The Book of Isaiah has often been viewed as a miniature Bible.
Just as there are sixty-six books in the Bible, there are also sixty-six chapters in the Book of Isaiah. It gets really interesting when you get into Chapter 40's Messianic prophecies which, according to this theory, coincide with the Book of Matthew.
There are several websites, but not many books, written on this subject. Instead, commentators on Isaiah say, “It's a nice poetic read,” or “This verse is not in the originals.” These books sit in judgement of Isaiah. They explain only by saying, “Isaiah didn’t mean to say what he wrote.”
Bible Chapter and Verse Divisions
You might say, “Silly Person, don’t you know that verse markings in the Bible aren’t inspired?” I realize these are not inspired; neither are the chapter divisions. They are recent things added to help us find texts in the Bible. I am glad for them, as they save time when I find texts. I believe that God directed many of the chapters and verses in the Bible, as well as the order and number of the books in the Bible canon.
These marking don’t receive their due credit, since they also help with memorization. Who can forget the famous John 3:16? We can easily navigate through the Bible without having to learn some dead language, or even go to college.
Some people want to remove the verse markings and make the Bible into more of a novel. No thanks, I need all the help I can get when it comes to memorization. These same folks complain that the book titles, such as “The Gospel according to St. John,” aren’t inspired either. Same goes for the publication name printed in the Bible.
Let’s see where these verse divisions come in handy.
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). This is our Trinity verse, very helpful when someone alleges the Trinity or Godhead isn’t in the Bible. Now because “older” surviving manuscripts don’t have this verse intact, some want to remove it from the Bible, saying “some honest Christian added this to the Bible to help prop up the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity.”
Bible verses dealing with clear teaching or doctrine are often challenged, but notice how no one challenges “So and so begat so and so,” the genealogy lists as in Genesis 10, Matthew 1 and Luke 3. When Scripture goes against their preconceived ideas people get all riled up, wanting the offending texts to disappear.
By the way, we do know that 1 John 5:7 deserves to be in the Bible due to Early Church Fathers. What's more, Waldensians mentioned the triune God in their Waldensian Confessions, and 1 John 5:7 was in the Olivetan Bible which came from the Waldensians, etc.
The committee revising the King James Bible into the American Standard Version planned to omit 1 John 5:7. The ASV Committee was very sneaky, knowing the best way to detect deleted verses is with a verse-by-verse comparison. So, the ASV included verses six, seven and eight, but to keep verse seven, they divided verse six in two, removing the original verse seven entirely. Only good Bible students would have noticed the substitution.
Does this sound Christian to you? Most new versions do the same thing. The ASV was especially popular with Jehovah Witnesses because it downplayed the Trinity doctrine, as their own New World Translation would later do.
When you hear a Jehovah’s Witness speak about Paradise Earth, ask them about the Trinity. They will say, “The word Trinity isn’t found in the Bible.” But when you have the King James Version, you can show them 1 John 5:7 with the truth on your side. If you rely on a modern version you have been disarmed, and will have to search for other less obvious passages.
Bible Book Divisions
Jesus mentioned three divisions of the Bible:
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the LAW of Moses, and in the PROPHETS, and in the PSALMS, concerning me” (Luke 24:44).
The Law includes: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The Prophets include: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (I and II), Kings (I and II), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel with the 12 minor prophets.
The Psalms (or The Writings) include: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles (I and II).
Jesus never mentioned the Apocryphal books, also excluded here. This list was according to Jewish organization of the Old Testament, which they arrange differently from Christians. Jews end their Bible with Chronicles. Christians end the Old Testament with Malachi, with its rich Messianic prophecies.
Isaiah: The Bible in Miniature?
Now, could Isaiah represent the whole Bible based on its chapter layout? I will highlight a few of the comparisons here, and I pray you will study these fascinating connections for yourself.
