The book of Isaiah contains many amazing prophecies
that were intended to strengthen our faith, by providing an objective
witness to the person and work of Jesus Christ (John 5:39, Luke 24:27).
However, one of those prophecies – Isaiah's witness to the completed
canon of Scripture – remains largely unnoticed, ignored, and sometimes
emphatically denied. Does the book of Isaiah testify to the completed
canon of Scripture? I will present the evidence, you must decide for
yourself.
During the Middle Ages Jewish scholars noticed a
difference in style between the first thirty-nine chapters of the book
of Isaiah and the final twenty-seven chapters. In time that observation
was communicated to Christian scholars, and over the centuries has been
the basis of much conjecture. Moreover, it is usually assumed that the
difference between the two sections is a difference in individual
writing style. However, what I see is not a difference in writing
style, but a difference in emphasis. The first thirty-nine chapters
have an emphasis on the law, while the final twenty-seven chapters have
an emphasis on the gospel.
The difference I am speaking of is not difficult to
see. While both sections contain law as well as gospel, chapter forty's
positive message of comfort and glory to God stands out in stark
contrast to the chapters that precede it. With the exception of a few
bright spots the first thirty-nine chapters are rather gloomy, being
dominated by warnings of God's wrath and judgement. In contrast, the
final twenty-seven chapters have a much more positive message noted for
its many references to Christ and salvation
In order to illustrate this difference in emphasis,
I ask you to compare the first lines (reproduced below) from twenty-six
different chapters of the book of Isaiah.
23:1- “The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish;”
40:1- “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,”
24:1- “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste,”
41:1- “Keep silence before Me, O islands; and let the people renew
their strength:”
25:1&2- “O Lord, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee… For Thou hast
made of a city an heap.”
42:1- “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul
delighteth;”
26:1- “In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah;”
43:1- “But now thus saith the Lord… Fear not: for I have redeemed thee,”
27:1- “In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword
shall punish”
44:1&2- “Yet now hear, O Jacob… Fear not,”
28:1- “Woe to the crown of pride,”
45:1- “Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus,”
29:1- “Woe to Ariel,”
46:1- “Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth,”
30:1- “Woe to the rebellious children,”
47:1&4- “Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of
Babylon… As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name,”
31:1- “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help;”
48:1- “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob,”
32:1- “Behold a king shall reign in righteousness,”
49:1- “Listen, O isles, unto Me,”
33:1- “Woe to thee that spoilest,”
50:1&2- “Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's
divorcement… have I no power to deliver?”
34:1&2- “Come near, ye nations, to hear… For the indignation of the
Lord is upon all nations,”
51:1- “Hearken to Me, ye that follow righteousness,”
35:1- “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them”
52:1- “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion;”
If you noticed that several chapters in the first
section of Isaiah begin with the word “woe”, it may interest you to
know that the word “woe” appears twenty times in the first section of
Isaiah, but only twice in the final twenty-seven chapters. Likewise,
the phrase “in that day” is found forty-one times in the first
thirty-nine chapters, but only once in the final twenty-seven chapters.
The difference in emphasis between the two sections
of Isaiah creates a parallel between the book of Isaiah and the Bible.
Just as the sixty-six chapters of the book of Isaiah are divided into a
thirty-nine chapter section and a twenty-seven chapter section, our
sixty-six book Bible is divided into a thirty-nine book Old Testament
and a twenty-seven book New Testament. Just as the Old and New
Testaments both contain law and gospel, the first emphasizing the law
and the second emphasizing the gospel; both sections of Isaiah contain
law and gospel, the first emphasizing the law and the second
emphasizing the gospel.
However, even though the parallel that I have just
drawn may be interesting, the evidence presented up to this point is
not conclusive. Nevertheless, if that evidence is valid a closer
examination of what Isaiah wrote should yield more compelling evidence.
When we examine chapter forty – the chapter in our
parallel that corresponds to the first book of the New Testament – we
find that it begins with a prophecy of John the Baptist, that is
fulfilled and quoted in the first book of the New Testament (Isaiah
40:3, Matthew 3:3).
