Charles Spurgeon on The Superiority of Christ’s Testimony

Christ witnesses directly for himself, and that is one thing in which he is superior to all the rest of the prophets – and the other holy men who testified to the truth. What did Isaiah say? And what did Elijah say? Or Jeremiah? Or Daniel? They only said second-hand things. They spake what God had revealed to them. But when Christ spake, he always spake directly from himself. All the rest only spake that which they had received from God. They had to tarry till the winged cherub brought the live coal; they had to gird on the ephod and the curious girdle with its Urim and Thummim; they must stand listening till the voice saith – “Son of man, I have a message for thee.” They were but instruments blown by the breath of God, and giving sounds only at his pleasure; but Christ was a fountain of living water, he opened his mouth and the truth gushed forth, and it all came directly from himself. In this, as a faithful witness, he was superior to every other. He could say – What I have seen, and heard, that do I testify; I have been inside the vail; I have entered into the sanctum sanctorum; I have dived into the depths, I have soared into the heights; there is not a place where I have not been, there is not a truth which I cannot call mine own. I am no voice of another. I am He. In this respect he surpassed every other.

Christ was superior to every other, from the fact, that his testimony was uniform. It was always the same testimony. We cannot say that of any others. Look at Noah, he was a very good testifier to the truth, except once, when he was intoxicated; he was a sorry testifier to the truth then. David was a testifier to the truth, but he sinned against God, and put Uriah to death. What shall we say of Elijah, that man in shaggy garments? He was a testifier to the truth, but he was not so when he stood in the cave – and, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? Abraham was another witness, but he was not so when he said his wife was his sister, and denied her. The same might be said of Isaac; and if you go through the whole list of holy men, you will find some fault in them; and we shall be obliged to say, they were very good testifiers, certainly, but their testimony is not uniform. There is a plague-spot which sin has left upon them all; there was something to show that man is nothing but an earthen vessel after all. But Christ’s testimony was uniform. There never was a time when he contradicted himself; there never was an instance, in which it could be said, what you have said, you now contradict. See him everywhere, whether on the cold mountain-top at midnight, in prayer, or in the midst of the city; observe him when he walked through the cornfields on the Sabbath day, or when, on the ocean, he bid the waves Be still, wherever he was, his testimony was uniform. This cannot be said of any other. The best men have their faults. They say the sun has spots, and so I suppose the most glorious of men, whoever they are, who will shine most brightly in the firmament forever and ever, will have their spots while on earth. Christ’s testimony was like his own coat, woven from the top throughout; there was not any seam in it at all; other men’s coats have seems in them, but his testimony was uniform.

Yet further, Christ’s testimony was perfect in testifying to all truth. Other men only gave testimony to parts of truth, but Christ manifested it all. Other men had the threads of truth, but Christ took the threads and spun them into a tapestry, made them into a glorious robe, put it on, and came forth clothed with every truth of God. There was more of God revealed by Christ than in the works of creation, or in all the prophets. Christ was a testifier to all God’s attributes, and he left none of them unmentioned. Do you ask me whether Christ bore testimony to the justice of God; I tell you, yes. See him hanging there, languishing on Calvary, his bones all dislocated. Did he bear testimony to God’s mercy? Yes. See those poor creatures who were limping there just now – the lame man leaping like a hart, the poor man beholding the sun and rejoicing. Did he witness to the power of God? I say, yes. You see him standing in the prow of the ship, and saying to the winds – Be still! And holding them in the hollow of his hand. Has he not borne testimony to every thing in God? His testimony was perfect; nothing was left out; every thing was there. We could not say that of any other man.

This is from a sermon of Charles Spurgeon entitled Confirming The Witness of Christ

Preachers of old are a part of our History and when looking at History it is helpful to look at what they preached and how the preachers of old preached.  reading Charles Spurgeon on The Superiority of Christ’s Testimony shows the boldness, the heart and the knowledge of a great preacher of old.

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