Isaiah 40:12 - Meaning and Application

The purpose of these verses is to show how great and glorious the Lord Jehovah is, the God and Savior of Israel. This truth is set before the people for several reasons. It comforts the captives in Babylon and calls them to hope in him and depend on him for rescue, even if they are weak and their enemies are strong. It also calls them to stay faithful to him and not turn after other gods, because none can compare with him. And it gives everyone who hears the good news of redemption through Christ a holy sense of awe and reverence toward God.

Even though Isaiah says, “Behold your God” (Isaiah 40:9), and says that he will feed his flock like a shepherd (Isaiah 40:11), God’s gentle care should never make us forget his greatness. His kindness does not lessen his glory. We should see how great our God is, and stand in fear before him.

His power has no limits, and no creature can match it, much less fight against it (Isaiah 40:12). He has a vast reach. If we look at the skies, we are amazed at their size, yet God measures the heavens with a span. To him they are only as wide as the spread of his hand. He also rules the whole earth and sea. He can measure all the waters in the world in the hollow of his hand, where we can hold only a little. He can also handle the dry land easily, for he measures the dust of the earth with a small measure, or with three fingers. What is more than a handful to us is nothing to him.

He also has great strength, and he can move mountains and hills as easily as a trader lifts goods onto scales and then back off again. He weighs them with his hand as carefully as if he were using balance scales. This may point to creation, when the heavens were stretched out with perfect order, and the earth and waters were arranged in right proportions. The mountains were made with just the right weight to give the world balance. Or it may point to God’s providence, his ongoing care and rule over all things, where every creature fits together under his hand.

His wisdom cannot be searched out, and no creature can give him advice or information (Isaiah 40:13, Isaiah 40:14). As no one can do what God has done and still does, so no one can help him do it or suggest anything he has not already considered. When the Lord, by his Spirit, made the world (Job 26:13), no one guided his Spirit or told him what to do, or how to do it. He does not need counselors to direct him in ruling the world, and he does not consult with anyone, as even the wisest kings consult those who know law and judgment (Esther 1:13).

God does not need to be told what is happening, because he knows everything perfectly. He does not need advice about what will happen, because he knows both the right goal and the right means. Isaiah stresses this here because the poor captives had no political leaders among them to manage their case at court or open the way to their freedom. “Never mind,” the prophet says in effect, “you have a God who can act for you, and he does not need statesmen to help him.” In the great work of our redemption through Christ, everything was planned before the world began, when there was no one to teach God the way of judgment (1 Corinthians 2:7).

The nations of the world are nothing compared with him (Isaiah 40:15, Isaiah 40:17). Take them all together, all the mighty nations of earth, the most splendid kings, the most crowded kingdoms, and the wealthiest powers. Take even the many islands and the nations spread across them. In his sight, when they are set against him or opposed to him, they are like a drop from a bucket beside the ocean, or like a tiny bit of dust on the scales, too small to matter. He lifts them up and tosses them away as something very small, not worth mentioning. In his eyes they are as nothing, as if they did not exist, because they add nothing to his perfection or sufficiency.

He counts them, and we should count them, as less than nothing and emptiness when compared with him. When he chooses, he can bring them to nothing as easily as he first brought them out of nothing. When God has work to do, he does not depend on the help of any creature, and he is not hindered by their resistance. They are all emptiness, the same word used for the chaos of the first creation (Genesis 1:2), to which they will finally return. This should give us lofty thoughts of God and humble thoughts of the world. It should lead us to make God, and not human beings, both the object of our fear and the source of our hope. This also makes God’s love to the world more amazing, because even though the world is so small in his sight, he still gave his only Son for its redemption (John 3:16).

The services of the church can add nothing to God, and they are no match for his infinite perfection (Isaiah 40:16). Lebanon, with all its cedars, is not enough wood for a sacrifice fire, and all its animals are not enough for offerings. No matter how much we honor God, it falls far short of what he deserves. He is exalted far above all blessing and praise, far above all burnt offerings and sacrifices.