The End Is Near!

[God said,] “Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.”

Isaiah 46:10

IT SEEMS AS though every year a handful of people gain momentary notoriety because they claim to know the future. Often they claim to know something about an upcoming cataclysm—a terrible earthquake, a major storm, or even the end of the world. Other times these people make bold declarations about extreme changes in politics, the stock market, or future wars.

We typically react to these prophetic claims with a combination of amusement and scorn. We roll our eyes. We point to reason and the status quo. And yet, if we’re honest, isn’t there a ticklish spot in the back of our minds that says, But what if he’s right? What if she really can tell the future? In our secret thoughts we long to find someone who can legitimately predict the future so we can prepare, because we’re desperately afraid of the uncertainty that the future brings. We want to be able to control what threatens to take us by surprise and overwhelm us.

Isaiah 46:10 helps us get rid of that lingering question by making things crystal clear: only God can predict the future and control it. Only God has insider information about what’s going to happen tomorrow or the next day, because God wrote out his plans for the universe before he created it.

Now here’s the encouraging part, according to verse 10: everything God plans will come to pass. What God wants to accomplish will be accomplished. Nothing can stop it—which is wonderful news if we’re willing to face the uncertainty of the future without fear by trusting in him and obeying his commands.