nations are nothing

The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,

but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,

chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind

and whirling dust before the storm.

Isaiah 17:13

The world of humanity puts its power and hope in the nations of the world. Geopolitical landscapes shift over time. Uprisings, wars, plagues, and disasters change the nations in the slow grind of history. The human nations that were the power players just decades ago have changed drastically. Over centuries nations rise and fall. World powers clash, briefly dominate, and then dwindle. Even those once heralded as bastions of liberty have fallen from their zenith, just like every other empire that has ebbed and flowed on the surface of the earth like some human ocean in humanity’s brief history. In God’s scale all nations are nothing.

In fact, no nation is truly a power when God is the controller of all human history! The waters may roar, but He controls their flow. He orders the destinies of all people. And even the most threatening of empires crumbles to whirling dust in God’s relentless storm. He blows away the chaff of mighty empires as He winnows His way through history. He chases away false pretentious civilizations showing that even the mightiest of human power is vulnerable and truly nothing compares to His rule. Not even the most threatening of militaries or impressive of economies can overcome God’s rule of His world.

As the nations rage, the King in heaven laughs (see Psalm 2). His rebuke silences the weak pipsqueak rulers of empires. He sends His wind to blow them away, even using other peoples to do so. His storm grinds monuments to dust. Only His rule as King of kings and Lord of lords will last forever.