"The People Whose God Is Jehovah" - A NATION OF WITNESSES

The Israelites worshipped their God, Jehovah, whereas the other nations worshipped their own deities. At the time of the prophet Isaiah, Jehovah compared the world situation to that of a court trial.  He challenged the gods of the nations to produce witnesses to confirm their divinity, declaring: "Let all the nations assemble in one place, and let the peoples be gathered together. Who [of their gods] among them can tell this? Or can the cause us to hear the first things? Let them present their witnesses to prove themselves right, or let them hear and say, 'It is the truth!"' - ISAIAH 43:9.

The gods of the nations were unable to produce any evidence of their god-ship.  They were mere idols that were speechless and that needed to be carried around.  (Isaiah 46:5-7) On the other hand, Jehovah told his people Israel:  "You are my witnesses, . . . yes, my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and have faith in me and understand that I am the same One.  Before me not God was formed, and after me there has been none.  I-I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior. . . .So you are my witnesses, . . .and I am God." - ISAIAH 43:10-12. 

In what would amount to a universal court case over the issue "Who Is the Supreme God?"  Jehovah's chosen people were to attest loud and clear that Jehovah is the one true God.  He called them: "The people whom I formed for mys elf so that they might declare my praise." (Isaiah 43:21) They were the people who bore his name.  Redeemed from Egypt by Jehovah, they were under a moral obligations to support his sovereignty before the other peoples of the earth. In effect, their stance was  to be like that later set forth for God's present-day people by the prophet Micah: "All the people will walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God forever and ever." - MICAH 54:5.

Next time: "The People Whose God Is Jehovah" - A RENEGADE PEOPLE

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