“As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:”
As he said through his holy prophets of long ago — the prophets are the vehicles of the promise being fulfilled. The of long ago (ap' aiōnos, from of old, from of eternity) communicates the ancient and established character of the promises — not recent promises that might not be reliable but the long-standing commitments of the God who has been faithful across all generations.
Church Fathers on Luke 1:70
That Christ was born of the house of David, Micah relates, saying, And you, Bethlehem, are not the least in the city of Juda, for out of you shall come a governor who shall rule my people Israel. But all the prophets spoke of the Incarnation, and therefore it is said, As he spoke by the month of his holy prophets.
Whereby he means that God spoke through them, and that their speech was not of man.
But he says, Which have been since the world began. Because all the Scriptures of the Old Testament were a constant prophecy of Christ. For both our father Adam himself, and the other fathers, by their deeds bore testimony to His dispensation.
Catena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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