Matthew 11:4
Matthew 11:44Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
begins Jesus's answer to John the Baptist: "Go and report to John what you are hearing and seeing." The Watchtower reads vv. 4-5 as a small-scale preview of the future paradise healings, not as fulfilment of . The "Coming One" Messianic identification is accepted, but the eschatological framework is still future — the JW reading defers Isaiah's imagery to the coming millennium.
Read v. 4 with v. 5 — Jesus's reply quotes ("the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news preached to them"). Notice the verb tense: present-tense things "you hear and see." Jesus does not say "this is a preview of what Isaiah spoke about" — he says "go and tell John what you hear and see." The prophecy is being fulfilled in his ministry. Pair with and for the firstfruits framework: Christ's healings are not trailers for a future film but down-payments guaranteeing the full harvest. The "already/not yet" tension is real, but the Watchtower flattens it into "not yet" only — and Jesus's own answer to John refutes that flattening.