Invite your attention to the
book of Isaiah chapter 43. The book of Isaiah chapter 43. My text will be found in three
different verses, but we will be looking at them in their context thrice in these two chapters. Jehovah says to his people, you
are my witnesses. Since Jehovah speaks of people
as his witnesses, the subject is Jehovah's witnesses. And I want to be one of them.
And I hope you are. Now there are certain things
regarding a witness that you need to know. A witness is one who speaks of
what he knows, particularly in a court of law. When you go to
the court of law and you stand there before the judge, you're
asked to give testimony. The judge wants to know, what
do you know about the case? Specifically, what did you see? What did you hear? What did you
do? Now, if you should say, now,
your honor, what I think is, no, we're not interested in what
you think. The opinion in a court belongs
to the judge and or the jury. The opinion does not depend upon
the witness. Therefore, Jehovah is telling
us You do not go around expressing your opinion on this and your
opinion on that. There are certain things I have
revealed to you and you are my witnesses to testify of me. What are they? Well, in the prophecy
of Isaiah chapter 43, and I want you to notice that thrice we
find this expression. In verse number 10, Jehovah says,
You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, or Jehovah, and my servant
whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand
that I am he. Before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me. Even I am the Lord, Jehovah. Anytime you see that word Lord
in all uppercase letters in our English translations, it translates
the name Jehovah. I, even I am Jehovah and beside
me there is no God. I have declared and have saved
I have showed when there was no strange God among you, therefore
you are my witnesses, second time he said it, Seth Jehovah, that I am God. Yea, before the
day was, I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of
my hand. I will work, and who shall let
it? Go now to chapter 44, the 44th
chapter. Verse number 6, thus saith Jehovah the King of
Israel and his Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts, I am the first and
I am the last and beside me there is no God. and who as I shall call and shall
declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the
ancient people, and the things that are coming, and shall come,
let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. There it is the third time. You
are my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yeah,
there is no God. I know not any. Well, that ought
to settle it. I know not any. Now, let's look
at this subject because Jehovah here speaks to those whom he
calls my servant, whom I chose. Jesus Christ used the same kind
of language when he said to his disciples, you did not choose
me. I chose you and ordained you
that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit
should remain. And this is the same thing that
Jehovah is telling his people in Old Testament times. You did
not choose me. I chose you. And I have ordained
you to go forth and be my witnesses. You are to testify of me in this
world. I need to let you know from the
very outset that here in the prophecy of Isaiah, Jehovah is
the speaker. It is God. Jehovah, no one else
but Jehovah. However, this is Jehovah in the
person of Jesus Christ who does the speaking. That point is very
important. It is Jehovah in the person of
Jesus Christ. One of the proofs of this fact
is this. When Jehovah says, I am your
Redeemer, he used a Hebrew word, and we're gonna look at it later,
He used a Hebrew word that indicates that the speaker
is not God the Father. This is the Redeemer, and the
Redeemer is God the Son, Jesus Christ. This is Jesus Christ
speaking here in the prophecy by Isaiah, and he's speaking
of himself and of his witnesses. And you know what? I want to
be one of them. Jehovah's witnesses are Jesus's
witnesses, and I want to be one. I want my testimony in this world
to be true and factual regarding whom and what Jehovah is. So we're gonna look today at
the subject, the subject of the testimony of Jehovah's witnesses. You have the synopsis of the
tract in front of you, you can follow along with me. Jehovah's
Witnesses know Jesus Christ is number one, God. Second, eternal. Third, the first and the last.
Fourth, the only Savior. Fifth, their divine King. Sixth,
the only Redeemer. Seventh, Jehovah of hosts. Eighth,
the divine rock and we know We are secure in the hand of Jehovah
Jesus, and 10th, Jehovah's witnesses are Jesus's witnesses. We testify
of Jehovah when we testify of Jesus. When we speak of what
we know and what we have heard regarding Jesus Christ, we are
Jehovah's witnesses. Let's look at the first point.
