Isaiah 40:18–26

If God is so great and man so small, the prophet challenges those who in their folly attempt to make a likeness of the living God. He opens and closes his challenge with the same searching question, "To whom then will you liken God?" Yet neither riches nor poverty will keep men from this folly. The rich will set up an idol from some enduring wood. But can such people plead ignorance? Have they not known? Have they not heard? Has there been no witness of the Creator from the beginning — from the foundations of the earth?

It is impossible for man's thoughts to get beyond himself. So any image of God he makes can only be a reflection of himself. That drags God down to man's own likeness. Job asks a question that no one can answer: "Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?" Whatever the witness of creation may be — true witness as it is — God never really left man to that. As Scripture assures us, He declared Himself at the beginning. It was man who chose to get away from this, banishing himself into the darkness and distortion of his own thoughts.

The root of all idolatry is self-will. It is making a god of our own. It is starting with self and fashioning a god, not necessarily out of silver, and not necessarily with our hands... there is a tool more cunning and skilful than the hands, and that is the intellect of man. Wherever self takes the place of the will of God, you will find the human mind busy making a god to please itself. And it does this in the name of the Lord, in the name of the true God.

God first made man in His own likeness. The fall spoiled that likeness, and the true knowledge of God was lost. As a result men have groped after God. They tried to know Him by resemblances or likenesses, and it ruined them. So we are warned against the attempt to liken God to anything in Scriptures such as Isaiah 40:18, 25 and 46:5-7. On the other hand, the names "Father" and "Son," used of God, work by analogy. Their meaning would have been lost on us if we did not know something of fatherhood and sonship in the relationships of this life.

Christ is the image of God, in fullness and perfection; He alone showed us the invisible God. Tradition never revealed the true God. Philosophy, on the contrary, made matters worse, as did the resources of human religion... It is utterly impossible that man should see Him who is invisible. Man needed someone to bring God down to him, and to display His word and ways, and Christ is that one image of the invisible God.

How great He is. He never wearies or faints. But here is our comfort: His heart is as tender toward His own people as His arm is strong in creation. Behold your God, you fearful saints, and take fresh courage. "He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom." His arm upholds creation, but His bosom is the resting place for His lambs.

In the first division of this portion of Isaiah, we find references to idols in every chapter, and this in connection with Israel. It becomes evident that the leading subject is God's controversy with Israel as to their idolatry.

If then God is so great and man so small the prophet challenges those who in their folly attempt to make a likeness of the living God. He opens and closes his challenge with the same searching question, "To whom then will you liken God?" Yet sadly, neither riches nor poverty will preserve men from this folly. But can such people plead ignorance? Have they not known? Have they not heard?

"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands," says the psalmist (Ps. 115:4). "Their land is filled with silver and gold … their land is filled with idols," says the prophet (Isa. 2:7-8). That which man considers most precious, which his heart craves and which adds to his glory, he makes into a god. That is the root of idolatry. God is displaced and man exalted, in the exaltation of his idol. The result is a terrible degradation, as the first chapter of Romans tells us (Rom. 1:25).

God is great beyond all our thoughts, as verse 18 shows. In the presence of His glory, the makers of carved images look foolish and deserve contempt, as verses 19 and 20 say — images that cannot even move. And how feeble and small are men! They look like grasshoppers. Their princes and judges are nothing and emptiness, like stubble before a whirlwind.

So idols stand in contrast with Jehovah, yet you cannot compare them with the true God for a moment. Jehovah is the Maker; an idol has to be made. Once made, it carries no one; someone has to carry it. Once set in its place, it cannot move. It cannot answer a cry for help, and it cannot save anyone from trouble.

Christ is the image of God, in fullness and perfection. He alone has shown us the invisible God. Tradition never revealed the true God. Philosophy made matters worse, and so did everything human religion could offer. Christ, and Christ alone, has truly represented God to man, as He alone was perfect man before God.

If anyone tries, by any effort of his mind or work of his imagination, to form an image of God or of Christ, that is nothing but idolatry. To reach any knowledge of God or of Christ except by Scripture is nothing but mysticism and confusion. More than that, it puts us straight into the devil's hands, to be led by him into the wildest, darkest and deadliest delusion.

The contrast exists around us today. It is still a fitting question — Do you go your way, carrying the things that you idolize, or does your God carry you? The idols of the modern English-speaking world are not images. They are subtler things, such as money, pleasures and desires. Yet as life draws to its end they let you down. The God whom we know, revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ, carries us through to the finish, for His love holds us and will never let us go.

In the first division of this portion of Isaiah, we find references to idols in every chapter, and this in connection with Israel (see Isa. 40:18–25; Isa. 44:9–20; Isa. 46:1–7). So it becomes clear that the leading subject is God's controversy with Israel as to their idolatry.

