Yehezkiel 1:28

1:28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. ¹  This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw ²  it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.

Yehezkiel 3:23

3:23 So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, ³  and I threw myself face down.

Yehezkiel 9:3

9:3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. ⁴  He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.

Yehezkiel 10:18-19

10:18 Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 10:19 The cherubim spread ⁵  their wings, and they rose up from the earth ⁶  while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord’s temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

Yesaya 6:3

6:3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy ⁷  is the Lord who commands armies! ⁸  His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!”

Yohanes 12:41

12:41 Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ’s ⁹  glory, and spoke about him.

[1:28]  ¹ sn Reference to the glowing substance and the brilliant light and storm phenomena in vv. 27-28a echoes in reverse order the occurrence of these phenomena in v. 4.

[1:28]  ² tn The vision closes with the repetition of the verb “I saw” from the beginning of the vision in 1:4.

[3:23]  ³ tn Or “canal.”

[9:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[10:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “lifted.”

[10:19]  ⁶ tn Or “the ground” (NIV, NCV).

[6:3]  ⁷ tn Some have seen a reference to the Trinity in the seraphs’ threefold declaration, “holy, holy, holy.” This proposal has no linguistic or contextual basis and should be dismissed as allegorical. Hebrew sometimes uses repetition for emphasis. (See IBHS 233-34 §12.5a; and GKC 431-32 §133.k.) By repeating the word “holy,” the seraphs emphasize the degree of the Lord’s holiness. For another example of threefold repetition for emphasis, see Ezek 21:27 (Heb. v. 32). (Perhaps Jer 22:29 provides another example.)

[6:3]  sn Or “The Lord who commands armies has absolute sovereign authority!” The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” In this context the Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. Note the emphasis on the elevated position of his throne in v. 1 and his designation as “the king” in v. 5. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior. He is “set apart” from his subjects in a moral sense as well. He sets the standard; they fall short of it. Note that in v. 5 Isaiah laments that he is morally unworthy to be in the king’s presence.

[6:3]  ⁸ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[12:41]  ⁹ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent supplied here is “Christ” rather than “Jesus” because it involves what Isaiah saw. It is clear that the author presents Isaiah as having seen the preincarnate glory of Christ, which was the very revelation of the Father (see John 1:18; John 14:9).

[12:41]  sn Because he saw Christ’s glory. The glory which Isaiah saw in Isa 6:3 was the glory of Yahweh (typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT). Here John speaks of the prophet seeing the glory of Christ since in the next clause and spoke about him, “him” can hardly refer to Yahweh, but must refer to Christ. On the basis of statements like 1:14 in the prologue, the author probably put no great distinction between the two. Since the author presents Jesus as fully God (cf. John 1:1), it presents no problem to him to take words originally spoken by Isaiah of Yahweh himself and apply them to Jesus.