Being a Silent Witness

#2 – A Misunderstood Witness

A “witness” was defined in our last study as

“…one who has a personal knowledge of God, one who strengthens and confirms God’s testimony of Himself, who draws attention to the Lord.”

This definition is equally applicable to inanimate objects and helps us learn something more about a silent witness.

The Old Testament is replete with examples of inanimate objects intended to be silent witnesses to a truth. God used objects to represent or symbolize something that pointed to Himself or some intrinsic truth.

One example was a large stone to remind the people of Israel about God’s Word. After the tribes of Israel occupied the land of Canaan, Joshua rehearsed the Law of Moses by reading it aloud before them. He then used a large rock as an object lesson in the event people ever forgot the Law or someday denied that it was God’s Word. The large rock was meant to be an unchangeable silent witness to the truth; it would endure as a never-changing reminder even if the people changed. (Joshua 24:27)

Four times the tabernacle in the wilderness, which was designed by God and constructed by Israel for worship, (Exodus 25:9) is called the “tabernacle of witness.” (Numbers 17:7, 8; 18:2; 2 Chronicles 24:6) Its presence as the dwelling place of Jehovah God (Exodus 29:45-46) and place of God-ordained worship was a silent witness to Israel and the surrounding nations that Jehovah had chosen to dwell in the midst of a peculiar people.

Another example of a silent witness in the Old Testament is the stone altar described in Joshua chapter 22. When the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh chose land on the eastern side of the Jordan River for their inheritance, they promised Joshua and the other tribes that they would leave their families and land to fight side-by-side with their brethren and claim the Promised Land on the western side. They swore to fight as long as it took to subdue the inhabitants of the land. (Joshua 1:12-18) When the war was over and Joshua granted the nation rest they were honorably released from their promise and sent back to their families. (Joshua 22:1-9) When they reached the western shore of the Jordan River they built a large stone altar as a monument before they crossed over the river. (Joshua 22:10) Shortly thereafter, the other tribes in Israel heard that Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had built an altar on the edge of the Jordan and, thinking they had broken their promise to worship only Jehovah and had defected to pagan worship, the other tribes amassed an army to go to war with the two and a half tribes. (Joshua 22:11-20) Before civil war ensued the two and a half tribes explained their reasoning for the stone altar and assured their brethren they had not forsaken the Law of Moses. They repeated their dedication to the God of Israel and their unity with the other tribes. With the purpose of the stone altar finally made clear, a catastrophic civil war was averted, and everyone parted in peace. (Joshua 22:21-34)

The intended purpose of the stone altar was to be a silent witness to their commitment to the other tribes, their promise to never forsake the Law of Moses, and their bond to Jehovah the God of Israel. But this was not obvious by simply seeing the stone altar itself. Their commendable purpose – “…it shall be a witness between us that the LORD is God” – could not be discerned by seeing the altar of stones alone. An explanation was needed.

Inanimate objects, whether a single large stone, written tablets of stone, a tent, or a pile of stones, can be misunderstood or not understood at all. A lesson for us as we consider what it means to be a silent witness is that a silent witness, whether a person or an inanimate object, can only make a partial or incomplete statement. A silent witness may be intended to point to God but it might be misinterpreted as something entirely different. Our best intentions and purest motives may need further elaboration before they can point the observer to truth about God.

Rather than discourage us from being silent witnesses, this should motivate us more to pray for an opportunity to explain why we do what we do (1 Peter 3:15) and how those who see our silent witness can come to know the One who is “…the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

To be continued…

Sowing by Grace - Winter 2011

Winter 2011 Issue Available Now
The latest issue of Sowing by Grace is available now by clicking on the title above. Two articles on Asia highlight how God used dental teams in India and a Southeast Asian country during 2010. Also, our newest Associate Missionary - Katrina Caturan, RN - shares her testimony and burden for medical missions. We've received great comments on the format and content of our quarterly newsletter and would like to hear from you. Send an e-mail to office @gdmmissions.org and tell us what you think!

Being a Silent Witness

#1 – A “Witness” Points to Truth

This series of short articles on “Being a Silent Witness” begins with some definitions of what the word “witness” means and develops a working usage for understanding how things (inanimate objects) and individuals mentioned in the Old and New Testaments were silent witnesses to the God of Truth and truth about God.

The reader is encouraged to do their own study of the word “witness” using a concordance to discover how words in the original Hebrew and Greek text were used of things and individuals in the Bible. Forms of the Greek word (as nouns and verbs) are particularly interesting as they are translated using other words in English than just the word “witness.”

The word “witness” in the Old Testament is very straightforward in its legal and covenant sense. A good witness is one who tells the truth and a false witness is one who tells a lie. The negative commandment to not bear false witness could not be more clear. (Exodus 20:16) One or more individuals gave their witness to a legal or covenant document to validate its truthfulness. (Ruth 4:9-11) Even an object was given great significance as a solemn testimony to the truth of God’s Word. (Joshua 24:27)

We will look at some New Testament usages of the word “witness” in another study, but even a cursory examination is enough to develop the following general definitions: [1]

“A witness is one who has a personal knowledge of something (or someone) and can therefore accurately communicate his knowledge to another.“

“A witness is one who confirms a fact which may be in doubt.”

“A witness is one thing which reminds or points to another thing or truth.”

“A witness draws attention to something [or someone] else.”

Beyond the word’s usage in a legal or covenant context, a witness was also one who saw or heard truth from God and by his testimony held others accountable when they too had seen or heard God’s truth. The prophet Isaiah, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reminded Israel that they had seen, heard, and experienced truth about God and would be held accountable as witnesses of this truth. (Isaiah 43:11,15; 44:6,8) God’s Word itself is called a “testimony” 23 times in Psalm 119; this is the same Hebrew word translated “witness” elsewhere.

Therefore, in a biblical sense,

“A witness is…one who has a personal knowledge of God, one who strengthens and confirms God’s testimony of Himself, who draws attention to the Lord...” [1]

In a very practical sense,

“A witness is a person who lives in such a way that those about him are forced to think about God.” [Pastor Carlton Helgerson quoted] [1]

What then, is a “silent witness”? How is it possible for a witness to truth to be “silent”? How is it that a person (or thing) can point to the God of Truth and truth about God without speaking or making a sound?

To be continued…

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[1] Bible Study notes, (undated), The Church – God’s Testimony to Men and Angels, Middletown Bible Church; http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/churchsdt/church02.pdf



For more information about GDMMissions and our short-term field team trips contact our home office at http://www.gdmmissions.org/contact.html or call 1-978-454-6710 or visit our web site http://www.gdmmissions.org

A Model for Medical and Dental Missions

An article titled A Model for Medical and Dental Missions was published on the SharperIron blog last month. This article was written by Michael Vetter, GDMMissions’ Latin American Field Representative and captures the essence of what makes medical and dental missions a powerful tool for field evangelism.

Click on the title above to read the article or go to the SharperIron blog:
http://www.sharperiron.org/article/model-for-medical-and-dental-missions

BTW - If you haven’t visited the SharperIron blog site we recommend it as one of the best biblically fundamental blogs for its edifying articles and informed discussion.

Sowing by Grace

Summer Issue Available On-line Soon

In a few days the Summer 2010 issue of GDMMissions' Sowing by Grace newsletter will be available by clicking on the Sowing by Grace link on our website.

This issue contains articles about our involvement in church planting and how dental and medical evangelism is used by missionaries and national leaders to start churches.

Look for the link to the Summer (July) 2010 issue and download the file in PDF format.