Did They Just Destroy Christianity’s View of God?

Isaiah 4048 · Isaiah 47

Does God use hyperbolic language when saying he's the only God? The Bible is full of language like this. Christians talking to their LDS neighbors appeal to texts like this all the time as proof that God really is unique, that there's not another being like him, which can be at odds with some LDS teaching about the nature of God and man. In Isaiah 4048, you can find a whole bunch of these statements. Is God using linguistic expressions, big statements that aren't necessarily meant to indicate a precise theological truth? I've had a number of Latter-day Saints who argue that this is exactly what's going on.

And there seems to be a verse that would support this idea. In Isaiah 47, Babylon uses the exact same language about itself as a city. I am and there is no one besides me. If Babylon can say I am and there is none beside me and yet other cities exist, should we take God's statements in the same way? I don't think so. God's statements should not be taken as hyperbole or as linguistic expressions for these few reasons. Number one, these claims were false statements made in pride. Claims like these were part of why God judged the cities. Second, the language that God uses is broader and more encompassing than the language that Babylon uses.

Third, Isaiah isn't the only place where these statements can be found. The consistent testimony of the Bible is that God is unique. Isaiah chapter 47, which is the chapter where this Babylon statement shows up, is a chapter of God indicting Babylon for their wickedness. This is really important to understand when considering the context surrounding Babylon's claim. In the chapter, God lists Babylon's sins and explains why he is about to shame and destroy them. Here's the list of sins kind of paired down. They were lovers of pleasure. They committed themselves to enchantments and sorceries, being very involved in magic, practices, and divination.

They were prideful about their wisdom and their knowledge. It led them astray. They thought that they were untouchably great, but they would be held accountable for their arrogance and their pride. They felt secure in their wickedness, like there was no one higher or greater than them who would hold them accountable for their evil. Verse 10 says, "You felt secure in your wickedness. You said, "No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray. But you said in your heart, I am and there is no one besides me." They pridefully used the same kind of language that God used in order to say that they were so great and that they would never experience loss.

Zephaniah 2 · Psalm 82 · John 10

Verse eight, I am and there is no one besides me. I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children. Because they esteemed themselves so exalted, so highly lifted up that no one could touch them. This is epitomized by the language, I am and there is no one beside me. Who was there to hold them accountable? Who was there to defeat them? In their minds, no one. They were untouchable in their wickedness. So God responds to their smuggness. Two things shall come to you in a moment in one day. The loss of children and widowhood. Because they exalted themselves in arrogance, God was going to do what was unthinkable to them.

He was going to destroy them. They thought in their hearts, "I am and there is no one besides me." But they thought that inaccurately. I mean, this is part of why God judged Babylon because they thought they were the greatest because they thought that there was nothing higher than them. And they were wrong. God was higher than them. God didn't see it as hyperbole. God saw it as pride. You see, only God can speak like this because only God is without any besides him. God can say this. Babylon cannot. Zephaniah 2 actually presents a very similar scenario, but with Nineveh instead of with Babylon.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. You don't take a statement that's ultimately false and results in judgment and then apply the use of that language back to God. It's a self-defeating argument. Babylon did use the same language as God and were destroyed because of it. I've even talked with some Latter-day Saints who say that in eternity future, perhaps this language could even be said of them because it's relative and covenantal. This honestly kind of reminds me of Mormonism's use of Psalm 82. In Psalm 82, you have the statement, "Ye are gods," or, "You are God's." And a lot of Latter-day Saints say, see, you are God's.

Jesus quotes this in John 10. And so, that means that we are gods in embryo. That we have the divine potential to be just like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The problem is in Psalm 82 and also in John 10, this statement is a statement of judgment. It's ye are gods yet you will die like men. The entire psalm is indicting these beings for their failure to uphold justice and things like that. So whoever the gods of Psalm 82 are, you don't want to be them. Taking these statements of judgment found in Psalm 82 or even here in Isaiah 47 and applying it elsewhere is kind of dangerous. Second, God uses broader language than what Babylon uses.

