The God Without Equal: God Makes His Case to Us

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, the creator of all things. So, why would anyone think that God has an equal?

Introduction

Who would you liken the Lord to, or who would you say God is equal to?  We shouldn’t think that anyone is like the Lord or that God is equal to anyone, right?  I hope you will take a moment to join me for this week’s lesson because God is going to make His case as to why He has no equal.  This week’s Sunday School commentary will cover Isaiah 40:21-31.

A Prophecy of Comfort for All

Isaiah 40 contains one of the most quoted scriptures amongst believers, which we will cover in a few moments.  However, before poring over this scripture, we should understand that God is the speaker through the prophet in this chapter of Isaiah.  

Isaiah 40 opens, saying, “‘Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’” Says your God.  ‘Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.’”

The ‘warfare’ that is spoken of in the opening verse is not one of man versus man, but man versus God.  How does man wage warfare against God?  Through sin, through our iniquity.  Sin defies and disobeys the Lord, and therefore, sin makes itself contrary – opposition – to God (Is. 59:2).

Now, while this prophecy is clearly directed to those of Jerusalem, the implications of this prophecy are for all nations. The warfare was ended, and iniquities were pardoned because the only begotten Son of God was given to the world (John 3:16).  This makes this prophecy a prophecy of comfort for not just Israel, but for all people.

Man’s Place versus God’s Place

Isaiah 40:21-22 opens our lesson with the Lord asking if one had not understood that it was He who was sovereign.  God’s sovereignty (authority) is clearly in mind as He speaks of His place sitting above the circle of the earth.  The Lord’s throne is outside of this Creation, in His heavenly kingdom, where He rules.

In these two verses, the Lord makes a comparison between Himself and mankind by stating where our places are.  The inhabitants of the earth, who are us, mankind, God said, are like grasshoppers.  Grasshoppers are nothing to us, as we hardly pay any attention to them.  Would you say a grasshopper is equal to you?

Now, why did God feel it necessary to make this statement?  God made this statement to a people who had turned away from Him.  One who turns from God often does so from a place of ignorance, not knowing better, or they do it from a place of foolish pride and arrogance.

Isaiah 29:13-16 makes it clear that those of Jerusalem turned away from God because of foolish pride and arrogance.  They tried to hide their counsel from the Lord as they thought they knew better than the Lord.  They would also question His works and move with a belief that God had no understanding.

God asked, “Shall the potter (Himself) be esteemed as the clay (mankind)?”  We were made by the Lord and ought not think for ourselves that we are equal to our Maker.  God’s place will always be above us as He formed and made mankind, and not the other way around (Gen. 1:26).

The God of Creation

Many among us view worship of a God as something that we, mankind, have come up with to satisfy our lack of understanding about our existence.  These are those who love to preach ‘there is no God,’ and one should ‘grow up’ and ‘move on’ from religion.

In the second part of Isaiah 40:22, God establishes Himself to those who think in such a manner by speaking to Himself being the God of creation.  God said that He is the one who stretched out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads the heavens like a tent to dwell in.  

This is a verse that reminds me of when God told Job that He is the one who measured out the heavens and set the stars in their constellations (Job 38:4-5, 31-33).  In the beginning, God created and had no help from anyone.  God is the one who ordained and established the ordinances (the laws) of this creation.  

The Lord will always turn to His creation to separate Himself from mankind.  You see, God is beyond this creation, as we are merely a part of it.  We had no role in the creation process, as we didn’t tell God to do this or to do that.

Mankind is still trying to understand the ordinances of this creation, barely having an understanding of how any of it works!  Who are we to try to challenge God’s wisdom when ours are educated guesses?  Don’t get me wrong, we are certainly educated and wise, but our wisdom is not, and never will be, on God’s level.

God is omniscient.  The Lord sits high and looks low, and His thoughts and ways are beyond ours (Is. 55:8-9).  

The God of the Kings of Man

To continue to establish that He has no equal, the Lord brings up the princes and judges of the earth, saying that He brings them to nothing and that they are useless (Is. 40:23).  This reminds me of Daniel’s praise of God in Daniel 2:21, where Daniel praised God, saying that He changes the times and the seasons.  Daniel also praised God, saying that He is the one who removes and raises kings.

Again, God is the sovereign ruler, not just in heaven but of the things on earth as well.  There is nothing taking place in this world that is hidden from the Lord.  As the Lord ordains and establishes in the heavens, He does the same on earth.  

Kings often believe they were the ones who made themselves kings and rulers.  Scripture shows us how ancient kings and pharaohs often saw themselves as gods over mankind.  Such people today who see themselves in the same light are not new.  

Once again, God will put mankind in its place by putting His authority against the authority of man.  In Isaiah 40:24, the Lord said, “Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth.”  Then He said, “He will also blow on them, and they will wither, and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.”

