“That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.” Isaiah 44:6
For thousands of years now the Lord through the Scriptures has proclaimed, proved, and provided every conceivable means by the Spirit, of revealing to men that He is God, and as He puts it, “…there is none else.” It is true that the powers of darkness, specifically Satan, seeks to deceive men in to thinking that there are other gods, or another God other than the God of the Bible, revealed most clearly and emphatically in the Lord Jesus.
When the Lord Jesus, called the “Word” by John the Apostle, came and dwelt among us, He took upon himself human flesh. He not only walked among us, revealing to us the grace and truth of God by what He was and did, and by what He said, but by the cross upon which He was crucified. There God revealed to men in the clearest and most flagrant manner, that the holy God was NOT like sinful men. This eternal God, the Father, in the sending of His only begotten Son, to take upon Himself the sin, and judgment for sin, for the entire world, revealed something of Himself that no false “god” has ever, or ever will be able to demonstrate. He revealed that the absolute justice and righteousness of God cannot coexist eternally with the unrighteous, sinfulness of man. In other words, man would remain dead in his sin, lost, and without hope, were it not for the coming of Christ, this sacrificial Lamb of God, declared to be in the eyes of God, “…slain before the foundation of the world.” Not only would the stark difference between a holy God, and unholy man, be revealed, but at the same time, the revelation that God so loved man, all men, that He being love, would provide the only way by which sinful man could be forgiven of his sins, and be reconciled to God, given a new heart, and eternal life. To save man, all men, nothing less could be provided other than the offering, suffering, and death of the Son of God, to pay for the penalty, judgement, and effects of sin. It would take the “total” sacrifice, and Him taking upon Himself the sins of the entire world, being temporarily rejected by the Father. Only after the wrath of God had fallen upon Him would this be revealed. Not only would the Lord Jesus on the cross pay the debt, or price for the wages of sin for all men, but by His sacrifice, he would make possible the gift of His perfect righteous, demonstrated and revealed by His perfect life on earth, without sin. Christ’s death, and His final words, “It is finished,” would seal this perfect work, and gift. The perfect righteousness of Christ’s life, revealed in Christ’s shed blood would be the singular means by which sinful man could know the washing away of his sins, and the gift of a perfect righteousness from God. Then, clothed with a new, perfect and holy robe of Christ’s righteousness, saved man could now know communion with the eternal God, experiencing the eternal Life which God would give. The living Christ, by His Spirit, would come to dwell in the heart of the saved believer, making him to be a new creation IN CHRIST.
God, throughout the history of the world, has not ceased to proclaim to men that He IS and as Scripture declares, “…IS the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” He does this daily, from morning till night, through the creation, for only God could have ever made such a world. In looking carefully at creation, only the unbeliever could say, “I am NOT fearfully and wonderfully made.”
There is another way that God reveals Himself to us in the Scripture, and it is by the prophetic word. God has multiple times declared what He will do in history, then fulfill it perfectly.
Dear Father, Make us good receivers. In Jesus’ name, Amen.