMcC “For which cause also I suffer these things; but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep for that day the deposit I have entrusted to him”. It is a wonderful founding matter to know. What a testimony there was.
RJF So much flows out from what you might think of as simple knowledge because the man who was blind in John 9 just had the one thing that he knew (v 25), but because he knew it and because he was able to speak about it he was there as testimony to what the Lord had done.
RWMcC And it does not end with his testimony to the Jews: it ends with giving the Lord homage, v 38.
In Revelation John sets himself as a brother, not exactly as the apostle although he surely was the apostle here - if you take one of the meanings of apostle as being messenger. But he says, “your brother and fellow-partaker”. I thought how that linked with the way Paul speaks, as we have been discussing, “his prisoner”: here John is “fellow-partaker in the tribulation”. It says, “tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus, was in the island called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus”, the One despised by the world.
AJMcK Did you have a thought as to why he was exiled and what the force of that is? I was just wondering about the exhortation in Hebrews to, “go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”, Heb 13: 13. We have spoken about not being ashamed of the testimony but it says there before “bearing his reproach”, “go forth to him”, and here we have the testimony of Jesus; it is going forth to that Man. Is that what is to attract us? And as we find Him we find others.
RWMcC I think what you say is helpful. Paul was alone in prison in principle and John was alone on Patmos. He was involved in what used to be known as penal servitude, but it did not preclude him becoming “in the Spirit on the Lord's day”.
RMB Is there a sense in which we may regard this book, the Revelation, as the testimony of Jesus?
RWMcC I think so, in the sense that you were referring to earlier, that it brings in what God has established.
RMB I wondered whether it can be regarded as His personal testimony. You notice that in verse 1 it says, “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him”, and at the end of the book, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”, chap 22: 16. I wondered if we think of it from that light, it makes this book a very precious one; it is the personal testimony to us of Jesus Himself.
RWMcC It is very precious to see that it is bracketed like that. It says, too, “John, who testified the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, all things that he saw”, Rev 1: 2. It was God’s desire that the testimony should be raised.
JRW It says later on in this book, “the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus”, chap 19: 10. Do you think this book and John’s part in bringing it out really demonstrate all that God will do by way of removing all the opposition here, and then what He will secure in that blessed One? Do you think that is involved in the testimony of Jesus?
RWMcC I think so. I know it is a different context but it speaks about heading up “all things in the Christ”, Eph 1: 10. I felt as to the Lord’s personal name, Jesus, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”, God has given this revelation. “The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus”: it involves what God is going to do; He is going to head up everything in that blessed One.
JRW I wondered that, and the believer can hold that very precious thought in his heart because we know what God is going to do with Jesus, and the place that He will have, but He can have that place in the heart of the saints now, can He not?
RWMcC Yes.
DAB People find the book of Revelation difficult because they are looking into it for an account of events, whereas I think it is actually an account of the moral character of everything that is in the world already, whether it is good or evil, judged by the standard set forth in this glorious Person. And then the ultimate exposure of all these things, whether for blessing or judgment, helps us to have a right judgment of them now when the standard is the same: it is still this glorious Person.
RWMcC We read this morning in the house in Matthew about the wheat and the darnel (chap 13: 24-30), and we spoke about how the separating is described in Revelation; and, yes, we can see what you say. Everything that is against the Lord is going to be met; God is going to establish it.
CHS Do you think that John was very qualified for this? Something of the human graces that we sang of are there in his ministry; the fragrance of them is there. Do you think it is important that it is just not what we know but it is how far we have been formed by it? He was prepared for this.
RWMcC He had his own personal link with this blessed One.
CHS The songwriter says:
His name is as ointment poured forth,
Song of Songs 1: 3.
What do people think about when they hear our names? That is what it comes down to, this testimony, something very practical and very real.
RWMcC We referred earlier as to the Lord coming, “when he shall have come to be glorified in his saints, and wondered at in all that have believed” (2 Thes 1:10); that is a day of display. The testimony is really the test now.
DAB These verses recall the first engagement that Saul of Tarsus had with the Lord. He was oppressing fellow-partakers in the tribulation, and the Lord Jesus identifies them with Himself. I wondered if that is what John does here; they are fellow-partakers in the testimony of Jesus. I wondered if these things challenge us in our affections as to whether that is something we want to be part of consistently.
RWMcC Linking with what has been said, John was one that leant on His breast and he speaks of himself as one, “whom Jesus loved”, John 13: 23. He was conscious of that. It is in John’s closing ministry, his gospel, as far as we know, that he speaks of himself like that. He does not bring his own name forward: because the Lord had loved him, he had affection for Him; that shines out.
RMB We see in the book how the Lord expresses His mind about things, first of all in relation to the seven assemblies and then in relation to the world in general. We get the Lord’s view of those things, but do you think that raises a practical exercise with us as to the extent to which we really want to have the Lord’s mind, whether we desire to have the Lord’s mind about us at the present time? Is that not the spirit of prophecy, to know what it is to know what the Lord is thinking of us at the moment?
RWMcC I do think so and I find it a test. I remember a brother saying once that if I knew the Lord’s mind for me, would I do it? That is quite a test. I feel for myself it is not that I should focus on me, but that I should focus on His mind. I think what you say as to prophecy, the link there, is important because we might think of prophecy as foretelling the future, but it is current.
DAB-w The testimony is Jesus; would that have been what Peter was trying to avoid when the question was asked, “And thou wast with the Nazarene, Jesus”, Mark 14: 67?
RWMcC That is interesting to bring out, because he denied Him, denied Him with an oath, Matt 26: 72. How close it came, because just a few hours earlier he had been saying that he would die with Him and the Lord tells him that he would deny Him.
DAB-w I was just pondering in my mind what the testimony of Jesus is. John speaks about the fellow-partaker and brother, but I just think the testimony of Jesus is those that were with Jesus and are with Jesus. Is that the testimony of Jesus? It is what, I suppose in one sense, men know of Him, “a man called Jesus”, John 9: 11. The testimony of Jesus is those who are with Him.
RWMcC It would relate to that, and I think, to confirm that, it speaks in the letters to the seven assemblies about those who have not denied His Name, chap 3: 8. I think that would link with your thought. That would be the name of Jesus, they were associated with Him. Even to Ephesus is says, “and hast borne for my name’s sake”, chap 2: 3.
DAB Following up what has just been said, two things were put to Peter: “thou wast with” Him and “thou art one of them”, Mark 14: 70. I was thinking of what we had earlier as to our Lord, that - putting it very simply - the testimony I bear affects other people as well as the Lord Himself. Those two things we need to bear in mind.
RWMcC Yes. One says to him, “Did I not see thee in the garden with him?”, John 18: 26.
DAB That is very challenging too because we enjoy our privileges, but even coming to the Supper is a testimony; we are showing forth His death. Is that in a sense being in a garden with Him?
RWMcC I think so, yes.
In Corinthians, “the testimony of the Christ has been confirmed in you”. I just had a thought that there was that in persons in Corinth, the assembly of God, where the testimony of the Christ had been confirmed. We have looked at the external and suffering side, and over against the darkening state of the assembly publicly, not being ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, and Paul, His prisoner. Then John’s suffering in Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. But here it seems to lift our hearts that there was, in persons here, a testimony of the Christ, of God’s Man.
PJW Would it involve the anointing? It is particularly related to the title “the Christ”; it is God’s anointed: “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God”, 2 Cor 1: 21. I wondered if what we speak of as the anointed vessel would link with the testimony of the Christ.
RWMcC I think that. The Christ, the anointed One - “And I have anointed my king upon Zion, the hill of my holiness”, Ps 2: 6.
DAB Does this especially refer to the way that God looks for something for Himself here? The Christ was His testimony, was He not, and that vessel of testimony is no longer here; but that cannot mean that God does not have a testimony, because He does not leave Himself without witness, and therefore this raises an exercise what is there in us under God’s eye here? I am not saying that it is not displayed to the world, but it is especially for what God seeks.
RWMcC That was very much in my mind. Whereas the other aspects that we have spoken of have an outward bearing, this is really not something that the world would understand. They might see some difference, but it is for God’s eye, just as the anointed One is for the delight of God’s eye.
JRW Peter says in his early preaching, “Let the whole house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2: 36. I wondered whether the testimony of the Christ is a testimony as to what God has done, the place that God has given Him as being confirmed in us. We accept that gladly, what God has done.
RWMcC It is wonderful, not to dwell on ourselves too much, but to have that view of the anointed One, the Christ, the Man after God’s heart, God’s Man. We can be thankful to the Spirit for the way that He brought that into our hearts. I wondered if the testimony of the Christ being confirmed in you would have a link with the gift of the Spirit.
RMB There is a lovely series of addresses by Mr Raven called, ‘The Testimony of the Christ’ (vol 2), and if I remember rightly he shows how God has been bearing testimony as to Him ever since the beginning, so there has been in that way a wonderful setting forth of God’s thoughts as to the Christ. Does this expression, “has been confirmed in you”, suggest that there was a substantial answer in this local company to what God had set forth? The very fact that there was a body of persons in this city that could be described as the assembly of God shows that there was a substantial answer to God’s testimony.
RWMcC I think that. God has been giving testimony to Christ. It says as to Esaias, “These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him”, John 12: 41. God has given testimony to His Man. And now there is a substantial answer in Corinth.
DAB God in that sense has moved forward a bit in the present time. In the Old Testament, He bore witness to Christ in so many different ways, the burnt offering after the flood, for example, Noah himself, and all these ways: they drew attention to One who was coming. But now that Vessel for the delight and pleasure of God has been here, He looks to see that testimony in His people. I wonder if that is a slightly more demanding outlook on God’s part than what He looked for in the Old Testament?
RWMcC I would say that; I think that is important. The Lord has been here, the Christ has been here, the testimony has been borne to Him and witnessed. Thinking of the testimony of John the baptist, the testimony of the Father Himself; John the disciple was a witness to that too; he was with Peter, “being with him on the holy mountain”, 2 Pet 1: 18.
DAB You could not say that of any man in the Old Testament. I know there were those who pleased Him, but none fully answered to God’s thought as to man in the way that Jesus has, but now in the present day He looks for that answer to be continued and He has sent the Spirit of Christ that it might be so. The world would not understand that because they do not recognise the standard that God has in His mind, but those who know Him ought to be exercised to be here for the pleasure of God on that line.
RWMcC The practical side of exercise in relation to these things is vitally important. I think we could say that when we get to the second epistle, we can see that foundational work that the apostle draws attention to here has borne fruit; there was much that he had to take up with them, but it bears fruit; it stands the test.
PJW He says later on in chapter 12, speaking of one body, “so also is the Christ”, v 12. That we understand is a reference to the assembly; would that confirm what has been said, there is that testimony here which is just like Christ?
RWMcC I think that. “Christians” was not a name that the saints exactly took on themselves; it may possibly have been in mockery in Antioch, but it should bear testimony to the Christ.
RMB I think it has been said before that this reference to, “the testimony of the Christ has been confirmed in you”, is like the ark enshrined in the tabernacle. Think what it must mean to God that there should have been this circle of persons in Corinth where the Man that He had been bearing testimony to for so many years was loved, and His rights were maintained. What that must mean to God to see His precious testimony as to the Christ being confirmed in that circle in the same way that the ark was the centre of that holy sanctuary.
RWMcC I remember a brother saying that it was a miracle that in such a city as Corinth there could be that which was in such contrast to what Corinth spoke about in its decadence and so on. I think what you say, as to the pleasure it must have given God to see that, is important. The link to the ark is very interesting; it carried the testimony, and there was that in Corinth. I think we need to be exercised about that; is there that in me? He can speak to the assembly of God in Corinth as one company. Now we are in a broken day, and no one company of Christians can claim to be the assembly in a place. These are ‘2 Timothy days’, as we often say, which involve the prison, breakdown, scattering. Nevertheless, the testimony of the Christ is still being confirmed in persons because God has not given that up; He never will give that up: Christ in the saints.
KJM It is exercising to be “confirmed in you”. What could be said by others as to what is confirmed in us?
RWMcC Although it may not have been understood by the world, it did distinguish them. I do not mean in a worldly way, but it must make a difference and it is a test.
Norwood
21st May 2022
Key to initials:-
AAC Alan A Croot, Sidcup
AJM Alastair J McKay, Witney
AM Andrew Martin, Buckhurst Hill
BHC Brian H Clark, Maidstone
CHS Colin H Smith, Chelmsford
DAB D Andrew Burr, West Norwood
DAB-w David A Barlow, Sunbury
JRW Jim R Walkinshaw, Maidstone
KJM Keith J May, Maidstone
PJW Phil J Walkinshaw, Strood
RJF Roland J Flowerdew, Sunbury
RMB Richard M Brown, Strood
RWMCC Rob W McClean, Grimsby