Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:22)

I Am God

There is no God like the Holy God of the Bible. Many gods appeal to human wisdom like Zeus, Ganesh, Kali, Buddha, Indra, and Odin. In the days of Israel, as they struggled against the tide of idolatry, Ashtoreth, Baal, Chemosh, and Dagon were the gods of choice. The Lord warned His people when they came into the land of Canaan to destroy the people of the land lest they pollute them with their idolatry. History was fulfilled in the people’s disobedience to follow after the gods of the nations around them to destroy the nation. Assyria brought their gods of Ashur, Ishtar, and Shamash and defeated the northern tribes. The Assyrians did not understand that the God they fought against allowed them to conquer His people to serve His purpose. Nebuchadnezzar came with the Babylonian gods of Marduk and Nergal and defeated the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The king burned the Temple of God and destroyed the city of Jerusalem. He believed it was his power that brought Israel to its knees, knowing nothing about the plan of God to use him to punish His people. Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, permitted the Assyrians and the Babylonians to inflict great harm to His people to serve His design and purpose.

Isaiah prophesied during the turbulent days of the Assyrian onslaught against the northern tribes. The social evils abounded under the rule of Ahaz, king of Judah, with some respite with Hezekiah becoming king. Isaiah announced the destruction of Jerusalem that would be accomplished in 586 B.C. Like the other prophets, Isaiah preached a message of repentance to a godless and unrepentant nation. The appeal of Jehovah was for the people to turn away from the gods of men and seek His grace and mercy. Throughout the book of Isaiah, the prophet declares the character of God as being like none other. The idols worshiped by the people could not save them. They were blind and dumb and powerless. Idol worship was folly because no idol could speak or hear and save the one who worshiped it. The Lord God was a God who created the light and darkness, made peace and brought calamity, created the heavens, and could tell the future. No other god could do what the true God could do. There was none like Him.

The appeal of Jehovah God has always been for men to seek Him and be saved. There is no other way a man can save himself. The gods of men have never saved. Seeking after the wisdom of men, the economies of humanity, and the pleasures of the flesh will not bring happiness. Only by the power of the One who formed man from the dust of the ground will a man find the reason for his existence and purpose in life. The Lord begs men to see Him to be saved because He alone is God, and there is none beside Him. All the gods of men have failed. They are mere totems of the whims of human wisdom made of sand. The Lord brings nations into power and removes them by the measure of His hand. Despots rise and fall at the word of the Lord. Woe to him who argues with his Creator. Isaiah says it’s like a clay pot arguing with its maker. There is no God like the God of the Bible that made the heavens and earth, worked His will among the affairs of men, and sent His only begotten Son to die for all men. Who can compare? There is none like Him.