Insights From the Ascension of Isaiah

8/8/2019 Insights From the Ascension of Isaiah

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Insights from the Ascension of Isaiah 1

By David J. Larsen

The Ascension of Isaiah is an early Christian document that is thought to have been written sometime in the second century A.D., and is considered a Christian re-working of an older Jewishtradition. It resembles, in some ways, Isaiah 6, but details a much more elaborate vision, inwhich Isaiah is taken, in spirit, through the various levels of Heaven until he reaches the highestHeaven, where he is privileged to behold a vision of the Father, Beloved Son, and Holy Spirit.

It is on this last point that I wish to concentrate, although there are many great insights to begained from studying this amazing text. To see further background info on Ascension of Isaiah,and to read the text (translated from the Greek version), please seehttp://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ascension.html .

Starting in Chapter 6 of the text, Isaiah recounts the vision that saw in which a glorious angelcomes to him, takes him by the hand, and leads him upwards into the heavens. The angeldeclares the purpose of this celestial journey:

When I have raised thee on high through the various degreesYou will see one who isgreater than Iand his Father also who is greater you will see (vv. 7:4, 7-8).

The interpreting angel then takes Isaiah one degree at a time through the first six heavens. Eachheaven has its own angels and guardian who sits on a throne. At each level, Isaiah notices thatthe angels and guardian are much more bright and glorious than those in the previous heaven.They soon become so glorious that Isaiah is tempted to bow down and worship them. His angel

prohibits this, however, telling him:

Worship neither angel nor throne which belongs to the six heavensfor this reason was Isent to conduct youtill I tell you in the seventh heaven. For above all the heavens andtheir angels is your throne set, and your garments and your crown which you shallsee (7:21-22).

Isaiah learned that he was destined for a far higher glory than all that he had seen in the lower heavens. He soon began to notice that he, himself, was becoming more glorious as he ascended.He comments, [F]or the glory of my countenance was being transformed as I ascendedfrom heaven to heaven (7:25).

1 This paper is an amalgamation of two blog posts featured on www.heavenlyascents.com in June, 2008. Seehttp://www.heavenlyascents.com/2008/06/09/isaiahs-heavenly-ascent-to-see-the-father-son-and-holy-spirit/ andhttp://www.heavenlyascents.com/2008/06/12/angelomorphic-holy-spirit/ .


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In the sixth heaven Isaiah beholds an immense number of angels who all had oneappearance praising the primal Father and his Beloved, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. As theangel leads him up to the seventh and highest Heaven, the guardian of the sixth tries to impedehim in a manner that frightens Isaiah, but another voice overrules and permits his entry into

Gods presence, reasoning that his garment is here. Isaiah questions the angel about what has just happened, and the angel responds:

H e who forbade you is he who is placed over the praise of the sixth heaven, and he whogave permission is your Lord, God, the Lord Christ, who will be called Jesus on earth, buthis name you cannot hear till you have ascended out of your body (9:4-5).

Upon entering the seventh Heaven, Isaiah sees in a great light innumerable angels. He sees allthe righteous from Adam including Abel, Enoch, and all those who were with him. They werestripped of their garments of flesh and Isaiah saw them in their garments of the upper world,

and they were like angels, standing there in great glory. He notices that they have their glorious garments, but not their thrones and crowns. He asks his guide why this is, and is told:

Crowns and thrones of glory they do not receive, till the Beloved will descent in the form inwhich you will see H im descend [will descend, I say] into the world in the last days theLord, who will be called Christ. Nevertheless they see and know whose will be the thrones,and whose the crowns when H e has descended and been made in your form , and they willthink that He is flesh and is a man (9:12-13).

Isaiah is then told of the earthly mission of Christ and how all who believe in him will alsoinherit thrones and crowns in the highest Heaven. He then sees a glorious One whom Adam,Abel, Enoch and all the righteous begin to worship. Isaiah also begins to worship Him and istransformed into a glorious angelic being like the others. His angelic guide tells him that this isChrist, the Lord of all the praise-givings which thou hast seen.

Interestingly, Isaiah then sees another Glorious One who was like Him, standing to the left of Christ. The text says:

And I asked: Who is this? and he said unto me: Worship H im, for H e is the angel of the

H oly Spirit, who speaketh in thee and the rest of the righteous (9:36).

Then the spiritual eyes of Isaiah are opened and his is able to see the Great Glory, God theFather, who he had not previously been able to see due to the greatness of His glory.

And my Lord drew nigh to me and the angel of the Spirit and He said: See how it is given tothee to see God, and on thy account power is given to the angel who is with thee. And I


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saw how my Lord and the angel of the Spirit worshipped, and they both together praisedGod. And thereupon all the righteous drew near and worshipped. And the angels drew near andworshipped and all the angels praised (9:39-42).

