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Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Jesus And The Joy And Freedom Of Isaiah 9

I want to mention something else about Jesus' use of Isaiah 9 in John 8. Isaiah 9:3-4 brings up the themes of joy and freedom from bondage. And after Jesus cites Isaiah 9 in John 8:12, he discusses the themes of freedom (8:32-36) and joy (8:56). The order is reversed from what we see in Isaiah 9. The passage in Isaiah has joy, then freedom, whereas Jesus addresses freedom, then joy. But both freedom and joy are addressed close to John 8:12. And I'm not aware of anywhere else in John's gospel where the two are addressed so close together. There's a reasonable chance that it's just coincidental that Jesus goes on to discuss those themes, and I wouldn't place much weight on it, but I think Jesus' discussion of the themes later in John 8 does add some weight to the conclusion that he has Isaiah 9 in mind in verse 12. The other evidence that he's citing Isaiah 9, which I've discussed many times over the years, is more weighty. The line of evidence I've cited here bears mentioning, though.

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