Audio Download

Conscience – A Witnessing Conscience, Part 11

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost (Rom 9:1 – Paul reflecting Christ’s dedication to his Elect)

[Study Aired January 13, 2024]

The first instance in scripture where the term “witness” is used is the treaty between Abimelech, the king of Gerar, and his chief captain, Phichol (Phon – pee-kole’) and Abraham regarding a dispute over a well of water for their competitive flocks. Abimelech had unwittingly also previously taken Sarah, Abraham’s wife, for his own, and subsequently, the Lord cursed all the women of Abimelech’s household barren. Upon Abraham praying for Abimelech’s women to be healed, Abimelech knew (by his conscience) that he was dealing with an unusually powerful man connected to God. Now, the dispute over a well’s mutual usage was solved by a contract sealed by Abraham and Abimelech, providing seven ewe lambs as a witness between Abimelech and Abraham. Abimelech’s conscience would have been greatly amplified to not breach the contract since he knew that he was dealing with a man of God. As such, a powerful “witnessing conscience” is made evident.

Gen 21:29  And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? 

The number seven always represents the completion of a process, especially judgment. If the contract between Abraham and Abimelech was broken by either party, that person’s conscience, as was Adam and Eve’s, would have soundly indicted him ~ unless, of course, he had a seared conscience from repeatedly voiding his conscience.

Gen 21:30  And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness [H5713] unto me, that I have digged this well. 
Gen 21:31  Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. 
Gen 21:32  Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 
Gen 21:33  And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
Gen 21:34  And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days. 

As with all other nuances of our conscience, a “witnessing conscience” in scripture, too, is hidden by inference and, for the most part, only spiritually observed.

What has Abraham’s and Abimelech’s “witness” got to do with either party’s conscience? Suppose the contract was to be broken by either partner. In that case, the Lord’s inherently-etched guilty conscience genetically inherent in all men that first plagued Adam and Eve immediately strikes the contractual hearts, identified as their conscience.

Witness H5713
– Transliteration: `edah
– Phonetic: ay-daw’
– Definition:
testimony, witness – always plural and always of laws as divine testimonies

Strong’s: Feminine of H5707 in its technical sense; testimony: – testimony witness. Compare H5712. [Witness and Testimony come from the same root meaning] ~ Testimony– Transliteration: `edah

– Phonetic: ay-daw’
– Definition:
congregation, gathering

We can see that Abraham’s and Abimelech’s testimonial settled a dispute with an agreed contract, a testament that soundly locked the two in sober agreement.

As we are well aware, the number two is “witness”, and the very first witnessing agreement was between the Father and Son on the creation and its aim for the creation of God (Rev 3:14, Joh 10:34). The Godhead didn’t need to draw up an agreement since sin was utterly foreign to their perfect unity of spirit and unthinkability of voiding a contract.

The Godhead’s decision to create man happened before the creation of physical light, contrasting something new called darkness, and was all done beforehand by the Son in perfect unity of agreement with the Father.

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 
Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The Father and Son didn’t have a dichotomy of conscience since they eternally existed in the perfect state of unity in being God. The contrast of a pure conscience became starkly evident by Adam and Eve’s design to go against the Lord’s word to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Subsequently, sin entered the creation with the many nuances of an evil conscience and all witnessing against them long before the term “witness” was written in scripture.

Bearing false witness is a witness against the purveyor himself and is the breaking of the ninth commandment. The most notable third witness in any broken contract is God since we not only violate our neighbor but, most imminently, God, the holy spirit.

Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 

Two of the most devastating results of one’s conscience witnessing against them were the account of Ananias’ and Sapphira’s lying conscience “witnessing against” the holy spirit and also King David’s attempt to hide his sin with Bathsheba as it does on any occasion we lie to God. In both of those events, beginning with Adam and Eve, we absurdly love the torture of prolonging darkness when we plainly know that swift acknowledgement of sin provides instant peace through forgiveness.

Joh 3:19  And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 
Joh 3:20  Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 
Joh 3:21  But whoever practices the truth [being instant in prayer when you see the evil approaching!] comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”

For our immense understanding and hopeful escape from the torture of our consciences witnessing against us, Ananias and Sapphira weren’t blessed with the time to deliberate their consciences witnessing against them for repentance.

Act 5:1  Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
Act 5:2  With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds for himself, but brought a portion and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Act 5:3  Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land? [and thus evoking the inescapable devastation of a witnessing conscience].
Act 5:4  Did it not belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How could you conceive such a deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!”
Act 5:5  On hearing these words, Ananias fell down and died [… just like that without the time to give an account and repent!]. And great fear came over all who heard what had happened.
Act 5:6  Then the young men stepped forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 
Act 5:7  About three hours later his wife also came in, unaware of what had happened. 
Act 5:8  “Tell me,” said Peter, “is this the price you and your husband got for the land?” “Yes,” she answered, “that is the price.”
Act 5:9  “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter replied. “Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
Act 5:10  At that instant she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 
Act 5:11  And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Fear comes when our conscience witnesses against us when we, as the Bride, the Church, remember our tardiness in denying our Lord’s marital dues of not arousing Him. Sometimes, as a residue of Eve’s curse, we subconsciously fear His delight in the righteousness He induces in us, His Wife, as always our friend Queen Vashti, our chief whipping post against our consciences, classically depicts.

