“That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else” (I Kings 8:60).

This is the final and climactic petition in Solomon’s great prayer at the dedication of the beautiful temple of God in Jerusalem (I Kings 8:22–61). The temple was not merely a place of worship for the people of Israel, but a testimony to all the people of the earth. “The LORD is God!” That is, Jehovah is Elohim, the God who created the heaven and the earth in the beginning (Genesis 1:1).

For this one time in history, the most magnificent building on earth had been erected by the greatest king of the earth as a testimony to all the people of the earth that Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel, was really the one God who had created all the earth. The testimony was thrilling while it lasted, but soon the great king fell into deep sin, the magnificent temple was eventually destroyed, and the chosen people were scattered through all the earth.

Still, “there is none else,” for Israel’s Lord is, indeed, the God of creation, whether or not He is accepted by either Jew or Gentile. It is still His purpose, as expressed by divine inspiration in this concluding petition of the prayer, “that all the people of the earth” may acknowledge Him as God and Creator (Revelation 4:11), and then as personal Redeemer (Revelation 5:9,12). Since there can be only one Creator, it is only He who can be the Savior, and it does make a difference-an eternal difference-whether one accepts Him or not. “If ye believe not that I am,” said Jesus (the “He” of the King James is not in the original), “ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). There is no other Creator and there is no other Savior than the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal word made flesh, who “tabernacled” among us (John 1:14), the One who was modeled in the great temple, and whom all people on the earth need to know. HMM