Daily Devotional For July 14, 2025
And when their testimony is finished, the beast who comes up from the Abyss will make war with them and kill them. Rev 11:7.
The concept of “testimony” has two basic meanings in the Book of Revelation. It has the connotation of sharing one’s faith, of telling others what Jesus has done for you and for the human race as a whole. But it also has the basic meaning of martyrdom, of witnessing for Christ even in the face of threat and death.
In a crisis, people become martyrs because living without Jesus is more to be feared than dying with Him. The martyrs so cherished what Jesus had done in their lives that they could not conceive of living out of relationship with Him. When forced to make the choice, therefore, they chose death rather than deny him. And “the blood of martyrs became seed.” No witness to Christ is greater than that of one who calmly goes to death instead of denying Him.
As I write these words, I have just completed a series of meetings for the public in Singapore. Local believers have been broadcasting recordings of my Revelation lectures on the radio there. When they advertised the meetings hundreds listeners came and wanted to hear more from the one who had given them.
It was fascinating to meet people from such a wide variety of backgrounds. Christians from every denomination in Singapore were there, hungry for a deeper understanding of Revelation and Jesus. There were secular people, tired of an endless round of working, eating and shopping, looking for meaning in their lives. There were Hindus and Buddhists, whose openness to a deeper walk with God and whose eagerness to learn more about Jesus was fascinating to me. In the process, I was introduced to elements of Indian and Chinese wisdom that were very impressive. We must not assume that people who have never heard of Jesus are necessarily ignorant people.
It appears that there was no martyrdom for me at the close of these meetings. Those who attended rejoiced in a deeper understanding of Jesus and of the puzzling symbols in Revelation. I experienced all the joy of sharing my faith without the pain of the martyrs. My own life has been energized by contact with a large group of people who drank in every word and applied it to their lives eagerly.
Although genuine testimony in behalf of Jesus can cost us our reputations, our jobs and even our lives, it always leaves the world a better place. To know Jesus is to know peace, it is to fill the emptiness that afflicts life without Him. It is a message worth dying for.
Lord, I want to know the Truth that is worth dying for. Give me a peace and a joy today that I cannot resist sharing with those I meet.