Jehovah's Witnesses know Jesus Christ is God. Look and you have
the synopsis you can follow along because I'm going to be pointing
out some of these texts. Isaiah 43, 10. You are my witnesses,
says Jehovah. Before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me. Verse 12. And there was no foreign God
among you. Therefore, you are my witnesses,
says Jehovah, that I am God. Chapter 44, verse 6. Besides
me, there is no God. Chapter 44, verse 8. You are
my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? I
know not one. Now, here is what we declare
regarding Jehovah. Jehovah knows no God other than
himself. No God was formed before Jehovah. No God shall be formed after
Jehovah. No God, no foreign God is found
among Jehovah's people and Jehovah is the only God. Now, this is Jehovah who has
said all these things about himself. I think he's trying to stress
the point. And the point has many set points under it. And
we know that Jesus Christ is God. Preacher, how can you know
that Jesus Christ is God? In the first chapter of the epistle
to the Hebrews, there is a quotation from the Psalms where God the
Father says to the Son, your throne, Oh God is forever and
ever. Now this is God speaking to God. And there's only one God. Preacher,
can you explain that? I'm not sure that I can, but
I believe it. This is God the Father speaking
to the Son. The scripture expressly says
so, and the Father says, your throne, oh God, is forever and
ever. and the son might look to the
father and say, yes, God, and you have spoken the truth. And
yet there's only one God. Two persons in the Godhead, actually
three, we're looking at two of them here, but this is God speaking
when he calls Jesus Christ God. We know Jesus Christ by his name,
Emmanuel. We were told you shall call his
name Emmanuel. Words mean things. You know what
that word Emmanuel means? It means, quite literally, with
us is God. You see that last syllable in
Emmanuel? El, translated God, with us is
God. He says, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst, he's
here. Who's here? Jesus Christ. Therefore,
God is with us in the person of Jesus Christ, the Holy. Prophets and the apostles of
Jesus Christ have spoken also of him as God. We acknowledge
him as the mighty God, the eternal father, my Lord and my God, the
eternally blessed God, the great God and savior Jesus Christ and
the true God in eternal life. And we testify, we testify, do
we not? that in the person of Jesus Christ
God was manifested in the flesh. That's our testimony. We witness
of this. God was manifested in the flesh
in the person of Jesus Christ and in him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Jehovah's Witnesses know Jesus
Christ is eternal. He says, indeed before the day
was, I am he. Now, when we consider the incarnation
of Jesus Christ, and there is a season of the year when the
world quite often does so, and the prophecy of Micah chapter
five, verse two often comes up. Bethlehem, Judah, though you
be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall
come forth a Savior. Not many people consider the
next part of that verse. It says, his goings forth have
been from of old, from eternity. That's a glorious thought, my
friend. He's gonna be coming to be born to you, but his goings
forth, oh, they were from all eternity. From all eternity,
his goings forth have been found there in heaven's land. He is
eternal. We testify to you that Jesus
Christ is not a created being. He is the eternal creator. Third, Jehovah's Witnesses know
Jesus Christ is the first and the last. Isaiah 43 verse 10. Before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me. That's another way of saying
I am the first and I am the last. Now that's an interesting phrase.
I am the first and I am the last means that there is none before
me and there shall be none after me. I am the first and the last. Another way of expressing it
is that Jehovah is the first cause of all things and the final
end of all things. He created all things and The
glory goes to Him. He's the first cause and the
final end. He says, I am the first and the
last. Well, when you go to the revelation
of Jesus Christ, the very last book in the Holy Scriptures,
you're going to find four times that Jesus Christ expresses the
same. He says, I am the Alpha and the
Omega. Those are the Greek characters
expressing the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. We would say he is the A and
the Z. The Greek would say he is the
Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, and the first
and the last. And then Jesus Christ says, the
Almighty. I am the Almighty. Let there
be no doubt about it, my friend, that Jesus Christ is the first
and the last. Number four, Jehovah's Witnesses
know Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Isaiah 43, verse 11. He says, I, even I, am Jehovah,
and besides me there is no Savior. We believe that, do we not? We
who are Jehovah's Witnesses believe that He is the only Savior. We also believe that He is named
Jesus. The disciples of Jesus Christ
were arrested for preaching. They were told, speak no more
in this name. What name? The name of Jesus.
