![[The Good Seed]](../images/thegoodseed.gif)
You Shall Be Witnesses Unto Me
By Lloyd Ellefson
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses..." (Acts 1:8) Notice that we have to receive the Holy Spirit before we can be witnesses of Christ Jesus! The Holy Spirit brings us the witness that we are sons of God. Only those who have the Spirit and nature of Christ within them can represent Christ.
Christ knew that He was a sent one, and we also have to know that we are sent ones. Jesus Christ proclaimed a kingdom which cannot be seen; to represent Him, we must proclaim the same message. To speak on behalf of Christ means to speak in His name. In Jesus Christ, God has committed to us the manifestation and the words of this testimony. This is what we will see in our study today.
After Christ's resurrection, He commissioned the disciples, saying, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47) The commission given to the disciples is also given to Christ's body, the church, the called-out ones - to those who have received revelation of God in their spirit.
Intellectual knowledge is received in the mind; revelation knowledge of God must be received in the spirit in order to change us. Christ's conversation with Peter, and Peter's denial of Christ, is a good example of this. In response to Christ's question of who they thought He was, Peter said, "`You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus said to him, `Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.'" (Matt. 16:16-17) Yet shortly after he received this revelation, he denied the Lord three times! He cursed and swore and said, "I don't know the man." How could he say this if he had really heard God? Peter had received truth, but only in the flesh. He could parrot what God told him, but knowing this intellectually did not change him - nor does it change us!
In Luke 24:48-49 Jesus said, "You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." Luke's account in Acts gives a very vivid picture of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit - the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham! The Father had promised Abraham that a seed would come, and the fulfillment of that promise is Christ!
This promise refers only to Christ, because seed is in the singular, and all the promises of God have their Yes and Amen in Jesus Christ! He is the heir of all things! "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, `And to seeds,' as referring to many, but rather to one, `And to your seed,' that is, Christ...And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.'" (Gal. 3:16,29)
"In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Gal. 3:14) Only one seed can bear the fruit of God, and that seed is Christ, the Son of God. The words CHRIST and ANOINTED are translated from the same Greek word CHRISTOS. Christ is the equivalent of the Hebrew word MESSIAH. This Messiah is the Son of God, and He was given a physical body.
Jesus said that it was expedient for Him to go away. He needed to go away, for if He didn't, He would always be limited by His physical body! His coming back in the Spirit took away that limitation! Now He can be in each one of us, transforming us and giving us a new nature, so that we can become His witnesses. Christ is the anointing; He is the Messiah! Being anointed by the Spirit means that the Messiah has come to us. He comes to us and appears in us by means of this anointing. This constitutes the coming of the Messiah in us!
Christ is born in us through the seed of the Word of God. Paul said, "My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you." (Gal. 4:19) Christ is born in everyone of us through the seed of the word that comes to us. Unless the law and the promises have prepared our soil for the seed to take root, we will always rely upon our own righteousness.
In the parable of the seed in Matthew 13, not all the seed that was sown produced fruit. Birds of the air snatched some of it away; the rocky ground did not provide enough soil for maturation; weeds, thorns and thistles choked the plants where the soil was not properly prepared. Various factors influence the growth and multiplication of the seed, but good soil, properly prepared, is one of the requisites for an abundant harvest. The fruit needs to mature if it is to reproduce the seed. Only the seed in the good soil reproduces the seed that was planted. It reproduces the Christ, the seed.
These various conditions symbolize the things that keep the word from growing and maturing in one's life. They can either abort the birth of Christ in us, or prevent the reproduction of the seed. For example, the seed will not bear fruit when the preparation for receiving the Christ is lacking. Cares of this world can crowd it out! It also needs to be energized by the Holy Spirit. Anything that is not of God will keep the fruit from maturing, so all self-effort is useless!
"For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God." (1 Peter 1:23) The imperishable or incorruptible seed is the word of God, the Christ. There is only one seed, and that is Christ. (Gal. 3:16)
All the promises are given to the seed! "... until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made." (v.19b) The promises are not given to the natural man. We ought to meditate on this, because it is truth.
Christ "is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him." (Col. 1:15-16) Do you realize that all things were created for Christ - for God's own purpose expressed in His Son?! Jesus Christ is the inheritor of all the things of God! We have misinterpreted the reason for God's creation; we thought they were made for you and me, didn't we? It says all things have been created by Him and for Him.
