A few months back, I got a visit from a Jehovah's Witness. Now I was in a bit of a rush, awaiting the arrival of some friends, but I didn't want to just say, "Sorry, I'm not interested", so we spoke briefly. I asked him to keep the discussion to one subject only (the deity of Christ), as I knew that J.W.'s like to take people through a confusing maze that frustrates most Christians, bouncing form subject to subject.He agreed and, while I found his arguments to be of course faulty, to my surprise I genuinely liked him as a person, and told him so- it was the doctrines that he preached that I abhorred. After that, I began to wonder, 'How many Christians know-from scripture- the fact that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is in truth Almighty God?
I even heard a clip form a TBN broadcast in which an 'evangelist' had the ignorance to day, "Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus actually say that He's God!" Years back, I learned a few things from Dr. Walter Martin, the ORIGINAL 'Bible Answer Man' on the subject, and I want to share them with this audience, lest there be any confusion about Jesus Christ's deity.
We need to understand- again, from scripture, that Jesus is in fact Jehovah (YHWH). Isaiah 7:14 and 8:8, prophesying about Messiah, refer to Him as "Immanuel", translated 'God with Us' in Isaiah 8:10. Let's go to Isaiah 44:6, "Thus saith the LORD (-All caps in Old Testament translation of LORD is literally YHWH, the Name so Holy that they would not even translate it literally) the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of Hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God". Now we'll move to the New Testament, to John 8:57-59, "Then said the Jews unto him, thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him..." The Jews knew full well that the title, 'I AM' was a designation of deity, and of deity only, having the same meaning as 'The First and the Last, 'Alpha and Omega', and 'Beginning and the End'- all titles for 'ALMIGHTY GOD', so they intended to stone Him to death for 'blasphemy'......
Let's look now at some excerpts from Revelation 1. " I...heard behind me a great voice...saying, "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last"...And I turned to see the voice that spake with me....And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, "Fear not; I am the First and the Last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore..." (Now,due to time constraints, these are only excerpts, so please read the entire first chapter of Revelation).
You can plainly see whom the resurrected Jesus Christ is claiming to be. Dr. Walter Martin once told of how a former Jehovah's Witness came to him and admitted that there was one scripture that frustrated him to no end while he'd been a J.W., and it finally helped to bring him into the truth of Christ's deity. Dr. Martin was curious and asked, "What scripture was it?" The man replied, "Hebrews 1:6.-...when He bringeth the firstbegotten into the world, He saith, 'And let all the angels of God worship HIM'."
The man went on to say that Matthew 4:10b states clearly, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him ONLY shalt thou serve..', and it suddenly all made sense to him- Jesus Christ HAD to be God in flesh, for His Holy Word is clear that only God is to be worshipped! The man became a Christian, and a staunch defender of the faith, as most of those who come out of cults are....
It is so important that we as believers know what and why we believe- to realize just Whom Jesus is, and why He is deserving and worthy of our praise, and all of our devotion! It's all in God's Word- Immanuel, God with us- Praise His Wonderful Name!
En Agape,
Jim Ewing
