https://odb.org/MY/2023/05/22/tell-the-story-2
To prove something, we need corroborative evidence, meaning to say, something additional to support our assertion of a fact. So if you assert that A had punched you, you could support that by showing the effects of the punch like a blue black or swollen mark on your body. Still, it’s actually not good enough as the injury could be self-inflicted or that it could have been caused by someone else. But because you had asserted that A had punched you, the court may believe you. The defence will then try to cast aspersions on your testimony. For example, if you had recklessly accused other people before or had a habit of making false accusations or you have a reputation of lying. This will likely result in the judge discounting your testimony, giving less weight to your evidence. That is why, in court cases, the best evidence, if available, is the account of an eyewitness – another person who actually saw what happened. The testimony of an eyewitness is very strong corroborative evidence. In modern times, laws of perjury are to ensure that the eyewitness tells the truth. Even during during ancient times, there were already laws against perjury. For example, the 9th Commandment of Moses’s law was not to bear false withness against your neighbour.
Thus, John, in writing the Gospel of John, asserts that he testifies to these things and wrote them down and that they (the people then) know that his testimony is true. John witnessed the last supper, Christ’s agony at Gethsemane, His crucifixion, and His resurrection. On top of that, he also witnessed the transfiguration with Moses, Elijah and Jesus, representing the Old Covenant, the Prophets, and the New Covenant. And at the last book of the Bible, John wrote down what was revealed to him in a vision of the last days from the second coming of Christ, the judgment of both believers and non-believers (the judgment seat of Christ vs the Great White Throne judgment) as well as Eden recreated in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21).
As believers, we must have our own “eyewitness” account of God’s goodness in our lives, especially His calling for us and His plans and purposes for our lives. If we are unsure, the clue is that they are all usually aligned with His Kingdom purposes and His work – God’s sovereign will. Abraham was called to uproot his family and move to a foreign land so that God may create His people out of His descendants, and the LORD made the First Covenant with him where his people will be God’s people and He their God. The first 12 disciples were called to be Apostles of Christ, and 11 of them went on to proclaim Christ crucified and resurrected. From being the fiery persecutor of the people of the Way, Paul became the torchbearer to bring the message of the Gospel out of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Can we like John and the countless others in the pages of the bible and beyond and throughout the ages, testify as eyewitnesses to the goodness of Christ in our lives? How our lives have been transformed, how He has blessed us and our families, and how the Holy Spirit has convicted and guided us to serve Him in His Kingdom with our talents, time, and finance? How the more we give of ourselves to Jesus, the more we are blessed with His everlasting peace and comfort as the living waters flowing from Him overflow from deep within us? We are forever grateful for His gift of eternal life and for His continued presence in our lives. We are always thankful for the Holy Spirit convicting and guiding us along the path of righteousness.
Ronnie's Thoughts 