Isaiah 46:10
I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.'
Declaring the end from the beginning
This phrase emphasizes God's omniscience and sovereignty. The Hebrew word for "declaring" is "נָגַד" (nagad), which means to make known or announce. This suggests that God is not merely predicting the future but is actively revealing His divine plan. The "end" and the "beginning" encompass all of time, indicating that God is outside of time and fully aware of all events from eternity past to eternity future. This is a profound reminder of God's eternal nature and His control over history, reassuring believers that nothing is outside of His knowledge or power.

and from ancient times
The phrase "ancient times" refers to the distant past, highlighting God's eternal existence. The Hebrew word "קֶדֶם" (qedem) can mean "antiquity" or "eternity," underscoring that God's plans and purposes have been established long before human history began. This serves to remind us that God's wisdom and understanding are far beyond human comprehension, and His plans are rooted in His eternal nature.

what is yet to come
This part of the verse speaks to God's prophetic revelation. The Hebrew word "בּוֹא" (bo) means "to come" or "to happen," indicating that God knows and reveals future events. This is a testament to His omnipotence and the reliability of His word. For believers, this is a source of comfort and assurance, knowing that God is in control of the future and that His promises will be fulfilled.

saying, ‘My purpose will stand
Here, "purpose" is translated from the Hebrew word "עֵצָה" (etsah), which means counsel or plan. This indicates that God's intentions are deliberate and unchangeable. The phrase "will stand" uses the Hebrew "קוּם" (qum), meaning to arise or endure, emphasizing the certainty and permanence of God's plans. This assures believers that God's purposes are steadfast and will prevail despite any human or spiritual opposition.

and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
The phrase "good pleasure" comes from the Hebrew "חֵפֶץ" (chephets), which means delight or desire. This suggests that God's actions are not arbitrary but are driven by His benevolent will and desire for good. The word "accomplish" is from "עָשָׂה" (asah), meaning to do or make, indicating that God actively brings His plans to fruition. This is a powerful reminder that God's will is both good and effective, and He will bring about His desired outcomes for His glory and the ultimate good of His people.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Isaiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah's ministry spanned the reigns of several kings of Judah. He is known for his prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah and the future of Israel.

2. Babylon
In the context of Isaiah 46, Babylon represents the power and pride of human kingdoms that stand in opposition to God's purposes. Isaiah prophesies about the fall of Babylon and the deliverance of Israel.

3. Cyrus
Although not mentioned directly in this verse, Cyrus the Great is a key figure in the surrounding chapters. He is the Persian king whom God uses to fulfill His purpose of freeing the Israelites from Babylonian captivity.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty
God is in control of history from beginning to end. His plans are unchangeable and will be accomplished regardless of human actions.

Trust in God's Plan
Believers can find comfort in knowing that God's purposes are good and will ultimately prevail. This encourages trust and reliance on Him, even when circumstances seem uncertain.

God's Eternal Perspective
Unlike humans, who see only a part of the picture, God sees the entire timeline of history. This should inspire humility and submission to His will.

Fulfillment of Prophecy
The fulfillment of God's declarations in history, such as the rise and fall of empires, serves as evidence of His faithfulness and the reliability of His Word.

Purposeful Living
Understanding that God has a purpose for everything encourages believers to seek His will in their lives and align their actions with His divine plan.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God's sovereignty as described in Isaiah 46:10 impact your daily decision-making and trust in Him?

2. In what ways can you see God's purposes being fulfilled in the world today, and how does this encourage your faith?

3. How does the concept of God declaring "the end from the beginning" challenge or affirm your understanding of His nature?

4. Reflect on a time when you saw God's purpose prevail in your life despite challenges. How did this experience shape your relationship with Him?

5. How can you apply the truth of God's unchanging purpose to a current situation you are facing, and what other scriptures can you draw upon for support?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 1:1
The declaration of the end from the beginning echoes the creation account, where God establishes His sovereignty over time and creation.

Revelation 22:13
This verse connects to the theme of God's eternal nature, as He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

Proverbs 19:21
This verse highlights the theme of God's purpose prevailing over human plans, reinforcing the message of Isaiah 46:10.
God as a WorkerHomilistIsaiah 46:10
God's Standing CounselJ. H. Evans, M. A.Isaiah 46:10
The Goodness of God's PleasureR. Tuck Isaiah 46:10
The Religion of Jehovah Contrasted with IdolatryE. Johnson Isaiah 46:1-13
A Fourfold Aspect of the InfiniteHomilistIsaiah 46:9-11
Cyrus, a Ravenous BirdProf. J. Skinner, D. D.Isaiah 46:9-11
The Purposes of GodJ. Burner.Isaiah 46:9-11
People
Isaiah, Jacob
Places
Babylon, Cush, Zion
Topics
Accomplish, Ancient, Beginning, Clear, Counsel, Declaring, Delight, Established, Fixed, Latter, Making, Past, Please, Pleasure, Purpose, Saying, Stand, Yet
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 46:10

     1020   God, all-knowing
     1130   God, sovereignty
     5184   standing
     5216   authority, nature of
     5776   achievement
     8401   challenges
     9130   future, the

Isaiah 46:9-11

     4945   history

Isaiah 46:10-11

     1115   God, purpose of
     1412   foreknowledge
     8125   guidance, promise

Isaiah 46:10-12

     6708   predestination

Library
A Righteousness Near and a Swift Salvation
'Hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry.'--ISAIAH xlvi. 12,13. God has promised that He will dwell with him that is humble and of a contrite heart. Jesus has shed the oil of His benediction on the poor in spirit. It is the men who form the exact antithesis to these characters who are addressed here. The 'stout-hearted' are those who, being untouched in conscience and ignorant of
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The God of the Aged
THOSE will be peculiar circumstances under which I shall stand up to address the people next Tuesday; circumstances which perhaps seldom occur,--possibly may never have occurred before. It might have been more in order that the aged minister should himself address the people; but nevertheless, as it is his own choice, so it must be; and I shall draw my consolation from the third verse, where it is declared, that though God be the God of the close of our life, yet he is also the God of its beginning.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

Whether the Seven Petitions of the Lord's Prayer are Fittingly Assigned?
Objection 1: It would seem that the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer are not fittingly assigned. It is useless to ask for that to be hallowed which is always holy. But the name of God is always holy, according to Lk. 1:49, "Holy is His name." Again, His kingdom is everlasting, according to Ps. 144:13, "Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages." Again, God's will is always fulfilled, according to Isa 46:10, "All My will shall be done." Therefore it is useless to ask for "the name of God to be hallowed,"
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Of Internal Acts
Of Internal Acts Acts are distinguished into External and Internal. External acts are those which bear relation to some sensible object, and are either morally good or evil, merely according to the nature of the principle from which they proceed. I intend here to speak only of Internal acts, those energies of the soul, by which it turns internally to some objects, and averts from others. If during my application to God I should form a will to change the nature of my act, I thereby withdraw myself
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Of Inward Silence
Of Inward Silence "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. ii. 20). Inward silence is absolutely indispensable, because the Word is essential and eternal, and necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence.
The soul, being brought to this place, needs no other preparation than that of repose: for the presence of God during the day, which is the great result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be intuitive and almost continual. The soul is conscious of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing to do in order to find God, which is to retire within itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself in prayer. It is astonished
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

"And this is his Commandment," &C.
1 John iii. 23.--"And this is his commandment," &c. There are different tempers of mind among men, some more smooth and pliable, others more refractory and froward. Some may be persuaded by love, who cannot be constrained by fear. With some a request will more prevail than a command. Others again are of a harsher disposition. Love and condescension doth rather embolden them, and therefore they must be restrained with the bridle of authority. It would seem that the Lord hath some regard to this in
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Come unto Me, all Ye that Labour, and are Wearied," &C.
Matth. xi. 28.--"Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are wearied," &c. It is the great misery of Christians in this life, that they have such poor, narrow, and limited spirits, that are not fit to receive the truth of the gospel in its full comprehension; from whence manifold misapprehensions in judgment, and stumbling in practice proceed. The beauty and life of things consist in their entire union with one another, and in the conjunction of all their parts. Therefore it would not be a fit way
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Epistle v. To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor.
To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor. Gregory to Theoctista, &c. With how great devotion my mind prostrates itself before your Venerableness I cannot fully express in words; nor yet do I labour to give utterance to it, since, even though I were silent, you read in your heart your own sense of my devotion. I wonder, however, that you withdrew your countenance, till of late bestowed on me, from this my recent engagement in the pastoral office; wherein, under colour of episcopacy, I have been brought
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The First Commandment
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Why is the commandment in the second person singular, Thou? Why does not God say, You shall have no other gods? Because the commandment concerns every one, and God would have each one take it as spoken to him by name. Though we are forward to take privileges to ourselves, yet we are apt to shift off duties from ourselves to others; therefore the commandment is in the second person, Thou and Thou, that every one may know that it is spoken to him,
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Power of God
The next attribute is God's power. Job 9:19. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong.' In this chapter is a magnificent description of God's power. Lo, he is strong.' The Hebrew word for strong signifies a conquering, prevailing strength. He is strong.' The superlative degree is intended here; viz., He is most strong. He is called El-shaddai, God almighty. Gen 17:7. His almightiness lies in this, that he can do whatever is feasible. Divines distinguish between authority and power. God has both.
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Iranian Conquest
Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving in Coste and Flandin. The vignette, drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a statuette in terra-cotta, found in Southern Russia, represents a young Scythian. The Iranian religions--Cyrus in Lydia and at Babylon: Cambyses in Egypt --Darius and the organisation of the empire. The Median empire is the least known of all those which held sway for a time over the destinies of a portion of Western Asia. The reason of this is not to be ascribed to the shortness of its duration:
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9

Barzillai
BY REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, M.A., D.D. "There is nothing," says Socrates to Cephalus in the Republic, "I like better than conversing with aged men. For I regard them as travellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom it is right to learn the character of the way, whether it is rugged or difficult, or smooth and easy" (p. 328 E.). It is to such an aged traveller that we are introduced in the person of Barzillai the Gileadite. And though he is one of the lesser-known characters
George Milligan—Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known

Purposes of God.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What I understand by the purposes of God. Purposes, in this discussion, I shall use as synonymous with design, intention. The purposes of God must be ultimate and proximate. That is, God has and must have an ultimate end. He must purpose to accomplish something by his works and providence, which he regards as a good in itself, or as valuable to himself, and to being in general. This I call his ultimate end. That God has such an end or purpose,
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

The Unchangeableness of God
The next attribute is God's unchangeableness. I am Jehovah, I change not.' Mal 3:3. I. God is unchangeable in his nature. II. In his decree. I. Unchangeable in his nature. 1. There is no eclipse of his brightness. 2. No period put to his being. [1] No eclipse of his brightness. His essence shines with a fixed lustre. With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.' James 1:17. Thou art the same.' Psa 102:27. All created things are full of vicissitudes. Princes and emperors are subject to
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered."
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Isaiah 46:10 NIV
Isaiah 46:10 NLT
Isaiah 46:10 ESV
Isaiah 46:10 NASB
Isaiah 46:10 KJV

Isaiah 46:10 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Isaiah 46:9
Top of Page
Top of Page