What is Chaos?

17 That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

A state of complete disorder or confusion. The first stage of creation where, having brought something out of nothing, God had not yet brought order to the universe. This primeval chaos, often symbolized by surging waters, threatens to disrupt God’s order at any time. God sometimes allows a return to chaos as judgment.

God creates order out of chaos

God creates something out of nothing

Genesis 1:1–2 NLT

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Psalm 33:9 NLT

9 For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.

Hebrews 11:3 NLT

3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

God brings order to his creation

Isaiah 45:12 NLT

12 I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command.

Psalm 8:3 NLT

3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place—

Isaiah 48:13 NLT

13 It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order.”

Chaos threatens God’s order

Life and order in creation must be sustained by God

Psalm 104:29 NLT

29 But if you turn away from them, they panic. When you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust.

Colossians 1:16–17 NLT

16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Hebrews 1:2–3 NLT

2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

The raging sea as a symbol of chaos

Ps 46:2–3 The raging sea is a frequent symbol of the chaos from which the world was created and to which it could return. Yet those whose confidence is in the God who brought order out of chaos have nothing to fear; Ps 104:7–9

Psalm 46:2–3 NLT

2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. 3 Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude

Psalm 104:7–9 NLT

7 At your command, the water fled; at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away. 8 Mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed. 9 Then you set a firm boundary for the seas, so they would never again cover the earth.

Intimidating nations are compared to the raging seas as bringers of chaos

Isaiah 17:12–13 NLT

12 Listen! The armies of many nations roar like the roaring of the sea. Hear the thunder of the mighty forces as they rush forward like thundering waves. 13 But though they thunder like breakers on a beach, God will silence them, and they will run away. They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind, like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.

Spiritual and political chaos

Judges 17:6 NLT

6 In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

Ephesians 4:14 NLT

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

God uses chaos as a judgment

Isaiah 34:11 NLT

11 It will be haunted by the desert owl and the screech owl, the great owl and the raven. For God will measure that land carefully; he will measure it for chaos and destruction.

Isaiah 24:10–12 NLT

10 The city writhes in chaos; every home is locked to keep out intruders. 11 Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine. Joy has turned to gloom. Gladness has been banished from the land. 12 The city is left in ruins, its gates battered down.

Revelation 6:15–17 NLT

15 Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?”

Floodwaters as a symbol of the chaos of judgment

Jonah 2:3 NLT

3 You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.

Job 20:28 NLT

28 A flood will sweep away their house. God’s anger will descend on them in torrents.

In Conclusion:

Panic and destruction characterize the chaos that follows judgment

Zechariah 14:13 NLT

13 On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand.