The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy....

So what is the testimony of Jesus Christ, as this is a characteristic of the true remnant of the Bible. Not only will the true remnant keep all the Ten Commandments, but the true remnant will have the testimony of Jesus.


Revelation 19:10
At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."



Here is a explanation I found that is very enlightening:

"..........In both the Old and the New Testaments, God represents His people by a woman. As the bridegroom, He is married to the church. Paul writes, “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2).

This is throughout the Bible that this symbolism is used. God says in Jeremiah 6:2, “I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman”. And in Isaiah 51:16, “Say unto Zion, Thou art my people”. The church is called Zion and God compares it with a beautiful woman. In the Old Testament, Israel was the chosen people so often portrayed as being married to God. In the New Testament, the true Israel of God is no longer a nation but a church composed of Jews and Gentiles who receive Christ as their Savior. Therefore, the woman of Revelation 12 shows us the picture-story of the church at the time of Christ. In vs.1, The clothing of sunlight typifies the glorious New Covenant of grace, and the twelve stars represent the twelve apostles. The moon under her feet indicates the fading glory of the Old Covenant in the presence of the true Lamb of God.

In Rev 12:2-5 you find a woman ready to give birth to a baby (which was Jesus) and a dragon ready to devour it. Ordinarily, the dragon is used as a symbol of Satan, but in this case, the devil was working so closely with the Roman power to kill Jesus that the dragon also symbolizes Rome.

How did Jesus escape the diabolical decree of Herod? Joseph and Mary were warned of the danger in a dream and fled to Egypt with the infant. Later, after the death of Herod, they returned and settled in the town of Nazareth.

Even though the devil was foiled in his initial plot to kill Jesus, he did not abandon his purpose. Repeatedly, he sought to take the life of Jesus, and finally, he managed to bring Him to that mockery of a trial where He was tortured, crucified, and buried. But the grave could not contain the Son of God, and on the third day He resurrected. And later, He ascended to His Father in heaven.

With no direct access to Jesus, the dragon (through Rome) now turned his anger against the followers of Christ, the church: “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child” (Revelation 12:13). Some (Catholics) ‘experts’ ....may tell you this woman is Mary – but it is the church. Was only Mary persecuted? Or were millions of Christians martyred?

Soon pagan Rome yielded to papal Rome, and the persecutions continued with even greater force. Millions died under the terrible inquisitions which sought to eradicate all opposition to the papal system. Historians estimate that during the Dark Ages more that fifty million people laid down their lives rather than yield up their Protestant faith. Revelation 12:14 tells us what the true church did as the pressures of persecution built up to a climax: “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” In order to escape extinction, the faithful Protestant refugees fled back into the Alpine mountains and valleys holding onto the true doctrine delivered by Jesus. Groups like the Waldenses, Huguenots, and Albigenses refused to surrender their faith during those centuries of fierce oppression. And then in Rev. 12:6 it says: “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”

But the main text is Rev. 12:17 “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”

Let’s break it down:
The dragon is Satan (Rev 12:9) Satan is wroth which means angry, furious
The woman is God’s people, His church (Jer 6:2, Is 51:16 says Zion is God’s people also look at II Corin. 11:2 the church is likened to a bride in marriage)

Satan is going to make war WITH THE REMNANT OF HER SEED
I ask you what is a remnant? A remnant is something usually at the end of something and is usually small, and is exactly in characteristics like the first.
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So Satan is going to direct his attention and anger on the woman (church/God’s people) that is existing at the end of time. I hope you understand and see this.
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Now it goes on to describe this woman (church/God’s people/remnant)
It says they will do two things:
1) keep the commandments of God
2) have the testimony of Jesus Christ (it says they have it – or possess it)
I’m not going to dwell on point #1 – The commandments spoken of here are the Ten Commandments. I still just don’t get how people on this board claim the commandments were done away with. But yet they will turn around and quote 9 of them (all but the Sabbath) which seems to me they have such hatred for it.
I will dwell on point #2 – the testimony of Jesus Christ.

What is THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST. Remember this is a characteristic of the true remnant of the Bible. No only will it keep all the Ten Commandments, but it will have the testimony of Jesus.

The Bible specifically defines this expression for us. The definition is provided by the word of an angel sent all the way from heaven to explain it to John. “I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).

The Bible says that the testimony of Jesus is the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. Obviously this is where we get the term Spirit of Prophecy. In this verse, please notice who is described as having the testimony of Jesus, or the spirit of prophecy. Only John’s “brethren” are identified as having it.

