The oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered. (Numbers 24:16)

While the term “Elyon” is connected with “Elohim,” the Creator God, as we saw previously, most of the time “Elyon” is used by itself as a descriptor of God. He is “The Most High,” above all that is and will be. In the ancient world that meant He was greater than all other so-called gods.

In light of the biblical teaching that there is one and only one God, then what do we make of the Bible’s frequent references to gods of other nations? The prophets of Scripture often resorted to polemics, an attack against the false beliefs of the pagan world around them. The pagans considered their gods (as depicted by their wooden, stone or metal idols) to be real and powerful. But, “Thus says the Lord … ‘I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me’” (Is 44:6). The language of the prophets does speak of those other gods but in a pejorative way. Essentially they say, “Whatever you believe your gods to be, they are nothing compared to the Most High God whom we worship.”

Indeed, Paul writes, “There is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one” (1 Cor 8:4b). That doesn’t mean that worship of other gods is innocuous, for God considers it the height of evil. Indeed, the commands given to Moses begin with “I am the Lord your God … you shall have no other gods before Me.” To put belief in other gods in the same category with belief in the Most High in any sense is to compete directly with God. In fact, it is Satanic. Paul writes, “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons” (1 Cor 10:20). Satan himself, as personified in the king of Babylon in Isaiah’s prophecy, had as his supreme goal to compete with God and to win out over Him: “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High (Elyon)” (Is 14:13–14).

In the end, believers in the Most High have much to be encouraged by. In Daniel’s end-time prophecy, he speaks four times of the “saints of the Highest One (Elyon),” believers who will be persecuted in a great tribulation but who will then reign in the everlasting kingdom over all the earth (Daniel 7).

Lord, when all is said and done, we will reign with You, our Most High One. There is no greater worship than to worship You.