The testimony within us - 1 John 5:9-12

"If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." (1 John 5:9-12)

There is much we can say and much evidence we can proffer giving testimony as to who Jesus is. There is the evidence of men who were eye-witnesses to His life and times on this Earth. There is also the testimony of the Spirit revealing both what the Father said about the Son and demonstrating the Father's power through the Son in the Miracles he did while on this Earth. Both of these give powerful evidence that Jesus was both the Son of God and that Jesus was, in fact, God. However, here, John says that there on one more piece of evidence that God has given to us in testimony of who Jesus was and is.

The particular Greek word used here for the "testimony" that God has left concerning His Son can refer to legal evidence given in a court of law. This is evidence we can examine, consider, and decide for upon ourselves regarding the validity of its witness. In the end, we will be judged based on how we respond to the evidence given. Will we accept it and believe God as truthful concerning His evidence, or will we deny the evidence, accusing God of a falsehood and a lie concerning His evidence. The choice is ours.

So where is this evidence? This evidence is within us; within those who have been born again as Children of God. Those who have believed God now have this evidence within themselves, It is not an evidence amenable to scientific examination or experimentation, but it is evidence none the less. It is evidence that we carry with us everywhere we go; at all times and in all places. All those who see and know us should be able to perceive and recognize the testimony and evidence that God has placed within us.

So what is this evidence? "God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son." The evidence that God has chosen to leave the world concerning who His Son was and continues to be is the witness of the changed lives of those who have chosen to receive Him and believe in Him as their Savior and Lord. God could have orchestrated a sign in the sky or could have personally appear before each individual testifying of His Son, but He has chosen rather to demonstrate to the world the effective power of redemption revealed in His Son by the changed lives of those who have been transformed by Him through faith in His Gospel. When we believe God then His eternal life enters into us and changes us from the inside out and our lives begin to testify to the truth of God, His Son, and His Gospel. Anyone who wants to know if God is real and if there is any saving power in His Son needs only to examine the lives of those who have been changed by Him.

So here is the question. Have you received God in a way that has made you a witness and a testimony to the world today? Are you obscuring the truth of God though unrighteousness or unbelief in your life today? What better time than today to let "your light shine" for all the world to see.

David Robison