The glory of the Lord shall be revealed… Behold your God! Isaiah 40:5, 9
Notice the two key words glory and revealed and how they belong together—“the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” This glory that has been hidden is going to be made known.
It’s like opening a Christmas present. The presents are under the tree and they are wrapped. We know there is something good there, and we think that we know what it is. But we haven’t seen it, and we won’t know for sure what it is, until we tear the paper off. Then the gift will be revealed. That’s the idea here: “The glory of the Lord will be revealed.”
Then Isaiah says, “Behold your God!” (40:9)—look at what has been revealed! When something great and glorious is revealed, you want to look at it. Imagine a person who is given a diamond. She opens the box, sees the sparking jewel, but then she puts it aside, and opens another box that turns out to be candy.
You want to say, “Look at what you just opened! Nothing else that you open will ever come close to this!” The glory of the Lord shall be revealed! Behold your God! So, first there is a revealing (40:5), and then there is a beholding or looking (40:9).
When was the last time you really looked at God’s gift to you in Jesus Christ, turning it around and admiring it like the beauty of a diamond?
