Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And former times, that we may say, “He is righteous”? Surely there is no one who shows, surely there is no one who declares, surely there is no one who hears your words. (Isaiah 41:26)

There Is No One Like Jehovah

An idol is made of wood, stone, or metal with no voice, possesses no knowledge, and cannot foretell the future. There is a futility in how an idol is created when a man cuts down a tree, uses some of the wood to build a fire and warm himself, and uses the remaining wood to carve an idol and fall down and worship it. It is folly. The nation of Israel was destroyed for seeking after idols. Through the word of the prophets, the Lord showed the uselessness of seeking after human totems of false gods compared to the power of the Divine. Idols could not tell the future, but God could. Isaiah describes how the Lord will punish His people but then raise up a man named Cyrus to bring His people back. Cyrus will be named by the prophet Isaiah as the shepherd of the Lord to perform all the pleasure of God’s will. Only the Lord can declare from the beginning what will come.

Foretelling the future is a trait left only to the will of Jehovah God. The prediction of Cyrus was made 150 years before it came to pass. Throughout the Old Testament, prophecies were made that could not have been imagined by the wisest of men. Prophecies concerning the Messiah fill the pages of the Old Testament. David spoke of Jesus one thousand years before His birth. Isaiah declares the glory of the suffering servant seven centuries before Calvary. The prophet Zechariah spoke of prophecies to be found in the life of Jesus five hundred years before his death. Within 24 hours of the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus, at least sixteen prophecies were fulfilled by the word of David, Isaiah, and Zechariah. All of this came through the mouth of God to his holy prophets.

Nations that include Israel, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and Egypt fill the Old Testament pages with prophecies from the word of the Lord. Moses declared the future of Israel before the nation crossed the Jordan River. Everything came to pass as the Lord had spoken. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar the kingdom of Babylon would fall to the Persians, and in 539 B.C., Cyrus the Mede captured the city of Babylon. Daniel’s dreams of the beasts are direct prophecies of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. In one of Daniel’s dreams, Gabriel interprets the ram as the kings of Media and Persia and the male goat as the kingdom of Greece. Cities like Nineveh, Babylon, and Tyre all find their futures declared by the Lord through the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Nahum, and Jeremiah.

God asks through Isaiah, “Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know?” That question must be answered in today’s world of skepticism and doubt. The Bible is not a book of cleverly devised fables but a declarative book of divine truth. Humanity may not worship a wooden image or stone god, but the Bible is the only hope of salvation. The righteousness of God is fully declared in the Bible as truth because there is no one who shows and who can declare the future of nations and cities like Jehovah. Human wisdom is like a stone god – there is no one who hears what they say because it is folly and grasping for the wind. Jesus said that He was the only way to God, He was the only truth of the Divine, and that only through His blood will eternal life be granted. There is none like Jehovah. He gave His Son to die for you and proved He was the Almighty.