"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.

The second definition shows that man furnishes the evidence of God's being by expressing and reflecting Him, thereby showing forth the divine glory. To that end was man created, according to the Word of God as recorded by Isaiah, "I have created him for my glory" (Isa. 43:7). Christ Jesus recognized his mission to be that of glorifying God. When assuring his disciples that whatever they asked in his name would be granted, he added (John 14:13), "That the Father may be glorified in the Son."

In her book "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 187) Mary Baker Eddy states, "The self-existent, perfect, and eternal are God; and man is their reflection and glory." To conceive of one's true selfhood as expressing God's glory enables one to grasp somewhat the meaning of man's coexistence with God; it teaches him to depend utterly upon Him for whatever is requisite for the harmony and perpetuity of this relationship. Man reflecting God's glory cannot lack any Godlike quality; neither can he possess any ungodlike one. His status is perfection. His mission is to declare, show forth, the presence, power, and goodness of God.

John wrote of Christ Jesus (John 1:14, 18): "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth... No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The real, eternal, indestructible man is the witness of God, and this is our true selfhood, the individual manifestation of the glory of God.

Our Leader in replying to the query, "What am I?" says, "I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 165). This impartation should not be thought of as primarily for the purpose of destroying error, or sickness, or discord, for these are unknown to God and His reflection. Rather is it man's very being to express Godlike qualities, qualities which, when utilized by mankind, inevitably result in the annulment of error's every claim to reality, presence, and power.

Solar light and warmth indicate the nature of the sun. So far as the sun is concerned, this glory is not for the purpose of destroying darkness and coldness, for no such negative conditions exist in its realm of brightness; rather is it that the sun may declare itself, may proclaim its splendor. And where it shines, darkness and coldness, which were never realities but only the absence of light, are dissipated. Similarly, when through spiritualization of thought one apprehends God as supreme, all-knowing, and conscious only of His own existence and that of His perfect creation—and sees man to be the living witness of the divine supremacy—error by whatever name will find no lodgment in his consciousness, and therefore cannot express itself in his daily experience.

Thus we are delivered from materialism with its ramifications, such as hate, fear, lack, sorrow, sickness, discouragement, and failure. How heartening it is to know that the exalted heritage of sonship is ours for the claiming now and ever, because it is man's very being! "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord." This sovereign edict proclaims man as wholly spiritual, like unto his creator, conscious of all that is good, subject only to spiritual laws and conditions, wholly satisfied, complete, and joyous. As we understand this great fact, we shall daily demonstrate the Psalmist's affirmation (Ps. 118:24), "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."