What does it mean to hold to the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17)?

"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went away to make war with the remnant of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus" (verse 17). It might be a difficulty to some that a Jewish remnant should have the testimony of Jesus. But if you have followed me in former chapters, it will not be insuperable; because "the testimony of Jesus" in the book of Revelation is always of Jesus coming back again as the Heir of the world, and not of His relations in full heavenly grace that we know now. The Jewish remnant will not enjoy the same communion with the Lord Jesus that the church actually possesses; but they will stand in faith, and they will have the testimony which Jesus is rendering in the Apocalypse. In Revelation 1 we read, "The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass," etc. It is, we have often seen, a certain revelation which God gave to Jesus, connected with events that were shortly to come to pass. This in the next verse is called "the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ." So in Rev. 19:10, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," which shows clearly that it is a prophetic knowledge of Jesus. Thus the testimony rendered in this book, though equally divine, differs from the blessed way in which God unfolds Christ now to the church which is His body. The remnant will have such a knowledge as the saints in the Old Testament times possessed — greater probably in amount, but similar, it seems to me, in kind. They will be waiting for Jesus to come. They will say, with penitent hearts, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah." They will plead, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?" I do not deny that they may have the New Testament before their eyes; but there will be no power to apply the New Testament facts to their own souls, as far at least as present peace and communion are concerned. What a proof that not merely the word is required, but the Holy Ghost to open it out, for the rest and enjoyment of the soul!

The failure rouses the ire of the dragon, and in his baffled rage he goes “to make war with the remnant of her seed,” i.e., individual Jews who had not escaped when the Tribulation burst forth (Matt. 24:15-20). These individual and faithful witnesses are doubly characterised: “they keep the commandments of God” — the great and distinguishing mark of a godly life, and one common to all believers at all times — “and have the testimony of Jesus.” This, of course, is special, and refers to His coming in His kingdom. “The testimony of Jesus” in this book is prophetic in character. In the Gospels it is of a different nature — one of grace and moral display.

"And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a river after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the river." The endeavour to stir up impetuous action, excited by his craft to overwhelm the Jews, is vain; for "the earth," or what was then under settled government, "helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus." By these are meant such of the Jews as then are known for subjection to God and a certain witness of Jesus. If the woman represents a more general state of Israel, the remnant of her seed are the witnessing portion. The mass, or "the many" of the future as Daniel calls them, will be quite apostate. The Jews of that day will thus vary much. Even among the godly then some will be much more energetic and intelligent than others, as we see in Daniel 12. Satan hastens therefore, and sets himself to put down those chosen vessels in the testimony of Jesus, a testimony not so much of communion for the Christian, but distinctly in the spirit of prophecy.

The casting of Satan down to earth produces joy in heaven; but it is woe to the earth and the sea;* for, expelled from heaven, he rages all the more violently, and as knowing "that he hath but a short time." (v. 12.) The first object of his wrath is the woman which brought forth the Man-child, on the principle that whatever is God's special object excites his special malice. Verse 14, we judge, is but a restatement, with additions, of verse 6; but we learn now that God gives to the woman the means of escape. For the Christian it is, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you," but for the "woman," having no power of resistance, flight, and means for it, as symbolized by the "two wings of a great eagle," are divinely ordered. (Compare Matt. 24:15-21) Hidden thus in the wilderness, she has "her place," and is nourished, divinely sustained, "for a time, and times, and half a time" (that is, three years and a half, or 1260 days), "from the face of the serpent." (v. 14.) The serpent, baffled in his object, "cast out of his month water as a flood" to overwhelm the "woman"; but the "earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth." (vv. 15, 16.) This symbolism is simple. "Water as a flood," or river, sets forth a disturbed state of the nations, but flowing onward in some special course. The earth, on the other hand, is a figure of organization or ordered government. There was, therefore, a movement of the nations, instigated by Satan, towards the destruction of the "woman," or Israel; but this movement is arrested, under God's providential hand, by the ordered governments of the world, and Israel is secured. Once more baffled, the dragon, "wroth with the woman," goes "to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus." (v. 17.) These are the individual Jews who compose the remnant, the remnant of the Psalms who will be found in Jerusalem and Judea during the last half-week (see Matt. 24), and who are marked by keeping the commandments of God, and having the testimony of Jesus; that is, the spirit of prophecy. (See Rev. 19:10.) They are, therefore, on Old Testament ground, and are characterized by Jewish feelings and Jewish hopes. Such will be the testimony of the remnant of the last days before the return of Christ in glory.

212 But the earth - the scene of God's providential and prophetic agency - helped the woman by whatever providence (for God teaches here the facts of Satan's agency, not the historical providences) and swallowed up and brought to nought this agency of Satan: it was frustrated. And he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, the godly Jews who might remain within his reach, who obeyed God's commandments and had received the testimony of Jesus Christ - for so (for I am now speaking of the final crisis) I believe the Jews, i.e., the remnant, will. But I do not say further than a prophetic testimony; "for the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus." The dragon (for he is not now spoken of in his subtle actings, but identified again in his character and acting in the sphere and character of power) was wroth with the woman whom he could not touch, and went to make war with, to use violence towards, the remnant of the seed.

Rev. 19:10. — Evidently the Seer was overwhelmed by the exalted character of the communications vouchsafed to him; probably, too, the angel who appeared to him in vision was a too glorious object for mortal gaze. “He fell before his feet to worship him,” not “at his feet” as in the Authorised Version. But angels are jealous for the glory and rights of God. Homage may be rendered to a creature in superior position, but worship is the due of the Creator alone. The movement on the part of John was instantly checked, “See (thou do it) not.” To worship even the most exalted of God’s creatures is idolatry. Both angels and saints worship God and Christ, as this book abundantly testifies. On a second and subsequent occasion (Rev. 22:8-9) John was about to do so, and again prohibited by the angel.

— “I am thy fellow-bondman.” The angel and the apostle were fellow-servants, rather bondmen. As a slave is bound for life to the service of his master, so angels and saints are bound to the everlasting service of the blessed God — His glad and willing slaves. All intelligent creatures really stand on this ground. In the case of angels the right is founded on their creation and place; in that of saints on the ground of purchase and redemption (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Had the passage stopped with the angel’s declaration that he was a fellow-servant, or slave, with the apostle it might have been supposed that the highest in the Church could alone be so regarded. But angels who delight to serve are also fellow-bondmen with the brethren of John, who have, or keep, “the testimony of Jesus.” The testimony of Jesus in the Apocalypse is of a prophetic character, referring to His public assumption of governmental power to be displayed in the kingdom (see Rev. 1:2). If this passage, which has needlessly perplexed students, were read in connection with Revelation 12:17, where the same words occur, the difficulty would disappear. The godly remnant of Judah in the coming crisis “have the testimony of Jesus,” and surely we cannot fail, with the Psalter in our hands, to understand the character of that testimony, which in their circumstances is prophetic; they long, and sigh, and pray for the open and direct intervention of God on their behalf. The presence of the Messiah, His Advent for their deliverance, is the goal of hope. The direct address of the angel to John ends with the authoritative declaration, “Worship God,” a truth ever in season for Heaven and earth, for angels and men.

Revelation 19:10. We must distinguish the prophetic Spirit from the Spirit sent from heaven. In the first case, it is the Spirit who declares things beforehand; in the second, it is the Spirit given after a work accomplished in redemption, as a seal of that work. This is important to distinguish, because the testimony of Jesus is not always the gospel.

John's error gave rise to a weighty admonition. It is not only that the angel corrects the act by asserting that he is a fellow-servant of him and of his brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. On this account it was wholly wrong to pay homage to him instead of to the God who had sent him to serve. But he tells us further that the spirit of prophecy that characterises this book is the testimony of Jesus. Thus divine testimony is not confined to the gospel or to the church, but the prophetic spirit which is peculiar to the Revelation as a whole, after the church is translated, is equally the testimony of Jesus. This is most important, because it might be (as it has been) forgotten by those who make the gospel and the corresponding presence of the Spirit to be the same at all times; as others have thought (because after Revelation 4, 5 the sequel treats of Jew separate from Gentile, and the world an object of God's judgments) that this cannot be a testimony of Jesus. But "the spirit of prophecy" (such it is all through the Revelation after the seven churches are done with) "is the testimony of Jesus." To us the Holy Spirit is rather as a spirit of communion with Christ. This was the new and special privilege of Christianity. By-and-by, after our translation to heaven, He will work, and as vitally, in those who bow to God in the reception of the prophetic testimony, which is here owned to be none the less "the testimony of Jesus."

Having received the revelation John bare record of it, and he describes it in a threefold way. It is "the word of God," and this fact at once invests the book with full authority and puts it on a par with the other Holy Writings. Then it is "the testimony of Jesus Christ," and later we are told that this testimony is "the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10). This testimony declares that the Jesus, who suffered and was set at nought here, is the coming Lord of all things in heaven and on earth, and that all might and dominion, power and glory is in His hands. He will execute judgment and bring to pass all the counsel of God. Now this is the spirit of prophecy. As we survey the prophetic field a great drama unfolds before our eyes, and we see beasts and Babylon and other anti-christian forces, but if we do not see them in relation to the testimony of Jesus we shall miss their real instruction and power. In the third place he speaks of "all things that he saw." for the revelation reached him in the form of visions. The words, "And I saw," or "And I looked," occur very frequently in the book.

(V. 2). Having received these communications John passes them on to others. He "bare record of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ." The Revelation comes with all the authority of the Word of God. At the same time it is the testimony of Jesus: not a testimony to Jesus, however much it may contain truths which do indeed testify to Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is that which He Himself renders as to things which must shortly come to pass, — things which John saw (compare Rev. 22:8).