in a jehovah witness booklet called watch tower under a two page section on JESUS CHRIST they have given block representatation of Gods kingdom and an ideal ruler who they claim is JESUS CHRIST -- their are a few reason behind this process
1 -- they see him as not being Gods eternal son but a son through adoption and even more so they believe him to be the first creation of Jehovah, that being michael the arch angel
2 -- the term ideal leads to the fact that they (watchtower) are God's final judgement and final salvation plan, the watch tower society are believed to be the God sanctioned rulers
but the bible neither knows nor recognises either propostion since they is not shed of truth to these thing, these are mere assertions
claim 1 -- under the title "why is Jesus the ideal ruler" it states :
Gods son is the "ideal king" because he is kind firm for what is right and powerful enough to help people
(matthew 11 : 28 -30) after he was resurrected Jesus ascended to heaven and waited at Jehovah right hand (hebrews 10 :12 -13) finally God gave him power to rule from heaven (daniel 7 :13 -14)
ANSWER
this is a fascinating attempt at trying to prove a false ideology as being the truth .. now lets put this in its proper prospective
Jesus Christ is not just an "ideal" king or ruler... but infact due to him being the eternal son .. of the living God not only is the perfect saviour but he is the powerful saviour who never fails in what he accomplishes -- and this is one of the roles of being the ultimate messiah, not just a messiah, but the messiah-- he is a powerful prophet, preist and king -- he death accomplished was he as the eternal high priest was meant to do
as the glory of the the lord .. a reigning king who will return some day very soon (no one knows when though) he also powerfully accomplishes he what he is setting out to do as the saviour of mankind
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 4It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” -- john 6 :35 -40, 43 -51
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one -- john 10 :24 -30
these passages demonstrates that not only is the most powerful messiah but he is the perfect redeemer ... not losing any of those who the father gives to him
we also note that the action was was a fully divine act of all three person of the triune God -- the father gave the elect to his son, the son fully and completely saves the elect, and the holy spirit seals the elect with the seal of redemption and this is to its fullest
and we also need to consider a very important fact that JESUS makes in john 8 21 -25 ...
So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning
this is a vital point since it demonstates he is the God of the jewssince isah 59: 12 -21 .. tell us that God will become man redemption by his own hand (a messianic term) and in daniel 9 :24 -26 it says God will put an end to sin by the person of the messiah .. by him becoming the manner of redemption -- so in this we have definitive proof of the messiah being the one true God , but he is the son
matthew 11 :28 -30
this is the first example given in this section on the ideal ruler -- and again it is partially qouted and applied falsely -- so what we will do is give the full text in question
At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
in this passage we not straight off the personal language with in the text .. that of father and son .. which we know immediately Jehovah witness may try to claim they believe but there belief deny them the right to all that this teaches
we note it start with a priase .. " Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants"
this is pointing to the fact that the father kept hidden the very nature of Gods truth and his kingdom from the wise and intelligent of the world and had only revealed to those who were likr children .. noble and innocent at heart -- since the corruption of the law givers had been well observed through out the chapter
he then breaks from this praise too deliver two further truths which declares his full deity as being the very God of the universe but not the father
Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father -- this does not detract from his deity .. since he is speaking on very specific grounds here .. which may refer to all the different aspects of the redemption of man
but what follows we need to take note of since it further clarifies this
1 -- what mere man can offer other men eternal rest -- or even claim to have this ability .. not one
this point demonstates Jesus s more than an ordinary man since this is eternal rest that is being offered something that God alone can only do
2 --- the passage reveal a truth about God that watchtoer so vehemently denies .. God is multipersonal .. here is it revealed God is both father and son
since it is the son who alone can reveal the father to whome he choses .. and know one knows the father except the son .. let alone the fact no one knows the son except the father
for in this maneer it is speaking the eternality of the pesons and the deeper glories of the son and father .. no man can know this without the son revealing it to whom he wills
the next passage given in this understanding is hebrews 10 : 12 -13
but like the first we need a good sizeable section to work from -- so we will go from vs 8 - 18
After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,
“THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM
AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:
I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART,
AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,”
He then says,
“AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS
I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”
Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin
here is a significant portion of this text .. and we note the following
1 -- unlike the old covenant the new one was perfect in all it capabilities since it was not limited by a constant re - application for covering sins .. most importantly they serves as remider .. where as this one did not it serves as the final acceptance of new life .. in christ and the work of the spirit, and this is why we need to look to the perfect redeemer and powerful king
and this is seen in the fact this one act is able to redeem us forever with no re -application
2 -- if the first point is biblically true that he saves perfectly as a powerful redeemer then in like manner he will be the perfect and poerful king to come in a time nearing -- you can not have one without the other being consistently being true in its premise
the final example given is daniel 7 :13 -14
“I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
“And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed
to fully understand this we need to know the whole background and unfortuneately watchtower does not ... since they are fooling the whole situation by classing jesus as an "IDEAL" ruler .. this not biblically attainable-- therefore it is false
the eternal word .. the second person of the trinity chose to lower himself to become a humble servent, one who was obedient to his father will to the point of his death on the cross .. (phil. 2 :5 -11) and in this we see that he became the sin bearer and was the perfect offering in our place .. that we would become his righteousness unto the father
and his resurrected in glort to vindicate this truth as well as his own claims -- and he ascended to the fathers side to regain the glory he had with the father (john 17 :1 -5) which includes the eternal rulership in this sence the father glorified him and gave him his kingly place of honour (daniel 7 :13 -14 and matt . 28 : 16 -20)
the conclusion
the reason for the watchtower society refering to the Lord Jesus Christ as only an ideal ruler is two fold ...
1 -- they do not believe in the right JESUS CHRIST but a false messiah .. who in accord to their beliefs was the first created being michael the arch angel, who dies on a stake and never rose in a physical body but in a spiritual body .. and this is why he is only ideal since this jesus can not sve anyone as he is not God in the flesh. and 2 -- the most fundamental is because they believe in a succession of sorts as in the real God given authority lies in their organisation the watch tower and this is clearly seen in the manner they articulate their pamplet an example which i have documented in the last watch tower article .. "living in a peaceful new world"
these two reasons serve as kind of understanding as to the nature of this false religious system that is purely man cenered and detracts from God unique soveriegnty and Christ full ability to save those given to him by the holy father -- and we must be scripturally honouring in order to be God honouring
