Bill's Bible Blog

Tag: The Incomparable God

G24b The Incomparable God in Isaiah

ADDENDUM:
The Incomparable God from Isaiah 40 to 46.

In Book 2 of Isaiah, (Chapters 40–55), written during the Babylonian exile, specifically in Chapters 40–48, God offers comfort and the promise of release from exile through revelations about His sovereignty as Yahweh, the Incomparable God.

Following are the complete set of 8 questions/ assertions in Isaiah chapters 40 to 46.

1. Isaiah 40:18-22,

“Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the Earth was founded? …

2. Isaiah 40:25-26,

3. Isaiah 43:10-13,
“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,
and My servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe Me
     and understand that I am He.
Before Me no god was formed,
    nor will there be one after Me.

“I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,
     “that I am God.
Yes, and from ancient days I am He.”

4. Isaiah 44:6-8, This is what the Lord says,
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:

“Let him declare and lay out before Me,
What has happened
     since I established My ancient people,
and what is yet to come…

Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are My witnesses.
Is there any God besides Me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

5. Isaiah 45:5-7,

“I will strengthen you
     though you have not acknowledged Me,
So that from the rising of the sun
     to the place of its setting,
People may know there is none besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

6. Isaiah 45:21-22,
“Who foretold this long ago?
     Who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no god apart from Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
    there is none but Me…

7. Isaiah 46:4-5,

“…I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
With whom will you compare Me
     or count Me equal?
To whom will you liken Me
     that we may be compared?”

8. Isaiah 46:9-10,
“Remember the former things, those of long ago;

I make known the end from the beginning,
    from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
    and I will do all that I please.’”

CONCLUSION:

What is your reaction to these assertions of God about Himself?

After reading these awesome statements about the uniqueness of our God, I can only sit here in jaw-dropping awe and realize that my concept of God is much too small.

It seems, though, that the way we live our lives in America causes us to ignore God instead of glorifying Him. Our pastor, J.D. Greear, recently stated in a sermon that, in essence, many are “practicing atheists.”

Accusing Western Christians of being “practical atheists” is not new to this generation of Americans. It has been an accusation against those who call themselves “Christians” for over 200 years. Here are some quotes:

Ludwig Feuerbach was a German philosopher and anthropologist who was best known for his 1841 book, The Essence of Christianity, in which he argued that God is a projection of the quintessential attributes of humanity, and not a real being. His criticism of the Christianity of his day formed the basis for his advocacy of atheism, and a life of materialism and sensualism, instead of religion. His writings heavily influenced Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto published in 1848.

*This was the quote used by our pastor, J.D. Greear.* Charles H. Spurgeon is known as the “Prince of Preachers” among Christian admirers who still read his published sermons and quote from them in their own preaching. Spurgeon was a strong figure in the Baptist tradition, opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the British Church of the late 17th Century that were compromising traditional Biblical principles and practices.

M.L.K.Jr was a Baptist minister and an American civil rights activist who was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement for people of color from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advocated the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination, rather than violent rebellion or revolution as some others did. Many of the civil rights laws and advancements for African-Americans can be traced back to his advocacy.

“Many people may be theoretical theists, but our lives betray a practical kind of atheism in that we don’t live in order to please God.”

R.C. Sproul in What Is Faith? (Volume 8) (Crucial Questions), Ligonier Ministries, October 15, 2010. He was an American Reformed theologian, Christian apologist, and Presbyterian pastor. He also founded and chaired Ligonier Ministries, a platform for Reformed Christian Theology[1], which can be heard daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast.

NOTES:

[1] Reformed Christian theology is a historic branch of Protestantism rooted in the 16th-century Reformation (Martin Luther’s “Five Solas”[3]). It is defined by its insistence on the absolute sovereignty of God, the supreme authority of the Bible, salvation entirely by grace, and a deep reliance on historic confessions of faith such as the Westminster Confession[2]. Fundamental Reformed Christians are not limited to one Protestant denomination, but include such branches as Continental Reformed Presbyterians and Reformed Baptists.

[2] The Westminster Confession is a Reformed confession of faith drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Standards to be used as a confession of the Church of England. It consists of 33 comprehensive chapters covering all aspects of Christian faith and Church practice. It has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide.

[3] Martin Luther’s “Five Solas” – Although not spelled out in a single list by Martin Luther, they were later summarized from his writings to help distinguish Reformed theology from Roman Catholic Christianity.

1. The Bible is the only infallible, inerrant, and final authority for Christian faith and practice. No church tradition, church head, or council can or should override Scripture.

2. We are justified and declared righteous by God solely through faith in Jesus Christ, not by performing good works or buying indulgences (a Catholic practice in Martin Luther’s day).

3. Salvation is entirely a free gift of God’s unmerited favor. It is not initiated or sustained by human effort or inherent goodness.

4. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and humanity. Redemption is accomplished exclusively through His sacrificial death and resurrection.

5. Because salvation is entirely God’s work, from beginning to end, all glory, honor, and praise belong to God alone.

CONCLUSION:

And now we’re back to where we began this blog, glorifying the Incomparable God.

A walk through this brief slice of Western Christian history shows that there have been, and still are, many cultural pressures that can cause us to drift away from practicing our faith. If we’re not diligent in doing so, it is so, so easy to drift into a life of practical atheism, just like our non-believing neighbors, friends and coworkers.

One last question that only you and God can answer,

What can YOU do to keep yourself firmly in the category of a practicing Christian and daily glorifying our Incomparable God?

