John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses – Episode 24, Jesus Is God With Us

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.

God with Us

The prophet Isaiah has been sent to the king of Judah, Ahaz, to warn him against fearing the alliance of Israel with Syria, against fearing their coalition’s attack of Judah, and against Judah allying with Assyria. Yahweh offers Ahaz a sign to strengthen his faith that the two kings of these nations will come to nothing, but Ahaz, with false piety, refuses, saying he will not tempt Yahweh this way. Isaiah says this wearies Yahweh and that Yahweh himself will nevertheless give Ahaz a sign.

Therefore, my Lord will give you a sign. Look, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey when he learns to reject evil and choose the good. For before the boy learns to reject evil and choose the good, the land of the two kings you fear will be forsaken. (Isaiah 7:14-16)

Some interpreters see this as a direct prophecy of Jesus’ birth. After all, Matthew quotes it (Matthew 1:23) as fulfilled by Jesus. However, I view this prophecy and the child born to the virgin in Isaiah’s day, as a typological prophecy. By that is meant that the prophecy, because it relates to a prophet, Isaiah in this case, must also find expression in the Messiah in the future. It is Isaiah’s child who is born and who provides a sign to Ahaz, timewise, as to how short a time it will be before these kings come to nothing. But Messiah is the ultimate prophet, and so this event must somehow be ultimately fulfilled by Jesus.

And so, whereas Isaiah’s wife, the virgin at the time of his marriage to her, conceives in the normal way, through sexual intercourse with her husband, and names her son Immanuel, which means God With Us (signifying that God will be with and protect Judah), the ultimate fulfillment is that Jesus’ mother is a virgin when she conceives and remains so, having had no sexual intercourse, and her son truly and literally is God with us. The ultimate fulfillment always takes it to a more literal and extraordinary level.

Another example of this is the prophecy in Psalm 34:20, of the righteous man, “[the Lord] protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.” The righteous man, for whom God promises protection in exaggerated terms, is, like the prophet, a type of the truly righteous One, Christ, with whom God fulfills this promise in literal terms. John 19:36 shows us that what was figuratively true of the righteous person has been literally fulfilled in Christ. Not one of his bones was broken on the cross. Just as it is literally fulfilled this way with Jesus, so the prophecy of Messiah being God With Us is literally fulfilled in Jesus.