Listen:  107.5

To get a proper understanding of the context, let’s read Isaiah 45:5-7, “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”  The Lord here expresses His uniqueness, His power, His love, and His sovereignty.  He is the Lord and there is no other God beside Him.  Let’s notice that the word ‘Lord’ is literally ‘Jehovah’ which is a word in the singular form meaning, the self-existent One.  The word ‘God’ is ‘Elohiym’ which is a word in the plural form meaning, Supreme God.  It is the word ‘Elohiym’ that is used in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  This gives us a peak into the mystery of the person of our Lord.  There is only one Lord, yet He is also spoken of in a plural sense.  This, along, with many other scriptures teach us the truth of the Trinity…God being one, yet also known as three: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In verse 7, the Lord declares that, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”  The word ‘evil’ here has caused confusion to many people.  The Hebrew word for evil here is ‘rah’ which means, ‘adversity, affliction, bad, or calamity.’  For a clearer understanding of this verse, let’s read it from the New King James version.  That says, “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.”  It is so important that we realize that the Lord does not create moral evil.  In this verse, the Lord is comparing light and darkness; peace and evil.  Light is the opposite of darkness and peace is the opposite of calamity.

When the Lord’s people walked in obedience to His Word, He would bless them with peace.  King David wrote in Psalms 65:7 where he tells us it is the Lord, “Who stills the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.”  We know from the Word, that oftentimes the Lord would bring calamity upon His people because of their disobedience, using calamity to chasten His people.  When King Solomon turned his heart away from the Lord, we read in 1 Kings 11:14, “And the LORD stirred up an adversary against Solomon…”  Because of their disobedience, the Lord declares to Israel in Amos 3:6, “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?  If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?”

Will the Lord ever bring calamity into the lives of His people today?  Yes, when it is necessary; He will.  Let’s read Hebrews 12:6-8, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”  The Greek word for chastening is ‘paideia’, which means ‘to educate or train; by implication, it refers to disciplinary correction.’  When we disobey, or wander away from our loving savior, He will, in love to us, discipline us to bring us back to a place of fellowship and peace with Himself.  Let us all heed the words of Proverbs 3:11 which says, “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction.”  (107.5)