10th September, 2008

LLOYD HARKNESS

“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”

PICTURE: mokra (www.sxc.hu) "God is the Alpha, the beginning, the first. Everything else emanates from Him. Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God because when we do we are recognising God is One."

Being born A.D. we tend to read a verse such as this, in the Old Testament, with the knowledge Jesus brought to the Trinity. We read ‘the Lord is One’ and part of what we compute is God is three-in-one yet indivisible. To do so is fine but it can cause us to miss the revelation of One, a revelation which enmeshed Israel to God. So this time around we will focus on God the One.

God is one. He is Alpha. He is the beginning.

As one, God is first and foremost. As one, God is primary in all things. As one, God is independent of all others and the origin of all. As one, God is indivisible and whole; devoid of inner conflict, doubt, hesitation or recrimination.

God is the Alpha, the beginning, the first. Everything else emanates from Him. Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God because when we do we are recognising God is One. To seek anything or anyone else first would simply reveal how out of whack we are with Him and ourselves. If we fail to seek God first and His kingdom then something else will replace the One. This is somewhat of an oxymoron and a paradox.

It is an oxymoron because there can be no two firsts or no two ones. It is a paradox because clearly we have elevated someone or something to one when in actuality it can’t be because God is One and One is God.

God is supreme. There is no dualism. Satan is not another number one or an alternate number one. God is One and Satan is a created being with pretensions. There is One and then there is somewhere along the continuum of numbers. There is the Creator and the created. There is the indivisible cardinal One and then there is the fractured or divisible 666.

Because God is One, He is first in time, first in order and first in importance. To know God as One is a foundational revelation of His nature and so if we return to the opening quote we see that it says equally God is Jehovah and Jehovah is One. God is the One Jehovah or the One who is ever-existing.

The Lord our God is one Lord. There is no multiplicity of beings; no idols, gods, demigods or other creative forces who are adjuncts or addendums to God the Creator, the Great I Am. There are no add-ons because God does not need for anything outside Himself and there are no rivals because God is God. God is one, to the exclusion of all others, and He does not need anyone or anything to complete Him. He is all sufficient within Himself and fully independent - One.

A simple extrapolation to illustrate this point is what happens when someone becomes a Christian. A commitment to God gives you the privilege of working with God in His creative redemptive plan and to usher in His kingdom. God does not step into a person’s life and link with them to bring their plans to fruition and establish their little domain or kingdom; even if they are claiming it all in the name of Jesus.

God is One and where there is one will or one purpose there is rest, peace and harmony. Zechariah prophesied (chapter 14, verse nine) that there is a day coming when God will be king over all the earth, when our prayer, as instructed by Jesus (‘Thy kingdom come’) will be answered. Zechariah went on to prophesy that day will reveal “One Lord and HIS NAME ONE”.

God is One and One is God. Hear O Israel and all who would know Him.

New Testament postscript
The book of Ephesians tells us there is one Lord, one God and one Father over and above and in and through all; and this is uniquely so for people who have embraced one faith and one hope, one Spirit and one baptism to become one body (one organic whole, one tribe, one people group, one team, one assembly, one unit, one army, one corporation, one construction crew) with Jesus as the head calling the shots.

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