Emptiness

Scripture stresses the emptiness of human life without God, and notes that Jesus Christ chose to empty himself in order to redeem humanity.

Emptiness and creation

The world created to be filled

Isaiah 45:18; Habakkuk 2:14 See also Genesis 1:2

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens— He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Emptiness as a symbol of judgment

Jeremiah 4:23

I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.

Human life can be empty

Ruth 1:21 See also Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 3:19, Ecclesiastes 12:8

I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.”

Human words can be empty

Job 35:13 See also Job 35:16; Isaiah 16:6, Isaiah 36:5 parallel 2 Kings 18:20; Isaiah 59:4; Ephesians 5:6; 2 Peter 2:18

Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.

Human attempts at fulfilment are empty

Work does not satisfy

Isaiah 55:2 See also Psalm 127:1–2; Ecclesiastes 2:17, Ecclesiastes 6:7; Haggai 1:5–6

Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.

Pleasure does not last

Job 20:5 See also Proverbs 21:17; Ecclesiastes 2:1–3, Ecclesiastes 2:25

the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

Wealth does not satisfy

Ecclesiastes 5:10 See also Ecclesiastes 4:7–8; Luke 12:15; 1 Timothy 6:9–10

He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.

Material possessions are unreliable

Luke 12:18–20 See also Job 8:13–15, Job 15:31; Psalm 49:10, Psalm 49:12, Psalm 49:16–17; Proverbs 11:4; Ecclesiastes 5:15; 1 Timothy 6:7

Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

False religion cannot save

Isaiah 57:13 See also Judges 10:14; Isaiah 44:17–18, Isaiah 45:20, Isaiah 46:7; Jeremiah 11:12; Acts 14:15

When you cry out, let your companies of idols deliver you! Yet the wind will carry off all of them, a breath will take them away. But he who seeks refuge in Me will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain.”

Emptiness as the result of sin

Micah 6:13–14 See also Leviticus 26:14–16; Psalm 78:32–33; Hosea 4:10; Haggai 1:7–9

Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins. You will eat but not be satisfied, and your hunger will remain with you. What you acquire, you will not preserve; and what you save, I will give to the sword.

God wants to remove the emptiness of people's lives

1 Peter 1:18 See also Psalm 81:10; John 1:16, John 10:10; Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 2:10

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

Jesus Christ accepts emptiness in order to redeem humanity

Philippians 2:7 See also 2 Corinthians 8:9

but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.