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Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Jesus is Jehovah (A Reply to Daniel's Comment)

I appreciate the comments people leave on this blog. Thank you, Daniel, for your patients as you waited for this reply. When you leave a comment, it comes to my email and, if it represents an authentic question, I will respond. Many times the author is “anonymous” and the comment is meant to attack. I read those and add them to the long list of unpublished comments.

At other times I get a comment from a real person who have enough courage to leave their name and have enough interest to post an authentic issue. Such is the case of Daniel from Nevada. Just for your information, I am using Daniel’s name because he gave it and it may or may not reflect his true identity.

Here is Daniel’s comment to my Open Letter to Jehovah's Witnesses, “Rev. 3:12 “‘The one that conquers—I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will by no means go out [from it] anymore, and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God, and that new name of mine.” Please tell me how someone who has a God can be The Almighty God?

I am sure if we could talk face to face, we would agree there is only one God. You might think it strange, but I do not believe in many Gods and yet I believe Jesus is Jehovah. I know this can be as difficult to understand, but please allow the Scriptures to testify the truth to you.

How can this be? How can both Jesus and God be one God? Jesus let us in on this understanding in Matthew 22:41-45. “Now while the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them: 42 “What do YOU think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him: “David’s.” 43 He said to them: “How, then, is it that David by inspiration calls him ‘Lord,’ saying, 44 ‘Jehovah said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet”’? 45 If, therefore, David calls him ‘Lord,’ how is he his son?” 46 And nobody was able to say a word in reply to him, nor did anyone dare from that day on to question him any further.”

Notice the words Lord and Jehovah. In the Greek New Testament Jesus used the exact same Greek word, kurios. It is interesting that Jesus would use this one word when quoting the Old Testament passage found in Psalm 110:1. In the Hebrew, this passage uses two different words, YHWH (Jehovah) and Adon.

Jesus quoted the Old Testament passage accurately because there is no record of the Pharisees correcting the quote. To say both “Lord” subjects are not the same is to say David worshipped someone other than God. Since Jesus used only one word, it makes the first LORD and the second Lord the same person.

Here is another issue to consider, look at the names for this baby in Isaiah 9:6: “For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

Again you are left with the question, “Who is Jesus?” If Jesus is a man or an angel, how could He be both the Mighty God and the Eternal Father? Those terms are only used for Jehovah. If those terms are used independently for Jesus and Jehovah then we have two Gods. We both don’t believe that one. Since there is only one God, there is just one way to make them both true. Jesus is Jehovah.

We know Jehovah God is Omniscient because of Psalm 139:4, “For there is not a word on my tongue,But, look! O Jehovah, you already know it all.” Notice how this compares to John 2:24-25: “But Jesus himself was not entrusting himself to them because of his knowing them all and because he was in no need to have anyone bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” Since only Jehovah is Omniscient and Jesus is Omniscient then Jesus is Jehovah. No man or angel could claim such knowledge.

We also know Jehovah God is Omnipresent because of Psalm 139:7-10: “Where can I go from your spirit,And where can I run away from your face? If I should ascend to heaven, there you would be; And if I should spread out my couch in She´ol, look! you [would be there]. Were I to take the wings of the dawn, That I might reside in the most remote sea, There, also, your own hand would lead me And your right hand would lay hold of me.” Compare this with the claims of Jesus in Matthew 18:20: “For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst.” No man or angel could ever make this claim, only Jehovah.

Also notice how Jesus demonstrated this power in John 1:47-49: “Jesus saw Na·than´a·el coming toward him and said about him: “See, an Israelite for a certainty, in whom there is no deceit.” Na·than´a·el said to him: “How does it come that you know me?” Jesus in answer said to him: “Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Na·than´a·el answered him: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel.” Neither men nor angels can be everywhere at the same time. The only way for this to be true is for Jesus to be Jehovah.

Jesus was either really was Jehovah as the name Immanuel claims (Matthew 1:23) or Jesus and Thomas were both in error in John 20:28-29 where it says, “In answer Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him: “Because you have seen me have you believed? Happy are those who do not see and yet believe.”” If Jesus is not Jehovah, Thomas was wrong to worship Him and Jesus would have been wrong for accepting his worship.

Notice what happened when John tried to worship an angel in Revelation22:8-9, “Well, I John was the one hearing and seeing these things. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that had been showing me these things. But he tells me: “Be careful! Do not do that! All I am is a fellow slave of you and of your brothers who are prophets and of those who are observing the words of this scroll. Worship God.”” Only Jehovah is to be worshipped and yet Thomas called Jesus his God and Jesus accepted this title. The only way for Jesus to be right is for Jesus to be Jehovah.

Now to your question: You asked, “Please tell me how someone who has a God can be The Almighty God?” Since we know there is only one God, we must also understand the passages above do not stand in opposition to there only being one God. God is a being unlike man and unlike angels. It is impossible to completely describe God with human wisdom or human language.

It would be like trying to describe color to a blind man, or the perfect pitch of the middle C to a deaf man. Even a greater challenge would be to explain how to build a rocket ship to a monkey. Imagine God explaining how He makes an acorn grow into a huge oak tree. Paul was correct in Romans 11:33-34, “O the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments [are] and past tracing out his ways [are]! For “who has come to know Jehovah’s mind, or who has become his counselor?””

With that understanding in mind, we know there are some things about God we don’t understand. How can we truly understand Omniscience or Omnipresence. I don’t even understand how an Omniscient God fits with this passage in Genesis 2:19, “Now Jehovah God was forming from the ground every wild beast of the field and every flying creature of the heavens, and he began bringing them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man would call it, each living soul, that was its name.” Notice Jehovah God brought the animals to man, “to see what he would call each one.” This seems to say Jehovah was not Omniscient but that would be a wrong understanding of this passage.

Just as Jehovah God is the Father God so too is The Son of God, Jehovah God. That is how Jesus could make this claim in John 10:29-30, “What my Father has given me is something greater than all other things, and no one can snatch them out of the hand of the Father. I and the Father are one.”” Notice the response of his hearers in verse 33, “The Jews answered him: “We are stoning you, not for a fine work, but for blasphemy, even because you, although being a man, make yourself a god.”” This is one place the NWT is confusing. The Jews would have been stoning Jesus for claiming to be Jehovah. That is what blasphemy means. To claim you are “a god” is bad enough but not blasphemy like claiming to be The God.

This claim in John 10 lines up with Jesus’ claim in John 5:17-18, “But he answered them: “My Father has kept working until now, and I keep working.” On this account, indeed, the Jews began seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.” So every time Jesus claimed to be the Son of God He was claiming to be equal with God. Either Jesus just made several mistakes or Jesus knew what He was doing. Since He knew what He was doing, Jesus was claiming to be Jehovah because Jesus is Jehovah.

Jesus can have a “Theos” just as the Father Jehovah can have a Son, Jesus. How can someone who has a God be The Almighty God? The same way the Father and the Son are one. The same way Jesus can be Omnipresent. The same way Jesus can be Omniscient. The same way saying God is your Father is making you equal with God. Can we fully comprehend God? Never, but we can know Jesus is Jehovah.