Friday, March 17, 2006

Jesus Is Jehovah


Here's something apologetic to taste and eat. Most of you know about the Jehovah's Witnesses, the religious group that does a lot of door-to-door work, passing out their Watchtower Magazine. The JWs teach that Jesus is not God. What they don't often slip in until later is that He is actually the angel Michael. They "witness" for Jehovah, teaching that Jehovah is God. What Jehovah's Witnesses should know is that Jesus is Jehovah. You ask, "How can you say that?" Let me just show you how. You're going to need to read a few verses here, so get yourself ready. Let's read John 12:37-41: "37--But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38--That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 39--Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40--He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41--These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him." Can you see in v. 37 that they believed not on "him?" "Him" is Jesus. The next verse, v. 38, is a quotation from Isaiah, and then another quotation from Isaiah begins in v. 40. See what v. 41 says. Isaiah said these things when he saw "his" glory, and spake of "him." V. 41 says that Isaiah saw Jesus. Jesus is "His" and "Him."

Now we will look at the Isaiah 6 passage. The quote of Isaiah 6 in v. 40 is Isaiah 6:10. Three times in Isaiah 6, the One on the throne is called the Hebrew word for Jehovah---vv. 3, 5, 12. So this is one of those locations from which we know explicitly that Jesus is Jehovah. For the JWs to deny that Jesus is Jehovah is simply to deny this passage, and this is just one of dozens of places in the NT where the OT is quoted and we see from the context that the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah. How would you use the passage with a JW? Ask them if you can read them a passage from the Bible. Read John 12:37-41. Ask them if they believe "His" and "Him" in v. 40 is Jesus. If you show them the context of John 12, they will say yes. Then tell them that the Him that Isaiah saw was in Isaiah 6. Go to Isaiah 6 and read that chapter, pausing at the times when the Person on the throne is called Jehovah. It's fairly devastating.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is interesting to note that the Seventh Day Adventists actually teach that Jesus is Michael the Archangel too. In Ellen G. White's book The Great Controversy, there is an index at the back - if you look up Michael, you will find the mention of him on a certain page with Jesus in brackets next to his name (or it might be the other way around - it has been quite awhile since I looked that up - but either way she is stating Michael is Jesus and Jesus is Michael). Though most SDA's would deny that today.