“For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high…” – Isaiah 32:14-15a

Scripture readings: Genesis 1:1-2; Isaiah 32:14-18

In Genesis 1:2, the Spirit hovered over the raw materials of creation to breathe order and life. Sadly, sin entered God’s world through Adam’s rebellion. Sin turns creation back to ‘tohu’ (without form) and ‘vohu’ (void of life). Post-Fall, that means disorder and death.

Imagine a neighbourhood after a terrible bombing. All is ‘tohu’, disordered piles of splintered lumber and twisted metal where houses once stood. All are ‘vohu’, lifeless bodies where living people once worked and played. Jeremiah 4:23a uses this language to describe the consequences of Israel’s rebellion against God: “I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form (tohu) and void (vohu).”

God sent His Son to redeem our fallen world. He also sent His Spirit to breathe order and life into creation and us again. Isaiah 32:14-18 anticipated how God’s Spirit would reverse the ‘tohu’ and ‘vohu’ of 32:14. When poured out from on high, He would breathe upon a wasteland void of life to fill it with plants and people (32:15,18). He would re-order their disordered hearts and community in line with His wise blueprint for human life, revealed in His word (32:16-17).

We are ‘vohu’, spiritually dead, until the Spirit breathes life into our hearts, moving us to embrace Christ in the gospel. Then the Spirit enters our ‘tohu’ to re-order our lives, relationships and communities in line with His wise blueprint for humanity. One day, we will enjoy the Spirit’s finished work, a new creation free of disorder and death.

Suggestions for prayer

Thank the Spirit for the gift of new life and re-ordering your life in fellowship with God.

Pastor Richard Zekveld, his wife Nancy (nee Vandermeer), and their five children live in South Holland, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Richard has pastored Covenant Fellowship Church of South Holland (PCA) since 2015, he also works part-time in jail ministry as a chaplain for Chicagoland Prison Outreach. Get this devotional delivered directly to your phone each day via our RP App. It is also available in print, for purchase, at NTGDevotional.com.