QUICK FACTS:
ISAIAH 6:1 AND JOHN 12:41
DID ISAIAH REALLY SEE JESUS AS YAHWEH GOD?
QUICK FACTS:
ISAIAH 6:1 AND JOHN 12:41
DID ISAIAH REALLY SEE JESUS AS YAHWEH GOD?
PART TWO
CONTINUED FROM PART ONE
QUICK FACT 14 — JOHN 12:40 REALLY DOES QUOTE ISAIAH 6:10
This point must be acknowledged clearly.
John writes:
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with the eyes, and understand with the heart, and turn, and I will heal them.”
— John 12:40, BLB
This quotation comes from:
ISAIAH 6:10.
Therefore we should NOT argue that:
JOHN 12 HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ISAIAH 6.
It clearly does.
The real question is much more precise:
WHEN JOHN THEN SAYS THAT ISAIAH:
“SAW HIS GLORY AND SPOKE CONCERNING HIM,”
DOES JOHN MEAN THAT:
JESUS HIMSELF WAS YAHWEH SITTING UPON THE THRONE?
Or can John be connecting Isaiah's prophetic ministry with:
THE GLORY
and:
THE REJECTION
OF THE COMING MESSIAH?
That is the question we must investigate.
QUICK FACT 15 — JOHN HAS JUST QUOTED ISAIAH 53 AS WELL AS ISAIAH 6
This is extremely important.
Immediately before quoting Isaiah 6:10, John quotes:
ISAIAH 53:1.
John writes:
“Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
— John 12:38, BLB
Therefore the sequence is:
JOHN 12:38
↓
ISAIAH 53:1.
THEN:
JOHN 12:40
↓
ISAIAH 6:10.
THEN John says:
“Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke concerning Him.”
— John 12:41, BLB
Notice:
John has brought together:
ISAIAH 53
AND:
ISAIAH 6.
Therefore we must not interpret John 12:41 as though the only Isaiah passage John has in view is:
ISAIAH 6:1.
QUICK FACT 16 — ISAIAH 53 CLEARLY CONCERNS THE COMING SERVANT
Isaiah 53 describes someone who:
IS DESPISED.
IS REJECTED.
SUFFERS.
IS PIERCED.
IS CUT OFF.
AND:
POURS OUT HIS LIFE TO DEATH.
The New Testament identifies this suffering servant prophecy with:
JESUS CHRIST.
Therefore when John quotes Isaiah 53:1 in the context of people refusing to believe in Jesus, the connection is powerful:
ISAIAH HAD PROPHETICALLY SPOKEN ABOUT:
THE MESSIAH.
↓
THE MESSIAH COMES.
↓
MANY:
DO NOT BELIEVE.
John sees Isaiah's prophecy being fulfilled in:
JESUS.
QUICK FACT 17 — ISAIAH 6 EXPLAINS THE HARDNESS AND UNBELIEF
John then quotes Isaiah 6:10:
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart...”
— John 12:40, BLB
Why?
Because John is explaining:
WHY SO MANY PEOPLE DID NOT BELIEVE IN JESUS
despite the signs He had performed.
John begins this section by saying:
“Though He had done so many signs before them, they still were not believing in Him.”
— John 12:37, BLB
Then he uses Isaiah to explain that unbelief.
Therefore the immediate subject of John 12:37–41 is:
THE REJECTION OF JESUS.
QUICK FACT 18 — JOHN'S TWO ISAIAH QUOTATIONS WORK TOGETHER
Look at the structure carefully:
JESUS PERFORMS MANY SIGNS.
↓
THE PEOPLE:
DO NOT BELIEVE.
THEN:
ISAIAH 53:
“WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”
THEN:
ISAIAH 6:
THEIR EYES ARE BLINDED AND THEIR HEARTS HARDENED.
THEN:
JOHN:
“ISAIAH SAID THESE THINGS BECAUSE HE SAW HIS GLORY AND SPOKE CONCERNING HIM.”
John is therefore showing that Isaiah's prophetic writings anticipated:
THE MESSIAH.
HIS GLORY.
AND:
THE UNBELIEF THAT WOULD SURROUND HIM.
But does this necessarily mean:
THE MESSIAH IS YAHWEH?
That still has to be demonstrated.
QUICK FACT 19 — “HIS GLORY” DOES NOT BY ITSELF MEAN “HE IS YAHWEH”
Jesus undeniably possesses:
GLORY.
The New Testament repeatedly speaks about:
THE GLORY OF CHRIST.
But possessing glory does not automatically mean:
BEING THE ONE GOD.
Jesus himself says:
“The glory which You have given Me, I have given them...”
— John 17:22, BLB
Notice something remarkable:
GOD:
GIVES JESUS:
GLORY.
Then Jesus says He has given:
GLORY
to:
HIS DISCIPLES.
Therefore:
RECEIVING GLORY
or:
SHARING GLORY
does not establish identity with:
GOD HIMSELF.
QUICK FACT 20 — JESUS SAYS THE FATHER GAVE HIM GLORY
Jesus prays:
“And now glorify Me, You Father, with Yourself, with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.”
— John 17:5, BLB
Whatever interpretation is given to this verse, notice the relationship:
JESUS:
PRAYS TO:
THE FATHER.
And asks:
THE FATHER
to:
GLORIFY HIM.
Throughout John's Gospel there remains a distinction between:
THE ONE WHO GLORIFIES
and:
THE ONE WHO IS GLORIFIED.
