The Doctrine of Two Witnesses

# 381 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 28:8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Please conduct a seance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you." 9 Then the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?" 10 And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." Saul, desperate for supernatural direction, decides to turn to a medium for advice. As we have seen, the practice of necromancy (calling up the spirits of the dead) is strictly forbidden by God, and availing oneself of their services is also forbidden. Le 19:31 says, “'Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.” It's interesting that Saul brings two men with him for his encounter with the witch of En-dor. Why would he bother to do that? One of the recurring themes found in Scripture is that a matter is established by at least two witnesses. It starts with the witnesses of the Trinity itself, (although God certainly doesn't need witnesses, He is not a man that He should lie, Num 23:19) and we see it on the fourth day of creation when God created the two great lights, “And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night,” (Gen 1:16) These two lights serve to remind us that nothing is hidden from God. Everything is witnessed by Him. And the use of two witnesses also shows up in the Book of Revelation (See Revelation 11) So from Genesis to Revelation we find mention of this doctrine of two witnesses often! These witnesses are God's method of establishing the truth of a matter among lying sinful men. These witnesses were necessary for Saul, because the witch of En-Dor would not tell him a thing without some sort of a guarantee. So Saul swore to her in the Name of the Lord and in earshot of these two men, that he would not rat on her and turn her in to face the death penalty. These two witnesses were for her protection and necessary for Saul to get the information he wanted from the medium. The doctrine of two witnesses is important for us in the church today, because it helps ensure justice in a matter. 2Co 13:1says, "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established." Thank You Lord for providing this system of checks and balances for us today, as lying sinners....we need it!