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 other. Isaiah 44:6 (Isaiah 44-45)
Isaiah has turned his words, or rather, God has turned Isaiah’s words, to the comfort of those suffering the devastating consequences of sin, the greatest of which is being exiled from their home and taken into slavery.
Isaiah spoke of Cyrus, King of Persia, 150 years before he was even born. This king would allow the Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple. At the present time Jerusalem and its Temple still stood. Because God is the Lord of history, Isaiah was able to pull back the veil on the future and call this future king by name. In this, God proves His supremacy over all idols.
Isaiah calls a conference of nations to compare gods and their superiority of past and future. It was found, “apart from Me there is no other.” Through His prophets, God calls out the ridiculousness of pagan worship. The idols of man, literally formed by man’s own hand, are unable to do what man himself can. THEY ARE INANIMATE OBJECTS! They cannot see, hear, speak, act and they certainly can’t LOVE!
We are the object of God’s love. We must serve Him, bask in this life giving gift and all its residual blessings, and then turn and bless others.
Love,