Mark 12 and Matthew 22 contain the “greatest commandment” –
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
(Mark 12:28; Mark 12:29-30 ESV)
Here, Jesus responds with the Shema, a very central Jewish prayer from Deut 6. But one thing jumped out at me this morning.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is ONE.”
One. Only one.
Pink in his book “The Attributes of God” focuses on this as his very first chapter – “The Solitariness of God.” God is solitary in his excellency, there is no one like him. He points our attention to other verses:
“Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
(Exodus 15:11 ESV)To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
(Isaiah 40:18 ESV)
God is the supreme Creator, he was perfect and sufficient in and of himself, he didn’t need to create us, but he did…as he does all things “working all things after the counsel of His will. (Eph 1:11)
How do we know this God? Pink rightly asserts “Such a God cannot be found out by searching. He can be known only as he is revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit through the Word.”
This is why I have committed to read the Bible – the whole Bible – each year from now until I drop. I cannot tell you how much I have grown these last few years from dedicated study of the Word of God, asking the Holy Spirit to give me understanding, and meditating on his Word.
This God – amazing astounding God who made you, who loves you, who sacrificed His Son on the cross to us to be reconciled to Him – do you know Him? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Him to you, read His Word and allow it to change you.
Mike Ruel 