The most powerful people in the world may see themselves as something, but we are nothing in the eyes of God!  This is a lesson that powerful men like the Pharaoh of Moses’ days had to learn.  Nebuchadnezzar also had to learn this lesson.  Even David, when he committed his great sin with Bathsheba, had to learn the lesson that no matter how much power one attains in the world, one still can’t stand up to God’s power.

When the disciples fought against the mighty windstorm while at sea, Jesus woke up and calmed the storm by saying to it, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:38-39).  How can we stand against one who has authority over the weather that leaves us saying our prayers?  

A Question to Mankind

After establishing that He is the God over creation and all of our affairs, the Lord asked a question to those who may consider turning from Him.  In Isaiah 40:25, God asked, “To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?”

With God asking this question, the thought would be that there is someone greater than Him that He is trying to be equal to.  Let me ask you this: Who is it that can create, ordain, and establish the ordinances of this creation aside from God?  Who is it that can calm a storm by telling a storm to be still?   Who is it that knows all of the affairs of mankind?

Man is not greater than God

Certainly, no man is greater than the Lord.  If you think to yourself that we are greater than the Lord, God tells us, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created things (Is. 40:26).”  It is as if the Lord is telling mankind in this verse to open up its obvious to the obvious.  Life, none of this, is random nor is it a coincidence.

The Lord also touched on His sovereignty once again as He speaks to bringing out the hosts (the stars) and knowing them all by name.  It is as if God is challenging our wisdom, saying to us, ‘Surely you don’t think all of creation is random.”  It’s like God is saying to us, “I made you to be smarter/wiser than to think that?”

The devil is not greater than God 

Some try to put Satan on equal footing with the Lord, but as much as it makes little sense that we are greater than God, it makes even less sense that the devil is greater than God.  

We give Satan far more power than he has.  In Ezekiel 28:13-15, the Lord spoke of the former beauty and perfection of Satan.  At one point in time, the devil was on the holy mountain of God, who walked “in the midst of fiery stones”.  Then, because of his pride and arrogance, Satan was cast out of the kingdom and fell like lightning to the earth (Luke 10:18).

The Lord could talk about Satan in such a manner because, like the rest of the angels, Satan was made by God.  Unlike mankind, angels were made to serve (to minister) to God.  As Paul wrote in Hebrews 1:14, they are ministering spirits who minister for those who will inherit salvation.

Satan fell because he chose to disobey in his arrogance and pride.  Rather than dwelling in the kingdom and serving the Lord, Satan, from his own mouth, roams back and forth on the earth (Job 1:6-7).  As Peter stated, the devil roams about as a roaring lion with a desire to consume and to destroy (1 Pet. 5:8).

What scripture makes clear to us is that the devil is not a sovereign being; he answers to the Lord.  Unlike the rest of mankind, Satan awaits his judgment of eternal condemnation, which he will face one day when God casts him away.  Whereas the rest of us have an opportunity to live eternally in God’s kingdom if we choose to believe.

God Makes His Case

From this point forward, we will see that God makes HIs case for why we should turn to Him rather than turning to another.  God even lets us know the results of turning to Him.

In Isaiah 40:28, the Lord tells us that He is everlasting, He neither faints nor grows weary, and that His way is unsearchable.  It is clearly obvious that this is a comparison to mankind, as we do grow tired, we do faint, and our understanding is greatly limited.  While we can be depended upon, the Lord makes it clear that there are going to be times when we can’t be dependent upon.  

This is a truth that I believe hurts us greatly because many of us have a great desire to be there for our loved ones and help.  Yet, the truth of the matter is that no matter how badly we may desire to help, our ability to help will be limited.  Sometimes we are limited in our skills and capabilities.  At other times, we may be limited in our understanding.

There are also going to be times when we won’t be able to help because we may be dealing with our own troubles and need help as well.  Once again, in those times, those whom you may depend on may not be able to do much, and so, the cycle repeats itself.

God’s point is that He is always there; He is never too busy nor is He ever tired.  God tells us that He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases their strength (Is. 40:29).  This reminds me of what he told Paul, when He said, “My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).”  

In one of the most quoted scriptures in the church, God tells us that those who choose to wait on Him (to depend on Him), He will renew their strength, and they will mount up with wings like eagles, will run and not be weary, will walk and not faint (Is. 40:31).  What the Lord speaks of supplying in this scripture is strength to the soul.  Who else can give strength to the soul?

Many of us are more concerned about the physical than the spiritual, as we’ll tend to our physical needs rather than the spiritual.  God, on the other hand, is concerned about the condition of the soul.  The Lord understands that the soul is the engine of our being, and if the soul is in poor health, we will falter.

One may try to feed and care for their soul with worldly riches, but those riches do not last.  God makes the case that only He who made us and breathed His soul (breath) into man’s nostrils knows how to satisfy and heal a broken soul.  The question one must answer is whether or not they will turn to Him or will continue to depend on another one to fix their wounded and broken spirit.