What did Isaiah really see? A careful Bible study of Isaiah 6:1 and John 12:41 comparing Yahweh’s throne vision with Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the coming Messiah.
QUICK FACTS:
ISAIAH 6:1 AND JOHN 12:41
DID ISAIAH REALLY SEE JESUS AS YAHWEH GOD?
A CAREFUL EXAMINATION OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TRINITARIAN PROOF TEXTS
INTRODUCTION
John 12:41 is frequently presented as powerful evidence that Jesus is Yahweh, the God whom Isaiah saw upon the throne in Isaiah 6.
The argument is usually very simple:
ISAIAH SAW YAHWEH.
↓
JOHN SAYS ISAIAH SAW “HIS GLORY.”
↓
THE CONTEXT IN JOHN CONCERNS JESUS.
↓
THEREFORE:
ISAIAH SAW JESUS.
↓
THEREFORE:
JESUS IS YAHWEH.
At first sight this can appear to be a powerful argument.
But is that actually what John is teaching?
Does John explicitly say:
JESUS IS YAHWEH?
Does he say:
THE PERSON ISAIAH SAW SITTING ON THE THRONE WAS JESUS CHRIST?
Or is John connecting Isaiah's prophetic visions and words with:
THE GLORY OF THE COMING MESSIAH
and:
THE REJECTION OF THE MESSIAH?
To answer this properly, we cannot isolate:
JOHN 12:41.
We must examine:
ISAIAH 6.
ISAIAH 53.
JOHN 12:37–41.
ISAIAH'S TEACHING ABOUT YAHWEH.
ISAIAH'S TEACHING ABOUT THE SERVANT.
AND:
THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN GOD AND HIS MESSIAH.
QUICK FACT 1 — ISAIAH 6 DESCRIBES A VISION OF THE LORD
Isaiah writes:
“In the year of the death of King Uzziah, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up...”
— Isaiah 6:1
Then the seraphim proclaim:
“Holy, holy, holy, is LORD of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
— Isaiah 6:3
The Hebrew text identifies the one being praised as:
YHWH OF HOSTS.
Therefore there is no dispute that Isaiah 6 concerns:
THE GLORY OF YAHWEH.
The real question is:
DOES JOHN 12:41 IDENTIFY JESUS HIMSELF AS THIS YAHWEH?
QUICK FACT 2 — ISAIAH CONSISTENTLY DESCRIBES YAHWEH AS THE ONE GOD
Before deciding that Isaiah's God is actually Jesus, we should first ask:
HOW DOES ISAIAH HIMSELF DESCRIBE GOD?
Isaiah says:
“O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are the LORD.”
— Isaiah 37:20
Notice:
“YOU ALONE ARE THE LORD.”
Isaiah repeatedly uses this kind of exclusive language concerning Yahweh.
QUICK FACT 3 — ISAIAH SAYS THERE IS NO GOD BESIDES YAHWEH
Isaiah records Yahweh saying:
“I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God.”
— Isaiah 45:5
Again:
“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.”
— Isaiah 46:9
Again:
“Is there a God besides Me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”
— Isaiah 44:8
Whatever theological interpretation we eventually adopt, Isaiah's language is unmistakably:
MONOTHEISTIC.
There is:
ONE GOD.
NO OTHER GOD BESIDES HIM.
QUICK FACT 4 — ISAIAH CALLS YAHWEH “YOUR HOLY ONE”
Isaiah records:
“I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
— Isaiah 43:15
Notice the singular language:
“I.”
“YOUR HOLY ONE.”
“YOUR KING.”
Throughout Isaiah, Yahweh speaks as:
THE ONE GOD OF ISRAEL.
Therefore if someone claims Isaiah teaches that the Messiah is this same God, that conclusion needs to be demonstrated from the text rather than assumed.
QUICK FACT 5 — ISAIAH ALSO SPEAKS OF A SERVANT CHOSEN BY GOD
Now something extremely important happens.
Isaiah does not merely speak about:
YAHWEH.
He also speaks about:
YAHWEH'S SERVANT.
God says:
“Behold My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him...”
— Isaiah 42:1
Notice the distinction:
GOD:
SPEAKS.
↓
GOD HAS:
A SERVANT.
↓
GOD:
CHOSES HIM.
↓
GOD:
DELIGHTS IN HIM.
↓
GOD PUTS:
HIS SPIRIT UPON HIM.
The most natural reading presents:
THE ONE WHO SENDS
and:
THE ONE WHO IS SENT
as distinguishable.
QUICK FACT 6 — ISAIAH 53 ALSO DISTINGUISHES YAHWEH FROM THE SUFFERING SERVANT
This distinction becomes even clearer in:
ISAIAH 53.
We read:
“the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
— Isaiah 53:6
Notice:
YAHWEH:
LAYS THE INIQUITY
ON:
THE SERVANT.
Then Isaiah describes the servant as:
“stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”
— Isaiah 53:4
Again we have:
GOD
and:
THE SUFFERING SERVANT.
This distinction is central to Isaiah's prophecy.
QUICK FACT 7 — THE SERVANT IS THE ONE WHO SUFFERS AND DIES
Isaiah says the servant was:
“pierced for our transgressions.”
— Isaiah 53:5
He was:
“cut off out of the land of the living.”
— Isaiah 53:8
And:
“poured out His soul to death.”
— Isaiah 53:12
The New Testament applies this suffering-servant prophecy to:
JESUS CHRIST.
Therefore Isaiah gives us a powerful prophetic pattern:
YAHWEH:
THE GOD WHO PURPOSES SALVATION.
