Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.
Parallel Translations
-
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.
-
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
-
Remember the former things of old: that I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me;
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Isaiah 46:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 45:21-22 Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is no one besides me. “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have happened and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”
- Psalms 111:4 He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered. Yahweh is gracious and merciful.
- Isaiah 46:5 “To whom will you compare me, and consider my equal, and compare me, as if we were the same?
- Deuteronomy 33:26 “There is no one like God, Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens for your help, in his excellency on the skies.
- Deuteronomy 32:7 Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.
- Isaiah 45:18 For Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am Yahweh. There is no other.
- Isaiah 65:17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.
- Nehemiah 9:7-37 You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham, found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his offspring, and have performed your words; for you are righteous. “You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea, and showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, and against all his servants, and against all the people of his land; for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and made a name for yourself, as it is today. You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the middle of the sea on the dry land; and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go. “You also came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and a law, by Moses your servant, and gave them bread from the sky for their hunger, and brought water out of the rock for them for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them. “But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments, and refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them. Yes, when they had made themselves a molded calf, and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed awful blasphemies; yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go. You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and didn’t withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. “Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell. Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. “So the children went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they pleased. They took fortified cities and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns dug out, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled, became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness. “Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies. Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out of the hands of their adversaries. But after they had rest, they did evil again before you; therefore you left them in the hands of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them; yet when they returned, and cried to you, you heard from heaven; and many times you delivered them according to your mercies, and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they were arrogant, and didn’t listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances (which if a man does, he shall live in them), turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear. Yet many years you put up with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not listen. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. “Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you didn’t make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, don’t let all the travail seem little before you, that has come on us, on our kings, on our princes, on our priests, on our prophets, on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day. However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly. Also our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them. For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land which you gave before them. They didn’t turn from their wicked works. “Behold, we are servants today, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants in it. It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies and over our livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
- Isaiah 45:5-6 I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
- Jeremiah 23:7-8 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that they will no more say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’ but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.”
- Isaiah 45:14 Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains. They will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.
- Daniel 9:6-15 We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. “Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him. We haven’t obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice. “Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities and have discernment in your truth. Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice. “Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today; we have sinned. We have done wickedly.
- Psalms 105:1-45 Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name! Make his doings known among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him! Tell of all his marvelous works. Glory in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice. Seek Yahweh and his strength. Seek his face forever more. Remember his marvelous works that he has done: his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, you offspring of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is Yahweh, our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance,” when they were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners in it. They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes, “Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!” He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies. He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles. His neck was locked in irons, until the time that his word happened, and Yahweh’s word proved him true. The king sent and freed him, even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions, to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom. Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham. He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries. He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against his words. He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings. He spoke, and swarms of flies came, and lice in all their borders. He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land. He struck their vines and also their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country. He spoke, and the locusts came with the grasshoppers, without number, ate up every plant in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood. He brought them out with silver and gold. There was not one feeble person among his tribes. Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen on them. He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night. They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky. He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places. For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant. He brought his people out with joy, his chosen with singing. He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession, that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise Yah!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for…
Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me,
Ver. 9. Remember the former things of old.] Again he calleth upon them to remember who had so foully forgot themselves in the days of Ahaz and Manasseh, and would do so again in Babylon, where they kept not themselves from idols. Papists unman themselves, or otherwise they could not be such gross idolaters.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Remember the former things of old; what I have…
Remember the former things of old; what I have done for you, and in the world, my evident predictions of future things justified by the event, and those other miraculous works whereby I have abundantly proved my Divinity.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Remember the former things of old,.... The things that…
Remember the former things of old,.... The things that were from the beginning, or the ancient things done by the Lord, whether as the effects of power, wisdom, and goodness, or in wrath, or in mercy; such as the creation of the heavens, and the earth, and all things in them; the destruction of the old world, and of Sodom and Gomorrah; the bringing of Israel out of Egypt through the Red sea and wilderness, to Canaan's land, and all the wondrous things then done for them; which are so many proofs of the true deity of the God of Israel, in opposition to the idols of the Gentiles:
for I am God, and there is none else; as he must needs be what did the above things:
Read full note →
I am God, and there is none like me; for greatness or goodness, or that has done the like things; not one of the gods of the Gentiles.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 46:9-11. Remember the former things — What I…
Isa 46:9-11. Remember the former things — What I have done for you and in the world, my evident predictions of future things, justified by the event; and those other miraculous works, whereby I have abundantly proved my divinity. Declaring the end from the beginning — Foretelling from the beginning of the world, or from the beginning of your nation, those future events which should happen in succeeding ages, even to the end of the world, or to the end of your commonwealth; for such predictions we find delivered by Moses, the first founder of their state. My counsel shall stand — As I will not, so no other power can, disappoint my purposes and predictions. This is another argument urged for the divinity of the God of Israel, namely, his foreknowledge and prediction of future events, of which the prophet subjoins a particular instance in the next words. Calling a ravenous bird, or eagle, from the east — From Persia, as Isa 41:2. “There can be no doubt that Cyrus is here meant. Kings and princes are often compared in Scripture to eagles, Jer 49:22; Eze 17:3. But it has been thought that there is a peculiar propriety in this application to Cyrus, as the eagle well denotes the magnanimity, the quickness of judgment, the celerity in all his expeditions and motions, for which Cyrus was so remarkable. We are also told by Plutarch, that Cyrus had an aquiline nose; and Xenophon expressly relates, that his standard was a golden eagle; which yet continues, says he, to be the standard of the Persian kings.” — Vitringa.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Remember the former things ... - Bear in mind…
Remember the former things ... - Bear in mind the repeated and constant proofs that have been given that Yahweh is the true God - the proofs derived from the prediction of future events, and from the frequent interpositions of his providence in your behalf as a nation.
For I am God - (See the notes at Isa 44:6).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain former--namely, proofs of the sole Godship of Jehovah, from…
former--namely, proofs of the sole Godship of Jehovah, from predictions fulfilled, and interpositions of God in behalf of Israel (Isa 45:5).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. former things of old] See on Isa_41:22. The…
9. former things of old] See on Isa_41:22. The emphasis here lies less on the predictions than on the events themselves, which are of such a nature as to demonstrate that Jehovah alone is truly God.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) I am God.—The first predicate is El, the…
(9) I am God.—The first predicate is El, the mighty and strong one, the second Elohim, the one true object of worship. The verse that follows asserts what in modern language would be called the omniscience and the omnipotence of God.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 9-11. A FURTHER ADMONITION GROUNDED ON OTHER MOTIVES.…
Vers. 9-11. A FURTHER ADMONITION GROUNDED ON OTHER MOTIVES. Israel is exhorted to continue firm in the faith
(1) by the recollection of God"s mercies in the past (ver. 9);
Read full note →
(2) by the consideration of his prophetic power (ver. 10); and
(3) by a renewed promise of coming deliverance through Cyrus (ver. 11).
Manliness in relation to religion.
"Remember this, and show yourselves men." The prophet calls on the people of God to show themselves to be men, either by exercising their powers of recollection and reason in remembering the facts and arguments he has adduced, or by taking appropriate, manly action in the recollection and realization of these convincing and constraining reasons. Religion is a manly thing in both these aspects. So far from its being the childish or effeminate thing which its enemies have been pleased to call it, it is a sphere of thought and of action in which the very highest and noblest attributes of our humanity have fullest scope.
I AS A SPHERE OF HUMAN THOUGHT.
1. It is the most elevated. All objects of creation are worthy of regard, and the study of them is full of recompense. But they differ in the degree of their worthiness; there is an ascending scale, and they culminate in the Divine. The noblest study of mankind is God his nature, his character, his will, his kingdom.
2. It is the most obligatory. Men, as men, should consider that which most claims their attention, should dwell on those themes which most demand their thought and care. And these are found in Divine blessings, Divine dealings, Divine messages, Divine beauties and excellences. We are never doing anything more worthy of our manhood than when we are recalling and realizing what God is, what he has done, what he has been to our race and to ourselves, what sovereign and supreme claims he has on our reverence and love.
II As A SPHERE OF HUMAN ACTION. If there be anything which can be said to be manlier than patient and earnest thought on the highest themes, it is:
1. Deliberate choice of the wisest and best course the determination, at all costs and spite of all inducements, to take that course which commends itself to our judgment as the right and the wise one. This is exactly what men do when they surrender themselves to the will of God, to the service of Jesus Christ.
2. Resolute and persistent pursuit of it. Where does manliness find nobler illustrations than in the persistent worship of God under cruel persecution, the immovable adherence to sacred conviction under the wearying and worrying assaults of worldly and frivolous associates, the steadfast endeavour to extend the kingdom of righteousness and to raise the condition of the degraded, notwithstanding all the discouragements that await the Christian workman? C.
Ver. 9. Remember the former things of old; i.e. God"s wonderful dealings with Israel in times past the miracles in Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, the deliverances from Midian, and Ammon, and the Philistines, and Zerah, and Sennacherib which proved him God in a sense in which the word could be applied to no other. I am God... I am God. In the original, "I am El... I am Elohim. El is "the Mighty One," "the Omnipotent;" Elohim, "the Godhead" in all its fulness.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Remember the former things of old
Isa_46:9-11
Remember the former things of old
Read full note →
The purposes of God
I.
When we come to look at THE PURPOSES OF GOD, we must not be misled by words. The word purpose, with us, supposes several things, which have nothing to do with the same term when applied to God. There is, with God, no ignorance previously to the formation of His purposes; no new light thrown on circumstances, out of which His purpose arises; no period in His past eternity, when His purposes were not formed; no consulting either with Himself or with others, with regard to their formation. Perhaps you may be ready to say, if we are to look at the purpose of God in this way, it is not a purpose at all, in the sense in which we use the term. And it certainly is not, as you will perceive. We accommodate human language to the infinite characteristics of the Divine nature; but we must do it with caution, and must be careful what measure of idea we associate with our common terms, when we are applying them to God. If not, we shall be deceived in the conclusions we draw and the doctrines we believe. If the purpose of God is to be viewed as it really is, we take it to be simply this: Gods foreknowledge of everything that is to come to pass, together with the operation of His influence upon that foreknowledge, in connection with those things. His foreknowledge had no beginning; His resolution, as to what He was to do, could have no beginning. From the moment He foresaw, He resolved or purposed. Such appears to be the meaning of the word purpose as applied to God. If it should be said, This is a view of purpose altogether foreign from the view we take of it, we grant it. But why? Because the nature of God is altogether foreign from ours. Ours is a finite and limited nature in itself; His is infinite and unlimited.
II. THE APPLICATION OF GODS PURPOSE IN REFERENCE TO MAN.
1. Are we to regard the purposes of God as involving in them the charge of originating immorality and sin? Did God purpose that man should be a sinner? If His purposes are to be taken and explained, as we take and explain our own, then this was the case. If He foresaw that man would fall before He made him, yet had not determined whether He should permit this or not, and then permitted it, we should say that the purpose of God implies in it a part at least of the moral guilt of His creature. But He had formed no such purpose as this. He foresaw that man would fall; He foresaw the provision that was to be made for his case; but there was no period in eternity when He had not foreseen this, and hence no purpose arose out of the mere incident of the liability of man to fall. He was left to the working of those powers which God gave him: and with the working of those powers the purposes of God never interfered.
2. But if we look not merely to the connection between the purpose of God and the origin of evil, but also to the connection between the purpose of God and the free agency of man, we have another field opened to us, in examining which we must very carefully recollect the views that we have taken of the Divine purpose. When God created man, He gave him powers and faculties which He intended to commit to his trust, and which He aid commit to his trust. He foresaw what use he would make of them, and how far he would abuse them; but He did not destroy them, in order that they might not be abused. There is an entire freedom in the operation of our faculties, so far as our own consciousness is concerned; are they not also exhibited to us as free, in the Word of God? Are we not addressed upon the subject of our shortcomings and our sins, as if we were held strictly free by the God that addresses us? Are we not hailed to return from our iniquity, as if we were free to return? Are we not invited to lay hold on the hope set before us in the Gospel, as if we were free to accept the invitation? Let us look next at the view that men take of our capacity; and we shall find, that except when they are induced to quarrel with the Word of God, except when they are induced to throw difficulties in the way of their own salvation, they too act upon the principle that man is free.
