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When the apostles were liberated from prison they were commanded by the
angel:
'Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this
life' (Acts 5:20).
And we may be sure that they still spoke as 'witnesses of His
resurrection'. When brought before the Council, Peter and the others
answered and said:
'The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a
tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a
Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy
Ghost, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him' (Acts 5:30 -32).
When Paul stood before Agrippa and revealed the important fact that he
had received a twofold commission from the Lord, the first part running
concurrently with the ministry of the twelve, and the second associated with
a ministry from prison, he united them together by one covering title, the
title of 'witness':
'I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister
and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those
things in the which I will appear unto thee' (Acts 26:16).
Ministry may vary in its scope, it may emphasize differing aspects of
truth and purpose, and differing spheres of blessing; but whether it be
Kingdom or Church, Bride or Body, it is unchangeably true that 'Ye shall be
witnesses unto Me'. The greatest of all witnesses is God Himself, and even
His witness is 'concerning His Son':
'If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for
this is the witness of God which He hath testified (witnessed) of His
Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself:
he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth
not the record (witness) that God gave of His Son. And this is the
record (witness), that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life
is in His Son' (1 John 5:9 -12).
Power from on high, in order to witness to a risen Christ, sums up the
essence of true ministry. The reader who cares to go back over these
studies, taking each symbol in turn and seeking from the Word its connection
with witnessing, will discover that all the various phases of service that
have been covered are but various facets of this quintessence of all
ministry.
It was the great desire of the apostle that he might 'finish his course
with joy' and 'testify the gospel of the grace of God' (Acts 20:24). The
word 'testify' here is diamarturomai, 'to witness thoroughly'. This resolve
was not merely the product of highly wrought feelings, for, in summing up his
previous ministry, Paul was able, by the grace of God, to use this same word
(Acts 20:21). And when last we read of him in the Acts, the same
thoroughness is manifest:
'To whom he expounded and (thoroughly) testified the kingdom of God'
(Acts 28:23).