Number 1

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 43:1-44:23 / Galatians 3:26-4:20 / Psalm 108:1-5

Before Moses was given the 10 commandments, God reminded all of Israel at He was the Lord God who delivered them from the bondage of Egypt.  God then declares,  “You shall have no other gods before Me.” and “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything…” (Exodus 20:2,3)  God knew Israel struggled with faithfulness and obedience.  It would not take them long to break both of these commandments…even before Moses had a chance to deliver them.

Israel struggled with unfaithfulness almost 750 years after their exodus from Egypt and Isaiah reminds them again that the One True God was their Lord and deliverer.   God says to them, “This is what the Lord says – He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1,2) God wanted Israel to remember this as He repeats the same message of forming and making several times. (43:7; 44:1,2,21)

God is the one who made covenant with Abraham and his descendants.  Israel was fashioned by God and overshadowed by His divine protection.  He directed their every step, even when they seemingly chose their own pathway.  God intervened and fulfilled His purpose in and through them. God created, made and established a covenant nation through which He would be revealed to the world.

Isaiah speaks of Israel’s guilt of “having” other gods and “making” images of those gods out of iron and wood.  God scoffed at those idols as being simply blocks of wood and forged iron. These gods did nothing to enhance or intervene in the lives of the Israelites.  Their gods would not even exist if it wasn’t for the efforts and imagination of their makers.

God isn’t fashioned by our imagination or restricted to the boundaries we set.  He is not contained within a small figurine or the largest of temples…He is Omnipresent!  God far surpasses the wisdom, knowledge, and intellect of man…He is Omniscient!  There is not a human, demonic, earthly or heavenly power that can rival God…He is Omnipotent!

We do not make God…God makes us.  He does not need man…man needs Him.  God was not made for man…man was made for God.  “This is what the Lord says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty; I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” (44:6) There is only One God and no one can usurp God’s throne room or power.  He is Number 1 - yesterday, today and forever… One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord!