Sovereignty of God

Declaring the end from the beginning…saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure– Isaiah 46:10

There is a famous military motto: “No plan of war survives first contact with the enemy." This maxim holds true in every human conflict because it is impossible to know for certain how one’s enemy will react or what circumstances may intervene to change any planned course of action.

But this is not true of God. God does not wonder what the future holds. God does not worry about his purposes coming to fruition. God’s plans are never frustrated, foiled, or even hindered.

He has declared (not merely described) the end from the beginning. In other words, this declaration is not simply a factor of his omniscience, that he sees and knows the future; it is a result of his sovereignty, which forms and shapes the future. 

It is for this reason that God says, “I will do all my pleasure.” He is not limited to describing events that will come to pass; he has declared what events will come to pass. His counsel shall stand and all his pleasure will be performed.

For believers, this is a great comfort because we know that it is the pleasure of God to overrule even persecution and personal pain for the good of his people and the glory of his name. What an encouragement to inexhaustible labor, to be assured of an inexorable victory!