There is No Other

Sometimes it is simply best to let the Bible speak in its simplest terms. The one consistency of the revelation of the Bible is that God is one God. For example,

Deuteronomy 4:35 - To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.

Deuteronomy 4:39 - know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

1 Kings 8:60 - that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other.

Isaiah 45:5 - I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me,

Isaiah 45:6 - that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:14 - Thus says the LORD: "The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabe'ans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours, they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will make supplication to you, saying: 'God is with you only, and there is no other, no god besides him.'"

Isaiah 45:18 - For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Every one of these scriptures stands for the proposition that there is only one God. The great paradox in Christianity is the trinity. How could God be one and be Spirit and flesh at the same time. Yet even the New Testament makes the statement of the gospel that the claims of Jesus are exclusive to him:
Acts 4:12 - And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

We cannot explain it from a human perspective. It is the reason that faith is the avenue of understanding through a personal relationship with a living God. We believe that God rewards those who seek him. His declaration that there is no other is not a threat; but, a simple statement of fact. We must trust Him on this one and learn that what the Lord wants more than anything is a relationship that allows us to follow him as Lord and Savior. He sent his son to give us that chance. We believe that his creation is not chaos; but, that there is order and meaning in life.

Facing the Tests of Faith in LIfe

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego answered the king, "O Nebuchadnez'zar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up."
Daniel 3: 16-18

The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was one that I learned at the youngest of ages. God delivered his servants from the fiery furnace in a miraculous manner. But, the Bible also tells us that sometimes deliverance comes in the form of death. That is what happened to John the Baptist. Sometimes God's plan brings glory to Himself though our deliverance. And, sometimes He does the same through martyrdom.

In Matthew 11 we read the John has been sitting in a dark prison during the second year of Jesus' ministry. I can picture John scratching his head and thinking to himself, "Wait a minute. I thought I was the forerunner of the Messiah?" So he sends a message to Jesus asking, "Are You the Coming One; or, do we look for another?" (Luke 7:19) From John's perspective, the Messiah was going to set up the Davidic kingdom and throw those pesky Romans out of Israel. Yet, here John sat, in the dark, in prison, waiting. Soon thereafter, Herod ordered John' s death by having his head cut off. Anyone want to volunteer to be a forerunner? And yet, every Christian who confesses that Jesus is Lord and who is born again of water and of spirit into the kingdom of God is given the job of a forerunner.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego emerged out of the flame without a trace of the fire and the smoke. They were unscathed by their experience. John was not so fortunate. Yet, ultimately they, like we, all end up in the same place. The question is not how long we live; but, how we live life while we are here. Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us whether it is out of the fiery furnace or from the grave. We simply need to live life with the confidence of a faith in a God that conquers all of our trials...even the trial of death.