El Echad - The One and Only

Malachi 2:10 “Have we not all one Father? Has not One God (El Echad) created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers?”

This name of God - El Echad - means “One God.” It reveals an awesome truth to us; There is only one God!

This truth isn’t very palatable in today’s culture. The world seems more preoccupied with appeasing everyone than it does in searching out the truth. But let me be clear, all faiths and religions are not equally valid! They can’t all be right. If there’s a religion that claims there are thousands of gods, and another that says there is only one - how can they both be true? Just because millions of people are buying into a belief system, that doesn’t make it correct or as valid as another belief system. No...a lie is a lie, even if entire cultures believe it. Let’s take it even further, the truth is the truth, even if no one accepts it.

Just Because It’s Called a “god”...

The Bible acknowledges that there are many so-called “gods” in the world. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 addresses this issue: “Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.”

Even though the Bible acknowledges this idea of many “gods”, it does not condone it or justify it. On the contrary, it clearly refutes it. Just because a thing is called “god” does not make it so! In fact, the Bible even ridicules people who spend time and effort to manufacture a “god” - only to bow down to it and serve it!

Jeremiah 10:8-10 But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; a wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. Silver is beaten into plates; it is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the metalsmith; blue and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men. But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King.

That’s what God thinks of someone who forms their own god - or someone who follows an earthly thing made into a God. He calls them “altogether dull-hearted and foolish.”

Isaiah 44:6-8 makes it even clearer, there is no other god in heaven or earth! “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’”

There you have it; to God’s knowledge, there is no other god besides Him! It doesn’t matter what other faiths and cults profess - our God is the One God!

We Can Know Him By Name

Psalm 115 takes this truth one step further and names the One God. Pay attention to the words of this passage:
But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them. O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.

There is One God - and it’s the God of Israel. He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His name is Yahweh (the LORD)!

Of course we’ve already learned that this God has another name - Jesus! It’s interesting that Jesus takes the exact same title for Himself that Yahweh used in Isaiah 44. Look at what He says in Revelation 1:11 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last...” There aren’t two Firsts and Lasts, people! Jesus is God. He is Yahweh - the One that spoke in the Old Testament, clearly manifested in bodily form!

Not Harmless, But Demonic

So, what about the other so-called gods? Is there really nothing to them? Actually, the Bible makes it clear that there is an evil force behind everything in this world that is named a “god”. In Deuteronomy 32:17, God took up a complaint against some of His people who were offering sacrifices to idols. Far from being meaningless nothings, God called them “demons”. He said, “They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear.”

You see, an idol may be nothing but a hunk of wood or metal - but the spirit behind it is very real. Romans 10:19-20 shows us that it’s not necessarily the statue of an idol that’s evil, but the spirit that is attached to it. What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.”

Now, not all idols are made out of wood, gold, or silver. Some idols are made out of something even more dangerous - imagination. 2 Corinthians 10:5 speaks of thoughts and imaginations that exalt themselves against the correct knowledge of God. Whenever we buy into an idea that is contrary to what’s revealed in scripture - that idea becomes an idol. And like any other idol - that imagination that soon comes with a demon attached to it.

What’s particularly important to understand is that this is true of every belief that isn’t biblical...including ideas about God Himself. We see this clearly when we read the story of the Golden calf in Exodus 32. After forging and shaping a hunk of gold into the shape of a cow, these people then worshiped this calf using the name of God! These people came up with their own ideas of who God was and worshiped that as if it were really God!

How many Christians are doing exactly the same thing? How many times have you heard a believer say something like this?
“I know that’s what the Bible says, but I don’t think God really meant that.”
“I know the Bible condemns this sin, but we live in the New Testament now.”
“I know the Bible says that I’m supposed to behave this way, but that just doesn’t apply in the world we live in now.”
“That passage is pretty harsh; my God wouldn’t do that!”

Unfortunately, that last statement may actually be true of a lot of church-goers. I would like to warn everyone reading this; If your god wouldn’t do something that God plainly says He would do in the Bible, then you’re not serving the One God anymore.

The worship of any gods other than the God of the Bible (revealed in Jesus Christ) is evil. It doesn’t matter if it’s the sun, moon, or an elevated view of nature. It doesn’t matter if it’s a statue or a supposed “unseen” god. It doesn’t even matter if it supposedly God Himself - with some man-made ideas added. If a person’s worship is not directed to the God clearly revealed in the 66 books of the Bible, that person is worshiping a demon.

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is One (El Echad) LORD.”