3. But let us look at the purpose of God in reference to mans responsibility. If man were not free, on what ground could he be held to be responsible? and does any one doubt of his responsibility to God? The responsibility of man arises out of the very nature of his faculties, just like the proof of his free agency in the use of them. And we find the Word of God harmonising with the view, which our own faculties would alone give us, in holding the responsibility of man. Then what has the purpose of God to do with our responsibility? It merely foresees the consequences of that responsibility, and purposes to leave the man to those consequences. Reject and neglect the great salvation, and you cannot be saved: such is the announced purpose of God. Accept that salvation, and he that believeth shall be saved: such is also the announced purpose of God. His purpose, therefore, in all these respects, is nothing more than His foreknowledge, connected with His determination respecting what He foresees; both the foreknowledge and the determination how He shall act in reference to what He foresees, being eternal.
4. Regarding the purpose of God in this light, we may take yet another view of its application, namely, its connection with the Gospel of Christ. With your belief, or your unbelief, the purpose of God has nothing to do, except so far as that purpose determines to reward the one, and to punish the other.
(1) Remembering these things, which of you would be disposed, in the face of the nature of God, in the face of his own consciousness, in the face of the settled opinions of all men and all ages, in the face of the Word of God itself, to say that he is not held responsible for the exercise of the powers which God has given him? In everything but religion, we act upon this consciousness of freedom and responsibility.
(2) Let us associate our own salvation with the determined purpose of God, that they who come to Him shall in no wise be cast out, and that he that believeth shall and must be saved. (J. Burner.)
A fourfold aspect of the Infinite
I. AS THE ONE AND ONLY GOD. I am God, and there is none else. The Bible establishes the doctrine of monotheism. This doctrine--
1. Agrees with our spiritual nature. The whole soul, both in its searches after truth and love, one for the intellect, the other for the heart, struggles after unity; it turns to the centre, as the needle to the pole, as the flower to the sun
2. Explains the harmony of the universe. How is it that all things in their constitution fit into each other, and in their operations are so harmonious and uniform? The whole machine shows in all its parts and revolutions that it had but one Architect.
3. Makes clear human obligation. If there be but one God, His will should be the supreme law of all our activities; His being should be the centre of our sympathies and love. Were there more gods than one we might be distracted on the question as to who should have our love and obedience.
II. AS ACQUAINTED WITH ALL THE FUTURITIES OF THE UNIVERSE. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done. There is one mind in the universe, and only one, whose infinite glance comprehended all, swept over all space, and over all durations. Though such a fact baffles all our attempts at comprehension, its denial would undeify God. The whole history of the universe, from beginning to end, was in His mind before it took active shapes, or concrete embodiments. Hence--
(1) He can have no surprises.
(2) He can have no disappointments.
III. AS PURPOSING NOTING THAT CAN BY ANY POSSIBILITY FAIL. My counsel shall stand, &c.
1. God has a concern for His pleasure. The apostle calls His pleasure a good pleasure. What is it? The pleasure of disinterested benevolence.
2. All Gods purposes point to His pleasure. Whatever will make His creatures happy is His pleasure; and the whole universe is constructed on this principle.
3. None of Gods purposes shall fail. My purposes shall stand. The special purpose here referred to was terribly realised (Dan_5:30). Our purposes are constantly being broken; the vast shore of human history is crowded with the wrecks of broken purposes. Our purposes are broken sometimes--
(1) Through the lack of power to carry them out.
(2) Through the lack of time to carry them out. God has ample power and ample time to carry out His purposes.
IV. AS HAVING ABSOLUTE POWER TO SUBORDINATE EVEN UNGODLY MEN TO HIS SERVICE. Calling a ravenous bird, &c. In Gods great moral kingdom He has two classes of servants.
(1) Those who serve Him by their will--all holy angels and sainted men.
(2) Those who serve Him against their will--wicked men and devils.
Conclusion--What an ennobling view of our God! He is One: let us centre our souls on Him; He knows all futurities, let us trust His providence. He will fulfil all His purposes, let us acquiesce in His arrangements. He renders even His moral enemies subservient to His own will, therefore let us trust in Him who liveth for ever. (Homilist.)
Cyrus, a ravenous bird
Cyrus is compared to a ravenous bird on account of the celerity of his movements (Isa_41:3), just asNebuchadnezzar had been likened to an eagle (Jer_49:22;Eze_17:3). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.