Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40:5

"And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken [it]."
Will the wicked behold the majesty of the Lord?
Contrasting Link: Isaiah 26:10

> Isaiah 26:10 Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
> Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed...

These verses are sometimes presented as a contradiction, but even on the surface they are not a match. The Hebrew word behind "majesty" means "excellent things" (it is used only 8 times in the OT, in Isaiah and Psalms alone, and elsewhere means "pride" or "raging"). The word behind "glory" is a completely different Hebrew word referring to God's splendor.

Isaiah 40:5—Will the wicked behold God’s glory?
Contrasting Link: Isaiah 26:10

Problem: Isaiah declares in this passage that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” However, earlier Isaiah contended that the wicked “will not behold the majesty of the Lord” ( Isa. 26:10 ). How can both be true?

Solution: First, the answer lies in the fact that the wicked do not voluntarily recognize God’s glory, as the godly do. Further, the wicked do not presently recognize God’s majesty, but one day every knee will bow to Him—both the godly and the wicked ( Isa. 45:23 ; cf. Phil. 2:10 ). Understood in this way there is no disharmony between the texts.