Isaiah 45 is a passage I have always known to be the prophecy concerning King Cyrus of Persia, who would be the one God would use to deliver the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. What is neat about this passage is how Cyrus is identified by name over 100 years before Cyrus was even born or before Persia became a nation. Yet, when I read this chapter not that long ago, it struck me that three times, God declares: “I am the Lord, there is no other.” He says this a lot through Isaiah, however, as I read this chapter, it really stood out.
God is making a strong emphasis here with the repetition. “I am God. You are not. Neither is anything else.” The Old Testament is full of examples of God showcasing how He is the only true God and any other deity we try to put in His place does nothing and is nothing. God is not saying the other gods don’t exist, because plenty of demonic entities or even humans have played the roles of a god, but not in the same way that God does His job as God.
Elijah summoned the prophets of Baal and Asherah to meet him along with King Ahab on Mt. Carmel. The showdown was to once and for all determine who the true God really was. The other prophets did their rituals all day long and got nothing. Elijah purposefully ruled out all possible means of trickery and with one simple prayer, fire came down from heaven. The God of Elijah was the one true God.
Moses had a more challenging situation. He turned Aaron’s staff into a snake, but the Egyptian magicians could do the same. Even though Aaron’s snake ate the other snakes, Moses had to face a possible reality that his God was well-matched. This thought would have risen again when the magicians could replicate the first couple plagues. However, by the 4th plague, they realized that they had no answer and proclaimed it an act of God. The plagues became a further testament to God’s uniqueness and how only He is God as the plagues devastated Egypt but then left Goshen, where the Israelites stayed, untouched.
The Lord is God. There is no other. He is not just master of the creation, bringing fire from heaven, turning staffs into snakes, etc. He is ruler over the affairs of man. There is not a ruler on this planet in any political situation or even business operation in which God did not oversee. Sometimes He lets the people get the ruler they want. Sometimes He allows a wicked ruler to usurp a position. And sometimes He puts the most unexpected person into a position of leadership. We do not often know what the purpose of that person being in place is, but God does.
God installed Saul as king because the people demanded one. God wanted to show the people exactly what they were asking for and they got it. But then He used the governmental system they chose to install a king who would do what He wanted done. Some have speculated that God intended to install a throne in Israel with David as the king if Israel had waited and trusted God to lead them. God installed Babylon as a conquering empire to deliver judgment upon all the ancient near east nations who had harassed Judah and to punish Judah for its sin. He raised up Cyrus to deal with Babylon and then to restore Judah. He raised up the Roman Empire so through the Pax Romana time of peace, the Gospel could spread through Europe with ease. And yes, I will state that God has raised up President Trump in the U.S. too. For what point or purpose, I will not say, other than I believe he is only a temporary bulwark against the liberal agenda to silence any Christian voice from the public square. Either way, God installed him as president. I believe that God is also going to allow the eventual antichrist to come and take complete dominion over this world to carry out the end times prophecies.
All these kings and rulers, whether they want to recognize it or not, are under the rule and direction of God. He is the God who turns their heads and through whom He shows favor towards His people. If we have a leader we are struggling to deal with, we don’t have to take it into our hands to set things right. God knows what is going on, and He will set things right. If we are patient and let God work in His timing, what is wrong will be made right.
The Lord is God. There is no other. We have no need to replace God with any other idol or false God that garners our interest. Israel did this all the time, which is part of why God said to destroy all the high places and demolish all the idols. He did not want any “competition” because He knew how easily the hearts of Israel could be led astray. He also knew that any “competition” never could do the job only He could do. He knows that any time we turn to another idol or another god, it is not God who gets short-changed. It’s us.
The Lord is God. There is no other. There is none like Him. There was none before Him. There will be none after Him. And none can compare with Him today. And yet this unique God wants to be with us, individually and collectively. Who are we to draw His attention? That is what makes our God so special. He cares about the tiniest details, even the ones we consider to be insignificant. He cares about the problems we face and the battles we have to endure. He will fight for you, if you believe Him and let Him be God. I trust the Lord God. I know all the other sources of authority out there are insufficient to do God’s job and they will not deliver when I need help. Only God can do that. While I am far from perfect in carrying this out, I know this: God is God. Nothing else is and no one else can compare. Let Him be God and know that there is no other.
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