There’s more - In Revelation 22:8, 9 John repeats the story of the angel and adds a little more detail. “And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets…worship God.”

John’s brethren were the prophets, and they alone are said to have the spirit of prophecy.

The only ones who had the spirit of prophecy were the prophets themselves. If just knowing prophecy and preaching it could be called the “spirit of prophecy,” then many modern teachers and evangelists might qualify. But the Bible makes it exceedingly clear that it is the actual ability to prophesy. In other words, it is the GIFT of prophecy. Only the prophets had it.

This fact is supported by the Bible, in I Corintians1:5-7. “That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Even as the TESTIMONY OF CHRIST (spirit of prophecy) was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no GIFT; WAITING FOR THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST”.

Here the testimony of Jesus is called a “gift” instead of the “spirit” of prophecy. And the implication is very strong that the gift will be in operation at the return of our Savior.

There are many references to all the gifts of the Spirit, including the gift of prophecy. Paul told the church at Ephesus just how and when the gifts were bestowed: “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men” (Ephesians 4:8). When Jesus returned to heaven He left certain special “gifts” or abilities with His people on earth. They are named: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11).

For what reason did Jesus give these gifts to certain people in the church? “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). He did it to build up the believers and strengthen the church. These gifts were to mature and perfect the leaders of the body of Christ as they sought to edify the members.

The next verse tells exactly how long those gifts would be needed in the church. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the nature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

If language has any meaning at all, these words convey one idea very clearly. All the gifts which Christ placed with His church were to continue operating until the very end of time. They would be needed to bring the church to perfection and to the fullness of Christ’s stature.

Are these gifts (mentioned in Ephesians 4:11) in the church today? They should be because they were intended by our Lord to do their sanctifying work right down to the end of time. They should all be seen operating in the churches around us.
Let’s look at the list.

Do we find teachers in most churches today? The answer is yes.
What about pastors and evangelists? Practically all denominations have them.

What about apostles? This word literally means “missionaries,” again we can say that most modern churches qualify on this particular gift.

So far, so good, right? Now, what about prophets? Practically all the churches are silent.
There is hardly not a church that even claims that such a thing has ever been a part of its ministry.

But why? If all the other gifts are necessary, why should prophets not be necessary as well?

It was active in the early church. All the spiritual gifts were very active, according to the book of Acts. “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon…” (Acts 13:1). Here we have evidence that two of the gifts, teachers and prophets, were a part of the church at Antioch. Then in Acts 21:9 we read that a “man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” Notice that these four women from one family were appointed by the Spirit to be prophetesses. They had the spirit of prophecy. And they didn’t write a book that was included in the Bible either.

So why is there an absence of this gift – the Spirit of Prophecy – in the churches today?

All the gifts were operating equally in the apostolic age and immediately afterward. But this particular gift seemed to drop out of sight after two or three hundred years into the Christian era. Why? We do not have the same record of it through the ages as we do the other gifts.

The Bible provides the answer. And it is easy to see why most churches try to ignore the absence of this gift in their midst, especially when we discover the reason for its absence.

That post-apostolic period is not the first time that the spirit of prophecy had been removed from among God’s people. The truth is that God was dealing with the church then in the same way He had always dealt with His people. All through the Old Testament God led and instructed them by two divine agencies—the law and the prophets. In Jeremiah 26:4-6: “If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you…Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth”.

THE LAW AND PROPHETS! The two go together. Not only do they refer to the writings of Scripture, but they also refer to the two means of divine guidance. “Keep my law and hear my prophets” was the requirement of God. And the Bible says that if they rejected one of those divine agencies, God would remove the other also, because they were actually rejecting His leadership. On numerous occasions the children of Israel turned away from the law of God, only to find the prophetic voice silenced as well.

Lamentations 2:9, “The law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD”.

Ezekiel 7:26 says: “Then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients”.

And in Proverbs 29:18 it has the very same principle: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he”.

In times of open disobedience of His law, God used the prophets only to rebuke and to call back, not for counsel or guidance. When they turned from the law, they understood that they were also forfeiting the only other avenue by which they could receive divine direction.

In his apostasy Saul cried out, “God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams” (1 Samuel 28:15).

A classic example of this is found in Ezekiel 20:3, this is when the people came to inquire after God’s counsel. “Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the LORD God; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the LORD God, I will not be enquired of by you.” Why wouldn’t God answer them in this case? Verses 11-13 give the answer: “And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; AND MY SABBATHS THEY GREATLY POLLUTED: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.”

