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Name:
Angela
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Joined:
Jan 24, 2008
Latest Activity:
Jan 24, 2008
About Me:
"Lord-here [Isa 6:1] Adonai, Jehovah in Isa 6:5; Jesus Christ is meant as speaking in Isa 6:10, according to Joh 12:41. Isaiah could only have "seen" the Son, not the divine essence (Joh 1:18). The words in Isa 6:10 are attributed by Paul (Ac 28:25, 26) to the Holy Ghost. Thus the Trinity in unity is implied; as also by the thrice "Holy" (Isa 6:3)."
To better grasp what is being relayed by St. John's profession in Jn 12:41, Ps 11:4; 102:16; & Rev 21:5 in the NWT also cross references Is 6:1. These vs. speak of or imply that He Who sits upon the throne is "Jehovah", who is to appear in His glory. Likewise, 2 Chr 18:18 speaks specifically of Jehovah as seated upon the throne, cross referencing both Is 6:1 & Eze 1:26, which clarifies that upon the throne, there was a "likeness of someone in appearance like an earthling man upon it". Therefore, Matthew Henry reasons that:
"In Christ Jesus, God is seated on a throne of grace" .
While the Society has specifically commented on the content of Jn 12:41 only three times since 1950, they hold that the vision spoken of is that of "Jehovah and of the prehuman Jesus", despite context demanding reference solely to the Son:
John 12:41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory, and he spoke about him. 42 All the same, many even of the rulers actually put faith in him, but because of the Pharisees they would not confess [him], in order not to be expelled from the synagogue.
First, the Society's reasoning would suggest that confessing Jehovah would expel one from the synagogue! Who was mentioned in Isaiah's vision:
Isaiah 6:1.. I, however, got to see Jehovah, sitting on a throne lofty and lifted up, and his skirts were filling the temple... 5 And I proceeded to say: "Woe to me! For I am as good as brought to silence, because a man unclean in lips I am, and in among a people unclean in lips I am dwelling; for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of armies, himself!"
This reaction of Isaiah was repeated by Peter when after miraculously catching a multitude of fish at the hands of Christ, he fell down to His knees saying, "Depart from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord" (Lk 5:8). The mere presence of Divinity is enough to make man crumble in recognition of his faults, Isaiah 64:6, for example.
Second, while the NWT renders Is 6:1 as applicable to "Jehovah", Barnes' Notes explains:
"The Lord - In the original here the word is not יהוה yehovâh but אדני 'ădonāy... Here it is applied to Yahweh; see also Psalm 114:7, where it is also so applied; and see Isaiah 8:7, and Job 28:28, where Yahweh calls himself 'Adonai.'"
Thirdly, while the Society holds that with Jehovah, Isaiah saw the "prehuman" Jesus, they also teach that Jesus was not made "Lord" until human existence. In Mt 22:42, Jesus asked the Pharisees "whose Son is the Christ", in response they declare, "David's". Christ refers to Ps 110:1, "The utterance of Jehovah to my Lord is, sit at my right hand...'", and proceeds to ask, "How, then, is it that David by inspiration calls him 'Lord'" (Mt 22:43)? Although the Pharisees did not dare to respond (vs. 46), the Society reasons that, "Jesus thus proved that he was David's 'Lord' whom Jehovah addressed, because Jesus was David's son and was to be made 'Lord' over David". But how, then, did Isaiah refer to Him as "Lord" while the Society explains that Isaiah bore witness to His prehuman existence?
It is unlikely that He who was seen and identified as "Jehovah" in Isaiah's vision was the Father, as the interpretation of the Society tends to demand. It is understood that the early Jews held similar supposition. Justin Martyr, Athanasius, Jerome, & numerous other doctors of the early Church regarded as authorization the witness of Isaiah's death as described in the Pseudepigrapha of the 2nd century B.C., as the canon does not account for his death. In 5:11-15, we read that Manasseh ordered Isaiah to be seized & cut in half with a wooden saw; a means of death which was alluded to in Heb 11:37. Vs. 15 is clear that Manasseh had chosen such a death in the case of Isaiah, "because of the things which he had seen concerning the Beloved", possibly a misinterpretation of Exodus 33:20's statement: "No man shall see me and live".
Country:
United States
Music:
I LOVE it!
Books:
Wisdom, Isaiah, and John =)
It is said about Augustine Hippo that the question about the Trinity, how to understand it, bothered him. Then Christ appeared to him as a man while Aug. was walking alongside the shore, and told him not to worry about understanding it. ... This is what I was told. I also think that the Trinity concept has varied over time. Maybe the concept 1900 years ago was not what we NOW believe it is, or quite as explained by the RCC today.
Sometimes a very basic question is a good way to illustrate a problem; a starting point, like a door, an entry.
I listened to your Irish music and liked it. My newly featured video is way wilder but reflects very well on my mood right now.
Remain sage and safe!
BTW, you should watch my featured video... it's a great song! I used to watch him every year at the Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival until he passed, that festival kind of stinks without him =(