Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

26 July 2024

Reading From Isaiah 44-48

“This is what the Lord says—
    Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
    apart from me there is no God.
Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
    Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
    and what is yet to come—
    yes, let them foretell what will come.
Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
    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.”

–Isaiah 44:6-8

     There are countless theological and philosophical ideas about who God is and what He is like, but I am grateful that we have preserved in the Bible a written record of the voice of God revealed to us through the ancient prophets and apostles.  His Word is confirmed by the testimonies of millions of historical and modern day believers who have seen His promises come true in their lives.  Through the study of His Word, guided into all truth by His Holy Spirit, we discover many precious truths concerning the nature of God.

     From this passage in Isaiah, we receive much revelation.  First, God is eternally existent from everlasting to everlasting.  He was not created and will have no end.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  This eternality of Yahweh is also taught in Psalm 90:2, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”  The Hebrew word used here for everlasting is “olam” which means the vanishing point, always, and perpetual.[1]  And in Revelation 1:8 where God Himself reveals, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” 

     In Hebrews 7, Jesus is compared to Melchizedek, the king of Salem who Abraham paid a tithe to.  Bible scholars are divided as to whether Melchizedek was a type of Christ or if this was an Old Testament Christophany, an appearance of Jesus long before He was born in Bethlehem.  Because of the language used in Hebrews 7:1-3, I am convinced of the latter. 

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace.  Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.”  King of Righteousness, King of Peace, no mother or father, no beginning and no end seems more like God than man. Jesus is our King of Kings and Great High Priest, without beginning and without end.

     Secondly, God is the only true God.  All other gods and goddesses are false idols.  There were no gods or goddesses before God and there will never be any more after Him.  God is all-knowing and here in Isaiah He tells us that He knows of no other gods apart from Himself. 

     Finally, this text puts our own eternal progression as sons and daughters of the Most High God into perspective.  Our goal is to become more and more like Jesus.  In the New Eden, we will reign with Him, enjoy perfect unity with Him and we will be at the height of our sanctification and understanding, but we will never be God. 

     There is a tremendous difference between being transformed from glory to glory into the image of Christ and attempting to be a god or goddess.  The former is the righteous, Spirit-enabled pursuit of the saints, the latter was the goal of Satan and he was cast out of Heaven because of it.  Satan’s presumptuous, prideful and corrupted ambition is also what he tempted Adam and Eve with in the original Garden of Eden and it caused the entire world to be infected with the corrosive consequences of sin. Self-worship is the ultimate idolatry. We exist to glorify God, not ourselves.

     As born again believers, our desire is to please our Heavenly Father and be more like His Son Jesus Christ.  In this life we experience and learn and grow spiritually, hopefully becoming more and more Christlike as we are transformed from glory to glory by the power of His Spirit. In Him we live and move and have our being. 

“Lord, thank You for revealing more to us about who You are.  We love You and we are grateful to have such a magnificent yet caring God as You.  I pray that we would become more and more like You Jesus every day.  In Your Name I pray, Amen.”

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very natureGod,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very natureof a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

–Philippians 2:5-11

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[1] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance