The True God

God’s Truth in the Prophets

4 min

Can we say with confidence that Christianity is true and that all other religions are false? Our society today professes that such a view is extremely bigoted and fanatically arrogant. The social elite assure us that there are “many ways to God” and that different religions across the world are all different cultural manifestations of the same inner quest of man for the divine—that all religions are merely different paths to the same goal.

But this assertion regarding the “many ways to God” cannot be true. Even the basic laws of logic call us to make a distinction between truth and error. There are, of course, certain statements whose truth value depends heavily upon perspective. Two different men evaluating the same dog lying in a ditch might differ in their assessments. One man may say that the dog is ugly. The next man may say that the dog is cute. But when one man says the dog is dead and the next man says the dog is alive, we have two statements that are mutually exclusive. Both assessments cannot be true!

The same is true with religion. Christianity claims that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, a divine Being Who was made flesh and dwelt among us in order to make a perfect sacrifice for sin. On the contrary, religions like Judaism and Islam claim that Jesus may have been a good teacher, but He was certainly not the divine Son of God. These views are mutually exclusive. Therefore, it is entirely appropriate for us as Christians to say with confidence based upon the authority of Scripture that we are right and they are wrong.

In Jeremiah 10:10, the prophet Jeremiah drew a sharp contrast between the false gods of the heathen and the true and living God of Israel. “But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation” (Jeremiah 10:10).

The Hebrew word here is a different word for truth than the one we examined last week. The word in this verse is אֱמֶת (emeth). The contrast made in this text in Jeremiah is a contrast between empty vanity and lasting value. The false gods of the world bring only emptiness and vanity. The true God, the living God, is a God Who brings value, worth, and blessing to our lives. The truth of His existence and power is not merely a severe, cold fact but is a living reality.

In the context of Jeremiah Chapter 10, the prophet mocked the foolish vanities of idolatry. He said, “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good” (Jeremiah 10:3–5).

How foolish it is to make an idol from wood that you then have to carry around and expect it to do something for you! So it is with all false religions. Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and the many other false religions of the world are man-made and empty. Each of these religions lack a global appeal, and their relevance is cultural and restrictive. By contrast, the true God knows no bounds. The religion of Jesus Christ is meant for the nations! Jesus came to be a “light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:32).

The prophet Jeremiah went on to state in clear terms the global nature of God’s revelation. “Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee” (Jeremiah 10:6–7). The King of nations in verse 6 is one and the same as the true God of verse 10. There is none like Him!

By contrast, Jeremiah condemns all false religion as “brutish and foolish.” “But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men” (Jeremiah 10:8–9). However cunning and appealing the teaching of a false religion might be, we do well to recognize that it is only the work of men’s hands, and, thus as the prophet stated, is only a “doctrine of vanities.”

Having surveyed the previous verses that give context to Jeremiah 10:10, we return now to the foundational text of this article: “But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation” (Jeremiah 10:10).

Because we serve the true God, we should never be intimidated into conceding some supposed equality of all religions. The God of the Bible is true, and all other gods are false. The “religion” of Jesus Christ has everlasting value and is the only system of belief that can satisfy the spiritual hunger of men and women of every nation. Our firm acknowledgement of God’s attribute of truth should give us the confidence and authority to boldly proclaim His Word.

This article is from our Matters of Life & Death teaching series.

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Every Tuesday you'll get a teaching article that focuses on an attribute of God as seen in the Law, Prophets, Gospels, and Epistles.
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