The easiest way to demonstrate the deity of Christ is from Isaiah 40-48. This is the greatest part of the Bible that deals with monothesism. In these chapters Yahweh (the "LORD") keeps on insisting that He alone is God, He alone is Savior, Redeemer, the Rock, etc. From these passages you should cross reference to New Testament verses that give identical titles to Christ. See Deity of Christ from Isaiah 40-48.
Another way to support the deity of Christ is to compare Isaiah 6:3-5 with John 12:39-41. Isaiah saw the glory of YHWH, the king (Isaiah 6:5); John says that Isaiah saw Christ:
Isaiah 6:3-5
John 12:39-41
6:3 And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD (Yahweh) of hosts." (Isaiah 6:3-5)
12:39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: 40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them." 41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. (John 12:39-41)
It is usually very difficult to have fruitful discussions on clear passages of the New Testament such as John 1:1, John 10:30, John 20:27, etc. because they have carefully rehearsed answers for these types of passages. I think it is better and clearer to demonstrate from the Old and New Testaments together that Jesus is Yahweh.
Using the Old Testament one can conclusively demonstrate the deity of Christ from the "Angel/Messenger of the LORD" passages. These passages teach us that there is a Being who is both identified as being "God" and who is also distinguished from God. He is sent from heaven to do the work of the Father in saving and protecting. This Being is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. A careful study of these is most intriguing and rewarding. They are part of the compelling evidence for the Trinity in the Old Testament.
Ironically, one of the best verses to use against them is one that they use to establish their name ("Jehovah's Witnesses"): Isaiah 43:10.
"You are My witnesses," says the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. (Isaiah 43:10).
This is one of the clearest verses in all the Bible for Jesus being uncreated (the other is John 1:3)In this verse God is calling Israel to be witnesses in the world: not to the Watchtower organization, but to the fact that: before Him no God was created, and after Him there shall be none brought into existence. This is what Israel was to bear witness to throughout the world. They were to proclaim God's absolute uniqueness. But JWs and Mormons teach that Jesus was a "created god" contra Isaiah 43:10. This verse is so clear that a receptionist at the JW headquarters was converted when Walter Martin walked in and quoted this verse.
I have had fruitful discussions in dealing with JWs (I sometimes call their organization "Watchcraft"), in the area of their two-level system. They maintain that there are two groups of "saved" individuals: the elite 144,000, and the rest of the rank and file adherants. This is a main pillar of JW theology. Without it their system falls apart. And it is so easy to dismantle from Scripture.
The Nature of the Elite 144,000 Group:
Most JWs are shocked or embarrassed to find out that their theology assigns all manners of spiritual rights and privileges that the New and Old Testaments give to everyone who believes:
The Elite 144,000
So Witness theology teaches that there are three ways, three doors, three different destinies. The Bible consistently teaches that there are two.
This means that the average JW:
To this it may be countered:
The Bible does not have any provision for eternal life anywhere for those with un-atoned sin.
1 John 5 teaches that all who believe are "born again" ("Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God")
There is no such thing as a saved person who is not in the New Covenant. To be outside the covenant is to be under the wrath of God. There is a dire warning for those who heed not the call to be in the New Covenant. Becaure the New Covenant is greater than the Old Covenant the responsibility for entering it is also greater. Note that this is addressed to the "general assembly"--not some elite group of "super-spiritual" people:
Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
23 to the general assembly...
24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than [that of] Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more [shall we not escape] if we turn away from Him who [speaks] from heaven,
Why would the New Covenant be superior to the Old Covenant if the New Covenant only applied to an extreme fraction of the saved people? The Old Covenant would be superior for it embraced all. Why wouldn't the writer of Hebrews have addressed this issue if the New Covenant would only apply to a fraction of the believers?
If they are not "saints" why are they even reading most of their New Testament scriptures? Why read it if it only applies to other people?
A very powerful refutation can be made from Romans 8. This chapter deliniates two ways, to destinies. It makes no mention or provision for a third group. There is no super-spiritual group for elite people. This chapter keeps on hammering away on a series of contrasts:
There are not two hopes of eternal life! "just as you were called in one hope of your calling" Ephesians 4:4. There is and always was one hope. This hope was so eloquently prclaimed by Job:
Job 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:25-27).
Ironically, Witnesses say that Job (as well as other Old Testament righteous) are not in the 144,000, are not saints, are unredeemed, and will never see Jesus. Only the other group, the 144,000 will see Jesus, they maintain.
Job's hope is and was attainable by anyone. The JW organization has robbed people of this hope, has cheated their own people of what individuals in the Old Testament and New Testament have had throughout the ages: a personal relationship with God, the realization of forgiveness of sins, and the hope of living together with believers of all ages with the God in heaven.
Tell the JW that their organization is cheating them of this hope of all believers of all ages. Tell them that they can have the hope that Job described and the personal relationship that David described in the Psalms.
Will the "saints" be in heaven and the "aints" be on earth as JWs suppose during the millennium? Look at Rev. 20 9 "They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city ..."
Will the "saints" live an eternal separate existence from the rank and file believers of all ages?
Rev 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
21:2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
21:3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them [and be] their God.
This passage, referring to an event after the millennium is over, describes the reunion of believers in heaven, believers on earth during the millennium, and Christ ("God"). There is no eternal separation, there are no separate hopes.
This is something that is far greater than the Watchtower is prepared to offer the JW. Lift their hope. Let them see how their organization is defrauding them of this great hope. They need not be outcasts from the New Covenant, they must not place themselves outside the New Covenant (Heb. 12:25). They may and they must avail themselves of all rights and privileges accorded believers in the New Testament.
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