Witnesses, Were you there?
None of us were there to witness any biblical events. We weren’t there when Jesus walked on water, raised Lazarus his dear friend from death to life, healed the blind and fed the 5000 so who said these things happened and why should we believe them?
I raise this question because when we are told of things that happened even 100 years before we were born we wonder just how accurate each account is and when we discover that these things were true don’t you find it uplifting?
We are told in the bible of things that happened hundreds or even thousands of years ago and we compare it with life as we know it today, sometimes things take a bit of believing. When we discover that some of the strange things of the past were actually true and more especially things pertaining to Jesus it is food for the soul.
I recently watched a programme about the rainforests of South America, specifically the areas around the mighty amazon. (Now where is he going?... Bear with me) Today that rainforest is covered, as we know, by millions of trees and we all thought it had been like that for millennia but in 1552 Friar Gaspar de Carvajal, a European explorer revealed in his diary in the 16th century, that there were vast gleaming cities on the riverbanks some of which stretched as far as 275 miles and took two days and two nights to pass through.
He soon discovered that these areas stretched inland too. No one believed him. Would you have believed him? Within our own lifetime, no archaeologist or scientist believed this account, not until the 1980’s! I guess their mantra was, we don’t believe it so it can’t be true.
These vast sophisticated civilisations seem to have existed right across the rainforests from west to east. You have seen images of the rainforests of S America in your school books and on TV, could you believe someone if they told you there had been vast civilisations living down there BEFORE THERE WERE RAINFORESTS! Just take that in again… “before there were rainforests”!
It wasn’t until the 1980’s that Lidar (light detection and ranging) came into its own which magically strips away the tree canopy revealing incredible geoglyphs covering 1000s of square miles. Friar Gaspar de Carvajal had indeed been an accurate witness.
Today, when I tell folk, younger folk, how cold our winters used to be up until the 1980’s, they find it hard to comprehend and if I tell them that in the 1962’63 winter the Humber estuary actually froze over creating ice floes normally only seen only in polar regions, I see grave doubts that my story is accurate. I could have said to them “were you there when the Humber froze”?
I think the following scripture 1 John 1 is the perfect lead-in for what I want to say today.
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete".
On reading that, we immediately grasp the hand of our ancestral brothers and sisters. But how many witnesses were there for so many more of these biblical events? The ordinary man/woman in the street probably could not write and if they could they needed something to write on and after they had taken notes (if they did) what happened to those scribblings? I have field notebooks galore within which there are accounts of such things as that big freeze but when I ‘fall off my perch’ what will happen to those notes, they will go into the dustbin. If any of my notes did survive and someone else witnessed the same events and recorded them then the notes are of some worth.
It was only the scholars in Jesus’ day whose writings have survived in the scriptures and that bear witness to past events, events we are eager to understand after 2000 years.
In biblical times many people witnessed all kinds of events but could they all write and if they could, did they have anything to write on? Were their notes eventually binned or perhaps some of them are still to be discovered? Finally, who would make notes about someone (Jesus) they only knew of ‘in the moment’ and not what He was to become?
Let’s consider some of these events and witnesses. JESUS’ BIRTH Witnesses: Mary (of course) Joseph and some shepherds. So, no one else we can specifically pin a name on.
Luke 2: Simeon 22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”[b]), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”[c] 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Anna 36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. These are only single witnesses of course but the next ‘witness’ is profound: Herod Antipas! He was a Roman ruler in the time of Jesus, he is a fixed part of history and there are even coins struck in his name. He certainly existed! Matt 2: 16 When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Herod is a ‘witness’ of a different kind. He believed what the Magi had told him to the extent that he sent his troops out to make sure this child would not survive.
Who witnessed Jesus’s walk on water? All of the disciples, they were all in the boat! Matt 14:22. John 6:19. Mark 6:48
When Jesus Raised Lazarus, Martha and Mary were witnesses including the villagers.
Were you there when God created the heavens and the earth? No, of course not but for those with eyes to see we can still witness the results of His handiwork. Look up and see the ballet of the night sky, the same sky that Jesus saw continues its regular pattern of events, phases of the moon, the yearly cycle around the sun. Look down and see the flowers of the field, look under the sea, the same fish that were there from creation’s day are still there, unchanged. Pick a rose, stoop down and pick the Lily of the valley, created by God and we still can witness this creation unchanged since creation’s day.
His creation, love and promises are unchanging. Moses is said to have written the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Paul wrote quite a chunk of the New Testament and then believers such as Josephus, Tacitus et al enriched our understanding with their own thoughts. We are all witnesses, from Adam, through Peter, Luke etc to ….You!
What are you going to do with the information that has been passed on to you? I would like to end this talk by reading the words of a well-known hymn WERE YOU THERE?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
2. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
3. Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
4. Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
5. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
6. Were you there when he rose up from the dead?
Were you there when he rose up from the dead?
Sometimes I feel like shouting 'Glory, glory, glory!'
Were you there when he rose up from the dead?
