Surely the Lord God will do nothing
In the world, in a nation or city; no remarkable event has
happened, or shall happen, to the sons of men: but he
revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets;
what he willed and determined to do, which was a secret in his
own breast, till revealed; and this generally, and for the most
part, he makes known to those that fear and serve him; and
especially to whom he employs in public service, as his prophets
and ministers, previous to his accomplishment of it: thus he
revealed to Noah the drowning of the old world by the flood; to
Abraham the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah; and to the same
servant and friend of his the affliction of his posterity four
hundred years in a strange land, and then to be brought out with
great substance; to Abijah the Shilonite the rending of ten
tribes from the house of David; to Jeremiah the seventy years'
captivity of the Jews in Babylon; to Isaiah their deliverance
from thence, through Cyrus by name; to Daniel the four
monarchies, the nature, rise, and fall of them; and to John, the
disciple of Christ, all the material things that should come to
pass, relating to the church and world, from the first times of
the Gospel to the second coming of Christ; which that book is a
revelation of that bears that name; see ( Genesis
18:17 ) ; and so that grand affair, which God has brought
about in the world, the salvation of his people by his Son, which
was a secret hid in his heart before the world began, this he
revealed to his servants before it was effected; not only the
scheme of it, but the author of it, whom he very early gave
notice of; and who was spoken of by the mouth of all the
prophets, from the beginning of the world; declaring who and what
he was, the Son of God; that he should be incarnate, and born of
a virgin; when he should appear, and where, and in what part of
the world; also in what way and manner he should obtain
salvation, by his obedience and sufferings; and all the
circumstances relating thereunto are most minutely and exactly
declared by him. Yea, God reveals unto his saints in common the
secret of his purposes, respecting their election, redemption,
and regeneration, which is made known in the effectual calling;
and of the blessings of his grace in the covenant, and also of
his providences; and of his love, grace, and mercy; and of his
Gospel, and the mysteries of it; thus he deals with them as his
friends, rather than as his servants; see ( Psalms 25:14
) ( John
15:15 ) .