The Watchtower Society of Jehovah's Witnesses rejects the
infinite sacrifice of Jesus Christ as a result of their denying the full deity
of Jesus Christ. The Bible emphasizes that, in order for Jesus' death on the
Cross to be sufficient enough to pay for all of our sins, Jesus must have two
natures: God and human, both being perfect and without blemish. Jesus must be a
perfect human because it was humanity who sinned from Adam's fall from
perfection onward; but Jesus must also be God because humanity's sins are an
infinite offense against an infinite, holy God. On page 15 of their 1988
brochure Should You Believe In the Trinity?, the Watchtower admitted that, if
Jesus were a God-man at the time of His death, the ransom payment would have
been INFINITE. However, the Watchtower was wrong when they said the Godhead's
"ransom price would have been infinitely higher than what God's own Law
required." Actually, the ransom payment made by the God-man CORRESPONDED
PERFECTLY to humanity's infinite debt of sins to the holy God. The infinite
payment was perfectly sufficient to cover ALL sins, both Adamic sin and
personal sins (1 John 1:7; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:13, 14; 2:13-15), and
that's why Jesus was resurrected from the dead to reign over us as the Son of
God, our Lord, King, Savior, Mediator and High Priest forever (Romans 1:1-4;
4:23-25; 1 Timothy 2:5, 6; Romans 3:23-26; Hebrews 9:11-15). Yes, Jesus' ransom
payment on the Cross had to be an infinite payment from the God-man. Isaiah
64:6 and Philippians 3:2-8 show that even a sinner's most righteous deeds are
like "filthy rags" or "dung" that would never be sufficient
enough to merit God's salvation, even if Jesus' ransom were a partial payment.
Furthermore, as Jesus the God-man, Almighty God alone gets 100% of the credit,
glory and praise for saving sinners through redemption. According to Psalm 3:8 and Jonah 2:9, salvation is of the Lord (Yahweh/Jehovah); plus the name Yeshua or Jesus means "Yahweh saves." We could rightly say that, in the person of Jesus Christ, God saves us for Himself (for His own glory); God saves us by Himself (through His incarnation in Christ); and God saves us from Himself (from His wrath and punishment incurred by our sins).
Page 15 of Should You Believe in the Trinity?,
formerly published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1988.
=====================================
In the 2005 documentary THE MARKS OF A CULT, Jerry Johnson
of the Nicene Council Ministries gave the following critique of Christ's ransom
sacrifice and why cults insist on denying Christ's deity:
"What or who was dying on the Cross? Just a man, a good
man? According to the cults, He was not the God-man that was articulated by
Constantinople in 381 AD or in Chalcedon in 451 AD. When you're in a cult, you
don't have the God-man, God the Son, dying on the Cross. Instead, you've got a
man devoid of deity, and therefore the payment could not be an infinite payment
to pay the cost of an infinitely offended God . . .This has been the attack of
Satan, the archenemy of the Church, because to downplay the deity of Christ is
to ultimately surrender the doctrine of justification. Now why is that? We must
remember that God is holy, holy, holy; He is a thrice holy God. Our mildest sin
offends Him greatly. I mean, if you think about it, Adam and Eve ate from the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil when God told them not to do it but they did
anyway. How many times have my children gotten a cookie when I told them not
to, and they went and got one anyway? Well I don't treat them the way that God
treated Adam and Eve. That's not because God is a mean ogre; its because He is
holy and I am not. And so even the smallest sin greatly offends God. God
doesn't wink at our sin; God is offended by it. God doesn't even want to look
upon us because we are not perfectly reflecting the character of being made in
His image. And when we think about that, and we think about the fact that
Christ came as deity to die in our place, that is because our sins are an
infinite offense to the infinite nature of God, and, therefore, an infinite
payment had to be made, and we couldn't make it. So to take away the deity of
Christ does what? It opens up the door. You've got a satisfaction that is not a
full satisfaction, but its only a partial satisfaction, and, therefore,
something else has to be added to it. And that's what the cults always do. None
of them believe in justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ
alone. They always add some works to salvation. Christ's work is not complete
because Christ is not deity . . .When you deny the doctrine of the Trinity, you
are ultimately going to end up at a place where you have works salvation. And
the United Pentecostals, or any other cultic group, is ultimately going to lead
their followers down a path where they are going to have to add something to
the work of Christ." --- JERRY JOHNSON, Nicene Council Ministries, 2005.