In this case the reason God gave no divine direction was because they had forsaken His law and had broken His Sabbath. It was the violation of the fourth commandment which especially provoked the displeasure of God.

Now, why did the gift of prophecy disappear after two or three centuries into the Christian church. Better yet, what happened to God’s law at the very same time the gift of prophecy disappeared from the church? The truth is that the history of that early period shows that the Sabbath was set aside in favor of the pagan day of the sun. A compromise with heathen sun-worship led to an open rejection of the true seventh-day Sabbath. And when this happened, God did exactly what He had always done before when His people turned from His holy law; He withdrew the guidance of the spirit of prophecy. Prophets disappeared from the church.

A BIGGER QUESTION – Is there reason to believe that when the church restores the law and begins to observe the Sabbath again, and is not in violation of blatant disregard of any of the commandments, that God will also restore the gift of prophecy to the church? The answer is YES. This takes us right back to the main verse I used…Revelation 12:17 “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Can you see it in the verse? The law, so long neglected, is right back where it belongs—in the church. And hand-in-hand with the law is the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. Think of it! THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS GET BACK TOGETHER AGAIN IN THE LAST REMNANT PIECE OF GOD’S LAST DAY REMNANT CHURCH! All the gifts are again operating as they did in the days before the apostasy.

Remember that a remnant has to be exactly like the original except that it is on the very end, and it is a small piece. This fantastic prophecy reveals that there will be an end- time restoration of the faith of the apostles. The same Sabbath will be restored. The same gifts of the spirit will be manifested, and all the great apostolic doctrines will be stripped of the effects of 1,260 years of The Dark Ages and the Roman Papacy’s distortion of the Bible.

This church is identified again by John in these words: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). Do not overlook the fact that these commandment-keeping saints are empowered to do what they do only by trusting Jesus. Don’t believe that obedience to the law is works, obedience motivated by love is true righteousness by faith. John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments”.

This gift of prophecy or Spirit of Prophecy, that the SDA church believes to be manifested in the writings of Ellen G. White. Her writings DO NOT supercede the Bible – they are a ‘lesser light”. Her writings point people back to the Bible, not to her or her writings. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). Though her writings are inspired by the same Spirit, they do not add to nor take away from the Bible, but they are like a magnifying glass which bring out the beauty and truth of the Word.

It’s called the ‘testimony of Jesus’ because it comes from Jesus and he gives it to an angel and the angel gives it to John (a prophet). Rev. 1:1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John”......the Bible says this “gift” of prophecy, or Spirit of Prophecy will be active in the church in the end-time. If SDA’s out there have their doubts, for whatever reason, of the validity of Ellen White – they need to consider this and study this subject....

One of the BIG problems that we’re having in Adventism today is that no one wants to listen to the Spirit of Prophecy. We don’t want to read the Spirit of Prophecy because it “steps all over our toes”. The SDA church is Laodicean as we possibly can be. In Revelation 3:17 one of the problems with the church of Laodicea is that it is “blind”. And it says we don’t even realize it. But we’re “blind”. The church is the body of Christ. What part of the body would a prophet be. The eyes, because the prophet “sees”. In I Samuel 9:9 it says: “(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.) Prophets were called Seers.

Is it possible that one of the problems with Laodicea is that it is IGNORING or paying no attention to the Seer, the prophet among them......

And the other Sabbath keeping churches only fit the criteria of the commandments – they do not have the Spirit of Prophecy, a gift of the church, among them. The “testimony of Jesus” is not just explaining prophecy, etc…....."excerpted from piece by David R.

Regarding the testimony of Jesus, that would seem to mean that which Jesus said, which is to say, His testimony. That is, one has the testimony of Jesus if one's testimony is the same as Jesus'.

What was Jesus' testimony?



NIV translates this as:



There's a nice SOP article, of which this is a portion:



This whole article is beautiful. It's called "God made Manifest in Christ."

It brings out that the mission, or testimony, of Jesus was the revelation of God's character. So if we reveal God's character, as Jesus did, then we have the testimony of Jesus.

Regarding the testimony of Jesus being the spirit of prophecy, the spirit of something is its essence. "Prophecy" is often understood as having to do with predicting the future, but in Scripture it's meaning is simple to declare truth. The testimony of Jesus is the essence of truth.



The work of the SDA church is to prepare the world for the coming of Christ. This is done by making known the truth about God.

