In studying the ‘Testimony of Jesus’, so far we have seen the meaning of testimony in a legal context because the ancient Greek word “martyria” (mar-too-ree’-ah) has a legal connotation as ‘one who testifies before a judge or gives testimony in a court of law’ but the word martyria” (mar-too-ree’-ah) is also described as ‘the responsibility committed to the prophets to testify concerning future events.’ The Revelation of Jesus comes to us as the Testimony of Jesus, but also the Lord appoints others to testify His Revelation on His behalf, just like His angel in Rev 22:16, and here also in our key text Rev 19:10 Then I (that is John) fell down at his feet (the angel) to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The angel was testifying on the Lord’s behalf and was telling John, don’t worship me, I’m a fellow servant with you, what I have been revealing to you is not my testimony but the Testimony of Jesus, therefore worship Him, because the “Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy”. When talking of testimony here, I am referring to the prophetic definition of testifying about future events. So in this context the Testimony of Jesus is the revealing by Jesus of things to come, but it comes to us as it did the angel by the Spirit of Prophecy. This is what Jesus said when speaking of the Holy Spirit in John 16:12-15 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” Jesus said there was still much he wanted to tell his disciples, but He was not able because they could not bear any more at that time. Indeed, we know after His resurrection, Jesus spent forty days teaching them many things about the Kingdom Acts 1:3. But the instruction here is that He would speak to them through the Holy Spirit specifically about the things to come. So this doesn’t refer to His teaching before His ascension, for at that time they had not yet been baptised in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come. And when He comes He will not speak on his own authority, but the testimony of Jesus about the things to come. The apostle Peter also taught on this same principle when he writes in 1 Pet 1:10-11 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He (that is the Holy Spirit) testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow.
Peter teaches it was the Spirit of Christ within the prophets who testified in advance of the things to come, not only the work of the Cross, but also the glories that would follow. This is the Spirit of Prophecy at work, empowering and activating the Testimony of Jesus within his servants. Remember the end-time saints will “hold to the testimony of Jesus”, I believe this means they will hold to the “spirit of prophecy”. There will be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of Prophecy” to empower the church to rise up as a warrior Bride, a prophetess, who will have the Testimony of Jesus upon her lips, to make prophetic declaration upon the earth of matters being legislated in the Heavens. For there the Lamb has taken the scroll and will open its seals as the administration of the apocalypse unfolds. A unification between Heaven and Earth, as the Bride begins her final preparations not only to be dressed in fine linen, but to be His glory upon the earth, learning to reign with Him in the closing hours of this era, and going before Him in the Spirit of Elijah, like John the Baptist to make His paths straight.
