Week 19: Why Do We Create?
Isaiah 2:15-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
15 against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
and against every fortified wall;
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
In the previous three verses we found that there is a coming Day of the Lord, and that day, and hence the Lord, is going to be against many things. In 13 and 14 Isaiah talks about the things in the natural world that we put above God. Putting the creation above the Creator if you will. Now he moves on and we see that not only has man put himself above God, creation above God, but also the things which man himself has created!
The first example he gives is the high towers. Interestingly enough, one of the first man-made structures mentioned in the bible is the Tower of Babel, a tower built in direct defiance to God not long after the first God-directed structure recorded, Noah's Ark. Moving on to fortified walls we see that this is man building to keep himself protected, instead of putting his reliance where it should be, on God.
He is also against the wealth which we endlessly try to accumulate for ourselves and our own greedy purposes, as we see in the ships of Tarshish, carriers of all things prosperous.
But at last we come to it, the beautiful craft. We were created with a lesser ability to create, and when we do it skillfully we create beautiful things indeed. But very rarely is it used to glorify the Creator, or allowing Him to work through us in the creation. This brings to mind I Corinthians 3:12,13 where Paul talks about building with precious metals (allowing God to work through us perhaps), or wood, hay, and stubble, (the works of man alone). And while many beautiful works can and have been made by man, Paul says here that in that day all of these things will be judged with fire. Those things left will be shown for what they really are, works that were made for the sole reason to glorify Him alone.
The first example he gives is the high towers. Interestingly enough, one of the first man-made structures mentioned in the bible is the Tower of Babel, a tower built in direct defiance to God not long after the first God-directed structure recorded, Noah's Ark. Moving on to fortified walls we see that this is man building to keep himself protected, instead of putting his reliance where it should be, on God.
He is also against the wealth which we endlessly try to accumulate for ourselves and our own greedy purposes, as we see in the ships of Tarshish, carriers of all things prosperous.
But at last we come to it, the beautiful craft. We were created with a lesser ability to create, and when we do it skillfully we create beautiful things indeed. But very rarely is it used to glorify the Creator, or allowing Him to work through us in the creation. This brings to mind I Corinthians 3:12,13 where Paul talks about building with precious metals (allowing God to work through us perhaps), or wood, hay, and stubble, (the works of man alone). And while many beautiful works can and have been made by man, Paul says here that in that day all of these things will be judged with fire. Those things left will be shown for what they really are, works that were made for the sole reason to glorify Him alone.
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