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He will testify about Me. And you also will bear witness.
᛭ INI ᛭
Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Christ promises the Spirit. The Spirit is also one God with the Father and Christ the Son. “The Spirit proceeds from the Father.” Christ promises that He “will send the Spirit from the Father.” “The Father sends the Spirit in Christ’s name.” (Jn 14) This is the great mystery of the Trinity. The Father is neither the Son nor the Spirit. The Son is neither the Spirit nor the Father. The Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son.
Today, Christ tells us about the work of the Spirit. He tells us about the Spirit’s role in salvation. Christ says that the Spirit “testifies about Me.” Christ’s words today call us to meditate on what that means, not only what those words mean but what the implications are for you and for me, because Christ also says, “You also will bear witness.” This, as it turns out, also involves the Spirit. When you boil it down, the work of the Spirit, what the Spirit does, can be summarized with Christ’s words, that is,
THE SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS ABOUT CHRIST.
(I. The Spirit testifies of Christ in the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments.)
This is what THE SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS ABOUT CHRIST MEANS. It means that He speaks about Christ. He makes known WHO Christ is. He tells WHAT Christ has done. The Spirit reveals that “IHS Christ is the Son of the Living God.” (Mt 16) The Spirit proclaims that Christ was crucified for us, that He died for sin (Rom 6), that His blood sets us free to be the people of God (Rev 4), that Christ rose again on the third day (1-Cor 15), that He “ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.” (Apostles’ Creed)
This means that wherever and whenever this message of Christ is going on, then right there, right then the Spirit is at work. He’s at work, testifying of Christ, whenever we confess the Nicene Creed at the Divine Service or you confess the Apostles’ Creed daily at home, as the Small Catechism teaches the Head of Household to do. The Spirit’s at work whenever the Scriptures are read and heard and pondered, because He caused them to be written in order to testify of WHO Christ is and WHAT He would do—suffer, die, and rise. He’s at work in each Baptism that uses Christ’s words. He’s at work in the Absolution. He’s at Work at Communion. Doesn’t only use the blessed bread and the wine, which are by Christ’s own words of blessing, Christ’s body and blood, but the Spirit’s also at work through the Words of institution itself which testify of WHAT Christ did at Calvary and WHAT Christ is giving at Communion. After all, “[Christ’s words, along with the bodily eating and drink, are the [most important] thing in the Sacrament, whoever believes these words has exactly what they say, ‘forgiveness of sins.’” (SC-VI)
To put it another way, the Spirit’s at work in the Ministry of the Word and the Sacraments. Apart from the Word, the Spirit is not at work. He guides the lives of Christians according to the Word of God, that is, when Christians take up God’s Word, not only reading it but living it, that’s the Spirit’s working in them. This is why the Spirit appoints Christ’s ministers, men at the right place and the right time, to Baptize, Absolve, teach the Word and preach the Gospel, and deliver the Supper, all so that you would obtain faith in Christ. This happens because through the Words and Sacraments the Spirit bears witness about WHO Christ is, WHAT He did for you, and He makes personally yours both of those things whenever you read, hear, ponder the Word, are absolved, listen to faithful sermons, and receive Communion.
(II. The Spirit testifies of Christ through those who believe in Christ.)
THE SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS ABOUT CHRIST. He does this through the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, but again, wherever and whenever there’s testimony about WHO Christ is and WHAT He’s done, there and then the Spirit’s at work. He uses pastors to do this, of course, but He also uses you. And this is what Christ means by “You also will bear witness.”
Now, this, of course, was directed to the 11 in the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday. (That’s the context of John 15–16.) They did bear witness, and everything else Christ prophesied came true. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” In various times and places, this was also true of countless pastors, well, countless to us, not to God. They, too, were martyred, put to death, not only for their faith, hope, and confidence in Christ, but also because they bore witness, they proclaimed, the Spirit proclaiming through them, WHO Christ is and WHAT He did. Yet, this prophecy is not only limited to ministers of the Gospel.
This prophecy of Christ has direct application to all believers in Christ. The Apostles and ministers of Christ are exemplary for the entire body of believers. So, it also has meaning for you who have put your trust, hope, and confidence in Christ alone. Yes, the world hates you for this, and in various times and places the enemies of Christ will think that killing Christians offers God service. Should you be afraid? No. One, because Christ has died and risen! So what if they kill you? Christ will just raise you. Two, because your bearing witness isn’t on you. The Spirit will use you. He will bear witness through you. This is what Christ promises elsewhere: “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Lk 12)
But take heart also in your daily life as instruments of the Spirit! He uses you to say, “I forgive you” to your family, friends, acquaintances, whoever it is, whenever they sin against you. The Spirit uses your mouth to testify of Christ when you confess the Creed, whether that’s here at Church in the Nicene Creed or at home in the Apostles’. Wherever there’s testimony of Christ, there the Spirit’s at work. The Spirit uses you fathers, especially, and also mothers to pass on “the faith once delivered to the saints.” (Jude) This happens when you read your Bible as a family. Having God’s Word echo in your house not only cherishes and does what the Lord says in Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6 and 2 Timothy 1, but more importantly when you do that, the words of the Bible have the almighty power of the Holy Spirit behind them. It doesn’t rest on you in that moment. The Spirit not only caused them to be written, but He’s using your mouth in that moment to read them aloud!
(Conclusion.)
Christ promises the Spirit. The Spirit is also one God with the Father and Christ the Son. “The Spirit proceeds from the Father.” Christ promises that He “will send the Spirit from the Father.” “The Father sends the Spirit in Christ’s name.” (Jn 14) This is the great mystery of the Trinity. The Father is neither the Son nor the Spirit. The Son is neither the Spirit nor the Father. The Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son.
Today, Christ tells us about the work of the Spirit. Christ says that the Spirit “testifies about Me.” Christ also says, “You also will bear witness.” This, as it turns out, also involves the Spirit. Has to. Why? Well, THE SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS ABOUT CHRIST. He does this in the ministry of the Word and Sacraments. In those ways the Spirit tells you and makes personally yours WHO Christ is and WHAT He has done for you—died and risen. THE SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS ABOUT CHRIST also through all believers in Christ, not just Apostles and pastors, even you! This happens each time you confess a Creed, read the Bible, forgive others, tell others about WHO Christ is (“the Son of the Living God”) and WHAT Christ did (died and rose). It doesn’t rest on you at all. The Spirit’s using you in that moment. Sure, you’ll be hated for it, maybe killed for it. But so what? The Spirit will still you, and most definitely Christ will just raise you from the dead because, well, as the Spirit would have us say:
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