MEMORIZE
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies
shall perish.
Proverbs 19:9
READ
Mark 14:57-60
57 And there
arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,
58 We heard
him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three
days I will build another made without hands
59 But neither
so did their witness agree together.
60 And the
high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou
nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?
In Exodus 20:16, God commanded that we should not bear false witness
against our neighbour. The consequence of being a false witness is found in
Proverbs 19:9. Wicked people cannot survive without false witnesses. They rely
on false witnesses to perpetrate their evil deeds. For example, Ahab could not
have gotten rid of Naboth but for the use of false witnesses (1 Kings 21:13).
It was the false witness of Rehum the chancellor, Shimshai the scribe and their
cohorts against the Jews that halted the rebuilding project of Zerubbabel (Ezra
4). These people wrote false allegations against the Jews and their leadership
and sent the document to King Artaxerxes. The result as stated in Ezra 4:24 was
devastating:
“Then ceased the work of the
house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the
reign of Darius king of Persia.”
The effects of false witnesses are unimaginable. As a matter of fact, a
false witness is a murderer in disguise. His or her motive cannot be mistaken:
it is to destroy. I pray for you that false witnesses shall not destroy your
destiny in Jesus’ Name.
When the Jewish leaders could find nothing to nail Jesus Christ, they
opted for blackmail and false witnesses. Jesus had earlier told those who were
following him in John 14:30b that:
“…for the prince of this
world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”
So the only way they could get at Jesus was through false witnesses.
Despite the conspiracy, the Bible in Mark 14:56 says:
“For many bare false witness
against him, but their witness agreed not together.”
There is a great lesson that you as a follower of Christ must learn
from this story. You must live above-board like your Master if you don’t want
to become an easy prey for the accuser of the brethren – Satan. In the same
vein, you must learn to be transparently honest. This will prevent you from
being a false witness. When you engage in false witnessing and lying, you are
crucifying Jesus Christ again and the danger is that you will fall into a state
where it becomes difficult to be restored (Hebrews 6:4-6). Another danger of
being a false witness is that it exposes one to becoming a reprobate. This is a
state where the conscience no longer checkmates a person against wrongdoing (2
Timothy 3:8, Romans 1:28-32). In what areas of your life are you a false
witness? Fake affidavit? False claims that you are married with so many children
whereas you have a family of just three? I pray for you that a lying tongue
will not blot your name from the book of life in Jesus’ Name.
Father, deliver me from a lying tongue and help me to be a true witness
of the Cross of Jesus.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Jeremiah 33:14-35:19;
Psalm 55:1-15
AUTHOR : Pst E . A ADEBOYE
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