Who Is Jehovah That I Should Serve Him?

Except for a brief time before and after the fall, there has never been a time when human kind has understood the true nature of God. Very early in our history we exchanged the truth that we had for speculations. In his letter to the Romans (1:21-25) Paul traces mankind's departure from this true knowledge.

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. {22} Professing to be wise, they became fools, {23} and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. {24} Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. {25} For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen!

Mankind did not give up their knowledge of God for no purpose. Instead, they gave it up in order to act upon the impurity that filled their hearts. In turning to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, nothing held them back as they sought to fulfilling the lust that fill their hearts. And so "God gave them over to degrading passions" – to homosexuality (vss. 26-27) and in this they dishonored their bodies. Furthermore, He "gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper." (vs. 28) In the verse that immediately follows Paul describes this mind as one "filled with all unrighteousness." He then gives a summary of how such a mind manifests itself...

(Romans 1:29-31) ... wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, {30} slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, {31} without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;

Brethren, as we look around and see the nations (including our own) justifying homosexuality and every other sort of sexual perversion including fornication and adultery between heterosexuals; as we look and see the nations justifying infanticide – abortion; as we look and see the greed and the envy that exists in our land and the disintegration of the home, and the ingenious ways that men and women devise and perpetrate evil – as we see all this we need to understand that this situation exists because humanity has "exchanged the truth of God for a lie." And so as we reach out to the masses with the gospel one thing that we must do at the very outset is to proclaim to them who God is; for they do not know. And no, I am not accusing the world of atheism. On the contrary, like the Athenians in apostolic times, our generation is also "very religious in all respects." (Acts 17:22) But they do not know the one true God and if they worship Him at all, it is "in ignorance," not in accordance with truth. And so we must make Him known among the nations.

In keeping with the sentiments of this hymn consider the words of David in a psalm recorded in 1 Chronicles 16:8-12.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples. {9} Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonders. {10} Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. {11} Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually. {12} Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth

And why shouldn't we make the truth known about our God, for He is absolutely unique.

(Isaiah 40:25-26) "To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One. {26} Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.

There is nothing else and there is no one else like Jehovah – He is one of a kind; and by this I mean much more that there is but only one God. This is of course true. But when I speak of the uniqueness of God I am (with the author James White) saying that "He is totally 'other' than His creation. His nature is completely different than ours, or any other created being's. Therefore, any analogy or example that we might use (in describing Him, KM) will break down at some point We simply can't compare God to anything because to do so assumes that there can by anything in creation that can be likened to God. 'To whom will you compare me?' God asks. No answer is given, for there simply is no answer. God cannot be compared to anyone or anything, for He is unique ...." (The Sovereign Grace of God, 22) Isaiah then challenges his people "to look up at the dark, night sky, and observe with wonder the stars of the heavens. Then, he tells us that our God is the one who brings out the starry host one by one and who guides their paths through the heavens. How can one begin to make comparisons with such a one as this?" (White, 22)

The psalmist (Psa 113:5-6) wrote: "Who is like the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?. In this verse the Lord is pictured as humbling Himself – stooping down (cf. NIV) – to behold not only the things on earth but "the things that are in heaven. "Like a man might stoop down to look at a small creature crawling upon the ground, so God looks down upon all creation itself." (White, 23) How can such knowledge not fill us with awe? And we are not done! For Isaiah (40:12-18) also says...

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? {13} Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him? {14} With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? {15} Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. {16} Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. {17} All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless. {18} To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

Yes indeed, "To whom then will you liken God?" Jeremiah (10:6-7) says: "There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might. Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, There is none like You." There is not like the Lord! He has no equal. And if men were in their right minds then all would fear Him, for this is His right. But men are not in their right minds – "they are altogether stupid and foolish." (Jer 10:8) "Professing to be wise, they have become fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." (Rom 1:23) But we mustn't join them in their folly! Instead, we must proclaim with the prophets of old "There is none like Him; none can compare; no god His equal no prince His heir!" And this we shall begin to do as we sing ...

There is not who is like our God.

There is none who is like our God. There are many reasons why this is true. One reason is that He is eternal

(Isaiah 57:15 NKJV) For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Humans are limited to time. We think in a time-based way: past, present and future. Our language is filled with past tenses, and present tenses and future tenses. It is difficult, if not impossible, to think out of the box when we think about time. But God does not exist as we do. He does not exist in time, but in eternity. In other words, God transcends the boundaries of time.

(Isaiah 40:28) Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.

The Lord God is eternal – everlasting. Time is part of what He has created. He is the "I am" (Ex. 3:14), not the "I was" or the I hope to be. He is the eternal One.