Lesson 213 - GOD HAS NO COMPETITION (God's Plan and Promises for You from the Book of Isaiah)
"That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:6
Idolatry reigned supreme! Men worshipped sticks and stones and dead mens' bones. Each people group had its own set of gods that it followed - not knowing that holding the strings of all the puppet gods was the master puppeteer - Satan himself.
Then God - the one true and living God - spoke to Israel at Sinai. They would have no other gods and they would witness to all nations that only the Creator - Jehovah Himself - was to be feared and revered! The fullness of this truth was revealed in the Messiah who came in the flesh as the Way, the Truth and the Life. And the Great Commission was not a soft suggestion but a solemn command: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
Today's world is like yesterday's - corrupt and filled with the chorus of "Every person to his/her own god, own choice, own life-style." That's why we who know the Lord will not be popular and must be prepared to suffer when we declare: "There is only one God, one Savior and one way. The answer is not in Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed or any other man or supposed deity. Thus saith the Lord!"
That's what the awesome God of heaven is declaring in today's verse. He uses the word "none" twice to seal our attention. From east to west - that's our planet - "there is none beside me." We are to tremble when we hear Him say, 'I am the Lord, and there is none else." And we are to take that message to every nation on earth. Unless that is our passion, our belief-system is only another "religion" called "Christianity" but empty of God's presence and power!
My prayer: "Open my eyes to the lostness of humanity without Christ the Messiah. Give me a vision, oh my Lord, to want to see all nations reached."
"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras