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these deities throughout history. It is over- with all its implications. Notice carefully the
whelming just to thumb through this work and following quotation from Isaiah where God
begin to get some grasp of the scope of human Himself speaks in the first person, addressing
ideas about the divine. the nation of Israel. He makes this very point --

Yet the Bible speaks of ONE GOD, besides "You are my witnesses," declares YEHO-
Whom there is no other. In contrast to all other VAH, "and My servant whom I have cho-
deities, or claims about divinity, this One God sen, in order that you may know and be-
is called the true and living God (Jeremiah lieve Me, and understand that I am He.
10:10; Joshua 3:10; cf. 1 Thess. 1:9). The gods Before Me there was no God formed, and
and goddesses of all the nations of the world there will be none after Me. I, even I, am
are declared by the Hebrew prophets to be YEHOVAH; and there is no Savior besides
idols, empty vanity, and void of reality. To put Me" (Isaiah 43:10).
it in modern Freudian terms, they are illusions
based on pure imagination. They represent This is an incredibly profound passage. It is
nothing more than our need to project onto the the absolute foundation of the faith, spoken by
universe some system of meaning and explana- God Himself. Israel is to deeply absorb this
tion. I maintain this claim about the One God is vital notion of the Oneness of God, in order
markedly different in this regard. It is not a that she might declare it to the Gentile nations,
matter of primitive ancient Hebrew chauvin- "that men may know from the rising to the set-
ism. It involves a profound revelation about the ting of the sun, that there is no one besides Me,
Creator, of whom and by whom are all things, I am YEHOVAH and there is no other" (Isaiah
the One who has acted in history and can per- 45:6).
sonally encounter us individually and directly.
In this section of Isaiah the same point is
The foundational confession of Biblical made repeatedly. Note carefully, how Isaiah
faith is called the Shema. This "Great Confes- records God Himself declaring His unique-
sion" is repeated by faithful Jews daily, but has ness, without the slightest trace of ambiguity:
been sorely neglected by Christians, even
though Christ (Yeshua) declared it to be the I am the first and I am the last, and there is
absolute CORE of the true faith! It comes from no God besides Me (44:6).
the last sermon of Moses to ancient Israel:
And you are My witnesses. Is there any
Hear (Shema), O Israel! YEHOVAH is our God besides Me, or is there any other
God, YEHOVAH is One! And you shall Rock? I know of none (44:8).
love YEHOVAH your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all I, YEHOVAH, am the maker of all things,
your might. And these words, which I am stretching out the heavens by Myself, and
commanding you today, shall be on your spreading out the earth all alone (44:24).
heart (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
I am YEHOVAH, and there is no other; be
This is Abrahamic faith -- all else is com- sides Me there is no God (45:5).
mentary! And yet, few who claim to follow
the Biblical revelation uphold even its basic Millions of Christians are able to quickly
affirmation. God chose the people of Israel to run through these passages without absorbing
witness to this central pillar of Biblical faith, the impact and significance of this unequivocal

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