Father, glorify thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, I both have glorified and will glorify [it] again.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
The crowd therefore, which stood [there] and heard [it], said that it had thundered. Others said, An angel has spoken to him.
The Father has just answered His Son's prayer out loud from heaven. Everyone hears the sound, but it splits the crowd into two parties, and neither guess comes near the truth.
This was the Father's public answer. It came at the close of the Son's public ministry, matching the voice that had opened it.
The closing testimony of the Son begins with the words, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine." When the Son was about to begin His public testimony, the Father's voice had proclaimed His pleasure in Him. Now, as that testimony is about to close, the Father speaks again. But the Jews had no ear to hear or understand the Father's voice. They had refused the Son's testimony to the Father, and they could not discern the Father's testimony to the Son.
The crowd was not used to hearing heaven speak, so they reached for a natural explanation. One writer notes that a few came nearer the mark than the rest, and still missed it.
Meanwhile this voice came as His witness to the crowd. He did not need it Himself, since He walked in a communion with God that was never broken. Sadly, for them a voice from heaven was a strange and, for most, an unintelligible sound. The crowd said, "It thundered." A few, who still did not clearly recognise it, said, "An angel has spoken to Him."
Commentators differ over the two answers. One refuses to explain the split at all, and treats both guesses as wide of the mark:
As to the question why some said the voice from heaven was thunder, others the speaking of an angel to the Lord, it seems pointless to look for an answer. It was merely guesswork on the part of the crowd, who all fell short of the truth. Unbelief of Him can weaken or get rid of all testimony until He comes in judgment.
Their problem was not their hearing but their ignorance of God. The Son had just prayed, and heaven had just answered. The link should have been obvious.
There was no knowledge of the Father, no real recognition of God. Otherwise they would have seen the hand of God in such an answer to such a prayer. They saw the wonder in answer to "Father, glorify Your name," and they said, "An angel spoke," or, "It thundered." If God gave His thunder, then it was God, the Highest, who answered the words "Father, glorify Your name."
The next verse gives the reason for the voice, and it is not the reason the crowd assumed. Jesus needed no sound from heaven; they did.
The crowd did not know what to think of the voice they had heard. Some said it was a clap of thunder, others that an angel had spoken to Him. Jesus answers, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine." The Father's voice was in His heart. The people needed something their senses could take in, and grace gave it to them.
The contrast between the Son and the crowd is the point. He lived in unbroken fellowship with the Father, so a public sign added nothing to Him.
The Father had given a public witness that the Son was the One through Whom He was glorifying His Name. The people, unused to voices from heaven, speculated about this public witness. Some said it was thunder, others the voice of an angel. The Lord plainly tells them that it was for their sakes: He Himself, always walking in communion with the Father, needed no such public witness.
Scripture records three times when people on earth heard the Father's voice. The hearers did not all gain the same from it.
On three distinct occasions others heard the Father's voice: at His baptism by John (Matthew 3:17); at His transfiguration (Matthew 17:5); and in answer to His prayer, "Father, glorify Your name" (John 12:28). On the first occasion John the Baptist heard it. On the second, Peter, James and John had the privilege of listening to it. On the third, the crowd heard a sound, but it was clear they did not understand what was said.
The same gap between sound and meaning shows up elsewhere. One commentator explains it from the men who travelled with Saul of Tarsus at his conversion:
Comparing this with Acts 9:7, we gather that the men heard the voice. Yet it could also be said that they did not hear the voice, because it conveyed nothing they could understand.
- Prayer. The Son prayed, "Father, glorify Your name." The Father answered out loud at the close of His ministry — the third time people on earth heard that voice.
- Grace. The voice came for the crowd, not for Jesus. He lived in unbroken communion with the Father and needed no sign, so the sound was pure kindness to them.
- Guesswork. Most said thunder and a few said an angel. Both guesses fell short of the truth.
- Deafness. The failure lay in their hearts, not their ears. They had refused the Son's witness to the Father, so they missed the Father's witness to the Son.
- Warning. Unbelief can weaken or get rid of any testimony, however clear, until Christ comes in judgment.