Speak no more in that name. And they said, well, whether
it be good to you, if we should obey God or not, you go ahead
and decide, but we're gonna speak his name. And then they made
this declaration. nor is there salvation in any
other. For there is no other name given
among men under heaven by which we must be saved. What name you
talking about? The name of Jesus. Well now,
those who had him on trial might have said, we know that the only
name of the Savior is Jehovah. Yes, we believe that. but you're
saying his name is Jesus. Yes, we're saying that. You're
contradicting. No, we're not. No, we're not. The only savior is named Jehovah,
and he's named Jesus, and we are witnesses of that. Number five. The Jehovah's Witnesses
know Jesus Christ is their divine king. Isaiah 44, verse six. Thus says Jehovah, the king of
Israel. The king. The king. Jesus' disciples were sometimes
imprisoned. were told they must confess that
there's no king but Caesar, and they would confess Jesus Christ
is king of kings and Lord of lords, which was understood to
say what it meant, Jesus Christ is Caesar's king. So you can
imagine, you know, the trials and the persecutions that arose
from that. But we speak of Jesus Christ
as our King. We sing the song of the Lamb,
saying, great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty,
just and true are your ways, O King of the saints. That's
what they're singing in glory. That's what we're singing now.
Jesus Christ is King of the saints. We know Jesus Christ is the blessed
and only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And we acknowledge that at the
name of Jesus, Jehovah says, every knee should bow and every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He's the King. King of kings
and Lord of lords and God of gods. And we who are Jehovah's
Witnesses, we testify that, that is our testimony. Number six, Jehovah's Witnesses
know Jesus Christ is their only Redeemer. Isaiah 44 verse six,
thus says Jehovah, Israel's Redeemer. All right, now listen to me carefully
on this point. I mentioned it in the introduction. We have now come to it. Look
at that word, redeemer, redeemer. It is, it is a very interesting
word in the Hebrew tongue. It is the word, and it's a well-known
word. You probably have heard it. It
is the word Goel. You probably have seen it spelled
G-O-E-L. Goel. You know what it means? It is not
merely a redeemer. It is a kinsman redeemer. The redeemer must be related
to you. Oh, closely related to you. This cannot be God the Father. God the Father is not naturally
related to us. He has the divine nature and
not the human nature. And we have the human nature,
but not the divine nature. God the Father cannot be our
kinsman redeemer. but God the Son can be, and he
is, he is, for the purpose of saving his
people. He who is God, having a divine
nature, who did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
laid aside his heavenly glory, And there before his father took
off his heavenly glory, laid it down, and said, I'm going
on a mission down to redeem your people. He laid his glory down. He was conceived in the womb
of a virgin. And in that womb, he had our
nature. He still has the divine nature.
