The Absolute Right of God

Isaiah 45:18b-19 ~ "I am the LORD, and there is no other... I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right."

​Of all the imaginations of men, none is more destructive than imagining a god who is not. The idols of mankind come in a plethora of forms, shapes, ideas and ideologies. They have a myriad of doctrines, practices and procedures. They are energized by a host of participants and practitioners. But they are, all of them, a lie.

​There is only One God. 

Consider what the Lord declares in Isaiah 45. It is an echo back to the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me" (Deuteronomy 5:7). Some have implied from this statement that there are other "gods" available, but that is not the case. the problem of idolatry is to form and fashion a god after the imaginations of men and then turn to that god instead of the true God. 

It would be like asking a telephone pole to instruct you in the ways of communication. It has been fashioned by man to carry lines of communication, but it has no voice of its own--it just won't happen. Hear the words of Hosea 4:12, "My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles." Or again in Isaiah 44:19, "No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, 'Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?'"

Our text declares with absolute certainty--there is no other. 

​The Lord God, the Almighty, is not the first among many gods, He is the only God. This must be understood by all mankind, for without this knowledge no one will ever truly seek the Lord. If the pantheon of this world dominates the mentality of her inhabitants, people will naturally gravitate to the "god" of their liking. When all other false deities are eliminated as hoaxes and lies, the true God is all that anyone will have left. And, perhaps, they will desire to know Him.

Not only is there no other God, but this One and Only God is the Sovereign over all that is true. The Lord does not merely acknowledge what is true--He declares it. The moment God has said a thing, it is an absolute reality of truth. God cannot lie (see Hebrews 6:18), it is impossible for Him to do such a thing. Yes, it is a part of His unwavering righteousness, but also it is tantamount to His nature. It's not that God "does not" lie, He cannot lie. If, for example, God suddenly declared that the sky was green instead of blue, it would immediately become a sky colored like an emerald. 

Along with that God has the absolute authority, enthroned above all other authorities, and has declared what is right and wrong. The modern mentality of subjective morality is contradictory to the objective standards of the Almighty. All men will be judged before the highest court--the judiciary of the Almighty. The Apostle Paul understood this in 1 Corinthians 4:3-4, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me." And you must understand that God's judgments are not subjective but absolute. They will not be based upon any moral code of mankind, but upon His sovereign declaration of right and wrong.

Unbeliever, you ought to tremble at the idea of standing before the Sovereign Judge. He has already declared your guilt (see John 3:18). But, just as God has absolute sovereignty over your life and is just in His judgments against you, He also has declared another promise--a promise of a full pardon through Jesus Christ. If you will put your faith in the Lord Jesus and trust that He, on the cross, took upon Himself the full penalty for your sins against the Almighty God, you will be saved.

Believer, let the unwavering truth and absolute nature of God give you great encouragement. You cannot be declared lost if God has declared you saved. For if the Son of God has set you free from the judgement and punishment of your sin, you are free indeed--for God has declared it to be so (see John 8:36). The world can no longer rise up against you, nor the devil himself accuse you, in order to cast you into the fiery judgment of God. 

If you need this promise, hear the word of God from Isaiah 55:6-7, "'Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.'"

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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