John’s christological reflections on Isaiah 52:13–53:12 have profound
theological and christological implications. Strikingly, not only is Isaiah’s
Servant portrayed as the “lifted up” and “glorified” one (Is 52:12), but also
Yahweh appears on his “exalted” (hypēslos)
and “lifted up” (epairō) throne with
his “glory” (doxa) filling the earth
(Is 6:1–3) as well as he himself being identified as the “exalted” and “lifted
up” one (Is 57:15). This connection between Isaiah 52:12 and Isaiah 57:15 (cf.
Is 6:1) suggests that in Isaiah 52:12 the Servant is exalted to the unique heavenly
throne of God after having suffered and died (Is 53). “The Servant … in both
his humiliation and his exaltation belongs to the identity of the unique God.
This God is not only the high and lofty one who reigns from his throne …; he
also abases himself to the condition of the crushed and lowly (Isa 57:15)”
(Bauckham, 51). Isaiah’s portrayal of the Servant as the one who shares the
divine identity of the lifted-up and glorified God but who is also the one who
suffered and died seems to have informed John’s view of Jesus and his death. In
this connection, it is significant that John brings together Isaiah 53 and
Isaiah 6 in John 12:38–41. Referring to Isaiah 6:1, John says that Isaiah saw
Jesus’ *“glory” (Jn 12:41), whereas in Isaiah 6:1–3 the prophet sees Yahweh
“high” and “exalted” on his throne (Is 6:1). This suggests that in John’s
Gospel the glory of Jesus that Isaiah saw (Jn 12:41) was the glory that the Son
shared with the Father “before the world began” (Jn 17:5; cf. Jn 1:1). The Son
became a human being, and his divine glory was perceived in his humanity (Jn
1:14). As a human being, the divine Son is humiliated at the “hour” of the
cross and dies there, and it is in this event that the Father glorifies his
name and his Son (Jn 12:27–28; 17:1). But it is not as though the Son lost his
glory in the incarnation or the cross event; rather, in the cross Christ’s
divine glory and identity (Jn 1:1, 14) shine through and are revealed anew (Jn
17:5). When John insists that Jesus’ glory and identity are revealed in and
through his cross, Jesus takes on the task of the high and lifted-up Yahweh in
Isaiah 57:15 who humbles himself to minister to the situation of the “lowly of
spirit” and the “contrite” (see Bauckham, 48–51) while always remaining the
glorious sovereign God.
With Jesus’ arrest and death drawing near, in John 12:12–36 he enters
into Jerusalem for the last time. He is welcomed by the Passover crowd “that
had come to Jerusalem to the feast” (Jn 12:12). The crowd cries out Psalm
118:26 and identifies Jesus as the “King of Israel” (Jn 12:13). John’s
quotation of Zechariah 9:9 in John 12:15 (“Look, your king is coming”) follows.
These details make clear that John intends his readers to see Jesus’ entry into
Jerusalem as the entry of Israel’s messianic king. But there is great irony in
John 12: “the hour has come” for this king of Israel to be glorified in death
(Jn 12:23). This prepares readers for the soldiers’ mocking comment hurled at
Jesus at his trial, “Hail, King of the Jews” (Jn 19:3), and Pilate’s question to
the chief priests, “Shall I crucify your king?” (Jn 19:15). (J.
Dennis, “Death of Jesus,” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, ed.
Joel B. Green, Jeannie K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin [2d ed.; Downers Grove,
Ill.: IVP Academic, 2013], 189)