=====================================
The following is an excerpt from Paul Washer's sermon WHAT
IS THE GOSPEL?:
"You see, someone had to bear your guilt. Someone had
to bear your sin. I have heard people say, 'Well, you know what? God looked all
through heaven and there was no angel willing. He looked all through earth and
there was no man able.' (Psalm 21:1-6). That is absolutely preposterous. If all
the angels in heaven had been willing, it would not have paid the price. You
see, the one who died there had to be a man. It is man who sinned. It is man
who must die. God became man. He became our brother, our elder brother is what
Hebrews is about. He became one of us. He identified with us and was able to go
to that tree on our behalf. One time I was preaching at a university and this
student stood up and he said, 'I have got a question for you.' He goes, 'How is
it that one man can suffer for a few hours on that tree and yet pay the price
for a multitude of men and save them from an eternity in hell?' I said, 'Young
man, there is only one way, because that one man who was on that cross was
worth more than all the men put together.' You take everything that there is,
mountains and mole hills, crickets and clowns, stars and angels and suns and
planets and moons and mountains and streams, everything beautiful and you put
it on this side of the scale and you put Jesus on the other and he outweighs
them all. He could do that because of his infinite worth." --- PAUL DAVID
WASHER, 10/28/2010
=====================================
The following is an excerpt from Paul Washer's sermon THE
GREATEST WORDS IN ALL OF SCRIPTURE:
Now, let’s talk about the death of Christ for a moment. We
know that the one who dies on that tree must be a man. We know that, don’t we?
---Because the blood of bulls and goats will not take away our sin. (Hebrew
10:4). It is Adam who has sinned. It is Adam’s race that is fallen. It is a son
of Adam who must die in the place of the guilty. We know that. A man must die
on that tree. But then, again, more than a man must die on that tree. The one
who dies on that tree must also be God. And let’s look at this for just a
moment. Let’s just look.
Why must the one who dies on that tree be deity, be God in
the flesh, be God the Son, the Son of God? Why? Well, first of all, a small
statement in the book of Jonah. “Salvation is of the LORD.” (Jonah 2:9). Isaiah
is quite clear. God shares the title of Savior with no one. (Isaiah 43:11).
That is why the doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is such an abomination,
because they say that God created an innocent creature to go down and save men,
to put away sin. And if that is the case, then it is a creature that has saved
us. But what you need to understand is Christ was no creature, but the Creator,
the eternal Son of God who stepped down out of heaven, did not consider
equality with God a thing to be grasped (Philippians 2:6), but came down from
heaven. He did not lay aside His deity. He laid aside the glory and privilege
of His deity. He did not become something less than God, but He became
something God had never been. He took to His divine nature human nature. He
took to Himself flesh and He became a man. And He went to that tree as the
God-man and He died on that tree as the God-man and He rose again from the dead
as the God-man. And the one that we call Savior is not just man, but He is God.
And so the words of Jonah remain intact. “Salvation is of the LORD.” (Jonah
2:9).
Why is it that the one on that tree must be God? Just look
at this for a moment. The one on the tree must lay down His life. You say,
“Well, a man can do that.” I reply, “No, he can’t.” You say, “An angel can do
that.” My reply is, “No, he can’t.” Why? Let’s say you need a car and I am
driving one I have borrowed from the pastor. And I see your great need so I
give you the pastor’s car. I have not given you my life. I have not given you
my car. I have given you something borrowed from another. From where does the
life of a man come? It comes from God. Angels, do they have life inherent in
themselves? No. But Jesus said, “I have authority to lay down this life of Mine
and take it up again.” (John 10:18). The one who dies on that tree must lay
down His life, not life borrowed from another, real life. Why must the one on
that tree be God? Who else but God can withstand the wrath of God and rise
again? The mountains melt before the wrath of God. The rivers dry up before the
wrath of God. Nations are destroyed before the wrath of God. One day all, the
universe will be dissolved into fire by the wrath of God. Who but God can
withstand the wrath of God and rise again? Why must the one on that tree be God?
I was speaking at a university years ago and after speaking, question and
answer, this student stood up. He was kind of angry. And he said, “I have got a
problem for you, preacher.” I said, “OK.” “How can one man suffer for a few
short hours on that tree and pay for the sins of a multitude of men and save
them from an eternity in hell? It is un-right.” And I began to cry. I said,
“Young man, thank you for asking that question, because the answer is my most
favorite answer. That one man could suffer for a few short hours on that tree,
and save a multitude of men from an eternity in hell because that one man was
worth more than all of them put together.”
When theologians talk about the perfect sacrifice of Christ
they are not just saying He was sinless. They are also talking about the
infinite value of the life given. You take a gigantic cosmic scale. You put
everything in it that you can find. You put stars and galaxies, suns and moons
and planets and earth, mountains and molehills, moths and men, crickets and
clangs, everything you can find, dusts and rocks of granite, everything you can
find of creation and you put it in a scale and you put Jesus on the other side
and He outweighs them all. It is His value. He is God. His worth cannot be
valued nor can it be emptied or compared. You see the preciousness of Christ?
Someone had to die there that was a man. Someone had to die there that was God.
And Christ fulfills both of those. --- PAUL DAVID WASHER, 9/30/2007
No comments:
Post a Comment