"Can I Get A Witness?!"

Jesus always knew his time on earth would be winding down as he reached adulthood, but as he began to reveal this to his chosen twelve Apostles they increasingly reacted with with greater degrees of shock, disbelief, alarm and fear. On his final day with them, he seems to have felt an extreme urgency to make them finally understand. These twelve very ordinary Jewish men had little if any idea what their future held in store, so Jesus assures them that a new voice of authority would be sent to encourage them.

"All this I have spoken to you while still with you. But, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
"The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me."   John 14:25-26, 31 NIV

The phrase "in my name" means "one who will speak and act for me/in my stead". The Holy Spirit would actually continue to speak and act as if Jesus were still with them and give them the knowledge and the courage to continue to carry out the mission of the Father.

"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify for you have been with me from the beginning."   John 15:26-27
"And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."   Acts 1:8
"This is the gospel you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven."Col 1:23

A "witness" is one who can provide "eyewitness" testimony to substantiate a claim or proposition, in this case, first hand evidence of what they have personally seen and heard. The Holy Spirit "came on" these twelve working class men to empower them to speak and ultimately to write the truth that Jesus personified. He told them to stay in Jerusalem until they received that power from the Father, then they were to take that "good news" message to all people everywhere! WOW! They must have been excited but overwhelmed by the enormity and the responsibility of that task.

But, they did what Jesus said and he did what he promised and the Holy Spirit fulfilled his part and it all worked out despite Satan's attempts to kill all of them. Although we can't be sure if Paul's statement some 20 or 30 years later at Colossians 1:23 is absolutely true or generally true, those twelve, ordinary, working class Jewish men did their work remarkably. The proof is all over the world today and growing stronger with each generation of disciples of Jesus. The Spirit of God is still doing his thing.

I cannot be a "witness" in the same way as the Apostles because I did not actually "witness" his miracles or his death or his resurrection or his ascension. But, the ministry I have been commissioned to carry out is the same mission Jesus gave those brave men. Through the Holy Spirit's revelation they can still testify through me if I will only be their arms, legs, hands, heart and mouth! Now that is just so cool!  HALLELUJAH!