Transcript

One preacher once said that in 1970 a Sunday school teacher changed his life with a simple illustration. The teacher said, “Let’s assume the distance between the earth and the sun (92 million miles) was reduced to the thickness of this sheet of paper.

If that is the case, then the distance between the earth and the nearest star would be a stack of papers 70 feet high. But the diameter of the galaxy would be a stack of papers 310 miles high.”

Then the teacher added, “And the Milky Way galaxy is just a speck of dust in the universe. And Jesus Christ holds all the universe together by the word of His power.”

Finally, the teacher asked her students, “Now, is this the kind of person you receive into your life to be your assistant?” Christ is not an Advisor, an Assistant, an Aide, a Co-Pilot for our lives. He is Lord. We are called to humbly submit to Him and allow Him to rule, direct, and lead our lives by His Word. We are wise to do so.

The object in the following verses is to show the greatness, power, and majesty of God. And it leaves no doubt about this. At the same time, the point of this passage is to show that this great and infinite God cares deeply about each of our lives.

Sometimes it is taught that God isn’t interested or involved in our day to day life, that He is too great to care about such small, mundane things.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Rather we learn from Scripture that in His greatness, attributes and character, it is impossible for Him not to know us, always be there, and to be involved in our lives.

There’s so much here in Isaiah 40 that we’ll be looking at this passage in two parts. This is a special portion of Scripture. I hope you’ll enjoy our walk through it together.

Isaiah 40:12-14: “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

Isaiah 40:12-14: “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

By a series of questions the prophet emphasizes the greatness of Almighty God. The implied answer to all of them is, “No one.” The first question “Who hath measured” is designed to imply that the thing referred to was something that could NEVER be done by man.

And the point is, that though this is a work which surpasses human power or wisdom or ability, yet this is something that is easily done by God.

The words, “the hollow of His hand,” means a cupped hand, forming a hollow in one hand by which water can be taken up.

The idea is that God can take up and hold all the water in all the deep, vast and mighty oceans, and all the waters in the lakes, streams, and rivers in all of the world, in the hollow of the palm of His hand.

As we take up the smallest quantity of water in our hand, all the waters of the world are all that small to Him and that easy to measure.

The next question is, “Who hath…meted out heaven with the span.” Turning heavenward to measure it now, the prophet says God “meted out” or measures heaven with “the span.”

This is also speaking of a hand, and speaks of the span of a hand. A span denotes the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger. So when God looks at the universe with its trillions upon trillions upon trillions of miles of space, it’s size and space being numbers that we can’t even fathom, He says, “It’s about this big.”

God measures the vast, endless universe, with its zillions of miles, as one measures the smallest of objects with the span of their hand, which is usually about 9 inches.

So the thought that should come to our minds is that if God measures out the infinitely big universe with a span of a hand, who can measure Him? He is really, really big! He is immeasurable.

The next question posed by the prophet is, “Who hath…comprehended [or calculated] the dust of the earth in a measure.” “Measure” here means “the third part of a grain measure.”

The idea is that God is so great that He can measure all the dirt of all the earth as easily as a small quantity of grain is measured. All the dirt and dust of the earth, is just like a small scoop of grain contained in a small measure.

Next, “Who hath…weighed the mountains in scales.” God is all-knowing and so mighty He can weigh the massive, gigantic mountains of the world. Now if you’ve ever been to the Rocky Mountains and seen those beautiful, majestic, high mountains, it is astounding to think that God knows how much each of them weigh.

As easily as we pick up and weigh light objects on scales, or on a balance, God can pick up mountains and weight them on His scale. They’re miniscule to Him.

God knows how much His mountains weigh. All of these things are things impossible for man to do and know. But they’re simple to God.

Verse 13 asks the question “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has taught Him?” In other words, what superior being has ordered, instructed, or given Him His understanding? God is supreme. There’s no one above Him.

No one has directed, instructed, counseled or guided Him. God is untaught. He is independent and infinite in His wisdom.

“No one” is the answer to all the questions in verses 13-14: “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord?” No one. “Or as His counselor has taught Him?” No one. “With whom took He counsel?” No one. “Who instructed Him?” No one. Who “taught Him in the path of judgment.” No one. Who “taught Him knowledge.” No one. Who “showed to Him the way of understanding.” No one. Easy questions. We could all pass this test.

God’s plans are His own, and have all been formed by Himself alone. No one counsels or teaches God. He is not dependent for counsel on men or angels. No one is qualified to instruct Him. This being so, our logical thought should be that we should all confide in His wisdom and knowledge, which is the highest of all, and not in man’s.

