That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
That.
John 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
John 19:24,36,37 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did…
Esaias.
2 Chronicles 32:20 And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.
Isaiah.
Matthew 15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
Acts 8:28-30 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet…
Romans 10:20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
who.
Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Romans 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
the arm.
Psalm 44:3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
Isaiah 40:10,11 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him…
Isaiah 51:5,9 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust…
revealed.
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
2 Corinthians 3:14-18 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ…
“Lord, who has believed our message?
This question, originally posed in Isaiah 53:1, reflects the theme of unbelief among the people. Despite the clear signs and teachings of Jesus, many did not accept Him as the Messiah. This disbelief was not unexpected, as Isaiah had prophesied that the message of the suffering servant would be met with skepticism. The rhetorical nature of the question emphasizes the widespread rejection of the truth, a theme that resonates throughout the Gospels.
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
The "arm of the Lord" symbolizes God's power and salvation. In the context of Isaiah, it refers to the deliverance and redemption that God would bring through His servant. In the New Testament, this is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection reveal God's power to save. The phrase suggests that while God's power is evident, it is only truly recognized by those whose hearts are open to His revelation. This highlights the spiritual blindness of those who reject Jesus, despite the clear evidence of His divine mission.
• John points out that the unbelief he has just described (John 12:37) is no surprise—it is part of God’s foretold plan.
• Fulfillment language echoes earlier statements like Matthew 1:22 – “all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken.” Scripture is consistently presented as historically reliable and prophetically precise.
• Isaiah wrote more than seven centuries earlier (Isaiah 53:1), yet his words perfectly align with the response to Jesus in the first century. This harmony illustrates Jesus’ own affirmation in Luke 24:44 that “everything written about Me … must be fulfilled.”
• By rooting the moment in prophecy, John assures believers that apparent setbacks (unbelief) never derail God’s redemptive timeline (Romans 11:7-8).
• Isaiah’s lament becomes John’s commentary on the crowd. Although Jesus has performed undeniable signs, many still refuse to trust Him (John 1:11; 12:37).
• The question underscores the rarity of true faith apart from divine intervention (John 6:44). Paul quotes the same line in Romans 10:16 to explain Israel’s widespread rejection of the gospel.
• Notice the corporate “our message.” Isaiah spoke of the prophets; John expands it to include Jesus’ words and works. Rejection of the message is ultimately rejection of the Messenger (Luke 10:16).
• For readers, the verse invites personal reflection: belief is not merely intellectual assent but wholehearted trust in the One sent by the Father (John 3:36).
• “Arm of the Lord” pictures God’s power in action (Isaiah 52:10; Exodus 15:16). In John’s Gospel that power is embodied in the Son, whose signs reveal divine glory (John 2:11; 12:41).
• Revelation is selective: while the light shines for all (John 1:9), only those granted spiritual sight truly perceive it (2 Corinthians 4:6).
• The same power that raised Lazarus (John 11) will soon raise Jesus; yet some stand unmoved. Scripture teaches that miraculous evidence alone cannot break a hardened heart (Luke 16:31).
• Still, God’s “arm” is graciously extended to anyone who will look and live (Isaiah 45:22; John 3:14-15).
John 12:38 teaches that Israel’s unbelief, far from undermining Jesus’ mission, actually confirms God’s prophetic word. Isaiah foretold a Messiah whose mighty works would be met with widespread skepticism. The fulfillment in John’s narrative reassures believers that God’s purposes stand firm, exposes the tragic cost of unbelief, and highlights our dependence on divine revelation to see and embrace the saving power of Christ.
(38) That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled.--This is the first instance in this Gospel of a phrase familiar to us already from its frequent occurrence in St. Matthew. We shall find it again in John 13:18; John 15:25; John 17:12; John 18:9; John 18:32; John 19:24; John 19:36. Its frequency is one of the characteristics of the two Gospels which are most allied to Hebrew modes of thought. St. Matthew and St. John both regard the events of our Lord's life as fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures. These prophecies foretold what in the divine plan was destined to occur, and therefore the events are regarded as occurring, in order that the will of God, as expressed in the prophecy, may be fulfilled. (Comp. Note on Matthew 1:22.) . . . Verse 38. - In order that the words of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who believed our report? or the message which the prophets have delivered - the prediction they made of a suffering and rejected Christ, of One who would "sprinkle many nations," and in the very "travail of his soul see his seed." To whom was the arm of the Lord revealed? It does not mean that no hearts responded to the appeal, that the voice from heaven fell on no susceptible ears; but that it is one of the anomalies of human life that man does seem so insensible to his own highest interests. Prophets are always wondering at the condition of mankind. Even Jesus marveled at the unbelief of his hearers. The λόγος of Isaiah shows that prophets foresaw the issue of the kind of reception that a people who had been so faithless to Jehovah's lesser manifestations would give to the most amazing of all his self-disclosures. The ἵνα πληρωθῇ must not be explained away, the outline was presented by Isaiah of the reception which the favored but prejudiced and hardened house of Israel gave to Divine revelations. It would be filled in by the events which were then about to be enacted. God's intuition of actual facts, his unconditional foreknowledge of all contingent phenomena, do not necessitate their occurrence so as to deprive sinners of their guilt; yet when they have occurred, the causes which produced the widespread unbelief in the days of Isaiah were seen to be still at work, and to account for the strange incomprehensible mystery that blindness in part had happened to Israel. God works by law, and works freely by men and in them, not only foreseeing the evil and blindness, but positively punishing sin by blindness, taking away from a man that which he seemeth to have. By this means the "altar was built, the wood and the knife" for the great sacrifice. The use made of various portions of this oracle, by the Lord, by evangelists, by the apostles, by the deacon Philip, by Paul and Peter, shows that the early Church regarded it as the detailed description of the character suffering, and work of Christ. It became virtually a portion of the New Testament, and it was practically treated as such by Barnabas (100. 5, 'Ep. to Diog.,' 100. 49) and Justin Martyr (1 'Apol.,' 100. 50). The fifty-third of Isaiah may have been imperfectly understood by its author, may in his mind have had this, that, or the other original reference, and have suffered various Judaic interpretations. Modern criticism may scoff at it as a Messianic prophecy. All this does not touch the patent fact that nearly all the writers of the New Testament and numerous classes in the early Church used it as descriptive of their idea of Christ's work. It thus becomes of priceless value.