"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. ¹²And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." —Acts 4:11-12
The Old Testament makes two points crystal clear: there is only one God and He deserves our exclusive worship. This is summed up in Deuteronomy 6:4–5, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Or said this way in Isaiah 45:22, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Do you see the connection? There is only one God—the Lord—the triune God who is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His unique identity demands our worship. This is the first and necessary basis for why we should love Him with all that we are. He alone is God. He alone is worthy. Moreover, as seen in Isaiah 45:22, our salvation is also rooted in this basic reality. Turn to the Lord and be saved, He says through Isaiah. Why? Because God alone is God and there is no other.
Two responses are rooted in the same reality: worship God because He alone is God and turn to God for salvation because He alone is God. Both responses require that we recognize the wonder that there is no one like the Lord. No one. Nobody is worthy like Him. No one can do what He does.
This is the theological undercurrent beneath Acts 4:11–12. Jesus, the stone spoken about in Isaiah 28:16, is the only One in whom salvation is found because e alone is God. Jesus is the Lord and if anyone will be saved, they must turn to Him. When we do turn to Him, when we look to Him as our only hope of salvation, we are confessing His worth, that He alone is God. We are declaring: “Yes, Jesus! You alone! My hope is in you alone! For there is no one else.”
Where we look for salvation is where we worship. Only One is worthy of the magnitude these responses affirm. Today and forever, let us look to Jesus Christ, for salvation is in no one else. He is God and there is no other.
For Reflection
By whose name must we be saved?
What is the relationship between who God is and our salvation?
Where are you looking for rescue today?