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Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?
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I once heard someone say about religion that, “you can be right about
everything, but if you’re wrong about Jesus, you’re wrong”! Certainly, the
bible backs this up. Jesus Himself asked the question, “Who are men saying the
Son of man is”? Well, Muslims say that Jesus was a great prophet; Buddhists say
that Jesus was an exceptional man who attained perfection; Mormons believe
Jesus is our elder spirit brother and the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus
was really the Archangel Michael. All these different teachings are enough to
drive someone crazy. So, will the real Jesus please stand up?
Although there are many different Jesus' (2 Co. 11:4), the focus
of this article will be to research the identity of Jesus as taught by the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Since the Watchtower doesn't believe that
Jesus was a prophet, a new age guru, God in flesh or a self-appointed
philanthropist, He has to be somebody. Therefore, the Watchtower came to the
conclusion that Jesus, the Son of God, is the Archangel Michael. Hence, The
Watchtower, February 15, 1979, p. 31 says that Jehovah's Witnesses believe the
Son of God to be, "Jesus Christ, whom we understand from the scriptures to
be Michael the Archangel". Also, according to The Watchtower, Dec. 15,
1984, p. 29, "Michael the great prince is none other than Jesus Christ
himself". Since the identity of Jesus is such a critical teaching, can we
be sure that the Watchtower is correct? Let's review and see.
First, has the Watchtower always taught that Jesus Christ is the
Archangel Michael? Actually, the first president of the Watchtower, Charles
Taze Russell, can answer that for us. He wrote in
The Watchtower, November 1879, p. 4,
“Hence it is said, ‘Let all the angels of God worship him’: (that must include
Michael, the chief angel, hence Michael is not the Son of God)....”. So history
proves that the early Jehovah’s Witnesses did not believe that Jesus and Michael
were the same person.
A modern Jehovah’s Witness will be quick to point out Proverbs
4:18 which says that the light is getting “lighter and lighter”. This verse is
used often (and out of context) by Jehovah’s Witnesses when defending the
Society’s many doctrinal changes. But, when one thinks about it, the switch
from Jesus not being Michael, to Jesus being Michael is not a situation where
light has increased. It is a circumstance where light has remained the same,
but changed radically. Pastor Russell explained this concept accurately in
Zion’s Watch Tower, February, 1881,
where he said, “A new view of truth can never contradict a former truth. ‘New
light’ never extinguishes older ‘light’, but adds to it....So is it with the
light of truth; the true increase is by adding to, not by substituting one for
another”.
Secondly, this Watchtower teaching causes a major problem. If
Jesus is the Archangel Michael, like Jehovah’s Witnesses believe, is the entire
angelic realm guilty of idolatry? Or worse yet, is the Father guilty of making
the angels worship another angel? After all, the New World Translation of
the Holy Scriptures, revised in 1970, renders
Hebrews 1:6 as, “But when he again brings his First-born into
the inhabited earth, he says: ‘And let all God’s angels worship him’”
(italics mine). This Greek word for worship, proskuneo, is the same word that
is used in reference to worshipping Jehovah God. See Mt. 4:10, 1 Co. 14:25,
Rev. 4:10.
Also eye opening is the comment in The Watchtower,
10-15-45, p.313, which says, “....whosoever should worship Him
must also worship and bow down to Jehovah’s Chief One in that capital
organization, namely, Christ Jesus....”. This supports the earlier
Zion’s Watch Tower, July 15, 1898, p. 216, where the
question was asked, “Was he really worshipped, or is the translation faulty?
Answer. Yes, we believe our Lord Jesus while on earth was really worshipped,
and properly so”. So then, was Jehovah pleased with older Witnesses who were
taught to worship Jesus? Were they to blame of a serious sin? It wasn’t until
75 years after the Watchtower’s inception that the doctrine of rendering
worship to Jesus was reversed. See The Watchtower, January 1, 1954,
p.31.
Thirdly, if Jesus (or Michael) is the first and greatest
creation of Jehovah according to Watchtower teaching, why does Daniel 10:13
call Michael, “one of the foremost princes”? This verse put Jesus on a
level equal to other angels. And how can an angel will himself out of
existence, become a man and then become an angel again when Hebrews 13:8 says,
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever”? Wouldn’t this be a
violation of the text? So we see that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society’s strange teaching about Jesus being Michael is not built on a solid foundation. We certainly have free will to believe what we want about the identity of Jesus Christ. However, our eternity rests on the decision we make (John 8:24). The best way to find out who Jesus really is is to read the bible and see what He said about Himself, and what others said about Him. It’s amazing what great truths we can uncover in the bible when we read it on our own, without clouding our thinking with extra biblical literature. I encourage you to do just that. As for the real identity of Jesus, why don’t you let the Holy Spirit tell you? Jesus did say, “When the helper arrives that I will send you from the Father, the spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, that one will bear witness about me”. John 15:26. Tower To Truth |
