Isaiah 45:5 - The One and Only God

Isaiah 45:5
“I am the Lord, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me."

Message: The One and Only God

Time: Isaiah prophesied from 739–681 BC to a nation that had turned a deaf ear to the Lord. He wanted to see the nation of Judah return to serving God with humility and love for their neighbors. But he was called to pronounce judgments to on a people offering meaningless sacrifices in the Temple and committing injustices throughout the nation. It provides the most prophetic picture of Jesus in the entire Old Testament.

What the Lord is Saying:

Despite some religions like Islam and Judaism claiming otherwise, Christianity stands firmly upon the doctrine of monotheism. For me, it seems the confusion is about people's understanding of the God of the Bible thinking that each person of the Trinity is a separate God. God is a spirit and the names of God are spoken of in the persons of the Godhead - Father, Son, Spirit. The word Trinity originated years after Jesus walked on the earth. But the Bible is clear that God is Father, Son, Spirit;  all share the attributes of the Spirit God and also that God is one. Thus, the doctrine of a monotheistic religion of God is one is different from other monotheistic religions such as Judaism or Islam. But the trinity is grounded in the premise that there is one eternal God.

In the study of God, one arrives at the words in the Bible that are used to define God. In the Hebrew text are words Elohim and Yahweh. In this passage today, Isaiah 45:5, we translate it in the English as "I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me." The Hebrew follows a different order of the word and from the interlinear it says - and though not I will gird you God (elohim). There is no besides Me other and there is no Yahweh I am. 

This verse in Isaiah is pronounced to Cyrus the Great, the King of Persia. But he is a heathen king that is used by God to deliver the Jews from Babylonian captivity. God speaks to him directly here. And this verse declares to Cyrus God is Elohim or deity and God is Yahweh or Lord. Thus, the passage could read, "I, the Lord of Israel is the only deity." God is declaring that He is the only deity or the only God.

[My sidenote here is that often people will say that all religions lead to the same destination. How can this be so when the Lord of Israel, Yahweh, declares that He is the only Elohim or deity. Are there multiple gods mentioned in history? Yes. But this God says He is the only God.]

Back to Cyrus the Great, God speaks to him and will use this heathen God to accomplish His purposes. Whether Cyrus acknowledges him as the only true God does not matter here. Cyrus God is still only Yahweh. Just as all the people of the world only have one God. As this scripture states by God - "though you have not known Me" - meaning though you have not acknowledged Me as the only God and as Your God this doesn't mean that God does not use him because He in fact says -  "I will gird you." They may say otherwise but if this text to be true, Yahweh is the only God.

As I look at the landscape of even our governing bodies, we often have different forms of how that government leads and more often today it is about a group rather than a single person. The dictators in our history have proven to rule in a harmful way, so there is accountability sought. Even in the church this is prescribed by having a group of elders make decisions collectively or putting it to the congregation as a whole. And yet in the realm of deity, we have only one God. He is our one and only leader.

Promise: To believe in the God of the Scripture is to believe in the true God, the one true God - the Lord of Israel. Salvation is only in His name.

Prayer: Lord, in this world of confusion that we live in, there are multiple gods mentioned all the time. Lord, help me to be one that clarifies that the Bible speaks of only one God. He is Yahweh and he is the only one, the only elohim, the only deity. In this world Lord that is focused on tolerance and have different names for God, I need to be that voice speaking that there is only one God. Lord, help me to stand on that mountaintop and declare this without thinking of the consequences.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with January being about the doctrine of God.