All-Powerful, All-Wise

The Jewish exiles can have confidence in the promise of restoration because God is all-powerful and all-wise. Says Isaiah: "Who has measured the waters in the mere hollow of his hand, and taken the proportions of the heavens themselves with a mere span and included in a measure the dust of the earth, or weighed with an indicator the mountains, and the hills in the scales?  Who has taken the proportions of the spirit of Jehovah, and who as his man of counsel can make him know anything?  With whom did he consult together that one might make him understand, or who teaches him in the path of justice, or teaches him knowledge, or makes him know the very way of real understanding?" -Isaiah 40:12-14.

These  are awe-inspiring questions for the Jewish exiles to ponder.  Can mere humans turn back the tide of the  mighty seas?  Of course not! Yet, to Jehovah, the seas that cover the earth are like a drop of water in the palm of his hand.  Can puny men measure the vast, starry heavens or weigh the earth's mountains and hills?  No.  Yet, Jehovah measures the heavens as easily as man might measure an object with a span-the distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the little finger when the hand is spread out.  God can, in effect, weigh mountains and hills in a pair of scales. Can even the wises humans advise God what to do under present circumstances or tell him what to do in the future?  Certainly not!

What about the mighty nations of the earth-can they resist God as he fulfills his promise?  Isaiah answers by describing the nations as follows:  "Look! The nations are as a drop from a bucket; and as the film of dust on the scales they have been accounted.  Look! He lifts the islands themselves as mere fine dust. Even Lebanon is not sufficient for keeping  a fire burning, and its wild animals are not sufficient  for a burnt offering.  All the nations are as something nonexistent  in front of him; as nothing and an unreality they have been accounted to him." -Isaiah 40:15-17.

Next time: Conclusion of All-Powerful, All-Wise

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000