Matthew 11:2
Matthew 11:22Meanwhile John heard in prison about the works of Christ, and he sent his disciples
sets up the question John the Baptist sends through his disciples from prison. The Watchtower treats Jesus's reply in v. 4-5 as an apocalyptic preview of the future paradise described in Isaiah 35 — the blind, lame, deaf, and dead being healed in the millennium. itself functions as narrative framing rather than as a load-bearing argument verse.
is the doorway into the Isaiah-35 fulfilment argument. John, in prison, is wrestling with whether Jesus is "the Coming One" — the Messiah Isaiah promised. He sends disciples to ask. Jesus's answer in v. 4-5 quotes Isaiah 35 directly and points to his miracles as present-tense fulfilment. The verse the Watchtower applies to a future paradise is the verse Jesus says is happening in his ministry right now. Pair with and (the parallel) to see Jesus's own application of an Old Testament restoration prophecy to the present. Inaugurated eschatology is the framework: the Kingdom has come in seed form (, , ), the prophecy is being fulfilled, and the consummation awaits.