The language that God uses in Isaiah 40-48 is far broader and far more dramatic than what Babylon says this one time in Isaiah 47. Here are some of God's claims. He cannot be compared to anyone else. He is utterly unique. He is everlastingly God. He is the first and the last. No other god was formed before or after him. There is no savior besides him. He doesn't know of any other gods. That one's always significant to me because we agree that God has a knowledge of all things and yet God doesn't know of any other beings that are like him. He alone will be exalted at judgment day. No one has shown God counsel or taught him anything.

He created all things by himself without anyone else. He can tell of things past as well as things to come. And there's not another being who can do that. God created all things for his glory. And God redeems his people for his glory, for his own sake. In this section of Isaiah, God is showing why idols are really, really dumb. They're dumb because they cheapen the nature of deity. They make the divine out to be what it isn't. God indictes the idols by showing who and what he is. He's a unique being who creates, sovereignly rules over, and redeems for his own glory. And he judges and destroys all who would make themselves out to be like him, whether that be idols, nations, or men.

So, it's not just a single line or a single proof text that we're pointing to. It is a consistent portrait painted over the course of several chapters. Some Latter-day Saints argue here that God's statements should be taken in the context of covenant devotion that God is saying this as the covenant Lord of Israel, not in an absolute cosmic sense. God roots some of his statements in covenant redemption. Yes, that's true. But far more often he roots his statements in things dealing with creation, things dealing with his sovereign rule over history, things dealing with his knowledge of the future.

Those things are far more basic and fundamental to the universe than his relationship with Israel. Number three, the Bible consistently uses this kind of language about God outside of Isaiah. I just gave you a whole list of statements made by God throughout Isaiah 40-48, but it's not like that's the only place in the Bible where statements like this are found. All of scripture consistently being written over thousands of years teaches the same thing that God is unique that there's not another being like him. Even among the heavenly angelic beings, there is not another being like God. There is none holy like the Lord.

For there is none besides you. There is none like you, oh Lord. There are none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? For the Lord, your God, is God of gods and Lord of lords. The whole Bible consistently teaches that God has eternally been God from everlasting to everlasting. He's the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega. None before him, none after him. They never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." It also regularly states that God is the sole creator of all things visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, or rulers or authorities.

All things are from him. All things are from him and for him. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. It repeatedly says that there is no being like God. There is one God. To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord is God, there is no other besides him. We know that an idol has no real existence and that there is no God but one. For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.

God is the sole infinite being, the source of everything else. There is nothing that has ever or will ever be like him. The book of Hebrews even tells us very plainly that there's no being greater than him. So no heavenly grandfather. For when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself. God was never taught. He was never given a gift. All things that exist are from him. There's not a single Adam that exists outside of God or even alongside God. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid, for from him and through him and to him are all things.

How many times does the Bible have to say something for it to be true? What other language could be used to indicate that God really is unique, that he's the only being like himself to really exist? This is not an unclear truth in the Bible. It's not obscure and it is not confusing. Everything that has ever and will ever exist was made by God. It's from him. Time, space, and matter, God stands above them all, bringing them into existence. This means that we could never become like God. There are not other universes or other worlds that somehow belong to some other most high. God cannot have a God above him or even besides him.

And any person who claims to be a prophet who teaches those things stands opposed to what God has revealed in his word and thus should be rejected as a false prophet. So even though many Latter-day Saints may not believe this, lots of Latter-day Saints don't believe in heavenly grandfather. Lots of Latter-day Saints question the details on the nature of exaltation. Yet if LDS prophets have taught this, they are opposing what God has said about himself. When mankind starts to use the same language that's true only of God, it's an act of rebellion and of pride. Babylon, Assyria, all their great empires were brought to nothing because of pride like this.

Jesus once said, speaking about another tragedy, "Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?" "No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Only God can rightly say, "I am." and there is no one besides me. Now, a lot of people think that this just hasn't been taught by LDS leaders. I hope to do more videos on this in the future, but one video I encourage you to check out here is my video on the Kingflet discourse, the last general conference sermon that Joseph Smith ever gave. Smith says a lot of things about the nature of God and the nature of man.

And I think they're very relevant when we consider all of these statements that I've just gone over in Isaiah. So, I encourage you to check that out.