Questions That Need An Answer (Isaiah 40:12-31) Series

God's not impressed. The nations are nothing before him. God views the nations, like my wife views a tiny bit of dust in her kitchen. It takes just a second to wipe the dust out of a bowl.

Is this how we view every Babylon?

I think it's easy to give the right answer to the question of who can measure the heavens, and earth, and waters. It's easy to say that when you go outside, and look around, you should find yourself in awe of God's power and glory.

But when you live under an oppressive government, especially one that's warmongering, that breaks its promises to other nations, that encourages demonic things like abortion, that throws you in jail for telling people about Jesus or about the realities of man and woman-- I imagine it's hard, in that situation, to believe Isaiah 40:17.

When we look at evil superpowers-- Babylons (in Revelation we talked about how there are many Babylons, many Beast #1s)-- we are a little less confident about God's power.

We will grant that God can measure the oceans, and that he weigh the mountains. But from our perspective, nothing could be bigger, and more powerful, than a human superpower. And so what the prophet calls out here, is LOOK! God looks at the nations, and treats the nations, like they are nothing. Like they are a wasteland of nothingness. In Genesis 1:1, at the time that God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was, in our English translations, "formless and void." That first word, "formless," really means something more like "wasteland." It wasn't usable. It had no function. It was unlivable. Basically, the entire earth was like the Badlands, or vast stretches of Utah or Nevada.

And that's how God views the nations. They're a wasteland. God can make all his plans without worrying about their power, and status. They're nothing. And we should take just a second, at least, and make sure we apply that to the U.S. No matter how impressive we build up this country, verse 17, all the nations are like nothing before God.

So what have we seen so far? (1) God is far greater than his creation. (2) God is far greater than the nations.

So this raises another question that the prophet wants us to consider. Verse 18-20:

(18) and to whom would you liken God/El,

and what likeness would you compare to him?

(19) The molten image a craftsman has poured out,

while a goldsmith with gold he overlays it,

while silver chains he smelts.

(20) The one who is too poor for a contribution/offering, wood that won't rot he chooses.

A skillful craftsman he seeks out for it to set up an image that won't totter.

Who is like God? What is God like?

In the Ancient Near East (ANE), when you hear that question, you'd find yourself thinking about idols. We will have lots to say about idols in the coming weeks, because that's a major theme in this part of Isaiah. So I don't want to give away the goods yet. But the focus here is on the idol-making process. An idol is something made by humans. Today, when you buy a toy, you can flip it upside down and see that it's made in China. Right? Every idol, you can flip it upside down, and see that it was made by some pagan craftsman-- some human-- who did the best he could.