Having quoted these two passages—Isaiah 53:1 and 6:10—John makes a
stunning assertion: “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and
spoke of him” (John 12:41). John says that Isaiah saw Jesus when he saw both
the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and the enthroned and exalted king of Isaiah
6, and John says that Isaiah wrote of Jesus in these two chapters. For John,
the OT is about Jesus (cf. John 12:16).
It is not difficult to establish that Isaiah did indeed envision a
king from David’s line who would be closely identified with Yahweh, and through
whom Yahweh would accomplish the hoped-for new exodus that would bring about
the return from exile (cf. Isa. 9:6; 11:1–16). Nor is it difficult to establish
that Isaiah conceived of that Davidic future king’s bringing about the new
exodus through his own personal suffering, according to the pattern of the
suffering of Joseph, Moses, and David, after which he would be exalted and
would bring deliverance.
John’s interpretation of Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 6, therefore, and his
application of these passages to the rejection of Jesus, is perfectly in
keeping with Isaiah’s intention. Jesus is the king from David’s line through
whose suffering and exaltation God has accomplished the new exodus and
initiated the return from exile, and thereby the arm of the Lord has been
revealed in Jesus (Isa. 53:1), who has set in motion the redemption that will
culminate in the removal of the hardening described in Isaiah 6 (cf. Rom.
11:25–32). Yet in spite of all he did, the people did not believe in Jesus.
Remarkably, even their unbelief was a part of OT fulfillment.
John narrates a further tragic reality in 12:42–43. Jesus convinced
many, even from the authorities, with the result that they believed in him, but
they were unwilling to confess because they feared the Pharisees. Confession in
this context must refer to a public indication that one believes Jesus to be
the Christ and a willingness to be persecuted along with him. We see that
persecution in the statement in verse 42 of what those who did not confess
avoided—they avoided expulsion from the synagogue (cf. 9:22).
Those who refused to confess were confronted with a choice: confess
Jesus or be accepted in the synagogue, and they chose to be accepted in the
synagogue. They were false to themselves, false to Jesus, false to those in the
synagogue whose favor they kept, and false to the truth.
John explains the wretched motivation for their choice in 12:43: they
loved the glory they received from human beings more than the glory of God.
They preferred their reputation among people to being right with God and
enjoying his munificence. They chose the temporary rather than the eternal, the
paltry instead of the substantial, the unworthy instead of the worthy, folly
instead of wisdom, sickness rather than health, failures instead of the
Almighty, sinners instead of the holy, the fickle instead of the faithful, the
squalid in favor of the splendid, and death rather than life. (James
M. Hamilton Jr., and Brian J. Vickers, John-Acts [ESV Expository
Commentary 9; Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2019], 215-16)
