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Our discussion will take the form of a simulated conversation between a Jehovah's Witness named Joe and a Christian named Chris.
Chris: Joe, last week we talked about how Adam was created to have an intimate relationship with Jehovah God. This week I have a question for you. Joe, can you tell me, did Jesus have an intimate relationship with Jehovah God where God talked with him personally?
Joe: Well, Chris, the Watchtower teaches in the Feb. 15, 1972 issue pg 99 that Jesus heard directly from Almighty God.
Chris: Was Jesus a man when Jehovah had direct communication with him?
Joe: Yes of course he was. You see Jesus had to be a man to be equal to Adam before Adam sinned. Jesus was even called the second Adam.
Chris: Did Jesus have the same personal and intimate relationship with Jehovah God that Adam enjoyed?
Joe: Yes, I suppose that he did.
Chris: Well if Jesus as a man had a personal relationship with Jehovah God where God spoke directly to him, and Adam had the same direct communication with God why can't we humans have that same relationship?
Joe: I suppose that you are one of those arrogant born-again Christians who think that God talks directly with you! I can tell you right now, Chris, Jehovah doesn't do that anymore. He uses angels to talk to our leaders. He doesn't talk directly with any human.
Chris: Joe, can you tell me, when did Jehovah's direct communication with Jesus stop?
Joe: What do you mean? Jesus always had direct communication with Jehovah.
Chris: I came across an interesting passage concerning the time when Jesus was brutally tortured and left to die. Can you have a look at the passage? It is found in Matthew 27:46?
Joe: I found it here in my New World Translation. It says, About the ninth hour Jesus called out with a loud voice, saying: "E'li, E'li, la'masa·bach·tha'ni?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Chris: Joe, why would Jehovah God have forsaken Jesus at the time of his death?
Joe: He didn't forsake Jesus. He always took care of him.
Chris: Then why did Jesus say that Jehovah had forsaken him?
Joe: Let me read it again. Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I have never noticed that before. I guess the Father did forsake him. But why would Jehovah do that?
Chris: Joe, I think it has everything to do with that fact that Jehovah is a holy God.
Joe: Jehovah is completely holy and pure. He is without sin.
Chris: As a completely holy God he cannot look on sin. Sin is what causes man to be separated from God.
Joe: But Jesus never sinned. He was perfect.
Chris: Joe I think something happened to Jesus while he hung on that tree. What does your bible say in 1 Peter 2:24?
Joe: It says, "He himself bore our sins in his own body upon the stake, in order that we might be done with sins and live to righteousness..."
Chris: Joe, He himself bore our sins in his own body. At that moment when Jesus was hanging on the tree Jehovah God put our sins on Jesus. Every disgusting and horrible thing that mankind has ever done was placed on Jesus and Jesus was punished for those sins. For the first time, Jehovah God did not see the sinless and pure Jesus but instead Jesus now represented our sin and our rebellion. At that moment Jesus lost communication with the Father just as Adam lost direct communication with God after he sinned and was driven out of his garden home. The sin that contaminated us, that separated us from Jehovah was placed on Jesus. Jesus bore a very heavy load that day. You see although he was pure and holy, he had never even committed one sin, yet he willingly carried the penalty of your sin and my sin - the sin that separates us from Jehovah. Jesus hung on that tree as a condemned man charged and found guilty of your sin and my sin.
Joe: But why would Jesus have to bear our sins? Didn't Jesus just die for Adamic sin? Doesn't the Bible say that our death wipes out the record of our own sins? Why would Jesus have been separated from God because of our personal sins?
Chris: That's a good question, Joe. Let's discuss that next week.
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