Christ is the testimony of God, and the Holy Spirit is the testimony of Christ. When the Holy Spirit brought Christ into the believers and constituted them as the church, the church became the testimony of Jesus. This is referred to in John 15:26-27; Acts 1:8; and Revelation 1:9; 2:13; 12:17; and 19:10. Before His death and after His resurrection, the Lord Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and that they would be His witnesses. Since the Holy Spirit has wrought Christ into us, we should live out and express the Lord. This is to testify of the Lord.
First Corinthians 12:12 and Ephesians 4:12-13 show us that the church is the Body of Christ, the embodiment of Christ. Therefore, the church is the testimony of Christ. Nothing expresses a person and testifies of the person more than his body. Our body is our most expressive aspect of our being to other people. Similarly, the church, the Body of Christ, expresses and testifies of Christ the most. Without the church, the Body of Christ, no one can know Christ. Christ is a mystery; He is abstract. But with the church, He is no longer abstract; He is very real. Instead of being a mystery, He has an expression. The church is the testimony of Christ. This is very clear in the books of 1 Corinthians and Ephesians. If the condition of the church is right, when a person touches the church, he touches Christ.
The church testifies concerning Christ. Simply speaking, there are two important aspects of Christ. First, there is the aspect in relation to God. As the embodiment of God, Christ is absolutely related to God. Second, there is the aspect in relation to Satan. As the One who destroyed Satan, Christ is absolutely not related to Satan. Not long after he was created, the first Adam was corrupted by Satan; he was alienated from God on the one hand and united with Satan on the other hand. Due to the union of Satan with the first Adam, Satan brought in sin, death, the world, idols, and the authority of Satan, which is Satan’s kingdom. These five items along with Satan himself constitute a total of six items. When the first Adam was cut off from God and united with Satan, he also was united with the items that belong to Satan. In the first Adam there was Satan, sin, death, the world, idols, and the authority of Satan, which is Satan’s kingdom.
When Satan entered in Genesis 3, sin also entered. In chapter 4, death entered, and the world also entered. In chapter 5, death entered in a full way, and in chapter 6, the world was completely corrupted. Then in chapter 11, idols came in at Babel, as did the authority of Satan, Satan’s kingdom. At that time, mankind was filled with Satan and the things of Satan; God and the things of God had no place within fallen human beings. Fallen man was separated from God and completely united with Satan.
When the Lord came to the earth, His situation was exactly the opposite. On the one hand, He was completely united with God. God was in Him, and He also brought God into man, causing God to be united with man. On the other hand, He was completely separated from Satan, and Satan had nothing in Him. Satan had no ground in Him at all. Concerning sin, He knew no sin and even was without sin. He was One who set Himself far apart from sin. Concerning death, He overcame death and could not be held by death. He did not have even the precursor of death, that is, weakness. He had no weakness of the body, nor weakness of the mind, nor weakness of the spirit. This is because in Him there was no death or even the shadow of death. He was One who transcended death. He is the resurrection and the life. Wherever He is, there is resurrection; wherever He is, there is life. Death had no ground in Him at all. He also did not have the world. The world could not defile Him, much less usurp Him. The world had no ground in Him; He was completely transcendent over the world. He was in the world but not of the world; He was in the world but not defiled by the world. Moreover, He did not have idols. Satan even placed the kingdoms of the world and their glory before Him, trying to entice Him to worship him, but He refused. Idols had no ground in Him at all. He also was not defiled by Satan’s authority and had no part in Satan’s kingdom. He was completely separated from the things of Satan. None of these things could be found in Him. Then through death and resurrection He brought man into God. He entered into glory, and He manifested God, completely expressing God. He was such a One.