From: f_gautjw@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.messianic
Subject: The Two Witnesses
Date: 7 Nov 92 16:53:07 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

I submit the following article I wrote several years to alt.messianic
in the hope that it might elicit comment from a few of my brothers
and sisters in Jesus who have a Jewish cultural background (I do not).
It may well be that some "think Greek" and others "think Hebrew" when
it comes to the interpretation of symbol and therefore certain
scripture.  At any rate, I would appreciate your comments and hope
the subject matter is not too far afield of your usual discussions.



			_______ooo_______


			THE TWO WITNESSES

					Joseph W. Gaut


	The inquiring man tried a simple experiment that can be
duplicated by anyone.  He spoke, but as he did so, he did not breathe.
You could not hear him; only his lips moved.  He noted that even a
faint whisper requires breath.  Otherwise, who could hear what was
said?  To have meaning, spoken words must always be accompanied by
breath.

	Man is created in the likeness of God.  And yet no man has
seen God for that likeness in which man is created is not one of
physical form.  But when God speaks, His Word is always accompanied
by His breath.  And the breath of God is His Spirit.  Jesus showed
us this when He breathed on His disciples and commanded them to 
receive the Holy Spirit.  As the psalmist proclaimed, "By the word
of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the
breath of his mouth."  

	The ancient Hebrews often used the same word, ruach, for not
only breath and spirit, but also for wind.  As Jesus told Nicodemus,
"The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you
cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with
everyone born of the spirit."

	Breath, Life, Spirit.  I once asked the Lord which version
of the Bible I should study.  I surmised that one of the many
translations must surely be superior to the others.  His answer
amazed me as his answers often do as He removes darkness from our
minds.  He imparted to my understanding that I was not to be deceived;
He wanted His Word to be  hidden in my heart.  The more I
mediated on this the more impact it had.  I became more conscious
of Christ as the Living Word.  God's Word is alive; it is alive in
Him and He brings it alive in us.  As John told us "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us..."

	The realization struck me that God's Word is alive for that
Word is Jesus.  And He is not something bounded by the corners of a
book that can be placed on a bedside table.  He's the Ruler of the
Universe, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

	And God's Word is always accompanied by His breath...by His
Spirit.  I was sometimes troubled by the knowledge that I could at
times read the Bible and receive great blessing but at other times
receive nothing.  Why was this?  Then I saw that man cannot feed 
himself the Bread of Life.  Jesus must feed us if we are to be fed
for He is the Bread of Life.  Unless he speaks to our hearts as we
read or meditate, unless he breathes on our understanding with his
enlightening spirit, we receive nothing of value.  "It is the spirit
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63).

	The Father's word always comes to us in season, neither before
nor after, as He sends it to nourish our eternal spirits.  He always
makes a place for us at His Table and understands what meal to place
before us.  We can memorize long passages of the gospels or prophets
and still not have His Word in our hearts.  Scripture is wondrously
inspired by God, but only the Christ can open our understanding of it
as "...no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."

	The two disciples on the road to Emmaus learned this by
exprience.  The resurrected Christ walked beside them and unlocked
the meaning of many scriptures as their hearts burned within them.
For a long while, they failed to recognize that it was Jesus revealing
such great knowledge to them.  So it is with us as we walk the Emmaus
trail through life.

	What is the proper interpretation of scripture?  That which the
Spirit gives.  It takes a walk with Jesus to have our understanding
opened and, like those two friends our Lord, we often do not realize
who is speaking to us.  He speaks to us through the mouths of our
fellow believers.  He speaks to us through life's varied experiences.
He speaks to us by any of his unlimited number of ways.  As a favorite
hymn tells us, "He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow
way."  He does not restrict Himself to speaking to His children through
a book that can be placed on a shelf.  Our God is too large for that.
In fact, the apostle John marvelled that not even the entire world
itself could contain the books that should be written about Him.

	The Christ spoke many times to men long before they had the
written scripture we have today.  He spoke to those in the days of
Noah while the ark was being built. (I Peter 3:19-20).  How did He
speak to them so many centuries before He came in the flesh?  Through
Noah, a preacher of righteousness.  It is always the Christ, the
Righteous One, who speaks when any real preaching or teaching is done.
He's the real thing; all else is counterfeit.  Isaiah prophesied by
the Christ as did Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and all of the prophets.
They all spoke by the power of God's Holy Spirit.  Noah preached by
the power of the Living Christ but left with only eight souls aboard
his life saving ark.  Christ, through Noah, spoke to that generation
which was judged by the rejection of His Word.  For when they rejected
the words of truth, they rejected the Holy One who is the Truth.