↓
THE SERVANT:
THE ONE THROUGH WHOM GOD'S SAVING PURPOSE IS ACCOMPLISHED.
QUICK FACT 8 — JESUS HIMSELF DESCRIBES HIS MISSION AS DOING THE WILL OF THE ONE WHO SENT HIM
Jesus says:
“For I have come down from heaven, not that I should do My will, but the will of the One having sent Me.”— John 6:38, BLB
Notice:
JESUS HAS:
A WILL.
↓
THE ONE WHO SENT HIM HAS:
A WILL.
↓
JESUS CAME TO DO:
THE WILL OF THE ONE WHO SENT HIM.
This fits naturally with Isaiah's distinction between:
GOD
and:
HIS SERVANT.
QUICK FACT 9 — JOHN 12 QUOTES TWO DIFFERENT PASSAGES FROM ISAIAH
Now we come to the crucial evidence.
John writes:
“Though He had done so many signs before them, they still were not believing in Him.”
— John 12:37
Then John quotes Isaiah:
“Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
— John 12:38
This quotation comes from:
ISAIAH 53:1.
That is extremely important.
John is explicitly connecting the unbelief surrounding Jesus with:
ISAIAH'S SUFFERING-SERVANT PROPHECY.
But John then gives another Isaiah quotation:
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart...”
— John 12:40
This comes from:
ISAIAH 6:10.
Therefore John deliberately brings together:
ISAIAH 53
and:
ISAIAH 6.
Any serious interpretation of John 12:41 must acknowledge:
BOTH PASSAGES.
QUICK FACT 10 — JOHN THEN SAYS ISAIAH “SAW HIS GLORY”
John concludes:
“Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke concerning Him.”
— John 12:41, BLB
This is the central verse.
The Trinitarian argument is:
“HIS”
refers to:
JESUS.
Therefore:
ISAIAH SAW JESUS' GLORY.
And because Isaiah 6 describes:
YAHWEH'S GLORY,
the conclusion is:
JESUS IS YAHWEH.
But there is an important question:
DOES SEEING THE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH IN PROPHETIC VISION NECESSARILY MEAN THAT THE MESSIAH IS IDENTICAL TO YAHWEH?
That conclusion does not automatically follow.
QUICK FACT 11 — PROPHETS COULD “SEE” FUTURE MESSIANIC EVENTS
Jesus says something remarkable concerning Abraham:
“Abraham your father rejoiced that he should see My day; and he saw it and rejoiced.”
— John 8:56, BLB
Abraham:
“SAW”
CHRIST'S DAY.
But this does not mean Abraham literally saw Jesus physically standing before him during Jesus' earthly ministry.
The language concerns:
PROPHETIC PERCEPTION
of a future reality.
Likewise Isaiah could:
SEE CHRIST'S GLORY
and:
SPEAK ABOUT CHRIST
through prophecy without this automatically meaning:
ISAIAH BELIEVED JESUS WAS YAHWEH.
QUICK FACT 12 — JESUS HIMSELF SAYS THE PROPHETS SPOKE ABOUT HIM
After His resurrection Jesus says:
“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”
— Luke 24:26, BLB
Then:
“having begun from Moses and from all the Prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”
— Luke 24:27, BLB
Notice the connection:
THE PROPHETS:
SPOKE ABOUT CHRIST.
↓
CHRIST:
SUFFERS.
↓
CHRIST:
ENTERS INTO HIS GLORY.
Therefore John saying Isaiah:
“SAW HIS GLORY AND SPOKE CONCERNING HIM”
can naturally be understood within the broader New Testament teaching that:
ISAIAH PROPHETICALLY SAW AND SPOKE ABOUT THE MESSIAH.
QUICK FACT 13 — JOHN 12:41 DOES NOT CONTAIN THE SENTENCE “JESUS IS YAHWEH”
This simple fact matters.
John does not write:
ISAIAH SAW JESUS BECAUSE JESUS IS YAHWEH.
He does not write:
THE LORD SITTING UPON THE THRONE IN ISAIAH 6:1 WAS JESUS.
He writes:
“ISAIAH SAID THESE THINGS BECAUSE HE SAW HIS GLORY AND SPOKE CONCERNING HIM.”
Therefore:
JESUS IS YAHWEH
is:
AN INTERPRETIVE CONCLUSION
drawn from the passage.
It is not:
AN EXPLICIT STATEMENT MADE BY JOHN.
CONTINUED IN:
PART TWO
In Part Two we will examine the strongest challenge to this interpretation:
IF JOHN 12:40 DIRECTLY QUOTES ISAIAH 6:10, DOES “HIS GLORY” IN JOHN 12:41 REFER BACK TO ISAIAH'S VISION OF YAHWEH?
We will examine:
ISAIAH 6:1–10.
JOHN 12:37–41.
ISAIAH 53:1.
THE TWO ISAIAH QUOTATIONS JOHN PLACES TOGETHER.
THE GLORY OF GOD.
THE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH.
AND:
WHETHER SHARING OR REVEALING GOD'S GLORY MAKES JESUS THE SAME BEING AS GOD.
Then we will compare this with the many passages describing Jesus as:
AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.
The central question remains:
DID JOHN REALLY IDENTIFY JESUS AS YAHWEH—
OR:
DID ISAIAH PROPHETICALLY SEE THE GLORY OF GOD'S COMING MESSIAH?
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.
COMPARE THE TRANSLATIONS.
EXAMINE THE ORIGINAL CONTEXT.
TEST EVERY INTERPRETATION.
FOLLOW THE BIBLICAL EVIDENCE WHEREVER IT LEADS.