The phrases "testimony of Jesus" and the "spirit of prophecy" come from the Revelation. To understand what they mean, therefore, we must study them in their immediate context. Here is how certain brothers explained it in 1914:


The following insights are also helpful:

But God by the spirit of prophecy elevated the mind of Jacob above his natural feelings. {3SG 172.2}

It is the voice of Christ that speaks to us through the Old Testament. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10. {PP 366.3}

We have the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy. {TM 114.1}

Silas, Paul's companion in labor, was a tried worker, gifted with the spirit of prophecy .... {AA 203.1}

The spirit of prophecy was upon this man of God [Simeon], and while Joseph and Mary stood by, wondering at his words .... {DA 55.3}

Enoch faithfully rehearsed to the people all that God had revealed to him by the spirit of prophecy. {3SG 56.1}

Concerning the gift as manifested through herself, Sister White writes:

The Holy Ghost is the author of the Scriptures and of the Spirit of Prophecy. {3SM 30.3}

But dreams from the Lord are classed in the word of God with visions and are as truly the fruits of the spirit of prophecy as visions. {1T 569.2}

But the spirit of prophecy speaks only the truth. {4T 13.1}

In his teaching Elder _____ showed that the Spirit of prophecy has an important part to act in the establishment of the truth. When binding off his work, he called for me . . . to speak to the people.--Letter 400, 1906. {Ev 257.4}

We must follow the directions given through the Spirit of prophecy. {GW 308.1}

As the Lord has manifested Himself through the spirit of prophecy, past, present, and future have passed before me. {5T 671.3}

1) That no other churches claim the gift of prophesy is a statement made in ignorance IMO.

2) That keeping the sabbath is a requirement for the gift of prophesy to be in function does not even agree with adventist history. Ellens first prophesies are much before there were any seventh day adventists.

3) What you are doing here is merely to place adventism as a group as holier than the rest of the churches. Maybe it will help some adventists self esteem but beyond that, I do not think it will be helpfull at all.

4) Tying the gift of prophesy to the keeping of the sabbath should mean that Israel around Jesus days should have been swamped with prophets, you won't find such meticulious sabbathkeepers as the pious pharisees anywhere. Yet the many prophets seem to have come only after pentecost.

5) Refering to Ellen as proof that adventism has the gift of prophesy manifested is rather a sign of failiure. Not on Ellens part but on ours. What law have we abandoned so that God again withdrew the gift of prophesy at the death of Ellen? For the adventist church has been deprived of a prophets for the last 100 years, right? Or is there an adventist prophet alive that I have not heard of?

6) Despite what you said earlier, here you did manage to define the Spirit of Prophecy as Ellen or her work. Yet you earlier defined it as the gift of prophecy. How do you want it. Is the Spirit of Prophecy Ellen/Ellens writings or is it the gift of prophecy?

7) One gets the impression that the sabbath commandment is the greatest of them all in this statement of yours. And yet...

Consider this also:

Richard

What would your suggestion be to fix this problem you see with our church today?

Simply put, we must be clear in teaching them that the it is the voice of Christ that speaks to us through the Old Testament and New Testament and continues today in the writings of EGW and is the spirit of prophecy. Those who hear it are believers, apostles, prophets, but are not of themselves the voice of Christ as they are only passing the message they receive through the spirit of prophecy.

Amen! to the first sentence. However, in regards to the second, if received in faith, as we pass on the message received from Christ, we are the voice of Christ to those who are, epistles, as Scripture puts is, also "lively stones," built on the foundation, which is Christ.

Also I would add that the messages the Lord has sent this church are not limited to the Spirit of Prophecy.

TE: Also I would add that the messages the Lord has sent this church are not limited to the Spirit of Prophecy.

MM: I suppose you are referring to authors like Jones and Waggoner. If so, do you place them in the same category as Moses, David, Paul, John, and Ellen? Can the following be said of J&W?

The Holy Ghost is the author of the Scriptures and of the Spirit of Prophecy. {3SM 30.3}

But the spirit of prophecy speaks only the truth. {4T 13.1}

We must follow the directions given through the Spirit of prophecy. {GW 308.1}

I don't think catergorizing those whom God uses is the important thing. The important thing is to lay hold of the truth that messengers of God bring.



I hasten to add that the messengers whom God has sent to this church, and the messages sent, should by no means be limited to Jones and Waggoner.

TE: I don't think catergorizing those whom God uses is the important thing.

MM: Apparently it is important to God. Authority is needful. God appoints and ordains certain people to serve as His authoritative voice on earth. Yes, He employs other people to speak for Him, but not in the same authoritative way.

Again, do you think J&W fall under the same authoritative category as Moses, David, Paul, John, and Ellen?