“And they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives
unto the death.” Revelation 12:11
It has been said before, and I
will say again: the decisions we make, make us.
Choices, they are the brush by which the depiction of our life is
painted onto the canvas of time. It is
the choices that we make in this life which determine who we are and who we
become. If you have nothing else, you
have a right to choice. As we live, as
we choose, by and by a pattern is made; a picture painted, and a testimony left:
both in word and in deed.
In
the Old Testament, the Jews had the ark of the testimony, also known as the Ark
of the Covenant. The ark of testimony
was one of, if not the most sacred item in Jewish culture. It was basically a VERY nice golden box with
two angels on top of it, and places where you could put long staves through;
because they were not allowed to touch it.
Within that ark rested Aaron’s rod that budded, manna from heaven, and
the Ten Commandments. These sanctified
items were handpicked by God to remain in the ark because they represented what
God was, and what God had done for them.
They symbolized: the power of God, the provision of God, and the law of
God. The ark and the items in the ark,
consistently and constantly, served as a testimony to glorify God. The ark was holy and sanctified: where the
ark went, the glory of God went. The
Jews would carry the ark with them; they would literally carry around their
testimony.
By and by, Solomon built a magnificent temple which became the
epicenter of Jewish religion and a home for the ark. For, within the center of that temple was a Holiest of Holies, and within that room; the ark of testimony. There it sat and there it remained down
through the ages, a testimony to the Jewish people of what God had done for
them and what he was to them. However it
was not permanent, and it was not meant for forever; when Jesus came he changed
everything (per God’s plan). He took
testimony and made it personal. He
changed it from; what God did for them, to, what God can do for you. For all that the old law was, ultimately it
was weak through the flesh. It did not bring victory, it did not offer
deliverance. You could be in the
presence of God, but you could not have the presence of God in you. The testimony was forever without and not
within. Jesus came to change all that, he brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. He bought and
paid for your possibility at a personal testimony with his own blood. You can have an Ark of Testimony within you;
within your very being. The power,
provision, and law of God can live within your heart, and the witness of his
glory flow from your very lips. This is
made possible all because of Jesus.
The decisions we make,
make us; the choices we make, define us.
We all, weather we want to believe it or not, have an adversary who is
actively and constantly working to damn our souls. He doesn’t want you to choose Jesus, he
doesn’t want you to turn your life over to him and “love not your life until death.” He doesn’t want you to have a testimony and
leave a testimony, to overcome. We can
choose the world and choose ourselves, we can leave that testimony; or we can
choose Jesus. We can leave a testimony
of the power, provision, and law of life.
We can leave a testimony that we overcame; and overcame by Christ.
