Isaiah 40 (Part 14) - Isa 40:15 - Modern Sayings From the KJV
Submitted by Pastor Chad Wagner on Wednesday, February 15, 2017.Watch the video of this Bible study on YouTube: Isaiah 40 (Part 14) - Isa 40:15 - Modern Sayings From the KJV
For a master copy of the outline and the other sermons in the series, click here: Isaiah 40.
To listen to the previous sermon in the series, click here: Part 13
To listen to the next sermon in the series, click here: Part 15
XV. Isa 40:15
1. "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket,..."
A. This is likely the origin of the old saying "a drop in the bucket."
B. Consider some other common sayings that we have today which come from the KJV:
i. Bite the dust (Psa 72:9)
ii. Blind leading the blind (Mat 15:13-14)
iii. Broken heart (Psa 34:18)
iv. Cast the first stone (Joh 8:7)
v. Drop in the bucket (Isa 40:15)
vi. Eat, drink, and be merry (Ecc 8:15)
vii. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth (Mat 5:38)
viii. Fall from grace (Gal 5:4)
ix. Fly in the ointment (Ecc 10:1)
x. Forbidden fruit (Gen 2:17)
xi. Go the extra mile (Mat 5:41)
xii. Good for nothing (Jer 13:10; Mat 5:13)
xiii. Good Samaritan (Luk 10:30-37)
xiv. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword (Mat 26:52)
xv. Nothing but skin and bones (Job 19:19-20)
xvi. Powers that be (Rom 13:1)
xvii. Put words in one’s mouth (2Sa 14:3)
xviii. Rise and shine (Isa 60:1)
xix. Root of the matter (Job 19:28)
xx. Safe and sound (Luk 15:27)
xxi. Scapegoat (Lev 16:9-10)
xxii. See eye to eye (Isa 52:8)
xxiii. Sign of the times (Mat 16:3)
xxiv. Skin of my teeth (Job 19:20)
xxv. Strait and narrow (Mat 7:14)
xxvi. There’s nothing new under the sun (Ecc 1:9)
xxvii. Twinkling of an eye (1Co 15:52)
xxviii. Wash your hands of the matter (Mat 27:24)
xxix. Weighed in the balance (Job 31:6)
xxx. Wits' end (Psa 107:27)
xxxi. Wolf in sheep's clothing (Mat 7:15)
xxxii. Writing on the wall (Dan 5:5)
C. Isaiah is again using an illustration to show how powerful God is.
i. A common bucket is the 5 gallon bucket which will be used for the purpose of this illustration.
ii. There are 591.47 drops of water in 1 fluid ounce.
iii. There are 128 fl oz in 1 gallon.
iv. Therefore, there are 378,541 drops in a five gallon bucket (5 x 128 x 591.47).
v. All the people of all the nations of earth (currently 7.125 billion) are as insignificant to God as one drop of water is to the other 378,540 drops in the bucket.
2. "...and are counted as the small dust of the balance:..."
A. A small piece of dust on a balance doesn't even effect the accuracy of the balance.
i. A grain of dust weighs approximately 2.42 x 10^-13 lbs (1.1 x 10^-13 kg). Source: Space Math
ii. God is so immense that all the nations (currently 7.125 billion people) are as an imperceptible and insignificant tiny piece of dust on His balance.
B. God doesn't think much of sinful men.
C. Not only are the nations collectively insignificant to God, they are as nothing to Him and less than nothing (Isa 40:17). (More on this later)
3. "...behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing."
A. An isle is an island.
B. Isle n. - 1. A portion of land entirely surrounded by water; an island.
C. The island of Australia alone is 2.94 million sq miles (Wikipedia).
D. There are 778 islands on earth with an area of greater than 190 sq miles (Reference.com)
i. Some estimate that there are more than 180,000 islands on earth.
ii. God is so powerful that can take them all up "as a very little thing."