Mal 3:5  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love [because our conscience witnesses against us].

For our glorious benefit King David was oblivious to his near-death experience and devastatingly witnessing conscience that spiritually killed him.

2Sa 12:1  Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. 
2Sa 12:2  The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle, [Spiritually you and I today and particularly before we came to Christ’s truth while we held His truth in error].
2Sa 12:3  but the poor man [Christ. Mat 5:3-12. 1Co 1:27, Psa 8:2, Isa 26:5-6] had nothing except one small ewe lamb [His Bride to be sacrificed with Christ for the world] that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him [Reminisent of Jephthah’s (Phonetic: yif-tawkh. Jud 11:29-40) only child, his daughter dedicated as a virginal living sacrifice to the Lord, the Bride of Christ].
2Sa 12:4  Now a traveler [Job 1:7 “… from where have you come?” Satan our first father] came to the rich man [Us in our time], who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.” [The blood of the Saints – Rev 16:4-6. Woman drunk with the blood of the Saints Rev 17:1-6]
2Sa 12:5  David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 
2Sa 12:6  Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.” 
2Sa 12:7  Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 
2Sa 12:8  I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.
2Sa 12:9  Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. 
2Sa 12:10  Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 
2Sa 12:11  This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight. 
2Sa 12:12  You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'” 
2Sa 12:13  Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.
2Sa 12:14  Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you [Symbolically, Christ] will surely die.”

It does not advance the kingdom of God within for the Bride of Christ to beat herself up in remembrance of forgiven past sins. Yet King David’s conscience, as from time to time is ours, remains a passive witness (having put our sins behind us) against us to remind us to see the evil approaching and to swiftly resist the Devil by asking Christ for His spiritual strength. We thus avoid having our consciences witness against us.

The Bride of Christ is first to be given to go before her sisters remaining in Babylon to take very seriously to sacrifice her entire Body to her Husband and not withhold her land as figuratively Ananias and his wife Sapphira did. 

The final and overarching event of a conscience that witnesses against a person is every man’s conscience since Adam in the Resurrection to Judgment. When the books of every man’s life are opened before Christ and His Christs, condemnation through judgment will immutably convict every man’s conscience as a witness against him when he undoubtedly accuses and excuses himself in anguished cries before his Lord, only to be cast into outer darkness. Of course, it is all prestaged to witness against the world so that all are found to be liars as were Ananias and Sapphira and us.

There are 69 matches of the term “witness against” in scripture, and now, armed with hopeful spiritual inspiration, I encourage you to look up that term in e-Sword. 

To conclude this study, the following is a reflection upon the most fearful and humiliating experience the would-be Elect of God could experience. Common to us all as Christ’s Wife, and particularly myself, is her lamentable condition of temporarily defaulting to being a Vashti and not coming to our Lord when He bids us a hundred times a day to reflect His righteous glory (Est 1:10-22). Should we get to the point that He ‘spews us out of His mouth’ for our sour, lying kisses (Pro 27:6), the spectre of the Lake of Fire flickers on our faces and burns our hearts in witness against us.

Heb 10:26  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 
Heb 10:27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 
Heb 10:28  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 
Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace?

Suppose that “sorer punishment” of being cast into the Lake of Fire sarcastically blesses us; then imagine all those witnesses, our former Babylonian friends, family and people we happen to chance upon in life where we failed to be an ambassador for Christ and them, now next to us in the Lake of Fire silently witnessing in their hearts against us.

Lam 2:13  What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee? 
Lam 2:14  Thy prophets [We, if we fail to delight in our Lord’s greater delight in us] have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. 
Lam 2:15  All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem [now beside the rest of humanity in the Lake of Fire], saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? 

[Zep 2:15  This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.]

Lam 2:16  All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. 

Previously, I said that our brothers in the Lake of Fire are “silently witnessing in their hearts against us”, meaning that they will, with relatively equal anguish, know that they, too, are the lesser guilty, nonetheless, just as guilty. The entire world and our once brothers of the same spirit, the Christs will gaze upon us.

Lam 2:17  The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
Lam 2:18  Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.

Let us run forward in the strength of our Lord, our husband and Saviour of the Body and not give wry pride to our brothers in the Lake of Fire, any short-term glee over any failure of us to deny Christ and to climb upon the beautiful City we are and be a witness against us.

We were the “little sister” who is growing into the full-blown glory that Jephthah’s [Phonetic: yif-tawkh] virginal daughter depicted as the Bride of Christ, sacrificed today in harmony with Christ for the sins of the world.

Son 8:8  We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
Son 8:9  If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. 
Son 8:10  I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate [Bride of Christ will…] hath many more children than she [harlot churches] which hath an husband [unwittingly, Satan masquerading as another Jesus]. 

It is a wonderful thing to have our Lord witness against us today while it is yet light (Joh 12:35-40).