He is still that holy one who is within your womb, or so the
angel said. But he's got our nature. How
did it happen? I'm sorry, folks, that's above
my pay grade. But we do know that it's true
because we're told in the epistle to the Hebrews that for the sake
of redeeming his people, he became their brother. He became their
brethren. He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. He who is God has assumed our
human nature. And why did he do it? Because
we needed to be redeemed and the divine nature cannot do it. And neither can the human nature
do it because none of us can redeem one another. but our Redeemer
has the divine nature and the human nature in one person. And thus, therefore, he is our
Goa, our kinsman Redeemer. He's my brother. He's our brother. We testify of this. And he is
our only Redeemer, our Goa, the one who has redeemed us. He redeemed
us with his own precious blood. It was Jesus Christ. You were not redeemed with corruptible
things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. I will sing of my redeemer and
his wondrous love to me. What's his name? Jehovah. Jehovah said, I am your redeemer. But this is Jehovah speaking
necessarily and only in the person of Jesus Christ, my kinsman,
my brother, he who assumed my humanity in order to redeem me
from my sins. Number seven, Jehovah's witnesses
know Jesus Christ as Jehovah of hosts. Isaiah 44 verse six,
thus says Jehovah, Jehovah of hosts. Who are Jehovah's hosts? All the angels. All the angels. The prophet steps out of a city
one day in Old Testament times. His servant is with him. And it looks like doom is certain
to come. And the prophet looks out and
he sees all the enemy. He says, yeah, I see them. But they that are for us are
more than they who are against us. And the young man says, I
don't see them. I don't see anybody for us. And
the prophet said, Lord, open this man's eye so he can see.
And the Lord opened the eyes of the man and behold, angels
all over the place protecting. They do the same for us now. And who is their leader? Michael. Jesus Christ, the archangel,
watching over us, the host of Jehovah. He's got all kinds of
hosts. It's not just the angels. He's
got an army. And Jesus Christ is the commander
in chief. We are in that army, are we not?
He's got other hosts. When grasshoppers come and devour
a crop, where'd they come from? Where'd they come from? Jehovah's
got hosts you cannot imagine. And who's at the head of them?
There's Joshua. He's about to lead the children
of Israel across the Jordan and into the promised land. He's
got to do it. He's got to get all those Israelites
across that Jordan. And the land is full of an enemy,
mightier and greater than Israel. And he goes off to be by himself,
Joshua does, contemplating, what will I do? How am I going to
lead these people? And he lifts up his eyes and
looks, and there's someone standing in front of him. A man, a man
standing in front of him, Joshua undoubtedly instinctively puts
his hand on his sword and says, are you for us or against us?
And the man says, I am for you. I am. the commander of Jehovah's
hosts. It was to pre-incarnate Jesus
Christ. Appeared to Joshua there at the
Jordan River and says, fear not, I'm the commander of all Jehovah's
hosts and I'm going with you. And when Joshua led the children
of Israel into the promised land and into the battles that they
fought, you could not see it with the eye of the flesh in
front of Joshua, and it is Joshua's commander. It is Jesus Christ,
commander of hosts. We testify of this. Jesus Christ
is Jehovah of hosts. Number eight, Jehovah's witnesses
know Jesus Christ is the only rock, Isaiah 44, verse eight. You are my witnesses. Is there
a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other rock.
I know not one. Now, our King James Version has
the word God, but it is the Hebrew word, sir. It means rock. Jehovah is our rock. We love to sing of that, do we
not? Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Rock. It's a good thing to have a rock. It would be bad to be built on
sinking sand. We have a rock. On Christ a solid
rock I stand, all of the ground is sinking sand. He is our rock. He is the only rock. He is the rock upon which wise
men build their houses, Matthew 7, 24 and 25. He is the rock
upon which God's church is being built, Matthew 16, 18. He is
the rock that followed Israel in the wilderness and from which
they drank, 1 Corinthians 10, 4. And he is the rock of offense
to those who deny him. You will either stand on Christ
the rock or you will stumble over him. He is either your solid
foundation or your stumbling stone and rock of offense. Well,
I can tell you this, we who are Jehovah's witnesses, we who are
identified and called by Jehovah as his witnesses, we confess
Christ is our rock, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all of
the ground is sinking sand. Number nine, Jehovah's Witnesses
know they are secure in Jesus Christ's hand. Isaiah 43 verse
13, there is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I work and who
will believe it? Jehovah's Witnesses believe the
testimony of Jesus Christ when he declares, my sheep know my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them
out of my hand. My Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all, And no one is able to snatch them
out of my father's hand. Now, watch carefully. Some are
listening. Some are listening. And they
said, no one can snatch them out of my hand. Then he said,
and no one can snatch them out of my father's hand. And somebody
said, you mean your people are in two different hands? No, I and my father are one. If you are in the hand of Jesus
Christ, you are in the hand of Jehovah. And I tell you that
the devil and all his forces cannot pry one finger back. And no one inside the hand ever
wants out. I've heard some say that I can
get out of that hand if I want to. Well, then you're not in
that hand because nobody in that hand wants out. I would assure
you no one in the hand is coming out and no one in the hand can
be taken out because we're in the hand of Jehovah and in the
hand of Jesus Christ and I and my father are one. That's where
I am, folks. Jehovah's Witnesses believe this.