Then He challenges the folly of those that set up graven images as entitled to resemble or to represent Him. "To whom then will you liken God? and what likeness will you compare to Him? The workman casts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. He that is impoverished so that he has no offering chooses a tree that does not rot; he seeks him a skilled workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved."

God is so great and man so small. So the prophet challenges those who in their folly try to make a likeness of the living God. He opens and closes his challenge with the same searching question, "To whom then will you liken God?" Yet sadly, neither riches nor poverty will preserve men from this folly. The rich will set up an idol from some enduring wood. But can such people plead ignorance? Have they not known? Have they not heard? Has there been no witness of the Creator from the beginning — from the foundations of the earth? … What folly, then, to liken God to an image made by human hands!

Human nature shows itself in the blindness and folly of its religious side. It will make a god rather than not have one, and is not competent to estimate the value of a god so made… Not liking to retain God in his knowledge, man makes Him what he wishes Him to be — the reflection of his own passions and desires. These are what already control him, and in his idol he merely yields himself to their control. A further power comes in when many people take up that first choice, and time hides where it came from. Then the idol gains authority over the conscience as well as power over the heart.

Idols stand in contrast to Jehovah, but cannot for one moment be compared with the true God. Jehovah is the Maker; an idol has to be made. Once made, it does not carry others — it has to be carried. Set in its place, it cannot move, cannot respond to the cry of need, and cannot save from trouble.

God is great beyond all our thoughts, as verse 18 shows. In the presence of His glory, how foolish and contemptible are the makers of graven images, as verses 19 and 20 say — images that have not even the power of motion… He who created all things has no equal and cannot be likened to any other. We do well to ponder this magnificent passage. This God of unspeakable power and majesty has been made known to us in Christ as our Father.

See the folly of idolatry, shown up so strongly in these chapters! See the dishonour to God! See the debasing effect on the idolaters themselves! Notice, too, the terrible effects of idolatry and superstition in the Christian world; just compare them with the results of faith. The differences are wide and plain to those who are able to see. The true believer needs neither idol nor image. For him the Son of the Father's love, our Lord Jesus Christ alone, is the image of the invisible God.

If God is so great and man so small, the prophet challenges those who in their folly try to make a likeness of the living God. He opens and closes his challenge with the same searching question, "To whom then will you liken God?" But sadly, neither riches nor poverty will keep men from this folly. The rich will set up an idol made from some lasting wood. But can such people plead ignorance? Have they not known? Have they not heard? Has there been no witness of the Creator from the beginning — from the foundations of the earth?

Creation is the earliest witness of God to man. As soon as man fell, he needed more than that — and in the mercy of God he found it. If men turned their back on that witness, or corrupted it with their own folly, it still remained. They could not silence it. "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:20).

God is great beyond all our thoughts, as verse 18 shows. In the presence of His glory, how foolish and contemptible are the makers of graven images, as verses 19 and 20 say — images that cannot even move. And how feeble and unimportant are men! They appear as nothing more than grasshoppers, and their princes and judges as nothing and vanity, and as stubble in the face of a whirlwind. We do well to think over this magnificent passage. This God of indescribable power and majesty has made Himself known to us in Christ as our Father.

The ancients believed that the earth rested on the shoulders of a mythical giant named Atlas. Egyptian philosophy was putting forward the "flat earth" theory. Isaiah, meanwhile, stated that God sits on the circle of the earth and marks out a circle on the face of the deep, proclaiming the rounded shape of the earth.

So Israel had the witness of creation to the power and glory of God, and yet they are rebuked for their unbelief in turning to idols. They acted as if their way, with all its difficulties, was hidden from God, and as if He was indifferent to the rights of His people. What folly! The God with whom His people have to do is everlasting, and ever present as Jehovah — the I AM. He is also the Creator of the ends of the earth. There is no place hidden from Him.

How great He is. He never wearies or faints. But here lies our comfort: His heart is as tender toward His own people as His arm is strong in creation. Behold your God, you fearful saints, and take fresh courage. "He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom" (v. 11). His arm upholds creation, but His bosom is the resting place for His lambs.

Then comes the contrast between Jehovah and idols. Princes shall be brought to nothing. He is the Creator of the heavens. Why does Israel distrust Him?

The ancients believed that an imaginary giant named Atlas carried the earth on his shoulders. Job knew, a thousand years before Socrates, that the earth is balanced in space and held in orbit by gravity. "He hangs the earth on nothing" (Job 26:7) was his inspired statement. Egyptian philosophy was putting forward the "flat earth" theory. Meanwhile Isaiah stated that God sits above the circle of the earth and marks out a circle on the face of the deep. He was declaring that the earth is a sphere.

