There is No Other God based on Isaiah 45:1-7

I. Different gods?

II. No God?

III. Christians and the one God.

IV. Luther quote about First Commandment. Martin Luther, the German reformer of the sixteenth century, wrote the following words about the First Commandment in the Large Catechism: “As I have often said, the trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true God. On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you have not the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God.”

V. Many believe in, not idols, but money, possessions, and sports.

VI. Gifts from God are not as important as the Giver of gifts.

VII. Isaiah 45 and exile in Babylon predicted.

VIII. King Cyrus used by God and Isaiah 45:1-4. King Cyrus was not a believer in the one, true God, but God used him as a savior for the people of Israel in exile in Babylon. Isaiah 45:1-4 tells us that God would use King Cyrus to help His people, Israel: “Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: ‘I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.’”

IX. Cyrus sent leaders of Israel to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls and temple.

X. Isaiah prophesied further about Cyrus in Isaiah 45:5-7. Isaiah prophesied further about Cyrus in Isaiah 45:5-7, “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.”

XI. King Cyrus the unlikely savior and the unlikely Savior born in Bethlehem.

XII. A kind of Babylon today.

XIII. God is still in control. God is the best One to look to for help in our world. God is the One to believe in. There is no other God. God shows us mercy each morning. God loves us with an everlasting love. God offers us forgiveness for all our past failures, sins, and wrongs. God will never forsake us. God will never leave us alone. God’s Son, Jesus, reminds us that He is with us always. There is no other God. Amen.