John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses – Episode 23, Jesus Is Priest Forever

Could John have intended that the Word was ‘a’ god? Wouldn’t it make sense that John’s worldview was shaped by the Old Testament Scriptures? It is not inconsistent for him to view Jesus as Yahweh, because as we have seen, there are two Yahweh’s in the Old Testament, one of whom is often designated as the Angel or Messenger of Yahweh. And as we will see, there are multiple Messianic prophecies that also suggest there is more than one person who makes up the Godhead.

The Priest Forever

Psalm 110 is a psalm of David, according to the heading, and Jesus takes it this way and refers to it in his questioning of the Pharisees (Matthew 22:41-46). The importance of this is that David speaks of Yahweh and David also speaks of his Lord, two different personages, both of whom David views as more authoritative than him. As the most powerful man in his kingdom, David should submit to no one other than God.

Yahweh to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The rod of your strength Yahweh will send from Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will be willing in the day of your power, dressed in the garments of holiness, your young men like dew from the womb of the morning.
Yahweh has sworn and will not retract it: You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
My Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge among the nations, piling up bodies and crushing the head of the earth. He will drink from the brook along the way and so lift high his head. (Psalm 110)

The Pharisees recognized the “the Lord” about whom this psalm was speaking was the Messiah. They understood the Messiah to be an offspring of king David who would have the right to David’s throne and fulfill the prophecies of the restoration of that throne. So Jesus asks them the logical question: How can this “Lord” be David’s offspring and yet be David’s Lord?  The one who is the progenitor is lord over the descendant.

The only way Messiah can be David’s Lord is if he is God. But David clearly makes a distinction between David’s Lord and Yahweh. Yahweh, who speaks here to David’s Lord, defeats David’s Lord’s enemies, and declares David’s Lord a priest (in addition to a king) in the order of Melchizedek, who himself was both a king and a priest (see Genesis 14:17-24). David’s Lord sits at Yahweh’s right hand, leads his armies in battle, and judges all the nations. We know that the Messiah, Jesus, was able to be David’s Lord as well as David’s offspring, because Yahweh God, the Son, took on human nature and was born in David’s line to David’s offspring Mary. Jesus was both divine and human, was both God and man. He did not give up being God to become human, but retained two natures, deity and humanity. After all, how could God stop being God. That’s impossible!