Is the Lord Jesus Jehovah (JHWH)?

God/Jesus Christ

40“He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they will not see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and be converted, and so I will not heal them.” 41These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke about Him.

– John 12:40-41

5Then I said,

“Woe to me, for I am ruined!

Because I am a man of unclean lips,

And I live among a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies.”

– Isaiah 6:5

3

1“Behold, I am sending My messenger, and he will clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of armies.

– Malachi 3:1
(NASB® © 2020)

Some people have difficulty seeing the Lord Jesus as the Jehovah (Yahweh) of the Old Testament. But there are some passages that clearly prove this. One impressive passage can be found in John 12, where the evangelist John complains that the Jews did not believe in him despite the many signs that Jesus performed. He finds an explanation for this in Isaiah 6, from which he quotes: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.” He then adds the remarkable words: “These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him” (John 12:40-41).

Who is John referring to when he speaks of “His glory” and of “Him”? Of course, the Lord Jesus, in whom the Jews did not believe. After all, this passage is about Him. And whose glory had Isaiah seen? “I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts’” (Isaiah 6:5).

The one who sits there in Isaiah 6 on a high and lofty throne, before whom the seraphim proclaims: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” and in whose presence Isaiah becomes aware of his uncleanness and unworthiness, so that he has to exclaim: “Woe is me! For I am lost,” is none other than Jesus of Nazareth! J. G. Bellett writes: “Had the enlightened eye of the prophet Isaiah been able to follow Jesus as he wandered through the towns and villages of the Jewish land, he would have been carried away to unceasing worship!”

Five further proofs:

  1. “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts (Malachi 3:1).
    “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You” (Mark 1:2).
    The statement about the LORD (Jehovah/Yahweh) refers Mark directly to the Lord Jesus when he began his public ministry.
  2. God reveals Himself to Moses in Exodus 3 in a flame of fire from the middle of the burning bush. He does this with different names:
    In verse 2, as the Angel of the LORD (Jehovah/Yahweh), in verse 4 and verse 7, as the LORD (Jehovah/Yahweh), in verse 6, as the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, in verse 6 as God, and in verse 14 as the “I AM WHO I AM.”
    Here we learn, among other things, that:
  • … the Lord Jesus revealed Himself in the Old Testament as the Angel of the LORD (Jehovah/Yahweh). For the Angel of the LORD is the LORD (Jehovah/Yahweh) Himself;
  • … the Lord Jesus is God (see also John 1:1; Romans 9:5; 1 John 5:20);
  • … the “I AM” of the Old Testament is the “I AM” of the New Testament. For the Lord Jesus presents Himself there as the “I AM” (John 6:35, 48, 51; 8:12 and others);

3. the verse from Isaiah 53:1 is applied directly to the Lord Jesus in John 12:38;

4. the return of Christ (Acts 1:11) is attributed to Jehovah in Zechariah 14:4;

5. the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3-5 is applied directly to the Lord Jesus in Luke 3:3-6.

It pleased the Lord Jesus to hide His glory under the cloak of the servant’s form in order to die for sinners. This might tempt some people not to see in Him who He really is: the LORD of hosts, the eternal Son, God praised forever and ever! The Lord Jesus is the Jehovah (or rather JHWH) of the Old Testament!

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