	As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of
the Son of Man. (Matt.24:37).  Christ speaks in our day.  Jesus, the
Word of God, comes to us.  He speaks through many different vessels 
of various shapes and sizes.  He speaks in all kinds of ways.  Are
we listening?

	When any real preaching or teaching is accomplished, it always
comes from the River of Life, the Living Christ, and flows through
whatever vessel He chooses when he chooses in His infinite wisdom.
All else is just confusion from a muddy stream.  Man cannot teach
or preach by his own will any more than a book can give us life
without the breath of God on our understanding as we read.  God
is not a water tap that we can turn on at will.  Man can quote scripture
at length and even repeat messages that once ministered life as they
were delivered under the unction of the Spirit, only to find no
stirring, no life in what he says.  Only as he speaks what God would
have him say, when and where God would have him say it, ...only then
is there life and power in the message.  Only then are the chains
of bondage broken.

	Truth always comes cloaked in God's Spirit.  Jesus is the
Truth and He speaks to us in the Spirit of Truth.  Even the devil
can quote scripture, as he often does throughout the land today, but
he cannot speak the truth.  The truth is found only in the Living
Christ.  When the devil quotes scripture, he does so to steal, kill
and destroy for such is his nature.  Jesus tells us that there is
no truth in him.  Yet he quotes scriptures frequently to God's people
in his efforts to place them in legalistic bondage.  But the annointing
of God never accompanies his message.  It cannot, for light has no
fellowship with darkness.  God's Spirit always bears witness to His
Word.

	God's word is sharper than a two-edged sword.  It cuts both
ways.  It gives freedom to those who accept its liberating power and
brings awesome judgment on those who reject it.  We are told to be
armed with the sword of the Spirit.  If we listen carefully to that 
small inside voice from Jesus, we know what to say as we speak.  Then
when we speak, we wield the sword of the Spirit of the Lord.  Its
source and power come from the throne of God and it cannot fail for
God cannot fail.  It will perform that for which Go sends it forth.
We learn to use it as we let God work with us and develop this spiritual
sense within us.  We learn when to speak, when to be silent, and to
depend on God for the message.

	Man-made logic and reliance on memorized passages can hinder
the use of this powerful weapon.  When we quote scripture, we should
do so only as it is quickened to us by the Holy Spirit, realizing that
it will not minister life apart from Him.  But we should know that when
God quickens scripture to us, invincible power is there with it.  Many
times the Spirit will give us something to say that we've never seen
or heard before.  There is great power in such speech for it is the 
same Christ who spoke the worlds into existence who is bringing forth
this fresh Word.

	He is the Word.  His Spirit is in the believer.  He makes us
into Living Word as we follow Him.  He gives us the words of life to
minister as others as we yield to Him.  He tells us not to quench the
Spirit.  We learn to speak His words as we walk with Him.  We sense
the loving words that He would have us say.  We know when we have 
spoken enough.  We should be aware of this gift and let it grow within
us.  After all, He said His sheep would hear his voice.  We need to
listen.

	Jesus used this sword of the Spirit in the most powerful way
during His ministry on earth.  Occasionally he quoted scripture as
when he told Satan "It is written..." and defeated his adversary with
a stroke of this mighty weapon as He spoke words engraved on His
heart.  Often He uttered wisdom never before written by the pen of a
prophet.  But whatever He spoke always came from the throne of the
Living God.  "...I do nothing on my own but speak just what the
Father has taught me."

	Today he still speaks just what the Father has taught Him and
he often does so through the lips of His saints, the people of God.  Out
of His mouth comes the same sharp double-edged sword.  He wants to
continue living his unlimited grace-filled life through us.  He wants
us to know the power of doing nothing on our own while speaking what
the Spirit shows us as the Spirit prompts us to speak.  Then will the
liberating wind of God blow across our land.  Then will the two mighty
witnesses, Jesus, the Living Word, and the Holy Spirt, rise up through
His body of believers and bring healing and cleansing from sin to
multitudes who will come to know the freedom found only in Christ.