Our thinking needs to be redeemed! In redemption we are freed from our old nature and our wrong perception of God; we are brought into a true understanding of Him and His true purpose for us in Christ! The natural man has a wrong understanding of God's character and His plan for us. The natural man and his world are not to be redeemed; only our understanding of the things that are in Christ are to be redeemed, because He is our redemption. We are being redeemed out of our human nature, out of our wrong idea of who we are, and given true revelation knowledge of who Christ is and who we are in Him! We have been born again, made a new creature in Christ Jesus, and are now part of the body of Christ.
The Messiah or Christ is a many-membered spiritual body! It does not consist of physical human beings. The body of Christ, the Messiah, lives in the unseen kingdom of God. The expression of this life can only be seen when it is portrayed by God's people through their physical bodies. Later we'll discuss this in greater depth.
"For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (Phil. 1:29) This is a very critical verse for us. We must bear in mind that everything was made for Him and by Him. Only by losing our natural identity can we become a part of Christ! Therefore we have to repent of who we thought we were, and be resurrected into the Christ! Since we have become one with Him, we are partakers of His inheritance and His purpose. Our redemption brings us into the things of God!
Everything we have and are in Christ has been granted to us. We do not merit God's grace and forgiveness; it is given on behalf of Christ! If we think that we merited salvation because we made a good decision to live for God, we will never understand the gospel of the kingdom of Christ. Being partakers of His inheritance includes His sufferings.
The kingdom of God cannot be seen; it is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is invisible, the kingdom is invisible, and so are the spiritual realities that are ours in the Holy Spirit!
The kingdom of God was first made known to us through the plan of redemption that was revealed through the law, and later through the promises given to the prophets. However, in Jesus Christ the kingdom of God was manifested through one individual! Now it is manifested in the many-membered body of Christ! This body is invisible just as the kingdom of God is! The things that are seen are temporal. The physical body of Jesus could be seen, for it was temporal, but through it He brought an immortal, invisible message. This applies to us as well.
Jesus Christ brought us the good news of the kingdom of God. Luke refers to this in Acts 1:1-3. "The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing (infallible) proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God."
Before Christ's ascension to the Father, He gathered His disciples together, and "commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, `Which,' He said, `you heard of from Me.'" (v.4) The Father had promised to send the Holy Spirit, which is the Christ, the Son of God. Christ is the Son of the living God! (Matt. 16:16) He is not the son or image of a god who is conceived in the mind of man. Such images are dead idols and therefore have no power.
In the many years that I have been involved in the gospel, I have not met many Christians who have learned to hear the Spirit. Very few have an understanding of who Christ is, what the gospel of Christ is, and the spiritual aspects of the kingdom of God.
"For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." (Acts 1:5) The fulfillment of the promise of the Father was the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit places us into a spiritual realm where we can hear the voice of the Son of God!
"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world (actually ages)." (Heb. 1:1-2) Hearing the Spirit does not mean hearing a preacher, reading a book, etc. "If you hear the voice of the Son of God you will live." This is the message of life the gospel brings us!
Jesus came preaching the gospel! He did not teach salvation as an escape from hell. He taught about the kingdom of God! This means that God begins His rule in us. Previously we were ruled by the desires of the flesh and our dependence upon this creation. Living by faith changes our whole concept of who we are, where we came from, where we dwell, and where we are going.
"So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, `Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them, `It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.'" (Acts 1:6-8)
The disciples were interested in the restoration of the natural kingdom of Israel, but Christ's focus was entirely different! His purpose was to establish the kingdom of God in the hearts of people! To do this, He would return in the Spirit, and empower His followers to be His witnesses. The return of Jesus Christ is His coming to us in the Spirit! He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God! If you have received the Son (the Spirit), He will energize you to receive spiritual realization. You will receive a new concept of self, creation, etc. We are to be witnesses of who He is!
Many still do not understand that Jesus is not coming back to change this world, and that His kingdom is not of this world! Those who expect a personal, physical appearance of Jesus to set things right by establishing His kingdom through moral laws on earth, will be disappointed.
The sovereignty of God is revealed in 2 Cor. 5:19, for it says "that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to US the WORD OF RECONCILIATION." What a wonderful message He has given His body to proclaim! God is not counting our trespasses against us!
