The Only God and Savior
To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him? (Isaiah 40:18).
How would you answer that question? The prophet Isaiah answered it by declaring that no one else can look down, see all the inhabitants of the earth, and know them. No one else controls the heavens, the stars, and the planets. And no one else, with a single breath, can make the mightiest ruler on the earth wither into nothing. (See Isaiah 40:22-26.)
A few chapters later, in Isaiah 44, the prophet examined the folly of worshipping anything other than the almighty God. He painted a picture of a craftsman who uses a piece of wood to make a fire that will cook his dinner, and then takes another piece from the same piece of wood and fashions it into an idol that he worships.
No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!” (Isaiah 44:19).
What utter foolishness! How could a block of wood be deserving of worship? It can barely even stand up without tottering. How could it deliver its worshipper? How could it save?
In the next chapter, God demonstrated how different He is from these lifeless idols. He wrote of a king named Cyrus who would send Israel back from exile in Babylon to their own land.
Our God is so powerful, so all-knowing that He orchestrated the empires of the world to send the Jews into exile for 70 years and to send them back to their land once that time was complete. And He prophesied that He would do it at least 150 years before the decree was issued by Cyrus that allowed Israel to return to Jerusalem.
God sovereignly orchestrated the events of the world to judge and save His people. Can a block of wood do that? Of course not!
In Isaiah 45:5, God declared “I am the Lord and there is no other. Besides me there is no God.” And again in verse 12:
It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands and I ordained all their host.
In verses 20-22 of Isaiah 45, God offered another call to recognize the folly of idolatry, to turn to Him and be saved:
Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save. Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.
Our God is the only God. He is the only Savior. Turn to Him and be saved because He is the only God who can save.