Winter 1999
The Completed Testimony of the Believer
Jake Luffy

"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." Rev 12:11

There are three aspects which describe the overcomer. The last two of these spring out of the first - the blood of the Lamb. Without His life and propitiatory death, we would be lost and have no word of testimony.

It is because Jesus died upon the cross in our behalf that we are able to testify to being saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, and more. But notice that all of these testimonies relate to that which we have received.

This "word of our testimony" is not so much what we say about ourselves, but rather what the Lord is able to say about us. He said of Job, "He is a perfect and upright man"; of David, "He is a man after my own heart"; of Abraham, "He is My friend"; and of Daniel, "O man greatly beloved."

Our life experience provides the Lord with that which He can testify about us. If our lives consist only in what we have received, then that is all the Lord will be able to say concerning us. The result is that we may think that we are greater than we really are,

"For if a man think himself to be
something, when he is nothing, he
deceives himself." Gal 6:3

The Corinthians were guilty of this. They approached Paul as if the word of God came from them, when in fact it came from Paul to them. They were boasting about themselves, because they had not progressed beyond the "receiving" aspect of their testimony.

In their approach to Paul, they expressed a lack of appreciation for what he had ministered to them, therefore he testifies to them concerning this,

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord
Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto
death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death works
in us, but life in you." II Cor 4:10-12

The Corinthians had come into life because Paul "loved not his life unto the death." Here we see the completion of Paul's testimony contrasted to the lack of completion in the testimony of the Corinthians.

The power of the blood of the Lamb is expressed in the phrase, "They loved not their lives unto the death." It was not just any death, but "THE death" - the death of the Lamb of God, lived out in the life of Paul.

The life of Jesus cannot be made manifest within us and then out through us, apart from death. If I am manifesting bitterness, envy, self-seeking, and the like, the life of Jesus is not being made manifest in me; therefore, no expression of life is coming out of me into others, but rather death.

"For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus
judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And
that he died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live to themselves, but to him which died
for them, and rose again." II Cor 5:14-15

If my intention is no longer to live for myself - but unto the Lord, then I must die to myself. This dying will result in great blessing. This is why the Lord said,

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if
it die, it brings forth much fruit." John 12:24

Before I was converted, all of my relationships were tainted by my self-life. I used people for my own gain, no matter how noble my intentions may have appeared to be. Now I have found that the laying down of my life brings others into a lasting quality relationship with me because my self-life is not in the way.

It is only in the giving of ourselves that we complete the word of our testimony.