Who caused this to happen? Who has controlled history since the beginning? I, the Lord, am the one. I was here at the beginning, and I will be here when all things are finished.”
Who has measured the oceans in the palm of his hand? Who has used his hand to measure the sky? Who has used a bowl to measure all the dust of the earth and scales to weigh the mountains and hills?
Look up to the skies. Who created all these stars? He leads out the army of heaven one by one and calls all the stars by name. Because he is strong and powerful, not one of them is missing.
People will see these things and understand; they will think carefully about these things and learn that the Lord’s power did this, that the Holy One of Israel made these things.”
Who told us about this before it happened? Who told us ahead of time so we could say, ‘He was right’? None of you told us anything; none of you told us before it happened; no one heard you tell about it.
Who let the people of Jacob be carried off? Who let robbers take Israel away? The Lord allowed this to happen, because we sinned against him. We did not live the way he wanted us to live and did not obey his teaching.
The Lord says, “You are my witnesses and the servant I chose. I chose you so you would know and believe me, so you would understand that I am the true God. There was no God before me, and there will be no God after me.
From the beginning I told you what would happen in the end. A long time ago I told you things that have not yet happened. When I plan something, it happens. What I want to do, I will do.
God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live.
The voice said, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”