Demonstrations of power in nature, like storms and floods, and the quaking mountain, thunder, lightning, fire and smoke, that accompanied the giving of the law, only cause people to tremble and be afraid. However, they do not express God's sovereignty like the word of reconciliation! God declares that there is no enmity between Him and us! He has made us one in Christ! This is the message we are to proclaim! As we receive understanding through hearing the Holy Spirit, we become true witnesses of Christ!
True witnesses of Christ testify of who Christ is. They do not testify of their own accomplishments. They do not draw attention to themselves by saying, "I am saved, I am a Christian, I am baptized with the Holy Spirit, I am sanctified, I am going to heaven." That is bearing witness of oneself - not of Christ! Two witnesses are required to make something legal.
Jesus referred to this when He said, "If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true (not legal evidence). There is another who testifies of Me; and I know that the testimony that He gives about Me is true." (Jn. 5:31-32) Jesus was not alone in anything He said or did, because He only did what the Father sent Him to do - He did nothing on His own initiative! God has not purposed for us to testify about things that are initiated by the flesh - for that is only one witness, so it does not constitute legal evidence. Neither does it bring people to God. The Father testifies to us of who we are - and the fruit we bear witnesses to others of who we are.
Being born of the Spirit makes us new creatures in Christ. Receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit empowers us to be witnesses of who Christ is! When Christ is in us, and our life is hidden with Christ in God, Christ becomes our life and our focal point.
The power of the Holy Spirit is bringing us into submission, and submission causes us to do the works of God! Many of us would rather have the power to do miracles, wouldn't we? We'd rather have choice than submission! However, to have the same submission Christ had, requires greater power! Performing miracles brings us glory, honor and attention from people, but submission to God does away with all personal honor!
Jesus said, "It is the Father in Me who does the works." It is very important that the Father in us does the works! Then we cannot claim any credit, nor will we bear witness of ourselves. Neither will we fall into the trap of desiring power from God to do all kinds of miracles. Jesus Christ's greatest virtue was His submission to the Father's will! He was tempted as we are - but because of His submission to the Spirit within Him, He overcame!
Continuing in Acts we read, "And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, `Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.'" (1:9-11)
Many think this means He is coming back in a physical form. But what does it mean when it says He will come back in just the same way? As the disciples looked, they saw him go from the visible to the invisible - He disappeared into a cloud of witnesses. We too first see Jesus in a visible form. But when He comes again in the Holy Spirit to make His abode in us, we no longer see Him in a visible form, but as the invisible Christ! So He comes to us in the same way, moving from the visible to the invisible!
Jesus was born in fulfillment of God's promise through the prophets, and they testified to His coming. The Word of God was made flesh (a natural, visible body), but nobody understood His message in the Spirit. When Jesus said, "It is finished," He was finished with the flesh, He was finished with His identification with human nature, He was finished with having a physical body, and He was finished with His preparation and institution of redemption.
Redemption and resurrection are not synonymous terms. When we hear the Spirit, we are raised or resurrected out of our carnal mind and our natural ideas of things. This brings life to our mortal body - our body is redeemed, and becomes a vessel through which we can be witnesses of the Christ.
In verse 8 Jesus said, "...and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." This witness occurs through Christ's spiritual body - the reproduction of Himself as the Son of God multiplied in His sons. He is the true witness in this earth. Before we can become His witnesses, Christ has to be birthed in us through the word of God (the incorruptible seed) by the power of the Holy Spirit.
To better understand how Christ is being birthed in us, let's look at the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus. First of all Mary received a promise. "The angel said to her, `Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." (Luke 1:30-33) God promised Mary a son who would reign over God's endless kingdom!
Mary could not understand how this could happen. "Mary said to the angel, `How can this be, since I am a virgin?' The angel answered and said to her, `The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.'" (vv.34-35) The promise would be fulfilled through the Holy Spirit! The Spirit of the Word came upon Mary and produced the Son in her. The fulfillment of that promise depended entirely upon the Holy Spirit! He had to accomplish that which He had promised! And He did!
That is exactly how you and I are birthed of the incorruptible seed - which is the Word of God. When the Holy Spirit comes, His energy produces fruit or a testimony in us. Everyone who has been born of God has received the word of promise; in fulfillment of that promise, the Holy Spirit brings forth the Son in us.
