Week 28 Isaiah 45
I have a couple of lists I add to while I’m reading through. They’re my Concentration-Intensification Lists. They help me focus.
One of them is titled About God and any time I read something about the Lord – what he’s like or his characteristics or qualities or like that – I add the reference to the list.
I added several items from Isaiah 45:
I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God
There is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other
I am the Lord and there is no other
There is no God apart from me…there is none but me
I am God and there is no other.
At first I feel pretty pleased with my find. But then it occurs to me that even though Isaiah is saying something about-the-Lord he isn’t describing the Lord’s attributes or qualities. He’s getting at something else.
And I wondered if there was some kind of Deity Caste System back in Isaiah’s day – a ranking scheme of great-greater-greatest gods – and Isaiah’s point was that no matter what people thought there wasn’t actually a great-greater-greatest hierarchy. There was just The Lord.
Whatever-all other beings exist – whoever and however special they are – there’s just the one God. A singularity. A stand-alone. A one-of-a-kind.
On the left: The Aggregate of Everything/Everyone Else.
On the right: The Lord.
Note: quotes from Isaiah 45:5 6 18 21 22 (NIV)