MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND

“My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Is. 46:10)
The properties of divine decrees are eternal. The decrees of God are wise. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Rom 11:33). “O LORD, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all” (104:24).

They they are free. “Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being His counselor hath taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and shewed to Him the way of understanding?” (Isa 40:13-14). God was alone when He made His decrees, and His determinations were influenced by no external cause. He was free to decree or not to decree, and to decree one thing and not another. This liberty we must ascribe to Him who is Supreme, Independent, and Sovereign in all His doings.

They are absolute and unconditional. The execution of them is not suspended upon any condition which may, or may not be, performed. In every instance where God has decreed an end, He has also decreed every means to that end. “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isa 46:10) but that could not be, if His counsel depended upon a condition which might not be performed. But God “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11).