Only God Knows What Is to Come
… God; “your counsels have drawn near,” says the King of Jacob (Isaiah 41:21).
He has declared very clearly how the calling of the nations will come about in its due time; He has promised to turn the desert into marshes and the thirsty land into watercourses, and to make it thick with cedars and box trees and other plants (Isaiah 41:18-19); and He has said that His own hand will be marvelled at as the Maker of such great things (Isaiah 41:20). Now He speaks again to the makers of idols and to the craftsmen of such things, and says that their judgment has come near. By judgment He means the punishment owed to them, that is, their shame and disgrace. For by the holy sentence of God and by a just judgment they would be punished, as men who have deceived the whole world under heaven and brought in counsels that are not true. For they taught those on earth to say to the wood, “You are my father,” and to the stone, “You begot me” (Jeremiah 2:27).
That is why He says that their counsels have drawn near, that is, have come to their end, since God is shaking down the error and scattering the mist of ignorance: not one of the gods they have, those falsely so called, we mean, but the Lord, God in truth, and the King of Jacob, that is, of those of the blood of Israel. By these words He brings to remembrance the signs that took place at the redemption of those of Israel, through which the power of the authority befitting God that is in Him, or of His incomparable pre-eminence, is very clearly recognised.
“Let them draw near and declare to you what will happen; or what the former things were, tell us, and we will set our mind on it, and we will know what the last things are and the things to come. Tell us, declare the things that are coming at the last, and we will know that you are gods. Do good, and do harm, and we will marvel and see together; for where are you from, and where is your work from? From the earth they chose you, an abomination” (Isaiah 41:22-24).
It is the proper and singular mark of the divine and ineffable glory to know all things and to be wholly ignorant of nothing, whether of what has happened before, or of what is present, or of what will be. Indeed, through the all-wise Moses He makes plain to those on earth the things before the framing of this world and the things at the beginning, saying: “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss” (Genesis 1:1-2); and He goes through the making of the whole world most exactly.
But our Lord Jesus Christ too, who spoke those things of old through Moses, has declared to us the things at the end; for, as His disciple says, “We look for new heavens and a new earth, and His promises” (2 Peter 3:13). And one may hear Him saying plainly: “Will anything be hidden from Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27); and: “For the word of God is truly living, and clear, and …” (Hebrews 4:12).
Greek
ὁ Θεός· ἤγγισαν αἱ βουλαὶ ὑμῶν, λέγει ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰακώβ.9 Τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν κλῆσιν ὡς ἔσται κατὰ καιροὺς εὖ μάλα διειρηκὼς, ὑποσχόμενός τε ποιήσειν τὴν ἔρημον εἰς ἕλη, καὶ τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν ἐν ὑδραγωγοῖς, κέδροις τε, καὶ πύξῳ καὶ τοῖς ἑτέροις φυτοῖς κατάκομον ἀπο- φῆναι, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χεῖρα θαυμασθήσεσθαι λέγων, ὡς τῶν οὕτω μεγάλων δημιουργὸν, προσδιαλέγεται πάλιν τοῖς τῶν εἰδώλων ποιηταῖς, καὶ τοῖς τὰ τοιάδε τεχνίταις, καί φησιν ἐγγὺς γενέσθαι τὴν κρίσιν αὐτῶν. Κρίσιν δέ φησιν, ἢ τὴν ὀφειλομένην κόλασιν αὐτοῖς. ἤγουν τὴν αἰσχύνην, καὶ ἐντροπήν. Ὁσίᾳ γὰρ ψήφῳ Θεοῦ, καὶ δικαίῳ κρίματι κολασθεῖεν ἂν ὡς ἠπατηκότες τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανὸν, καὶ βουλὰς οὐκ ἀληθεῖς εἰσκεκομικότες. Ἐδίδαξαν γὰρ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ‹70.844› γῆς τῷ ξύλῳ λέγειν· "6Πατήρ μου εἶ σὺ, καὶ τῷ λίθῳ, Σὺ ἐγέννησάς με."6 Ταύτῃτοι καὶ ἐγγίσαι φησὶ τὰς βουλὰς αὐτῶν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, εἰς πέρας ἐλθεῖν, κατα- σείοντος τὴν πλάνην, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀμαθίας ἀχλὺν κατασκεδαννύντος Θεοῦ, καὶ οὐχ ἑνὸς τῶν παρ' αὐτῶν ὄντος, τῶν ψευδωνύμων δηλονότι φαμὲν, ἀλλὰ Κυρίου, καὶ Θεοῦ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰακὼβ, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τῶν ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραήλ. Ἀποφέρει δὲ διὰ τούτων εἰς ἀνάμνησιν τῶν γεγονότων σημείων, ἐπὶ τῇ λυτρώσει τῶν ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, δι' ὧν εὖ μάλα δια- γινώσκεται τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ θεοπρεποῦς ἐξουσίας, ἢ ἀσυγκρίτου ὑπεροχῆς ἡ δύναμις. 9Ἐγγισάτωσαν, καὶ ἐπαγγειλάτωσαν ὑμῖν ἃ συμβήσεται, ἢ τὰ πρότερα τίνα ἦν· εἴπατε, καὶ ἐπιστήσομεν τὸν νοῦν, καὶ γνωσόμεθα, τί τὰ ἔσχατα, καὶ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα. Εἴπατε ἡμῖν, ἀναγ- γείλατε τὰ ἐπερχόμενα ἐπ' ἐσχάτου, καὶ γνωσό- μεθα, ὅτι θεοί ἐστε. Εὖ ποιήσατε, καὶ κακώσατε, καὶ θαυμασόμεθα, καὶ ὀψόμεθα ἅμα, ὅτι πόθεν ἐστὲ ὑμεῖς, καὶ πόθεν ἡ ἐργασία ὑμῶν· ἐκ γῆς βδέλυγμα ἐξελέξαντο ὑμᾶς.9 Τῆς θείας τε καὶ ἀποῤῥήτου δόξης ἴδιόν τε καὶ ἐξαίρετον τὸ πάντα μὲν εἰδέναι, ἀγνοεῖν δὲ παντε- λῶς οὐδὲν οὔτε τῶν προγεγονότων, οὔτε τῶν ἐνεστη- κότων, ἢ τῶν ἐσομένων. Καὶ γοῦν δὴ [γρ. διὰ] μὲν τοῦ πανσόφου Μωσέως τὰ πρὸ τῆς συμπήξεως τοῦδε τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τὰ ἐν ἀρχαῖς ἐναργῆ τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καθίστησι λέγων· "6Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου·"6 καὶ τὴν παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου ποίησιν ἀκριβέστατα διεξέρχεται. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χρι-στὸς, ὁ πάλαι λαλήσας ἐκεῖνα διὰ Μωσέως, ἀπήγ- γειλεν ἡμῖν τὰ ἐν ἐσχάτοις· ὡς γὰρ ὁ αὐτοῦ φησι μαθητής· "6Καινοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ καινὴν γῆν, καὶ τὰ ἐπαγγέλματα αὐτοῦ προσδοκῶμεν."6 Ἔστι δὲ ἀκοῦσαι λέγοντος ἐναργῶς· "6Μὴ ἀπ' ἐμοῦ κρυβήσεταί τί;"6–"6Καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ζῶν ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐναργὴς, καὶ