Emptiness

Emptiness and creation

The vanity of others runs counter to our taste only when it runs counter to our vanity. —Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Friedrich Nietzsche

The world created to be filled

Is 45:18; Hab 2:14

See also Ge 1:2

Emptiness as a symbol of judgment

Jeremiah 4:23 KJV

I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

Human life can be empty

Ruth 1:21 KJV

I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

See also Ec 1:2; Ec 3:19; Ec 12:8

Human words can be empty

Job 35:13 KJV

Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.

See also Job 35:16; Is 16:6; Is 36:5; Is 59:4; Eph 5:6; 2 Pe 2:18

Human attempts at fulfilment are empty

Work does not satisfy

Isaiah 55:2 KJV

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

See also Ps 127:1–2; Ec 2:17; Ec 6:7; Hag 1:5–6

Pleasure does not last

Job 20:5 KJV

That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

See also Pr 21:17; Ec 2:1–3; Ec 2:25

Wealth does not satisfy

Ecclesiastes 5:10 KJV

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

See also Ec 4:7–8; Lk 12:15; 1 Ti 6:9–10

Material possessions are unreliable

Luke 12:18–20 KJV

And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

See also Job 8:13–15; Job 15:31; Ps 49:10; Ps 49:12; Ps 49:16–17; Pr 11:4; Ec 5:15; 1 Ti 6:7

False religion cannot save

Isaiah 57:13 KJV

When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;

See also Jdg 10:14; Is 44:17–18; Is 45:20; Is 46:7; Je 11:12; Ac 14:15

Emptiness as the result of sin

Micah 6:13–14 KJV

Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

See also Le 26:14–16; Ps 78:32–33; Ho 4:10; Hag 1:7–9

God wants to remove the emptiness of people’s lives

1 Peter 1:18 KJV

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

See also Ps 81:10; Jn 1:16; Jn 10:10; Eph 4:13; Col 2:10

Jesus Christ accepts emptiness in order to redeem humanity

Philippians 2:7 KJV

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

See also 2 Co 8:9