Article September 4, 1948 Issue

"YE ARE MY WITNESSES"

MARIAN CAMPBELL

"Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord" (Isa. 43:10). In these words does Isaiah the prophet proclaim God's revelation of the nature and mission of man. Since whatever God knows He ordains, obedience to this enactment is not optional with man any more than the choice of its characteristics is optional with the sunbeam. The irrevocable truth is that man exists as the reflection of God, the parent substance. Serving as a witness for God is, then, a state of being and doing incumbent upon man as the forever expression of God. There is no factor than can alter his state of perfection, no unachieved goal toward which he must struggle. Now and ever he is the beloved child of the heavenly Father, the recipient of all the good the Father has to bestow.

These facts about man seem to be obscured by the myriad false beliefs which represent him as separate from God. Such untruths temporarily hide from humanity man's true estate, appearing to make him dependent upon his own devices to gain happiness and satisfaction. Thus, from the human standpoint, witnessing for God appears to be a process of illumination and elimination, of letting spiritual light into consciousness and of eradicating false beliefs. From this standpoint it seems hopeless ever to fulfill the divine decree that one actually be a witness for God.

A dictionary defines "witness" in part as follows: "One who beholds, or otherwise has personal knowledge of, anything," and also, "That which serves as or furnishes evidence, or proof." Consider the first of these definitions. As related to our subject, it indicates that we are to behold or understand God. Through prayer and earnest study of the Scriptures one gains an ever clearer understanding of Him. The Bible reveals His tenderness. His nearness, His incorporeality through such appellations as Love and Spirit; His power and His right to reverence in the descriptive terms "Almighty" and "Most High." As Jehovah, the existing One, He is seen to be the source of life. Examples of His love and providence, guidance and wisdom, are copiously supplied in the experiences of Biblical characters whose faith led them to love and trust Him and to turn to Him unreservedly in times of stress.

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