“I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God” ~ Isaiah 43:12
God is reminding us again that we are His witnesses. And it seems enough to witness to the fact that He is God. Being God, He says of Himself, “I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed …”
He has done this because He is God. And because only He is God. No-one else can declare and know that the declaration is absolute and final. Because no-one else is God. No-one can save, because no-one else is a Savior. No-one else can show, because no-one else knows the beginning and the end and all that lies in between.
This is all in the “many-colored” verse at the top of this post, but there is one streak of strong color not to be missed, if we are to be sure in our own hearts of God’s identity. He has declared, He has saved, and He has shown. He will continue to declare and to save and to show. But, even though He and He alone can do these things for us, He cannot do them except “when there [is] no strange god among [us].”
We don’t build idols of gold and stone to worship as did the ancients, but we do build idols. Strange gods among us to cloud our vision of God as He really is in Jesus Christ. Subtle “strange gods” which seem to be a part of Him. Points of doctrine, denomination, service, even witnessing can become “strange gods” if we are witnessing for witnessing’s sake. We are to witness, no for the sake of our “witness” but for the sake of Jesus Christ.
“I am the Lord thy God … Thou shalt have no other gods before me … they shall go in confusion together that are makers of idols.”
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