TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE

THREE TESTIMONIES

“This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”  1 John 5:6-8

The coming of Christ by water refers to His baptism, when He testified through His immersion unto death and emergence unto life about His coming death and resurrection. At this introductory act of His public ministry, the Spirit came on Him, as a dove, and the Father audibly acknowledged Him from heaven (Matt 3:16-17).

Then He came with the same testimony on the Cross, no longer in figure but reality, shedding His blood in sacrificial death, only to rise in triumph on the third day.

Thus, both the water and the blood testify of death-His death for our sins. Note also that when the spear pierced His dead body, it was stressed that "forthwith came there out blood and water" (John 19:34).

There is also the witness of the Holy Spirit, who likewise bears testimony of the sacrificial love of Christ for the world (See John 15:26, where He also is called "the Spirit of Truth.") Thus the baptismal water, the shed blood, and the Spirit of truth all give a united testimony concerning the saving work of Christ.

Cp. John 8:17-18 on two men testimony. (Father and Jesus)

“It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of Me.”

Where two or three are gathered there He is in the midst of that gathering. And what a gathering all for the sake of testimony.