Isaiah is privileged to behold many other things, including witnessing the Father call Christ todescend to Earth to perform his sacred mission.

This document is simply amazing. It is an authentic early Christian writing that details aheavenly ascent in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are seen as three separate and distinctindividuals. Even the Holy Spirit, who is often relegated to being some type of Power or Influence or Love of God is seen as a distinct angelic figure, the angel of the Holy Spirit.Isaiah witnesses both the Son and the Spirit worshipping the Fatherbeing obviously subordinateto Him.

The Form of the Holy Spirit

Isaiah apparently sees the Holy Spirit as a distinct individual in Heaven, with the form of aman/angel, and distinguishable from the Son and Father.

In light of this depiction, it is curious to note that the Holy Spirit is usually not depicted in thisway, especially not in art, as can be seen in the icon accompanying this post. If anyone knows of a piece of Christian art in which the Holy Spirit is depicted as described in the Ascension of Isaiah, please let me know.

Usually, the Holy Spirit is shown as a dove, based on the story of Jesus baptism found in the

Gospels. Depicting heavenly beings as birds is an ancient custom. But was the Holy Spirit believed to be, in reality, a dove?

As the Trinitarian doctrine developed, there were many arguments over the nature and role of theThird Person of the Trinity. Augustine (De Trin., I, iii, 5) said: In no other subject is thedanger of erring so great, or the progress so difficult, or the fruit of a careful studyso appreciable .

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the following finally became the belief of the RomanChurch:

The Holy Ghost is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity.Though really distinct, as a Person, from the Father and the Son , He is consubstantialwith Them; being God like Them, He possesses with Them one and the same DivineEssence or Nature.He proceeds, not by way of generation, but by way of spiration, from the Father and theSon together, as from a single principle.


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This doctrine declares that the Holy Spirit is, in fact, a separate Person from Father and Son, yetHe is consubstantial with them, being of the same Divine Essence. I have not been able to finda clear declaration regarding the form of the Holy Spirit in Catholic belief.

It is in those faiths which do not profess a fully Trinitarian belief which we find the idea that the

Holy Spirit is synonymous with the Father, or with Christ, that He is the Spirit of God Himself,or that He is simply the Power or Active Force of God. We also find among these the idea thatthe Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one Person. Certainly, those Christians who wrote theAscension of Isaiah and other such documents did not hold this view of the Godhead.

Latter-day Saints, following the teachings of Joseph Smith, believe that the Father, Son, andHoly Ghost are three distinct Persons.

The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as mans; the Son also; but the H olyGhost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit . Were it not so,the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22).

In the Book of Mormon, the Spirit of the Lord, generally understood to be the Holy Ghost, actsas Nephis ang elus i n terpris , guiding him in his vision. Of this Spirit, Nephi says:

For I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man;yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as aman speaketh with another.

In LDS belief, the Holy Spirit is a glorious spirit Personage that has the form of a human being.He would likely look like other celestial spirits that could appear in this world.

A ng elomorphic Holy Spirit

The identity of the Holy Spirit has been a difficult one for Christians. It is clear, however, thatsome of the earliest Christians saw the Holy Spirit as an angelic-type Being separate and distinctfrom the Father and Son, and often subordinate to them. The description of the Holy Spirit inangelic form (angelomorphic) not only appears in the Ascension of Isaiah, but in other documents such as the Shepherd of Hermas and the writings of Justin Martyr. In the Shepherd of Hermas, in the section on the Eleventh Commandment, it says:

When, then, a man having the Divine Spirit comes into an assembly of righteous men

who have faith in the Divine Spirit, and this assembly of men offers up prayer toGod, then the angel of the prophetic Spirit , who is destined for him, fills the man; andthe man being filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks to the multitude as the Lord wishes.

This idea has been discussed by J.R. Levison, The Angelic Spirit in Early Judaism, SBL. SP 34(1995) 464-493; See also his The Prophetic Spirit as an Angel According to Philo, HThR 88(1995) 189-207, and The Spirit in First Century Judaism (AGJU 29) Leiden etalii 1997. See


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also Charles Gieschens discussion of angelomorphic pneumatology in A ng elomorphicChristolo g y: A n tecede n ts an d E a rly Evide n ce (AGJU 42) Leiden/Boston 1998, 114-119.

Just as Christ can be described as an angel, it appears that at least some early Christians saw theHoly Spirit as a being with angelic form as well. He was a distinct entity that could be seen, as

demonstrated by Isaiah observing him worship the Father.

Insights From the Ascension of Isaiah

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