Isaiah ch.6 demystified.

   Isaiah Saw His Glory:

 A few trinitarians attempt to use Is. 6 and John 12:41 as trinitarian evidence.  They point out that Isaiah "saw" Jehovah (Is. 6:5).  And at John 12:41 John says that Isaiah said the things quoted at John 12:38 and 12:40 "because he saw his glory and spoke about him" - NEB.  Although these few trinitarians tell us it's very clear that John 12 is all about Jesus, and, therefore, the glory of Jehovah seen by Isaiah is really the glory of Jesus --- it's not quite that "clear."

First, John 12 is not entirely about Jesus alone.  We find several references in it to the Father (12:26, 28, 49, 50).  Therefore, when John speaks of "his glory," he could mean either the Father's glory or the Messiah's glory.

Let's examine the scriptures in question - Jn 12:37-41 (NEB):

"In spite of the many signs which Jesus had performed in their presence they would not believe in him, for the prophet Isaiah's utterance had to be fulfilled:

"`Lord, who has believed what we reported, and to whom has the Lord's power been revealed?'

[John is quoting Is. 53:1.  Is. 53 is well-known as a reference to the Messiah's suffering and dying for mankind and it also clearly shows that the Messiah is not Jehovah - Is. 53:2, 4, 6, 10.]

"So it was that they could not believe, for there is another saying of Isaiah's:

"`He has blinded their eyes and dulled their minds, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their minds, and turn to me to heal them.'

"Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him."

So whose glory did John say Isaiah had seen?  The glory of the Messiah (Is. 53 and other places in Isaiah) or God's glory (Is. 6 and other places in Isaiah)?

Jn 12:41 in the very trinitarian  NIV Study Bible, 1985, Zondervan:  "Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him."*  And the footnote for this verse in this trinitarian study Bible says concerning Jesus' glory in this verse:

".... The thought of glory here is complex.  There is the idea of majesty, and there is also the idea (which meant so much to John) that Jesus' death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection and exaltation show his real glory.  Isaiah foresaw the rejection of Christ, as the passages quoted (Is. 53:1; 6:10) show.  He spoke of the Messiah both in the words about blind eyes and hard hearts, on the one hand, and about healing, on the other.  This is the cross and this is the glory, for the cross and the resurrection and exaltation portray both suffering and healing, rejection and triumph, humiliation and glory."

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*   The ETRV says: "because he saw his (Jesus') glory.  So Isaiah spoke about him (Jesus)."  The GNB says: "because he saw Jesus' glory...."  The NLV says: "Isaiah said when he saw the shining-greatness of Jesus..."   The LB says: "for he had seen a vision of the Messiah's glory."  Phillips says: "because he saw the glory of Christ..."  And the NAB (`70) says: "because he had seen Jesus' glory...."
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The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of John, Vol. 2, by famed trinitarian scholar and Bible translator Dr. William Barclay, 1975 ed., p. 81, also tells us:

"Again and again in the fourth Gospel Jesus talks of his glory in connection with the cross.  John tells us in 7:39 that the Spirit had not yet come because Jesus was not yet glorified, that is to say, because he had not yet died upon his cross.  When the Greeks came to him, Jesus said:  `The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified' (John 12:23).  And it was of his Cross that he spoke, for he went on to speak of the corn [kernel] of wheat which must fall into the ground and die.  In John 12:16 John says that the disciples remembered these things after Jesus had been glorified, that is after he had died and risen again.  In the Fourth Gospel it is clear that Jesus regarded the Cross both as his Supreme glory and as the way to glory."

So we see noted trinitarian scholar Dr. William Barclay also explaining that Jesus' sacrificial death was understood by John to be Jesus' Glory.  Isaiah saw that Glory (sacrificial death) and told of it in his writing (including Is. 53).

[Additional information by Timo Koonstra (Belgium):

May I add something a friend of mine discovered:

The glory referred to may well be near the Isaiah 53 passage, and even clearer just before verse 1, namely 2:13, 14 where the word glory is used three times in the LXX (doxa), twice as a verb. Since the chapter break between chapter 52 and 53 is very badly chosen, I feel this is what John had in mind.

I quote these Isaiah verses from an English translation of the LXX:

(52:13) Behold, my servant shall understand, and be exalted, and glorified exceedingly. (14) As many shall be amazed at thee, so shall thy face be without glory from men, and thy glory shall not be honoured by the sons of men.  (15) Thus shall many nations wonder at him; and kings shall keep their mouths shut: for they to whom no report was brought concerning him, shall see; and they who have not heard, shall consider.  (53:1) O Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 

I think this fits very well with what John stated.