Things to Come – Isaiah 41:21-24

Danish cartoonist, writer and humorist, Robert Storm Petersen, said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” One site, How to (Accurately) Predict the Future, says, 1) make a prediction you can control, 2) gather all the information, and assess it honestly, 3) determine and account for every possible variable, and 4) make pinpoint predictions only for the short term, and Trend prediction for the longer term. We want to know the future. But only God can control and account for all possible variables.

Set forth your case, says the LORD; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you. (Isaiah 41:21-24 ESV)

Still referencing how He can tell Israel’s future, Yahweh challenges the false gods whom Israelites and their neighbors might worship to prove themselves. Can they tell the future and so prove they are gods? Can they act in power to do either good or bad? They cannot and so, they prove that they are nothing. Anyone who depends on them is an abomination, despised by Yahweh and unclean.

God had been seeking for many years to purge Israel of idol worship when this prophecy was written. He used exile to Babylon to accomplish it. He is seeking to purge us of idol worship, too, and He uses pain to accomplish that. We may not set up physical images to personal gods, but we depend on too many sources of future telling or power other than Yahweh. We get scared and we depend on government, money, or our own abilities to get us through.

“I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you’” (Isaiah 41:13).

Discussion Questions

Whether it worked or not, have you ever had someone tell your future (you know, other than in a fortune cookie)? Share.
Why do we want to know the future?
When God challenges the “gods” He challenges them to tell the future, and they can’t. How is telling the future a proof of divinity?
Paul and Silas were followed by a demon-infested woman who told fortunes and lost this ability when she was exorcised of the demons. Was she telling the future?
The witch at Endor supposedly called up the prophet Samuel from the grave and Samuel accurately predicted king Saul’s death the next day in battle? Was she telling the future?
What do you rely on to tell the future?

About the Author Randall Johnson

A full-time pastor since 1979, Randall originally graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM) in 1979 and from Reformed Theological Seminary (DMin) in 1998. He is married with four grown children and a pile of epic grandchildren.

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