June 14, 2026

bible, christianity, faith, god, Practical Atheists, The 5 Solas, The Incomparable God
G24a 26 for 2026, God’s Incomparable Faithfulness

Remember God’s Faithfulness:
#2. Psalm 89:5,6 – God’s faithfulness is like no other’s.

” I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 89:1

So begins the first verse of Psalm 89, also a familiar worship song, introducing two of the most important qualities of God in His relationship with Israel–His mercy and His faithfullness.

Treatment of these two qualities continue into the second, less familiar, verse, and a third theme is introduced–the heavens:

2 “For I have said,
mercy shall be built up forever:
Thy faithfulness shall Thou establish
in the very heavens.“

Psalm 89 is the last psalm in Book III, beginning with Psalm 73. Most of the Psalms in Book III were written by Asaph, the head worship leader from King David through his grandson King Rehoboam’s reign. One is by David himself, and a few are by other worship leaders, as is Psalm 89.

Psalm 89 ends the set, many of which are dark, reflecting the decline of the kingdom from it’s most glorious point. This last psalm in the book starts off with a change of focus from troubles on Earth, to God in Heaven. It’s final verse is an appropriate short benediction to end Book III.

Here are our theme verses in direct word-for-word translation from the Interlinear. Note the Hebrew parallelism in both verses = stating the same thing in two slightly different ways.

5 And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Yahweh.
Even Your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the heavens can be compared to Yahweh?
Who can be likened to Yahweh among the sons of might?

I. GOD’S MANIFOLD CHARACTER–Pick Two

If you were to pick what you think are the two most important aspects of God, which two would you choose?

At the beginning, the psalmist choses God’s mercy and faithfulness. By the time he gets to verses 8-9, our theme verses for the week, he has segued to faithfullness and His miraculous wonders.
Next, the psalmist talks about God’s might. Then he turns dark and discusses how the might of God, shown in redeeming Israel and establishing the throne of David, has been turned against Israel in their disobedience. What I see as key in this lengthy psalm is this section from verses 30 to 34:

What an awesome picture of God’s faithfulness! This understanding of God’s faithfulness led Paul to exclaim:

The last part of this statement was never clear to me before, but after a recent message from Pastor J.D. Greear about God’s unilateral covenant with Abraham, how it was sworn by God alone, therefore could never be broken by the unfaithfulness of Abraham’s descendents, and then seeing the same idea in Psalm 89, I realize it means, since God swore by Himself, His faithfulness doesn’t depend on our performance, but entirely on who He is.

I heard a snippet of a song today by Matthew West that contains some of the same idea,

“He doesn’t love me because I’m worthy,
He loves me because He’s good.”

Wow! What an awesome statement about God and His love! If you’d like to listen to it, I looked it up on YouTube.

The number one quality of God that I choose is His unfailing love. But no matter which two qualities one chooses from the many-faceted character of God, one of the most important will always be His faithfulness.

II. THE INCOMPARABLE GOD

Psalm 73 begins Book III with this awesome statement by Asaph:

…and the theme of God in heaven in Psalm 89 ends Book III by pointing out there is no one among the heavenly beings or beings of supernatural power who is like the Supreme One, Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Have you ever thought about the question, “What does God want?“
There are a lot of answers given by different people and different religions. Some common ones from an online search are:

• God wants to be worshipped.
• God wants us to obey Him and do right.
• God wants us to know Him.
• God wants us to honor Him by doing good to others.

There are many more ideas as to what God might want, but notice how quickly the answers change from being focused on God to being focused on us.

We as Christians believe God has revealed Himself to Israel (Old Testament) and through Jesus Christ (New Testament), and that much of these revelations are documented in the Bible. So, shouldn’t the Bible contain some insight into what God wants? It does!

We looked a little bit at God’s revelation of His character from Exodus 34 in the last blog and I mentioned it is one of the most quoted verses in the Old Testament.

However, there is another revelation that God repeats many, many times that reveals what He wants most of all.

A. The first time is when Moses is speaking to the new generation of Israelite adults and reviewing the Law and the Covenant before they leave the wilderness to start their conquest of Cana.

Yahweh’s wondrous acts on behalf of Israel were intended to convince the Israelites, and the peoples around them, starting with the Egyptians, that He, and He alone was the supreme being we call “God”.

B. To keep this important point at the front of Israel’s awareness for each generation, it was part of a song that God taught Moses to teach the Israelites to remind them who God is, what He did for the nation, and what He expects from them in His covenant with them.

C. In Book 2 of Isaiah, (Chapters 40–55), written during the Babylonian exile, specifically in Chapters 40–48, God offers comfort and the promise of release from exile through revelations about the sovereignty of God–especially verses about Yahweh, the Incomparable God.

In the first chapter of the set, God starts the topic by asking this question:

God’s first point is, He was the One who created the Universe. In additional revelations through Isaiah 46, God shows how there is no one like Him a total of eight different times, ending with this assertion:

Therefore, we see that what God wants is for everyone to know that He, Yahweh, and He alone is God, the Supreme Being, and that there is no other god besides Him.

CONCLUSION:
Our God is incomparable, and so is His faithfulness. He alone is God, yet He reaches out to us and offers us salvation from the sins that disgust Him, and that cause us to be separated from Him. Spend some time this week considering Psalm 89:5-6 and worshipping God for who He is, and for what He has done in His faithfulness toward us.

NOTE: For the complete set of eight ‘Incomparable God’ passages in Isaiah, see the next blog, G24b.

June 12, 2026

bible, christianity, faith, god, God’s faithfulness, The Incomparable God