Isaiah 1 Compared with Bible Book 1, Genesis
Comparison One
Isaiah 1:2: “Hear, O HEAVENS, and give ear, O EARTH: for the LORD HATH SPOKEN, I HAVE NOURISHED AND BROUGHT UP CHILDREN, and THEY HAVE REBELLED AGAINST ME.”
Genesis 1:1, 3: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ...AND GOD SAID, Let there be light: and there was light.”
Genesis 2:9, 25: “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and GOOD FOR FOOD … And they were both naked, the man and his wife…”
Genesis 6:5: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Comparison Two
Isaiah 1:19-20: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the SWORD: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Genesis 3:24: “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming SWORD which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Comparison Three
Isaiah 1:9: “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very SMALL REMNANT, we should have been as SODOM, and we should have been like unto GOMORRAH”
Genesis 7: Example of Noah and his family, pre-Flood righteous remnant
Genesis 19: Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
Now, this can all be coincidence, but it gets more intriguing once we get to Isaiah 2 and Exodus.
Isaiah 2 Compared with Bible Book 2, Exodus (emphasis supplied)
Comparison One
Isaiah 2:3: “COME ye, and let us go up to the MOUNTAIN of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and HE WILL TEACH us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the LAW, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
Exodus 24:12: “And the LORD said unto Moses, COME up to me into the MOUNT, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a LAW, and COMMANDMENTS which I have written; that thou mayest TEACH them.”
Comparison Two
Isaiah 2:10: “Enter into THE ROCK, and HIDE THEE in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the GLORY of his majesty.”
Exodus 33:22: “And it shall come to pass, while my GLORY passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of THE ROCK, and will COVER THEE WITH MY HAND while I pass by.”
Isaiah 5 Compared with Bible Book 5, Deuteronomy (emphasis supplied)
Comparison One
Isaiah 5:26: “And he will lift up an ensign to THE NATIONS FROM FAR, and will hiss unto them from the END OF THE EARTH: and, behold, they shall come WITH SPEED SWIFTLY:”
Deuteronomy 28:49: “The LORD shall bring a NATION AGAINST THEE FROM FAR, from the END OF THE EARTH, as SWIFT as the eagle flieth; a NATION whose tongue thou shalt not understand;”
Comparison Two
Isaiah 5:30: “And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, BEHOLD DARKNESS and sorrow, and the LIGHT IS DARKENED IN THE HEAVENS thereof.”
Deuteronomy 28:28-29: “The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and BLINDNESS, and astonishment of heart: And THOU SHALT GROPE AT NOONDAY, AS THE BLIND GROPETH IN DARKNESS, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.”
Comparison Three
Isaiah 5:25: “Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath SMITTEN them: and the hills did tremble, and their CARCASES were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”
Deuteronomy 28:25: “The LORD shall cause thee to be SMITTEN before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy CARCASES shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
In Conclusion
I cannot say how this study will affect your witness to random people on the streets. You may not lead someone to Christ just because Isaiah has 66 chapters. This study is more for the Christian who wants a deeper Bible study. It reminds us that God is able to compile the Bible in a supernatural manner.
We don’t have to understand how God prepared the Bible to know it is no ordinary Book. If we were given one thousand years or more to study it, we wouldn’t be able to master it.
People may argue, “We got our order of the Bible from the Septuagint.” Beware when people say that; they may want you to accept the Apocryphal books. We got our Bible canon from the Christians, who didn’t need an Egyptian Greek to tell them what it should contain.
God saw to it that His Word included the 66 books we most need in these last days. Jesus said in Luke 4:4, “... It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Jesus said, “I AM the Bread of Life,” (John 6:35), and John 6 shows the Bread is the Word of God. Another fun fact: Bread is mentioned in the 66th Chapter of the Bible, Exodus 16.
God must have intended that we have 66 books all along, before even half of the Bible was written. I pray these insights will encourage us to study the Bible deeper as we go through the current crisis.
Carlos attended public schools most of his life, before completing high school at Jefferson Christian Academy. He then canvassed with Ouachita Hills College for one summer. He is a graduate of the SALT Program, operated by It Is Written and Southern Adventist University.
