It means that not all hope is created equal.
The Jehovah’s Witness Jesus is a different Jesus than what the Bible teaches. Sometimes people in cults say that there is only one Jesus, but the Bible teaches otherwise. In 2 Corinthians 11:4, we find that Paul talks about the Corinthians falling prey to another Jesus. “For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” Jesus Himself says, “For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.”[1] According to the Bible then, there is more than one Jesus, but there is only one true Christ Jesus.
When someone focuses on there being only one Jesus, they are focusing on His actions, not who He is. The difference is who He is and what He has done, not just what He has done. The Biblical Jesus, the Mormon Jesus, and the Jehovah’s Witness Jesus all rose from the grave, but the nature of Jesus in each of these is described very differently. So how do we tell the difference? We examine how Jesus is described.
In John 2:18-21 the Bible describes who Jesus is, and what He will do.
“So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.”
Jesus says that His body, not only His spirit, will be raised by Him in three days. This claim reveals His omnipotence. We know that this came true from a continued reading of the text. Therefore, we know that Jesus is omnipotent, despite Jehovah’s Witness claims about His lack of deity.
Jesus cannot both be raised from the dead only spiritually and also be raised from the dead both spiritually and physically. Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot both be right. This is called the law of non-contradiction. Since Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses claim different things about the same subject, only one of them can be correct. If I say the phrase, “your car is on fire” that statement cannot be both true and false. The fact is, that phrase is only either true or false (Law of excluded middle). There is no other alternative. Similarly, if someone says that Jesus rose from the dead only in spirit, and another says that He rose bodily as well, these ideas contradict, and only one of them can be true. They ultimately describe different persons.
In Luke 24:36-43, Jesus reassured His Disciples that it was indeed Him. The same Jesus who spent several very close years with them in ministry.
“While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.””
The Greek word here used for “ghost” (in several translations) in the verses above is πνεῦμα (pneuma), which is the word translated as spirit in most other places in the New Testament. What this means is that Jesus told His disciples to touch Him and see that He is not a spirit, but that He was physically with them. On top of this, He ate broiled fish in their presence. A spirit does not have flesh and bones, and a spirit does not eat physical food because there are no physical parts, like a stomach (flesh) or teeth (bones).
The Jehovah’s Witness Jesus is a different Jesus. Because the event in the Lukan passage above is recorded in the Bible, that Jesus wants people to touch Him and watch Him eat food, it is almost like Jesus knew how people would try to describe Him in the distant future. 1900 years later, Jehovah’s Witnesses are telling people that Jesus did not have a bodily resurrection.
In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul shows the Galatians that there is only one gospel, and that all other gospels that claim to be such end in being cursed.
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
What does a distorted gospel bring? In Matthew 7:15-23, Jesus says,
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. Their fruits are truth claims as well.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Some know His name, the way that you know your favorite football players name and stats, or the same way that you know your favorite actor, but they don’t know you. You are not invited to their parties. If a false prophet teaches a false gospel and you accept it, then you receive a false salvation. So, do you know who Jesus is?
Why is this so important? Not all hope is equal because not all descriptions of Jesus are true. It matters what we believe. It matters what we teach about Jesus. Our hope can be a true hope, or a false hope. A false hope gets you nowhere, but a true hope gives you all you need. Our hope depends on what we believe about reality. Did Jesus rise from the dead bodily? Yes! According to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, you will too, if you place your faith and trust in Jesus alone.
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Here, Paul uses the Lord’s Resurrection as the example of what will happen to those who believe that Jesus died and rose again. People get caught up in the phrase “caught up,” but this is not the focus of the text. The focus is hope. Grief is expected, and even beneficial, but hopeless grief is not necessary, and not hopeful. Paul answers this question of “How can we know that we can grieve with hope?” In verse 17 above, he says that we will be caught up together with those who have gone on before us. Death therefore is a temporary setback for those who follow, trust in, and rely on Jesus.
Our hope is an expectant hope because of Christ’s work on the cross. Your hope can be true and real, because of both who Jesus is (God in the flesh), and because the Resurrection of Christ Jesus is true and real.
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