If God is so great and man so small, the prophet challenges those who in their folly try to make a likeness of the living God. He opens and closes his challenge with the same searching question: "To whom then will you liken God?" Sad to say, neither riches nor poverty will keep men from this folly. The rich will set up an idol made of some lasting wood. But can such people plead ignorance? Have they not known? Have they not heard? Has there been no witness to the Creator from the beginning — from the foundations of the earth? Is there no witness to the One before whom the inhabitants of the earth are mere grasshoppers? What folly, then, to liken God to an image made by human hands!

And how feeble and insignificant men are. They appear as no more than grasshoppers. Their princes and judges are nothing and vanity, like stubble before a whirlwind. We may also lift up our eyes and look at the mighty creation beyond our little earth. He has numbered and named it all, and He upholds it too, so that not one fails. He who created them has no equal and cannot be likened to any other. We do well to think about this magnificent passage. This God of indescribable power and majesty has made Himself known to us in Christ as our Father.

He "stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in" (Isa. 40:22). Even the stormy wind carries out His word (Ps. 148:8). The nations are counted as a drop from a bucket, and as the fine dust on the scales (Isa. 40:15). He rolled the mountains together and set valleys, seas and rivers in their places. He calls all the stars by name, so that not one is missing (Ps. 147:4). This is the God who loves me!

Great and small are only terms used among men. They cannot apply to Him "who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven," as well as "the things that are on earth." All are alike to Him "who sits above the circle of the earth." Jehovah can count the stars, and while He does so He can notice a falling sparrow. He can make the whirlwind His chariot and a broken heart His dwelling place. Nothing is great or small with God.

If God is so great and man so small, the prophet challenges those who in their folly try to make a likeness of the living God. He opens and closes his challenge with the same searching question, "To whom then will you liken God?" ... What folly then to liken God to an image made by human hands!

How feeble and insignificant are men! They appear only as grasshoppers. Their princes and judges are only as nothing and vanity, like stubble in the face of a whirlwind. We may also lift up our eyes and look at the mighty creation outside our little earth. He numbers and names it all, and He upholds it too, so that not one fails. He who created them has no equal and cannot be likened to any other. We do well to ponder this magnificent passage, for Christ has made this God of unspeakable power and majesty known to us as our Father.

The knowledge of God's power everywhere at work on our behalf is meant to produce confidence in our hearts towards Himself. But the whole moral world is under His control as well. He rules or overrules the hearts of all men, and the whole realm of human thought and action. He rules or overrules public opinion in all its forms, at all times, with all the characters great and small who appear in it. So He orders the rise and fall of nations, the course of their histories and the extent of their territories.

It is not man that governs in any case, but God. God is sovereign, and therefore acts according to His own will. It is not a question of the party that has the most strength or the most wisdom. It was not because of their superior power that Babylon, or Persia, or Greece, or Rome won the empire of the world. Most of them had small beginnings.

His glory and power serve His goodness to His people. So they will rejoice that their Shepherd is none less than the LORD, who counts all creation a very little thing, and the nations less than nothing. What a death-blow to any likeness of Him! — to an image carved by man!

How great He is. He never wearies or faints. But here lies our comfort: His heart is as tender toward His own people as His arm is strong in creation. Behold your God, you fearful saints, and take fresh courage. "He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom" (v. 11). His arm upholds creation, but His chest is the resting place for His lambs.

The majesty of God must always fill the fallen creature with terror. But that terror connects itself with the different states and positions of men in relation to the moral rule of God. Those who were deaf to God's claims could hear such words from Him only with pure terror. The godly, those in whom there was a work of God, felt godly fear combined with a sense of divine mercy.

If God is so great and man so small, the prophet challenges those who in their folly try to make a likeness of the living God. He opens and closes his challenge with the same searching question, "To whom then will you liken God?" Yet neither riches nor poverty will keep men from this folly. The rich will set up an idol made from some lasting wood. But can such people plead ignorance? Have they not known? Have they not heard? Has there been no witness to the Creator from the beginning — from the foundations of the earth? Is there no witness to the One before whom the people of the earth are mere grasshoppers? Before Him the great ones of the earth are as nothing and vanity. His power makes the greater ones wither, and carries them away like stubble. What folly then to liken God to an image made by human hands!

God is great beyond all our thoughts, as verse 18 shows. In the presence of His glory, how foolish and contemptible are the makers of graven images, as verses 19 and 20 say — images that cannot even move. And further, how feeble and small are men! They appear only as grasshoppers. Their princes and judges are as nothing and vanity, and as stubble in the face of a whirlwind. We do well to ponder this magnificent passage, for this God of unspeakable power and majesty has been made known to us in Christ as our Father.

This is often referred to in the Old Testament as one of the means God uses in His judgements on the earth. It is twice connected with the south. Job 37:9; Isa. 21:1; Isa. 40:24; Isa. 41:16; Jer. 23:19; Jer. 30:23.

