What is Jehovah’s Arrangement for Salvation?
Have you ever tried to hand some Christian literature to a Jehovah’s Witness?Challenging work, isn’t it?
Though they are eager for us to take their literature, their hierarchy tells them that they should not take ours. Despite this, I have on occasion, found some who will take literature, but of course I have no idea what they did with it. Once out of sight, did they rip it up; did they put it in the nearest bin, or stick it in the rosebush at the bottom of my garden; or did they read it.
Not all Jehovah’s Witnesses are the Same
It is said that you can always spot a Jehovah’s Witness. Usually smartly dressed, walking along your street (very slowly) in a pair and carrying a satchel. Though the outer JW man/woman may be easy to spot externally, we can have no idea what is going on internally. The Jehovah’s Witnesses on our doorstep may look and sound the part, but are they P.I.M.O.?
P.I.M.O. stands for Physically In, Mentally Out. Why would a Jehovah’s Witness, who does not believe what they are being taught, be on your doorstep? There can be many reasons. To leave the group would mean being shunned by family and friends. To leave may mean losing your job. To leave may mean losing all you have ever known. Leaving a cultic group can be incredibly costly. So, many, though no longer believing, remain within the group. They are stuck in a situation where there appears to be no escape – but we know the one who can set them free.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5: 1)
How can such a person be reached? There needs to be faithful believing Christians who are willing to share the gospel with them.
The gospel can be shared verbally, visually and in print. In print? Why? What is the point? Haven’t you just said that they do not take our literature?
A Tract for Jehovah’s Witnesses
A few years back I did a little experiment. I produced a tract to give to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I tried to make it look as much like their literature as possible, and to my surprise, I had a number of JWs take them from me. From this I realised that any literature we try to give to them, must pique their interest.
With this in mind, I have produced a tract entitled: ‘What is Jehovah’s Arrangement for Salvation?’ Here I have used a question familiar to many of them, and having the name Jehovah front and centre it is sure to grab their attention. It may be that some will still not take it, but I believe many (especially PIMOs) will.
The tract itself points the Jehovah’s Witness to his/her need of Jesus. Not the Watchtower Jesus, but the biblical Jesus.
In his testimony, Jim Fielder a JW of 60 years, tells how he was disfellowshipped for talking too much about Jesus. He began to see the importance of Jesus in Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation, so he could no longer remain a ‘Jehovah’s’ Witness and knew he had to become a ‘Jesus’ Witness.
Here is the text from my tract:
Because Jehovah so loved the world he created, he sent his only-begotten Son as a ransom sacrifice to deliver people from sin and death. (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7)
But what does this mean? How can a person know that their sin is forgiven, and eternal life is assured? What is Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation?
The Bible writer Matthew records an occasion when Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain. (Matthew 17:1-9) Whilst there, Jesus was transfigured before them. We are told that his face and outer garments shone brightly, and then Moses and Elijah appeared with him. Peter, James, and John knew that Moses and Elijah represented the Old Covenant, both the Law and the Prophets, but who was Jesus?
The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the mediator of a New Covenant. (Hebrews 12:24) Moses and Elijah had led the way, but now one greater than them had appeared. (Hebrews 3:1-6; John 1:17)
Listen to what Jehovah says about him:
“While he was still speaking, look! a bright cloud overshadowed them, and look! a voice out of the cloud said: ‘This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved. Listen to him.’ At hearing this, the disciples fell face down and became very much afraid.” (MATTHEW 17:5-6, NWT)
Jehovah confirms that Jesus is his Son and gives Jesus his seal of approval. He then tells the disciples that they must “Listen to him.”
In Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation, we are to listen to Jesus. Do you listen to Jesus? If you want to be obedient to Jehovah, you must listen to Jesus.
However, we see in Scripture that some were not willing to listen to him. The Apostle John recounts a time that Jesus was in dialogue with the Jewish religious leaders. They believed themselves to be obedient children of Jehovah, but what did Jesus say to them?
“You are searching the Scriptures because you think that you will have everlasting life by means of them; and these are the very ones that bear witness about me. And yet you do not want to come to me so that you may have life.” (JOHN 5:39–40, NWT)
Jehovah exhorts his followers to listen to Jesus. It is therefore vital for us to hear what Jesus is saying to those who reject him. Jesus tells the religious leaders that despite the biblical knowledge they have gained by searching the Scriptures, if they reject or downplay his role, they are not following Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation.
In your zeal for Jehovah, are you rejecting Jesus? Jesus – The Way, The Truth, The Life (John 14:6) Your response may be to say; “Of course I believe in Jesus. I know that he is Jehovah’s Son.” But do you know that to have life, you must come to him? Jehovah commands us to listen to Jesus, and Jesus says that we must come to him to have life. Note, John 5:40 does not tell us to come to Jehovah, but to Jesus.
Are you following Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation? Have you come to Jesus so that you may have life? Do You Honour Jesus?
Did you know that in Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation, it is Jesus who will judge us?
This is what the Scripture says:
“For the Father judges no one at all, but he has entrusted all the judging to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” (JOHN 5:22-23, NWT)
Here Jesus tells us that the Father, Jehovah, will not judge anyone, but he has given all judgement to his Son, Jesus.
How important is Jesus in Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation!
It is he who will judge you. Scripture teaches us that Jesus is of vital importance. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Apostle Peter heard the voice of Jehovah saying that he should listen to Jesus. Later, in the Book of Acts, Peter points us to the importance of Jesus in Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation. Speaking of Jesus he says:
“This is ‘the stone that was treated by you builders as of no account that has become the chief cornerstone.’ Furthermore, there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” (ACTS 4:11-12, NWT)
Peter, who spent over three years with Jesus, publicly declares that salvation can be found in only one name: It is not Jehovah. It is Jesus. Furthermore, whose witnesses are we to be? What did Jesus himself say? Remember Jehovah told us to listen to him: “
But you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses of me in Jerusalem, in all Ju·de’a and Sa·mar’i·a, and to the most distant part of the earth.” (ACTS 1:8, NWT)
Jehovah’s or Jesus’ Witnesses?
In Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation, we are to listen to Jesus. We are to be public witnesses for Jesus. We need to come to Jesus for sins forgiven and for salvation. We need to come to Jesus for life. Friends, are you following Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation? Has Jesus forgiven your sin and assured you of eternal life? Do you have life in Jesus’ name?
“And this is the witness, that God gave us everlasting life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has this life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this life. I write you these things so that you may know that you have life everlasting, you who put your faith in the name of the Son of God.”
(1 JOHN 5:11-13, NWT)