Paul said, "My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you." (Gal. 4:19) Christ is the Son of God; He is also the Word of God! (Matt.16:16; Jn.1;1,14) The birthing of the Son of God in us takes place when we are born of incorruptible seed, the Word of God. That is the Christ, the representation of God. "...and the Word was God...the Word became flesh." So Christ in us is God's Son, God's Spirit, and God's Word. What a high calling we have in Christ!
Jesus Christ demonstrated His submission to the Father! He testified to spiritual things while He was in His physical body - and His body had the same needs ours has. So we too can hear the Spirit while we are in our physical body. We are not bound to the letter of the scriptures, for the Spirit now indwells us and we can hear His teaching.
Our bodies are vehicles which can be used for either good or evil, depending on who our Lord is. When we receive a message from the Spirit of truth, and testify to this, the message comes through our physical body. When our body is used to proclaim spiritual truth, it is being redeemed. Redemption begins when we receive spiritual understanding! Without it, it is impossible to be true witnesses of Christ. We need the Holy Spirit to work God's nature in us. Only then can we become true witnesses and glorify God while we are in this body of flesh.
Jesus promised that He would come again, and then the Spirit who was with them, would be in them. He said, "My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." (John 14:23) This is the way Jesus Christ comes back. He is born in us by the Word of God; He appears in us on the earth again. His second coming (if you want to call it that) consists of Christ being formed in us by the Holy Spirit. We know this is taking place when we hear the Spirit say, "You are a son of God." This enables us to be His witnesses and to reveal His nature here on earth.
"No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up (exalted)." (John 3:13-14) Jesus came down from heaven as the Son of Man. Since we have been born of the Spirit by the immortal, incorruptible word of God, we have also come from heaven. Jesus Christ comes to us and makes His abode in us. He has become our life! Since we have been birthed by the Spirit, we have actually come down from heaven. We are now the body of Christ (the Son of Man) in the earth, redeemed to bear witness of the Father while we are still in this physical body - just as Christ did when He was on earth.
Our crucifixion can only occur when we have the same witness Christ had. Jesus was crucified by man, and we are crucified by man! This is our crucifixion because of our witness. When we are persecuted, rejected, and even killed because our testimony is like the testimony of Jesus, we are identifying with Christ's crucifixion. He called God His Father, and the Jews called that blasphemy! Their so-called righteous indignation bred a hate in them which could only be satisfied by inflicting on Jesus the most horrible and painful death known to man! At the crucifixion of Jesus, only His physical body died.
Our crucifixion together with Him has nothing to do with our physical body, for it was not crucified together with Jesus on the cross. Our crucifixion together with Him was a crucifixion of our old man - our sin-consciousness, our sin man, our old identity! Since we have been crucified with Christ, He did not die as our substitute.
When we are living in the consciousness that Christ is our life, the crucifixion of our old man has taken place. Since we are confessing and testifying to His life in us, we are misunderstood by the people of the world and by the religious systems because they don't understand spiritual concepts. People try to destroy our testimony by destroying us. We are then being crucified because of our testimony - just like Jesus was.
"Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." (John 12:31-32) The Concordant Literal translation reads, "And I, if I should be exalted out of the earth, shall be drawing all to Myself." When Christ is exalted out of the earth, He will draw all to Himself.
Most people today are being drawn to the idea of escaping hell and going to heaven. The prosperity message caters to the idea of having all kinds of good things happen to us while we are on this earth. They are looking for everything to come in the physical realm - living in good health, having lots of money, living comfortably on earth, eventually going to heaven, Jesus coming again to set up a wonderful kingdom on earth, and the destruction of all the evil people. This testimony does not bring us crucifixion!
"For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal" (actually, eonian) "destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." (2 Thess. 1:6-9)
Being barred from the presence of the Lord and His glorious power is death! The flaming fire mentioned in connection with the revelation of Jesus Christ with His mighty messengers, is spiritual fire. John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Fire is needed for the refining process.
Those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, do not live in the presence of the Lord. This is the penalty they receive. Anyone who is not in the presence of God, is in destruction and death! This death does not refer to physical death. Separation from God is death! Jesus experienced this when He cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Then came the restoration of His presence!
