In the exegesis of the early centuries and later, in the Reformation period, it was typical to see in these passages preincarnate appearances of Christ. There is something to be said for this view. Christ himself declared that one of the most stringent assertions of Isaiah was made because the prophet saw Christ’s “glory and spoke of him” (John 12:41). If Isaiah saw Christ’s glory long before the time of the incarnation, Christ might well have manifested himself in a nonincarnate way in the person