A witness, in the dictionary, is defined as:
to see, hear, or know by personal presence and perception
This definition jives with the biblical definition of a witness.
(Act 10:38-41)
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly;Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.”
The Bible separates the office of the apostles to other divine gifts such as evangelists, teachers, prophets, etc — as recorded in the book of Ephesians 4:11-12.
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”
Although a prophet preaches and a teacher preaches also, they can not be both classified as apostles who also preach the same thing that they are preaching.An apostle must be an eyewitness to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Acts 1:21-22)
“Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.”
What the apostle Matthew have written was the same thing that was written by Luke the evangelist; but he was never called in the Bible as an apostle because he was not an eyewitness to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, but have only heard and known what happened during the Lord’s ministry from the eyewitnesses themselves.
(Luke 1:1-3) “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus…”
For Luke to say that he is a witness will be a misnomer — disregarding a vital truth in the bible.This is the case of the Jehovah’s witnesses.
Their claim and their teachings that they are witnesses for Jehovah do not only constitute misnomer, but a deceit, fallacy or hoax. They call themselves witnesses because they believe that they are witnessing for the truth of Jehovah — their ‘god’, apparently, they are using claims and verses that prove that they are ignorant of the thing they are claiming to be witnesses of.This is the verse they are using:
(Isa. 43:10) “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”
In the verse, the Lord speaks.That is the Lord God: the Lord God that was ‘formed’.
It is a fundamental knowledge that can be learned from the pages of the entire bible that the Lord God Almighty was not ‘formed’ by anybody.
(Psa. 90:2) “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
In this verse, he is the one that forms or causes the existence of everything.The Hebrew word used “yaw-tsar”, meaning “to mold into a form” (especially as a potter).And the Lord God Almighty is the potter.
(Rom. 9:20-21) “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?”
He was not formed.He existed from eternity.No human mind can comprehend eternity!
The Lord God, in Isaiah 43:10 was formed.There was no God formed before Him; neither shall there be after Him.He is the One talking to the prophetic witnesses whom he had chosen.Let us requote Isaiah 43:10:
“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”
The prophecy speaks of two distinct entities:The speaker, called the Lord or the God that was formed and His witnesses whom He had chosen.This verse can not specifically fit anybody except the person of Jesus Christ and His apostles. Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1-3)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
He was formed or have caused by God to exist in His very bosom.
(John 1:18 ) “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
It was God the Father Almighty who brought him forth or has begotten Him.
(Heb 5:5)“So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee.”
Jesus Christ is the personification of the Wisdom of God.
(1 Cor. 1:24)“But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”
It was this Wisdom who has sent the prophets and the apostles.
(Luke 11:49)“Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:”
This is the same wisdom that speaks in the book of Proverbs 8:22-31 and said:
“The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.”
Therefore, the witnesses being mentioned in Isaiah 43:10 are not the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but the Apostles; and the God to whom they are witnesses to is the Lord Jesus Christ — the God that was ‘formed’.
In the book of Acts 10:38-41
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly;Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.”
It is very clear in the preceding verses that the witnesses chosen by God and Jesus Christ are the Apostles, to whom God revealed the person of His Son who ate and drank with them after He was resurrected from the dead; and the witnessing of the Apostles extend to the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. “
The Apostles are able and true witnesses.
Therefore, what kind of witnesses are the Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Sincerely in Christ,
Brother Eli Soriano