We Are His Witnesses
The 44th chapter of the book of Isaiah is addressed to the people of Israel. “Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:” Isaiah 44:1. The next few verses are about promised blessings on Israel, and then in verse 6: “Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” Isaiah 44: 6-8. God says he is the First and the Last. He reiterates this in Isaiah 48:12, “Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.” Centuries later the apostle John saw Jesus Christ enthroned in glory. “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1: 17-18. Here is the same God, enthroned in glory. He spoke to the prophet Isaiah and later to the apostle John. We are his witnesses, that he (Jesus Christ) is God.
Another confirmation of his identity is given in Isaiah 48:16. “Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.” This verse shows that the person that spoke to Isaiah and called himself God was the second person of the Trinity, sent forth by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. It says in the book of Isaiah that his witnesses would be the descendants of Jacob. They would lift up his name and proclaim him as God. Who in the world are proclaiming Jesus Christ as God? It is the Anglo Saxon and kindred peoples. They are the people referred to in the book of Isaiah.
Jesus Christ identified himself as the great “I Am”. “Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:57-58. About 1400 years earlier he spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3: 13-14. Jesus Christ was also known as “The Word” before he was born as a human being. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. He also appeared as “The Angel of the Lord”. That is how he came to talk to Moses from the burning bush. “This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.” Acts 7:35. “The Word” became a human being when he was born of Mary in Bethlehem.
We are his witnesses, proclaiming him to be our God.