We should find our counsel for our lives from Him who has supreme wisdom and we find this wisdom and knowledge and counsel in His Word. The Bible is the revelation of God’s mind and heart to mankind. In it, we find true wisdom for our lives.

God is the possessor of absolute might, and of absolute wisdom. God’s wisdom is incomparable. All His works of providence and creation with all its complexity and design were and are performed without outside help in His own wisdom.

These things teach us where to find wisdom and power for life and it teaches us to trust Him, knowing and believing that His plans are infinitely wise, and that He alone is qualified to be our Guide for life, and that in Him alone is where life’s purpose is found.

Isaiah 40:15-17: “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

“And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.”

The passage turns here from exalting God as Creator to exalting Him as Lord and Ruler of the world.

Superpowers, mighty nations strike mankind as great and powerful and strike them with awe and wonder. But powerful and mighty nations of the world are insignificant in comparison to the Lord’s greatness and power.

It is God that should strike us with awe and wonder. God says the nations of the world are like “a drop of a bucket.”

Their power is as insignificant as a drop in a bucket to Him. A single drop of water that falls from the bucket has no power, and compared with the waters of the ocean it is as nothing. The power of the nations is no power, is nothing, in comparison with God.

The supposed power of the nations is as light as carrying a bucket with a single drop of water, and their power does not even threaten God.

And the great masses of people of the nations over whom God rules are no more burden to Him also than a single drop of water in a bucket is a burden to a person who carries it.

Have you ever heard that question or hear people wonder, “How does God hear all the prayers of all the people in the world? How can He hear them all at once?”

This idea in our small minds seems hard or impossible. But this is simple with God. If everybody prayed at the same time, attending to seven billion prayers at once would be no problem at all for our all-knowing, all-powerful God.

God is timeless and has all the time in the world. You have God’s full attention at all times. There is NEVER a time when God does not have His eyes on you, when His care of you ever falters, when He does not hear you.

Isaiah says here that the nations “are counted as the small dust of the balance.” I like this one! Dust collects on everything. That’s part of our chores of life is to regularly dust off things.

What Isaiah is saying here is that the weight and power of nations is no more than the weight and power of the small, fine dust which collects on the best finished and most accurate balance or scales. This dust has absolutely no effect in making the scales uneven, that dust doesn’t make that scale move at all.

And the power of nations is like that with God, it is as light as dust. It has no power in comparison to God and has absolutely no effect on the execution of His plan and purposes. God is in control.

So when the Anti-Christ raises up his army of millions against the Lord at the Battle of Armageddon and fills Israel from top to bottom with his great multitude, thinking that there is power in numbers, and He comes to fight against Christ, the One who is being described here, He doesn’t stand a chance. He and his army will be obliterated.

Man in his pride, however, often overestimates their power and underestimates God’s.

Verse 16 speaks of Lebanon. The mountain ranges of Lebanon at the time of Isaiah abounded in magnificent trees and forests, and they were filled with wild animals.

Isaiah, of course, was writing under the law at the time when they offered animal sacrifices to God. And what he is saying here is that God is so great and worthy of so much worship that even the large wood and animal resources of Lebanon were insufficient for appropriate, worthy burnt offerings to the majesty and glory of God.

Even if all that wood was cut down to be burned, and even if all those animals were offered in sacrifice, it would not be an appropriate expression of what was due to God.

Everything and anything by which mankind could express his adoration and worship of the exalted One comes incomparably short of His exaltation and glory.

In light of His greatness and majesty, again Isaiah repeats how “all nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity [meaningless].”

He actually reinforces the argument that even if you were to put “all” of them together, they and their supposed strength and glory are nothing and less than nothing before Him.

Again, this denotes the utter emptiness and insignificance of all nations and their power and glory as compared with God and His true power and glory. There’s no comparison.

This teaches us we should not put all our hopes, trust, and dreams in a nation or in this world, because we’ll be disappointed if we do. But we’ll never be disappointed by putting our trust, dreams, and all our hopes in God.

Isaiah 40:18-21: “To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

“He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?”

Isaiah hits at a core problem in Israel at the time here: idolatry. This was a continuous problem for Israel in her past when you read the Old Testament.

Isaiah, a prophet and mouthpiece of God, asks Israel a question: “To whom then will ye liken God?” Since God is matchless in His Person, since He is so great, what could possibly resemble Him? What form can be made like Him?

