"He saw his glory" Whose glory? John 12:37-45 does NOT claim that "Jesus is Yahweh"
“Deity of Christ” believers have claimed that Isaiah saw
Jesus, the “second person of the Godhead”, in Isaiah’s vision of God recorded in
Isaiah 6. The deity-of-Christ claim is that John 12:41, “Isaiah said this
because he saw his glory and spoke of him” means that when Isaiah saw
God sitting on his throne in a vision, Isaiah saw Jesus.
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There are many interpretive problems that the deity of Christ claim creates, e.g., why didn’t Isaiah see the trinity or the Father on the throne? Israel’s God is the Father (Exo. 4:22, Deut. 32:6, Mal. 2:10, John 8:54, etc.). The prophet Isaiah – he himself who saw the vision - declares several times that Israel’s God is the Father. For example, two times in Isaiah 63:16, and also 64:8: “You, O LORD, are our Father.”
But the
key interpretive error in the deity-of-Christ claim is that John 12:41 “Isaiah…saw
his glory” does not refer to the Lord God’s glory, but to the glory
of the Servant of the Lord God.
Isaiah prophetically saw the rejection of Messiah, but the glory of
Messiah displayed by both the miracles and subsequent exaltation glory of the
Messiah, the Servant of the LORD God.
Again,
in their minds, deity-of-Christ claimants think that John 12 quotes Isaiah 6:1-3,
which describe Isaiah seeing Adonai on his throne high and lifted up with
Seraphim surrounding him. But John does not quote Isaiah 6:1-3.
Instead, John quotes Isaiah 6:10 and Isaiah 53:1 which relate to the people’s
rejection of the message of Yahweh’s Sent Servant in spite of the message being
confirmed by so many miraculous signs. What was true in Isaiah’s day was also
true in Jesus’ day. That is, people rejected the message delivered by Yahweh’s
authorized and empowered Sent Messenger.
John 12
quotes Isaiah 6:10 and 53:1 with reference to the disbelief reaction of some
people to the message and miracles of Jesus. Even with all the miracles, “they
did not believe in him” (John 12:37). This is what Isaiah “saw” in his
prophecies: the rejection of God’s message spoken by God’s servant-messenger,
even though that message was accompanied by miraculous signs.
John
12:38 quotes Isaiah 53:1:
“that
the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, ‘Lord, who
has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’”[1] The arm of the Lord is the work of God
through his sent ones, like Moses, Isaiah, and ultimately Jesus.
John
12:39-40 quotes Isaiah 6:10:
“For
this reason they could not believe, because again Isaiah said, ‘He has blinded
their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes
and understand with their heart, and turn to me, and I would heal them’”[2]
Jesus
is parallel to Isaiah, not Yahweh. Both Jesus and Isaiah were sent by Yahweh
with a message, and that message was rejected by many, especially the leaders. There eyes were blinded and their hearts
hardened to the ministry of the Messiah Jesus.
And further,
“he saw his glory and spoke of him”— in quoting Isaiah 6:10 and 53:1, John
describes not only the rejection but also the subsequent glory of the Messiah.
“Isaiah said this because he saw his (that is, the suffering servant’s, the
Messiah’s) glory and spoke of him (the Messiah).” The Servant of God and his
message would be rejected, and the Servant of God would suffer. But the
miracles themselves displayed the Servant’s glory, and afterward the suffering Servant
would receive glory, a glory given to him by Yahweh (Isa. 52:13; 53:6, 10–12).
This is the glory of the Messiah, God’s sent servant, that Isaiah prophetically
saw and of which Isaiah spoke.
That
Jesus viewed himself as the Sent Servant who spoke and worked for God is clear
as the passage in John 12 continues. Jesus claimed, “He who believes in me does
not believe in me, but in Him who sent me. And he who beholds me
beholds the One who sent me... I have not spoken on My own
authority; but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what
I should say and what I should speak” (John 12:44–45, 49). These declarations
come from the Servant sent by God, who represents God but is not God himself.
In parallel, the context of Isaiah 6:10 is Isaiah, like Jesus, being sent. Isaiah 6:8-9, “’Whom shall I send…? Then I said, ‘Send me!’ And He said, “Go, say to this people…” Again, Jesus is parallel to Isaiah, not Yahweh, because both Isaiah and Jesus were sent by God.
In John 12 the glory of Jesus was given to Jesus (John 12:23, “be glorified”, a passive verb). That is, the glory was not innately Jesus’ glory but was given to him by God. In John 12 Jesus is pondering his own imminent death, which was to come in less than one week. He considers that through his rejection and death, many people would be drawn to him, and that God would be glorified through his faithfulness. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).
The glory with which the Son of Man Servant was to be glorified came through the Son of Man Servant's rejection and death. How? Because the news of the Servant's death still to this day draws people to him and to his God. “’When I am lifted up I will draw all to myself.’ He said this to show by what death he was to die.”
Imagine the glory for being responsible for drawing all people to yourself, to repentance and to the Father. This is (at least part of) the glory of the Suffering Servant that Isaiah saw.
Like Israel and Isaiah, Jesus was God’s servant, the Light of the World: John 12:46, “I have come as Light into the world, that everyone who believes in me may not remain in darkness”. Compare Isaiah 42:6 concerning God’s servant—God’s chosen one, upon whom God put His spirit: “And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations” (Isa. 42:6). Compare Isa. 9:2, “those who sat in darkness have seen a great light”.
Before I finish, let me come back to something I mentioned before. The deity-of-Christ claim about John 12:37-41 creates other interpretive problems and contradictions. We mentioned that even though Israel’s historical belief is that God is Israel’s Father, as the prophet Isaiah himself directly states, Trinitarians want to say that Isaiah saw “God the Son” on the throne. Not the Trinity and not the Father. For some reason Isaiah didn’t see the Father’s glory, or the Spirit’s glory. That claim would probably better fit a Oneness or Modalist view of God, and I see that Oneness/Modalist theologians also appeal to this passage to make Jesus God.
As mentioned, there is no quote of Isaiah 6:1-3 in John 12. Deity-of-Christ readers seem to be
subconsciously, but erroneously, inserting these verses into John 12. This is
because both Isaiah 6:3 and John 12:41 have the word “glory”. But note that the
only glory of Yahweh that the Seraphim proclaim in Isaiah’s vision (6:2-3) was
not glory confined to the throne room of Yahweh; it was the glory of Yahweh that
the whole earth is filled with. The Serafim proclaim: “the whole earth is full
of his glory”. Lands, forests, mountains, rivers, seas, valleys, plants,
animals and mankind. Everyone can see this glory of Yahweh spoken of in Isaiah
6:3. It’s not just a glory that only Isaiah saw. You can look outside your
window right now and see the glory of Yahweh that the Serafim proclaimed.
So again, this is not the glory that John referred to that
Isaiah saw. The glory John says Isaiah prophetically “saw” and wrote about in
Isaiah 6:10 and 53:1 is the people’s reaction to the miracle performing glory and
eventual exaltation of the Messiah, the Servant of the LORD God.
Another
way to say all this is that John 12:37–41 quotes passages from Isaiah
concerning God’s Sent Servant, including the disbelieving reac tion of people
to the teaching and glorious miracles of God’s servant, and the servant’s
eventual exaltation glory. John is referring to events directly associated with
Yahweh's Servant. Isaiah saw his glory,
and spoke of it.
For Isaiah
the prophet, the God of Israel is not the Trinity, and is not a non-biblical “God
the Son.” The God of Israel is the Father, and the whole earth is full of His
glory.
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