"...when He comes to be glorified in His saints..." (v.10) Christ is being glorified in His saints - in those who have given up their self-life! His life has become their life; His nature has become their nature! His testimony has become their testimony! In this way Christ is glorified in His saints while they are living on earth!
Our testimony does not focus on ourselves and our accomplishments, nor on anything pertaining to self. In our identification with Christ we do not claim to be the great I AM. Our testimony does not point to physical things, but to Christ - for whom all things have been made. Everything has been given Him by God. He is to be glorified in His saints while they are here in this world - not only at some future time in heaven.
"...and to be marveled at among all who have believed - for our testimony to you was believed." (v.10) We do not want to be found unworthy of His calling. As His body on earth, we understand that we have died together with Him, we have been raised together with Him, and Christ is now our life! Since our life is hidden with Christ in God, the world can't see it. Neither can they see the kingdom of God, for it is a spiritual kingdom! But the believers know what Christ has done, and they will marvel at that great work of God - Christ appearing in His saints! This brings glory to God! I understand this to be our redemption.
Judgment has been given to the saints. Paul said, "Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?...Do you not know that we will judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:2,3) Our standard of judgment is life and death - not good and evil, for good and evil come from the same tree! The messages the angels bring need to be judged. Are they life-giving or do they produce death?
Truth is the standard of judgment that has been given to the saints. The Spirit of truth enables us to testify to spiritual truth. Jesus said that the Father judges no man; all judgment is given to the Son. "And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man." (Jn. 5:27) He experienced what it means to be the Son of Man. Jesus is the truth! That qualifies Him to be the judge! He has seen both sides - He has seen it from God's side because He is the Son of God, and from man's side because He is the Son of Man! So all shall agree that His judgment is true.
"And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead...I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom...but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim.4:1; 1 Peter 4:5) Jesus Christ, to whom all judgment has been given, is the judge of the living and the dead. So we too have to judge between life and death.
The saints have been given truth, and truth first judges us. The fire of the Holy Spirit burns away the dross of all the unspiritual, mental images that have been dwelling in us, so that we can properly testify of Christ and God. All testimony rooted in self has to be burned away. The great salvation God achieved for us in Christ Jesus redeems everything into a right understanding of God, and a right relationship with God! In this relationship we see that all honor belongs to God!
The natural man cannot give honor to God because he doesn't understand spiritual things. Before we were resurrected, we were dead in the consciousness of our flesh, in our understanding of God, and in our sense of guilt and unrighteousness. Resurrection takes place when we are awakened and made alive from all that deadness! We are raised into life because the Lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world! In Christ, He has given us a consciousness of guiltlessness, so our hearts no longer condemn us!
We can now testify of things that are unseen. Paul said that we do not look at the seen, but at the unseen, for the things we see are made of things that are in the invisible realm. The source and reality of all existence, being and form, is in the unseen realm! And the reality does not appear in the natural. This puts our life in touch with the unseen - with Him who made all the visible! Our faith is in the Christ of God who lives in light that natural man cannot approach, cannot see, nor ever will see! (1 Tim. 6:16)
Christ comes to each individual on the basis of repentance. The law and the prophets show us that our righteousness does not meet God's standard. Unless we recognize that, we will always be repenting of sins instead of growing in Christ. So the law and the prophets are our preparation for repentance. Repentance is the fruit of the law, and John the Baptist reaped the fruit of it. The law and the prophets are the prerequisites for Christ to be the firm foundation for our building, so it will not be destroyed when the floods come.
We become true witnesses when Christ comes in us! Jesus said, "YOU will be My witnesses." We are to be His witnesses even to the ends of the earth. If Christ has not come to you, then He is still coming. If He has come to you, you can say He is coming in the sense that He is coming in greater realization. But if you are looking for His coming, you are confessing that He hasn't come to you yet; He has not been born in you, and you have not been born of incorruptible seed. You are confessing that you haven't received Christ, the Son of God. If you have not received Him, you have not been given the authority to be a son of God. If Christ is not in you, you are a reprobate and have failed the test. "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you fail the test?" (2 Cor. 13:5)
We, who are His, can praise God that Christ has come and is here NOW! We can live in His presence! Those who have an understanding of the unseen, are being a witness and a living testimony of the living Christ in them, to the people living in this world.
God bless you! Amen.