“He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation, and will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and behold, it will come with speed swiftly.” (Isaiah 5:26)

This verse give us one of the most vivid examples in all of the scriptures of the sovereignty and power of God. Speaking of the kingdom of Babylon, the “superpower” nation of their day, it says that God will “whistle for it” and it will come!

Here Isaiah reveals that the nations of the earth, even the “superpowers” (as the next verses describe this nation) are like a trained dog for whom its master “whistles”! Such is the power of our God. The nations are under His control. He “will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and behold, it will come with speed swiftly.”

People generally fear those individuals or nations who have great power. Jesus had no such fear. He knew where the real power was. When He stood before Pilate, and the governor told Him that he had the authority either to crucify or to release Him, Jesus answered: “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” (John 19:11)

The same thing is true with individuals and nations today. “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven” Jesus said in John 3:27. A “great” person is so because God has granted him what he has. If he is wise, he will recognize it. If he is foolish, and exalts himself, he will end up like Nebuchadnezzar, whose pride was humbled in a moment before God (see Daniel 4).

The nations of today are no less subject to the God of the Bible. If they are powerful, for a season, He has made them so. If they are wise, they recognize that they owe their existence and influence to God, and serve Him with gratitude. If not, they will soon be humbled. Nations arise in God’s time, and they serve His purposes. And as Isaiah tells us here, when He whistles, they come!