Isaiah 45:18

18 The LORD created the heavens. God formed the earth and made it. He set it up. He did not create it to be empty but formed it to be inhabited. This is what the LORD says: I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 45:18

For thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens
These words, and what follow, are the words of the Son of God, of the Lord the Saviour, in whom Israel is saved with an everlasting salvation; and this is said to assure them of it, as well as to distinguish himself from the gods of the Gentiles, who made not the heavens and the earth, as he had done; for by the Word of the Lord, the essential Word of God, were the heavens made in the beginning; see ( Psalms 33:6 ) ( Hebrews 1:10 ) : God himself, that formed the earth, and made it, he hath established
it;
the Saviour is God himself, truly and properly God, who has all the perfections of deity in him; and this appears as from his creation of the heavens, so from his forming, making and establishing the earth; he made the chaos of the earth out of nothing; he formed that chaos he made into a beautiful order, and prepared, as the last word F3 signifies, fitted, and furnished it with everything convenient for man and beast: he created it not in vain,
he formed it to be inhabited; the earth indeed was "tohu" when it was first created, ( Genesis 1:2 ) , which word is used of the chaos of the earth first made, here rendered "in vain"; but then it was not created to continue so, nor did it continue so; for though it was first without form, it was soon formed in a beautiful manner, and fitted for the habitation of men and beasts, and especially the former; and more especially for the habitation of the saints, those sons of men, with whom the delights of Christ were from eternity, and whom he foresaw would dwell in the habitable parts of the earth, which was a pleasure to him; and for the sake of them was it made to be inhabited, and not by them with the wicked promiscuously only as now, but when purified, and refined by fire, to be the habitation of the righteous, with Christ at the head of them; as will be the case in the thousand years' reign: I am the Lord, there is none else;
the one Jehovah with the Father and the Spirit, and there is no other that is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (hnnwk) "parsvit eam", Musculus; "aptavit, instruit", Gataker; "exaptavit", Cocceius, Vitringa,

Isaiah 45:18 In-Context

16 Those who make idols will be ashamed and disgraced. They will go away completely disgraced.
17 Israel has been saved by the LORD forever. You will never again be ashamed or disgraced.
18 The LORD created the heavens. God formed the earth and made it. He set it up. He did not create it to be empty but formed it to be inhabited. This is what the LORD says: I am the LORD, and there is no other.
19 I haven't spoken privately or in some dark corner of the world. I didn't say to Jacob's descendants, "Search for me in vain!" I, the LORD, speak what is fair and say what is right.
20 Come here, you refugees from the nations. Ignorant people carry wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save [anyone].
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