We are in the hand of Jehovah Jesus. Well, when he said that, some
took up stones to stone him. Folks, if Jesus Christ came to Great
Falls tomorrow morning, and started preaching, he would probably
be crucified before nightfall, declaring this truth, declaring
this truth. He was hated for it when he said,
I and my father are one. And if you're in my father's
hand, you're in my hand, and it is one hand. And then the
final point, number 10, Jehovah's witnesses are Jesus Christ's
witnesses. Jehovah tells his people thrice,
we read it in the text, you are my witnesses. Now, when Jesus
Christ prepared to ascend back into glory, he was crucified,
rose from the dead, walked up on the earth for 40 days, explaining
the scriptures to his disciples and then he took a little walk
with them. And he let them know, I'm going
back to glory. I'm coming back, but I'm going
back to glory right now. And then he said this, you shall
be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost
parts of the earth. You shall be witnesses to me.
Where are the uttermost parts of the earth? Well, I can assure
you that it includes Great Falls, Montana. Because somebody this
morning's testifying of Jesus Christ right here in this bullpen.
And there are others in the pews who are saying, we can testify
of that also. We are witnesses. We are his
witnesses. We are Jehovah's witnesses. We
are Jesus Christ's witnesses. We are witnesses of Jehovah Jesus. We keep the commandments of God
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, Revelation 12, verse
17. Now, someone may say, Preacher,
I just don't really appreciate much of what you had to say this
morning. I mean, I'm willing to honor Jehovah,
but I'm not gonna honor this Jesus like you just said. Listen to what Jesus Christ says. All men should honor the son just as they honor the father. He who does not honor the son
does not honor the father who sent him. If any of you receive Bruce Crabtree's
bulletin, he sends it out every week. And if you do not receive
it, send him an email, he'll send it to you every week. That
text is in every bulletin that he sends. All men should honor
the son just as they honor the father. He who does not honor
the son does not honor the father who sent him. Is there one who
denies that Jesus Christ is Jehovah? You've just denied that the Father
is Jehovah. You must honor the Son. We honor
Jesus Christ just like we honor the Father as the first and the
last, our only Savior, King of kings, Lord of lords, Jehovah
of hosts. That's our testimony. Why? We are Jehovah's Witnesses. He
has said so. Now I can tell you, I can tell you what I read regarding Jesus Christ. I can
tell you what I've heard regarding Jesus Christ. I can tell you what has been
revealed to me regarding Jesus Christ. I can tell you what I
have seen regarding Jesus Christ. And that's my testimony. Because
we are Jehovah's Witnesses. We are not known for our opinions. What's your opinion on that doctrine?
Doesn't matter. What's your opinion on this subject?
Eh, doesn't matter. But I can tell you this, I can
tell you about Jehovah because I am one of his witnesses. Have you believed the testimony? When Jehovah looks at you, does
he say, you are my witness? Well, if you are, go testify
of him. Believe in him. Trust in him. And find your salvation in Jesus
Christ, the only Savior. And oh God, our Father, to the
glory of your name, to the honor of your Son, Jesus Christ, help us to be faithful witnesses
to Jehovah, To your glory, in Jesus' name we pray.