Isaiah 40:1-8 is introduction. Jerusalem has been chastened enough, and the Lord speaks to her heart. But that comes with this solemn truth — "All flesh is grass." God's own people, according to the flesh, come under this description too: "the people are grass." Grass withers. That does not stop their full blessing. But they must know that "the word of our God will stand forever." That word secures the promises and their fulfilment... Then comes the contrast between Jehovah and idols. He brings princes to nothing. He is the Creator of the heavens. Why does Israel distrust Him? The strongest shall faint — "they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength."

Note that Isaiah 40, in comforting Israel, shows the nothingness of flesh (in Israel as elsewhere) and of the nations of idols compared with God. But the power and tirelessness of God secures Israel in grace. He that waits on Him, Jehovah, renews his strength.

God is so great and man so small. So the prophet challenges those who in their folly try to make a likeness of the living God. He opens and closes his challenge with the same searching question: "To whom then will you liken God?" Sadly, neither riches nor poverty will keep men from this folly. The rich will set up an idol from some lasting wood. But can such people plead ignorance? Have they not known? Have they not heard? Has there been no witness of the Creator from the beginning?

The name "Holy One of Israel" means that the God of Israel stands completely apart from all evil, for His eyes are too pure to look at evil. The seraphim say the same thing when they cry out in front of His throne: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts."

Others have noted that truth about things we do not know may reach us either by resemblance or by analogy. Man was first made in the likeness of God, but the fall badly spoiled that likeness, and men lost the true knowledge of God. So they have groped after God and tried to gain some knowledge of Him by resemblances or likenesses, and that to their ruin. This is why Scripture warns us against trying to liken God to anything, in passages such as Isaiah 40:18, 25; 46:5-7. On the other hand, the names "Father" and "Son," as used of the Godhead, work by analogy. Their meaning would have been lost on us if we had not known something of fatherhood and sonship in the relationships of this life.

We may also lift up our eyes and look at the mighty creation outside our little earth. He numbers and names it all, and He upholds it too, so that not one fails. He who created them has no equal and cannot be likened to any other. We do well to think long about this magnificent passage, for Christ has made this God of unspeakable power and majesty known to us as our Father.

The Son, then, is eternally divine. An inspired prophet teaches us that one attribute of Godhead is Creator... He, then, who created all things is Jehovah. So in this first aspect of the Son we have the clearest possible proof that He is "from everlasting."

Creation itself witnesses to the power and glory of God. In the face of that witness, Israel is rebuked for turning to idols in unbelief, as if their way, with all its difficulties, was hidden from God and He did not care about the rights of His people. What folly! The God with whom His people have to do is everlasting, and ever present as Jehovah — the I AM; He is also the Creator of the ends of the earth. There is no place hidden from Him.

God is great beyond all our thoughts. In the presence of His glory, how foolish and contemptible are the makers of carved images that cannot even move. How feeble and small are men too. They appear only as grasshoppers, and their princes and judges as nothing and worthless, and as stubble in the face of a whirlwind. We may also lift up our eyes and behold the mighty creation outside our little earth; all numbered and named by Him, and upheld by Him too, so that not one fails. He who created them has no equal and cannot be likened to any other. We do well to ponder this magnificent passage, for this God of indescribable power and majesty has been made known to us in Christ as our Father.

There is no elaborate argument in proof of the existence of God. The Holy Spirit could not take up anything of that kind. God reveals Himself. He makes Himself known by His works… Who but "God" could "create" anything? "Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these?"

He is next described as "upholding the universe by the word of His power." He is the God of providence as well as the Creator. This is no mysterious pagan deity that we believe in along with all mankind. If only the God of providence were more widely recognised as our Saviour and Redeemer too. He it is who upholds all things, who brings forth the heavenly hosts, calling them all by their names, for He is strong in might; not one fails. But you say, "It is God, surely." Yes, but God the Son, blessed be His name.

This was an expression of His rights as Lord of Israel. He had title to take their number, for they were all His own. If He had no right to them, and no prospects in them, He would not have counted them. The same divine title appears in another part of His dominions: "He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names." This is the expression of His sovereignty among the heavenly hosts.

Those heavenly bodies display His power by their immensity. They also display His wisdom and skill in the harmony with which they follow their appointed courses. He who created them holds them fast in their orbits of unthinkable greatness. "Not one fails." There is no discord, no clash — all makes melody as they declare His glory.

His glory and power serve His goodness to His people. So they will rejoice that their Shepherd is none less than Jehovah, who counts all creation a very little thing, and the nations less than nothing. What a death-blow to any likeness of Him! — to an image carved by man! He marshals the host of heaven and calls each by name. He also gave poor Jacob his princely name. He never faints; He gives power to the faint. Those who wait for Him shall renew their strength, as Israel will in that day.