Creation by judgment

Isaiah uses the loaded verb bara’ in 4:5, and, as my colleague toby Sumpter points out, this comes after a double reference to the Spirit (cf. Genesis 1:2) and before creation-related references to day, night, and possibly a firmament covering/canopy.

But Isaiah’s “new creation” is coming through judgment. The Spirit is not a soothing Spirit of order, but a purging Spirit of judgment and fire. Creation comes through Word and Spirit; new creation through the Word and Spirit of judgment.

And, of course, the last verses of chapter 4 give us everything Meredith Kline could want from a theology of glory: Creation, tent, glory, Spirit.,