Know God...There is No Other
Introduction
Two very challenging situations. In Deuteronomy Israel was on the point of entering the promised land. But there the gods and idols of Canaan and the surrounding nations will challenge the faith of Israel in YHWH. They will tempt Israel to turn away from their unique covenant God and Lord. In Acts, the followers of Jesus claimed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. He was crucified. But, He is now the risen and exalted Lord. The religious leaders and many people around them rejected this. They ordered the followers of Jesus not to speak in the name of Jesus. Both these contexts were filled with conflict and challenges. There was a clash between ideas, religious beliefs, ideologies, and worldviews.
Today is no different. Our loyalty to the one living God, our love for the Lord, is being challenged from all sides. The world is seducing us to worship the gods of the people around us. We are surrounded by all kinds of idols. These idols, these other loves and loyalties, try to push God out of the way. They try to overrule God’s rule in our lives.
We experience an intense conflict between ideologies, worldviews, beliefs, and values. Even today, the world is trying to silence the voice of Jesus’ followers. In the face of these challenges, these rival claims and loyalties, we are called to be and live as God’s people. And we can do so because we are a people who know the one living God and Savior. We have seen and experienced the living God. Therefore, we know, we believe, and we tell the world — There is no other … no other God, no other Savior. There is no other Lord.
1. We have seen …
Israel have seen God in action. They have experienced God’s salvation. They were slaves, but now they are free. And they are standing on the edge of the promised land. They have experienced God’s self-revelation at Sinai. There they heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, and they lived! YHWH revealed to them his Name, his character, his covenant promises, and his law.
Moses challenges them to ask, to do their research, to survey the whole of history and the whole of the world. “Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other.” (v32) Has anything like this ever happened anywhere, at anytime?
No, nothing like this ever happened. YHWH saved and spoke to Israel in ways that no other people have every experienced or known. Israel had a unique experience. They can say, “We have seen God in action.”
In Acts 3 Peter healed a man who was lame from birth (vv1-8). When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they were filled with wonder and amazement (vv9-10). Then Peter explained, “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.” (V16) Peter explained further that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah (verses 12-15). In verse 15 he said, “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this” — meaning, we have seen the raised Jesus.
Of course, Peter’s claims challenged the religious beliefs and conventions of the day. So the religious leaders placed Peter and John on trial. But they have a problem. There was no evidence against them of any crime. And the leaders cannot deny what happened. There before them, they could see the man who was healed standing (v14). All the people in Jerusalem knew what happened because many saw it. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it” (v16). Peter used the same argument to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus. “As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (v20). Basically Peter is saying to them, “You’ve seen a man healed, and you cannot deny it. We’ve seen a man raised from the dead, and we can’t deny that either.” (Wright)
Our Christian faith is not based on religious or philosophical speculation or theories. It is based on publicly testified witnesses of a historical experience. The gospel is good news about something that has happened, for real, in history.
Israel have seen God in action. The first believers saw God in action. They saw a man raised from the dead. And, today, we have seen Jesus Christ the Lord. Yes, we have. Anyone, who has truly encountered Jesus, has experienced a real, unique, dramatic, life changing event. They have seen Jesus with the eyes of their hearts. Not only have we experienced that ourselves, but we have seen other people’s lives being transformed because they have seen and experienced Jesus. We have seen Jesus, the Lord and Savior.
2. There is no other God
Deut 4:35 — “You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.” And then verse 39 — “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.”
These things — the call of Abraham, the exodus and Sinai — revealed the true and living God as YHWH. These historical events revealed who God is. They also revealed God’s character. It showed YHWH to be the God of compassion and justice, the God of salvation and revelation, the God who had redeemed Israel by his grace, and now He calls them to love and serve him only. There is no other God.
Israel had a unique, special knowledge of God because of their unique, special experience of God and with God. But they should not just know this knowledge with their heads. Merely believing that there is only one God is not enough. “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19). No, they must acknowledge it. They must actively know it. They must take it to heart. They must build this knowledge into their lives. It must move from their heads to their hearts to their hands. It must impact and change their lives. This knowledge must motivate and cause them to live as God’s people. And because there is none like YHWH, because YHWH is the unique and universal God, all nations will eventually come and worship him as the only true God. Ps 86 — “Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.”
3. There is no other Savior
In Acts the religious leaders asked Peter and John, “By what power or what name did you do this?” (v7). Peter explained — “… then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.” And then he says in verse 12 — “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
If Peter had said, it is by the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, there would have been no problem at all. But Peter identified that name as the name of Jesus. That caused shock and offense. The truths that everyone in that room believed about YHWH, Peter took those truths, and apply them to Jesus. Jesus is identified as YHWH. Jesus is now the name that has the same unique, divine, saving power as the name of YHWH. Isaiah 45:21-22 — “Declare what is to be, present it—let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
Acts 2:36—“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfillment of the covenant. Jesus represents the world, humanity, us with God. Jesus is YHWH, the Lord incarnated, God with us, Immanuel. There is no other name. There is no other Savior.
4. There is no other Lord
In both cases we have unique historical events, which have been seen and experienced, witnessed. These undeniable historical events lead to nonnegotiable, uncompromising conclusions and claims about God. There is no other God. YHWH is the only true, living God. Because Jesus is the Lord, YHWH, there is no other Savior. Jesus is Savior. There is no other Lord. Jesus is Lord! Colossians 1:15-20 brings this together beautifully:
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
This is what we are called to know and to make known. If there is only one Lord to whom all people belong and owe their allegiance, then the people of the Lord must proclaim this reality everywhere (Wright). If we know and believe that Christ has been crucified for us, that Christ has been raised from the dead, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, then we cannot keep silent about such life- and world-changing realities. “Either Jesus is the only savior and Lord, or he is not. And if he is, then, with Peter and John we are called to stand up for him with total loyalty and unwavering witness.” (Wright) We cannot sit on the fence. We cannot keep Jesus only for ourselves. We cannot speak about Jesus only when it’s comfortable, easy or safe. We cannot be lukewarm. We must be flaming hot for Jesus.
The world is trying its best to silence us. But, like Peter and John we must say, “As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). Will we obey the world or God? When we have experienced the undeniable fact of God’s salvation, it results not only in undivided loyalty to Him, but it also results in love for the Lord alone, and nothing else. Deut 6:4-5 — “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
And because we have seen Him, love Him, we cannot help telling the world about Him. Because … there is no other Lord. There is no other truth. He is the Truth. That is the Truth.
Do you know the one living God, Savior & Lord? Do you love the Lord?
What idols, things, are challenging your loyalty to and love for God?
Whom are you obeying?
Are you telling the world that there is no other Lord? Jesus is the Lord!