Isaiah 40:15, commentary and pictures

The verse means that whole nations are tiny before God, like a leftover drop in a bucket and like fine dust on scales, while island lands and coastlands He picks up as a mere trifle. It belongs to the proclamation of Him as the incomparable Creator who measures waters and heavens and weighs mountains, whom none can counsel or liken to an idol, and before whom all nations are as nothing. He is immeasurably great in power, wisdom and understanding, beyond all measuring or comprehending, yet nothing is too small for His notice and He gives strength to those who wait for Him. Beside Him human wisdom, rank, wealth and power are nothing, so people are to humble themselves, not exalt themselves or trust in men, but trust in the Lord alone and learn His ways. Earthly kingdoms and rulers will be called to account and brought low, while God is to be exalted, mighty both to save through Christ and to punish unrepentant transgression.

Words and Context

The nations stand before God as a leftover drop clinging inside a bucket and as fine, small dust resting on scales, weightless and without consequence for the weighing. He lifts the isles, the island lands and coastlands, as a very little thing, a mere trifle, tiny in His hand and in His sight. Beside Him nations and islands together are insignificant, and the image displays His overwhelming greatness against the smallness of all earthly powers.

The comparison belongs to a presentation of God as the incomparable Creator who measures the waters in His hand and metes out the heavens, who weighs the mountains and hills in balances. No one can advise Him or teach Him, for His power, wisdom, and understanding are beyond measure, and He gives strength to those who wait for Him. Together with the verses that follow, the littleness of the nations is set against His greatness to warn against comparing Him with idols. Even Lebanon with its forests is insufficient for burnt offering and its animals insufficient for sacrifice, and all nations before Him are as nothing, less than nothing, and vanity.

The verse forms part of God's call through Isaiah for His church to appreciate her exalted privilege in having the wisdom of the Infinite at her demand. It carries warning that the Lord will not be trifled with. It calls His people to diligent work for repentance and to most earnest work, with promise of strength given to His own people.

God's Greatness and Care

The verse sets forth God as immeasurably great, the infinite One and incomparable Creator who made the worlds and holds the worlds in place, whose power and wisdom and understanding are beyond measure, beside whom the nations are as a drop left in a bucket and as fine dust on scales and the isles and island lands are lifted as a very little thing, a trifle, in His hand. Human greatness and wisdom and power are nothing beside Him, and human powers are small in comparison with His power and majesty. He is mighty both to save and to execute judgment, weighing hills and mountains, and His greatness does not make Him indifferent to sin.

No finite being can fully comprehend or measure His works or counsel Him, for human understanding and importance are limited and human wisdom is limited. Human language cannot define Him, and His ways and purposes and works are past finding out and unsearchable and cannot be traced out, even in the common things of daily life and in the mechanism of the human body. Very few have any true knowledge of Him or truly know Him or grasp how great He is. He is above all science and knows science inexplicable to the greatest human minds. As the living, personal God He is the Author and Ruler and Maker and Ruler of nature.

He shrouds Himself in thick cloud of mystery and conceals more of Himself than He makes known, and His love can never be explained upon natural principles. He has given mysteries that are incomprehensible to command faith and reverence and fear of His power and supreme authority, for if men could fully understand and explain what He has done or can do, they would no longer believe Him to be infinite or trust Him with the interests of their souls. He is not a man to be trifled with, because He is so great. He is still the unchanged mighty God of Israel, just as jealous for His law and His seventh-day Sabbath now as in the days of Ahab and Elijah, so that setting up a false sabbath with its signpost pointing the wrong way has not changed His law, even as Lebanon with all its beasts and animals is insufficient for a burnt offering to Him and all nations before Him are as nothing, less than nothing, and vanity, and therefore earthly powers are powerless against Him and cannot succeed in changing His law.

While so great, nothing is beneath His notice and nothing too small for His attention. He stoops to care for people who are small and undeserving before His majesty, even numbering every hair of their heads. He seeks to instruct finite men to exercise faith in Him and trust themselves wholly in His hands. He gives strength to those who wait for Him.