Therefore references to:
CHRIST'S GLORY
do not automatically erase the distinction between:
JESUS
and:
HIS FATHER.
QUICK FACT 21 — JOHN SAYS GOD GLORIFIED HIS SERVANT JESUS
This distinction becomes especially clear elsewhere in the New Testament.
Peter says:
“The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus...”
— Acts 3:13, BLB
Notice:
THE GOD OF ABRAHAM:
↓
GLORIFIED:
HIS SERVANT JESUS.
There are clearly:
TWO REFERENTS.
THE GOD WHO GLORIFIES.
AND:
JESUS WHOM GOD GLORIFIES.
Therefore the fact that Jesus possesses:
GLORY
does not by itself identify Jesus as:
THE GOD WHO GAVE HIM THAT GLORY.
QUICK FACT 22 — JESUS DISTINGUISHES HIS OWN GLORY FROM THE FATHER'S GLORY
Jesus says:
“For whoever shall have been ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He shall come in His glory, and that of the Father and of the holy angels.”
— Luke 9:26, BLB
Notice:
THE SON OF MAN'S GLORY.
THE FATHER'S GLORY.
AND:
THE GLORY OF THE HOLY ANGELS.
The fact that glory can be associated with:
JESUS.
THE FATHER.
AND:
ANGELS
shows that the word:
GLORY
does not itself establish:
IDENTITY OF BEING.
The question must always be determined from:
CONTEXT.
QUICK FACT 23 — ISAIAH CAN SEE THE GLORY OF YAHWEH AND ALSO PROPHETICALLY SEE THE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH
There is no contradiction in saying:
ISAIAH SAW:
THE GLORY OF YAHWEH.
And:
ISAIAH PROPHETICALLY SAW:
THE GLORY OF THE COMING MESSIAH.
Isaiah contains both:
VISIONS OF GOD
and:
PROPHECIES OF GOD'S SERVANT.
John can therefore draw upon Isaiah's writings and explain that Isaiah:
“SAW HIS GLORY AND SPOKE CONCERNING HIM”
without necessarily teaching that:
THE SERVANT
and:
THE GOD WHO SENT THE SERVANT
are the same person or being.
QUICK FACT 24 — ISAIAH HIMSELF DISTINGUISHES YAHWEH FROM THE ONE SENT BY YAHWEH
Consider Isaiah 61.
The speaker says:
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me...”
— Isaiah 61:1
Jesus later applies this passage to Himself.
— Luke 4:18–21
Notice the structure:
YAHWEH:
ANOINTS.
THE MESSIAH:
IS ANOINTED.
YAHWEH'S SPIRIT:
IS UPON HIM.
Again:
THE ONE WHO ANOINTS
is distinguished from:
THE ONE WHO IS ANOINTED.
This distinction appears throughout messianic prophecy.
QUICK FACT 25 — JESUS HIMSELF SAYS HE WAS SENT BY THE FATHER
John's Gospel repeatedly records Jesus saying that:
THE FATHER SENT HIM.
Jesus says:
“My food is that I should do the will of the One having sent Me and should finish His work.”
— John 4:34, BLB
Again:
“My teaching is not Mine, but of the One having sent Me.”
— John 7:16, BLB
Again:
“I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true...”
— John 7:28, BLB
Therefore John's Gospel repeatedly presents:
THE SENDER
and:
THE ONE SENT.
Any interpretation of John 12:41 should remain consistent with this repeated distinction.
QUICK FACT 26 — JESUS IDENTIFIES THE FATHER AS “THE ONLY TRUE GOD”
This statement must also remain part of the discussion.
Jesus prays to His Father:
“Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”
— John 17:3, BLB
Notice:
“YOU”
↓
THE FATHER:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
AND:
“JESUS CHRIST”
↓
THE ONE:
“WHOM YOU HAVE SENT.”
Therefore when interpreting John 12:41, we should not isolate one difficult statement from John's wider Gospel.
John 17:3 provides an explicit distinction between:
THE ONLY TRUE GOD
and:
JESUS CHRIST WHOM HE SENT.
CONTINUED IN:
PART THREE
In Part Three we will examine the strongest form of the Trinitarian argument:
ISAIAH 6:1 SAYS ISAIAH SAW “THE LORD.”
ISAIAH 6:5 IDENTIFIES HIM AS “YAHWEH OF HOSTS.”
JOHN 12:41 SAYS ISAIAH SAW “HIS GLORY.”
SO:
DOES THE NEAREST GRAMMATICAL CONTEXT MAKE JESUS THE YAHWEH OF ISAIAH 6?
We will examine this argument fairly rather than avoiding it.
We will also compare:
JOHN 12:41
with:
JOHN 17:3.
ACTS 3:13.
ISAIAH 42:1.
ISAIAH 53.
ISAIAH 61:1.
AND:
THE NEW TESTAMENT PICTURE OF JESUS AT:
THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.
The question remains:
DID JOHN INTEND TO IDENTIFY JESUS HIMSELF AS YAHWEH—
OR:
IS JOHN SAYING THAT ISAIAH'S PROPHETIC VISIONS AND WORDS ANTICIPATED THE GLORY, SUFFERING AND REJECTION OF GOD'S MESSIAH?
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.
COMPARE THE TRANSLATIONS.
READ THE WHOLE CONTEXT.
TEST EVERY INTERPRETATION.
FOLLOW THE BIBLICAL EVIDENCE WHEREVER IT LEADS.
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