“[T]here is no one like me in all the earth.”

God commanded.  Moses demanded.  Pharaoh resisted.  These six words summarize the first 14 chapters of the book of Exodus.  Detailing the conflict between the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the pitiful gods of Egypt, God commanded Moses to speak to Pharaoh.  Moses went with God’s demands to let his people go.  Pharaoh, one of the “objects of [God’s] wrath—prepared for destruction” (Romans 9:22), vainly attempted to hold on to these servants who were building monuments to Egypt’s crumbling magnificence.  God had bigger and better plans for this  generation of Jews.  Thus the conflict about which deity, which kingdom and whose glory would define their future.  In this conflict God says he is unique.

The word unique comes from a French word, so it doesn’t appear in the Bible.  But the idea is clearly there.  The significance of God’s uniqueness seems to be most important in conflicts where God’s glory and credibility are at stake.  Such was the time and situation in ancient Egypt.  Another time was in Isaiah’s day after the Israelis split into two kingdoms — Israel to the north and Judah to the south.  Isaiah lived during a time where new messages from God were confronting the Jews’ blatant rebellion and rampant unbelief.  Sent to prophesy to the southern kingdom, he records God saying, “… [A]part from me there is no God … You are my witnesses.  Is there any God besides me?  No, there is no other Rock; I know not one” (44:6b, 8b).  He even says a time will come when those from northern Egypt will say to the Jews, “Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god” (45:14).

The fact of God’s uniqueness shoots down the popular notion of religious pluralism, that all religions are the same, and that many roads lead up the mountain to God.  No, God will have none of this.  “For,” he told Isaiah, “my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts [higher] than your thoughts”  (55:9).  God will not be brought down to a level with other things that man makes into gods.  His way of salvation will not be the same as manmade ideas.  God is unique; his ideas are his alone, not ours.

The uniqueness of God can also be seen in the physical world.  We all know that every snowflake that has ever fallen or ever will fall is unique.  Every set of stripes on a zebra is unique.  While life and history may appear to run in cycles, no event or situation is identical to another, whether they are natural disasters, political revolutions or sporting events.  All of nature demonstrates his uniqueness.

Likewise we see it in humanity.  Yogi Berra, former baseball great with the New York Yankees, had a habit of saying some interesting and unusual things.  Responding to a reporter who spoke of a teammate’s uniqueness, he said, “Yeah, he’s unique … just like everyone else.”  His point was well taken.  Each individual human being is unique, one-of-a-kind, never to be duplicated.  Even identical twins are two distinct human beings.  God stamps every person with his/her own set of fingerprints, tongue print, retinal pattern, etc.  He marks us from our conception with a uniqueness that comes from him.  Jesus too manifested his own unique abilities.  Temple guards who heard him speak told the chief priests and Pharisees, “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (John 7:46).

It shouldn’t surprise us, therefore, that Christianity is unique.  How many religions (if we compare Christianity to man’s religions for a moment) have their followers, as a primary act of worship, celebrate the death and anticipated return of their lord and master?  None!  Of all people in the world who follow a particular faith, only Christians are instructed to share the bread and the cup “in remembrance of [Christ]” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25), a sign of complete acceptance, intimate friendship and personal communion.

What other deity calls us to such intimacy and fellowship?  None!  Indeed, there is no God like him because other “gods” are too busy demanding while our God is giving and forgiving.  Other “gods” are impersonal while ours is personal.  Only he could provide the means for such a relationship, and he did so in a big way, not demanding of us, but giving his unique Son to us.

Do you enjoy your walk with our unique God?  Can you say with the psalm writer (73:25), who described the importance of his relationship with him, “Whom have I in heaven but you?”