What manmade image could ever portray a God so great? What image could ever capture the greatness of the One who made the galaxies and all things, who is greater than all?

Isaiah shows how absurd it was to suppose that there could be any manmade representation of the true God. Then he turns to the folly of Israel’s idol worship of false gods.

We should be careful not to think that idolatry was something only done in the past. Idolatry is still with us. It is in this country in various forms, and it is pervasive around the world.

In verse 19, we’re shown how the rich man has his idol formed and fashioned with precious metals: with gold and silver. In verse 20, we’re shown how the poor man chooses “a tree that will not rot,” and has his made from wood, and then has it carved.

And then the prophet lays into them as to the folly and sheer stupidity of regarding idols as objects of worship. Israel should have known better that these are not the true God.

And he incredulously asks Israel “have ye not known, have ye not heard” of the greatness of God’s Person and power as they had heard and learned from God’s Word?

Had they not been told “from the beginning” of their lives when they were children when they were taught about the true and living God?

Had they “not understood” from seeing the wonder, detail, complexity of the creation every single day of their lives that there is a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, living and real?

They had had irrefutable evidence daily of learning His existence and of knowing of His majesty and glory. They were without excuse. They had abundant opportunity to know of the existence and majesty of God. So do we!

As Paul says in Romans 1:20 about the continuous witness of creation: “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Every day the creation is a witness to us of God and His eternal power.

Every person lives every waking moment of their life under the constant reminder of God’s presence, sovereignty, power. Unbelief, pride and exaltation of man’s wisdom cause humanity to miss God’s persistent message.

Psalm 19:1-4 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”

Psalm 19 says that the heavens give a constant, flowing, pouring forth speech, and the heavens show and make known knowledge continuously.

God speaks through what He has made, and means for all to hear what He has to say. What we see when we look up, the sky and the heavens, speak to us of design, power, and knowledge. The heavens don’t whisper this, they shout it clearly.

And it does so continually. God is talking to the world all day and all night, every day and every night, everywhere in the world by His creation.

There is never a moment during day or night when creation ceases to speak, flow, pour forth and breathe out its witness to God’s glory.

God speaks to ALL the inhabitants of the earth by means of His creation. Creation is God’s “wordless book,” that everyone can read, hear and understand.

The implications of God speaking to everyone in the world by His creation demonstrate that God is concerned for the world. He wants all the world to know Him. He loves the world. So He pours out knowledge of His existence and glory for the world.

The reach of the heaven’s voice is universal. There is no one who fails to hear it. You can also see God’s glory reflected in the mountains, oceans, forests, flowers and wildlife, but not everyone who lives on earth will ever see the ocean or a mountain or certain types of animals. But everyone can see the sky, the sun and the stars.

The message of the skies is the glory of God, that God is marvelous in His perfections, awesome in His power, beyond comprehension in His wisdom and knowledge. The message of the heavens is: “You think we’re glorious, you should see the One who made us!”

Isaiah 40:1-11 teach us that this description of God in this chapter is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God. He is all-wise and all-powerful. He is the Creator of all things.

Listen to the passage as I read a portion of these verses: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it….

“O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

“Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” And so on into the passage we are looking at.

The chapter opens with a message of comfort. In verse 3 we see “the voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness” which is a prophecy of John the Baptist, and this leads into a prophecy of the coming of the Lord God, which then goes right into this description of the greatness of the One who was coming to Israel. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

When He came, the glory of the Lord was revealed, it was “Behold your God!” Everything we have looked at here is a description of Christ. He is the massive, majestic, all-glorious God that is portrayed here.

The Apostle Paul says of Him, “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

And it is mind-boggling to think that He, this great God, would willingly come to this world to take on flesh, become a man forever for us, to make Himself of no reputation, take upon Him the form of a servant, humble Himself, and become “obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross” as Philippians 2 explains.

He came for the Cross, He came into the world to save sinners. He came to be the “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

That shows us the depth of His care. He came to provide the payment for our greatest need, our sins, so that we might be saved from hell and spend eternity with Him.

If you ever wonder “Does God care about my life?” just look at the Cross.

The Cross is an eternal reminder of God’s infinite love and care. And that care for us doesn’t just stop with the Cross, He cares about every step we take in life and is there for us and with us all the way.

The Bible is a reminder of God’s care as well. He has given us His Word so that we might know Him, find salvation, live by His wisdom and truth and according to what is best for each of our lives, so that our lives will be transformed by His grace.