Judgment and Coming Kingdom

Isaiah 40:15 gives the true lesson in higher education, magnifying God above the nations as a comfort to true believers amid His afflicting judgments coming upon the world near the close of this earth's history. It stands as a declaration from the Lord full of promises, encouragement, and assurance that will certainly be fulfilled, even while earthquakes and storms on land and sea come, with heavy calamities by sea and by railroad. In that time Lucifer, the fallen angel who perverted his higher education, wars against God and all who exalt Him, causing calamities, acting as a mighty deceiver, taking many from the ranks to be deceived, and leading the schools of the world to disregard truth and righteousness. While many who have greatly sinned against God perish physically under these judgments, the sincere, humble, righteous followers of Christ decidedly feel the result and are themselves afflicted, yet if they fulfill the word in these latter days they place themselves where the Lord will surely do all He has promised, so they should not be surprised or discouraged.

The nations and islands are small before God, whose power is beyond measure, who holds the worlds in place and weighs hills and mountains. The God who offers mercy through Christ is mighty both to save and to execute judgment, and His greatness does not make Him indifferent to sin. He will avenge the mercy and love people reject, and every unrepentant transgressor of His law will face punishment. Calvary shows both the value of humanity and the seriousness of accountability, because Christ suffered to redeem people from the law's penalty and the penalty for breaking God's law is proportionate to the price paid to redeem sinners.

Earthly kingdoms, rulers, armies, and worldly glory are not to be exalted, for nations are insignificant before God like dust on a balance. God will call nations to account, bring every kingdom low, and make human authority amount to nothing. God is to be exalted, and Christ the King, the King of the world, is to have His kingdom exalted.

The immense greatness of God beside whom the nations are as insignificant as a drop in a bucket or dust on a balance, and the isles a very little thing in His sight, calls attention to the majesty of the royal Messenger, the Son of God. The earth and its nations are tiny in comparison with the Lord who made the worlds, yet He entered the world He created as its Redeemer and sought to bless and save its people. In humbling Himself to save humanity He was rejected by the world.

Human Humility and Trust

Human greatness, wisdom and power are nothing beside Him, for all nations together are insignificant and weightless before Him and the island lands are tiny in His hand, as a drop of water left in a bucket and as fine dust on a scale beside the One who created and measures the world. Finite beings can only speculate about His ways and works and cannot measure or comprehend Him as the infinite One, so human wisdom is not to be exalted above Him and He is not to be compared with idols, but people are to humble themselves and learn His ways. People remain little before Him regardless of learning, rank, wealth or honor, for a person is only the small dust of the balance, frail and insignificant, and He knows this human weakness.

This littleness is seen clearly when a person is shut in with God, carried out of and away from self, with His peace as a river and His righteousness as the waves of the sea, and feels the precious presence of the Holy Spirit. In a world filled with strife for supremacy, pulling apart, war, animosity and disorganization, human power is nothing and the only hope is to remember that people are His little children. The inclination to exalt self is therefore rebuked and there is to be no self-exaltation in His work, but laboring in simplicity and humility as His little children, learning daily of Him, with humiliation of soul and sanctification of the Spirit, bringing His Word into practical life and revealing Christ's grace in thoughts, words, actions and daily conduct by living the truth, not merely talking and preaching it. Because the nations are nothing beside God, men are not to trust in men or make flesh their arm, for the Lord alone is to be trusted, and the frailty pictured by the small dust calls each person to recognize limits and seek wiser counsel.

In comparison with God human beings are but the small dust of the balance, so the opinions of the world are not worth having and it avails nothing to be praised and glorified by the highest earthly powers. Those powers are nothingness and possess no real power of their own, having nothing to which they are entitled as their own, and with one breath of His mouth and one motion of His hand He can sweep away everything they have, so real power must be looked for beyond honored and wealthy men, and those whose minds reach heavenward find in Him the first cause of all greatness, all honor and all majesty. People and their property are of no weight before Him, for men and possessions are like the small dust of the balance while the world and all it contains belong to Him, so wealth gives no one greater favor with Him, makes Him respect one person above another, or gives excuse for wrongdoing, for He is no respecter of persons. Earthly honors and pleasures are as insignificant as dust on a balance beside the prepared crown of glory for those who labor faithfully and unselfishly for God. Faith in Jesus sinks self into insignificance before the saving work of the crucified and risen Saviour.