Isaiah 40:15-17 - The nations are like a drop in the bucket

40:15

In Isaiah’s days it was the “nations” that were the problem. Yet compared to God they were but a drop in a bucket. In our day there many places where Christians are actively persecuted, but those who persecute them are but drops in a bucket. In the West the whole secular/LGBT agenda is the dominant force in society, yet they too are just drops in a bucket, dust on the scales. They are nothing at all. The nations were judged by God, the forces at work in our society will be judged by God.

40:16,17

Lebanon was a land with many forests, producing much excellent timber. The timber had been used in Solomon’s temple (now destroyed by the Babylonians). The Egyptians had used it for their own sacred purposes, and it was used for the ships of Tyre. Lebanon also had a rich animal life. Yet all this would be unable to provide a sufficient sacrifice. The nations raged against God, first Assyria, then Babylon, but in comparison to God the nations were as nothing at all. They were “less than nothing”. Now this does not mean God did not care about them, but the natural human position would be to regard Babylon as the all powerful nation, the one who decided the course of human history in the region. It did nothing of the sort. Today we need to look at the forces that mock God in the same way. They are absolutely nothing and will come to nothing.