You are my witnesses, says Jehovah. — Isaiah 43:10.
Jehovah here speaks to His covenant people Israel, whose very existence bears witness to Jehovah’s formation of Israel (Isaiah 43:1), their affliction and deliverance from Egypt, and their settling in the land of Canaan. Their very existence even today testifies that Jehovah’s promises, made long before, are sure of fulfillment. Isaiah 43:10 is not designating an organization here at the end of the age as being "Jehovah's witnesses."
Israel, however, is a prophetic type of the Messiah, for Jehovah says: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, And called my son out of Egypt.” (Hosea 11:1) Matthew 2:15 tells us that this was fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is called the “faithful witness.” (Revelation 1:5; 3:14) In the first century, the disciples were told that they were to be witnesses of Jesus in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. (Acts 1:8) Today, Christians cannot bear witness as having actually seen Jesus, thus we today can only bear witness to what we have learned of Jesus as revealed in the Bible. In bearing such witness concerning Jesus, Christians also are said to be ‘God’s witnesses’, in that it was Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who raised up Jesus, and who had exalted Jesus to Jehovah’s right hand. (Acts 3:13-26; 5:30-32) Thus, bearing witness for Jesus in harmony with scriptural truth is to also bear witness for the God of Jesus.
Having the example before us, all who belong to Jesus, and who bear witness that Jehovah raised Jesus up as a prophet like Moses, could be spoken of as being witnesses for Jehovah, but such would be irrespective of denomination ties, for one cannot bear witness concerning Jesus without also bearing witness concerning the God of Jesus, since it was Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who raised Jesus as a prophet like Moses, and who raised Jesus from the dead, and who then exalted Jesus as His own right hand. — Exodus 3:14,15; Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Acts 3:13-26; 5:30-32; Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:14-18; 1 Peter 1:21.
Bearing witness for Jesus and His God, however, has nothing at all to do with joining an authoritarian religious organization that demands all be in submission to a man or a body of men. It does have to do with being in submission to the head of the church, Jesus. It is only through Jesus, not through an authoritarian organization, that one is saved.
