Isaiah 44:6–7: “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, / And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: / ‘I am the First and I am the Last; / Besides Me there is no God. / And who can proclaim as I do? / Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, / Since I appointed the ancient people. / And the things that are coming and shall come, / Let them show these to them.'”

September 7th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In these verses, God gives multiple titles, or names, for Himself so that we can better understand who He is and what He wants to be to us. He reminds us that there is no other God, and He challenges anyone or thing that would say otherwise to declare or predict things that are to come as He has. The people of Isaiah’s day were worshiping idols, which they looked to as gods, but neither the idols themselves nor the people who worshiped them could accurately foretell the future. God, on the other hand, has always been 100% accurate about predictions of coming events.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul tells us that there are demonic forces behind pagan idols: “Rather that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons” (1 Cor. 10:20). The idols and the things sacrificed to them have no supernatural power in themselves, but behind those idols are demons that act out the part of the supposed god. Paul does not mean that demons live in the statues but that demonic spiritual beings exploit people’s readiness to worship idols.

False gods, gods that are in fact no gods at all, have again crept into people’s lives. We who live in these modern times are in no better shape spiritually than our ancient counterparts. Westerners do not cut down trees and carve blocks of wood into idols to bow down to, but we work long hours to be able to purchase some man-made object. Our idols are entertainment, clothing, jewelry, transportation, technology, etc. The greater tragic truth is that most in this world, because of spiritual blindness, do not even view these things as idols. In Isaiah’s day there were 3 primary idols: 1) Baal, the god of sex, 2) Mammon, the god of money, and 3) Moloch, the god of violence. Sex, Money, Violence: does that sound familiar? Jesus tells us that He is coming soon. Are you ready?

“LORD, give us eyes to see today the idols surrounding us so that we can stay focused on You alone, the ‘only wise God.'”