Turning to the last chapter of the book of Isaiah –
the chapter that corresponds to the last book of the Bible – we find a
similar parallel between that chapter and the book of Revelation. Not
only do both end with a prophecy of a new heavens and a new earth, but
both personify Jerusalem as a woman in travail. (Isaiah 66:7-12,
Revelation 12:1-6&17, Galatians 4:26, Isaiah 66:22, Revelation
21:1)
Concerning this parallel the Keil-Delitzsh
Commentary makes the following statement, “It [the final 27 chapters of
Isaiah] commences with a prophecy, which gave to John the Baptist the
great theme of his preaching. It closes with the prediction of the
creation of a new heaven and a new earth, beyond which even the last
page of the New Testament Apocalypse cannot go. And in the center the
sufferings and exaltation of Christ are proclaimed as clearly, as if
the prophet had stood beneath the cross itself, and had seen the Risen
Saviour.” (Volume 7, Page 130)
While the parallel between the New Testament and the
final twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah is not difficult to see, at first
glance there does not seem to be a corresponding parallel between the
Old Testament and the first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah. However,
that changes when we realize that because the Jews arrange the books of
their “Old Testament” in a different order than we do, the Hebrew Old
Testament ends with Second Chronicles rather than Malachi. And, there
is a clear parallel between Second Chronicles and the thirty-ninth
chapter of Isaiah, for both speak of Hezekiah and the coming Babylonian
captivity.
In contrast, there is no parallel between the first
chapter of Isaiah and Genesis. However, God may have planned it that
way in order to prevent the parallel from being discovered too soon.
Had the parallel been discovered before the canon of Scripture was
established, His endorsement of the finished canon would have been
called into question by the possibility that the books of the canon
were tailored to make them fit the pattern found in Isaiah. As it is,
such a claim is impossible.
The facts I have just presented take the parallel
between the book of Isaiah and the completed canon beyond the realm of
coincidence. A single parallel between one chapter and one book of the
Bible would prove nothing. However, a series of parallels arranged in
just the right sequence needed to give us a picture of the completed
canon requires design. Just as a mousetrap consists of only a few
parts, this parallel consists of only a few parts. However,
intelligence is required to arrange those parts in just the right order
necessary for them to work. It could not just happen by chance.
If you believe that God is all knowing, then you
must believe that He knew this parallel would exist before He moved
Isaiah to write the first word. And, if He knew this parallel would
exist, then He planned it that way.
While I have presented the parallel between the
Bible and the book of Isaiah, you must decide what conclusions to draw
from it. However, I would like to point out that far more wisdom went
into the design of this parallel than at first meets the eye. First of
all, for this parallel to be a convincing witness to the completed
canon of Scripture, the division of Isaiah into two parts had to be
discovered before the first sixty-six-book Bible went to press. At the
same time, the parallel between the book of Isaiah and the completed
canon had to remain unnoticed until long after the sixty-six-book canon
was established.
Had the division in the book of Isaiah been
discovered too late, men would assume that it had been dreamed up to
support the sixty-six-book canon. On the other hand, if the parallel
had been noticed too soon, men would claim that the books of the Bible
had been tailored to make them fit the pattern found in Isaiah.
However, that did not happen. The division in the book of Isaiah was
discovered by Jews who reject the New Testament, and, therefore, could
not have seen any parallel between the Bible and the book of Isaiah. At
the same time, the devotion of the Catholic churches to a seventy-two
book translation prevented them from seeing the parallel. Furthermore,
neither Luther, Tyndale or any of the other Reformation era translators
planned to produce a thirty-nine-book Old Testament or a sixty-six-book
Bible. Those numbers accidentally resulted from the fact that they
translated from the original Hebrew (which did not contain the
apocrypha), while following the Latin Bible in their division and
arrangement of the books.
This parallel is a
divine testimony to the inspiration of the entire Bible. Because of it,
we can be certain that the Bible is complete, that no books have been
lost, and that it does not contain any books that do not belong there.
However, could it also be an endorsement of the Reformation text and
the manuscripts from which the first sixty-six-book Bible was
translated? After all, the fact that the Reformation produced the first
Bible that matched the parallel given by Isaiah implies that the
Reformation text was acceptable to God.
Don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that the
translations were inspired. We know that the translators were not
inspired because they wrote, crossed out, erased, and revised. That
does not happen when someone is writing under divine inspiration. I am
not even saying the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts were exactly like the
original. I am simply raising a question. If the Reformation Bible came
into existence in fulfillment of prophesy, isn’t that fact a divine
endorsement of the Reformation Bible?
Although I have
presented the evidence, it is up to you to decide what conclusions to
draw from that evidence. However, because God’s purpose in creating a
parallel between the Bible and the book of Isaiah was to comfort
believers, not convince unbelievers, we should not expect the evidence
to be overwhelming. At the same time, the fact that such a parallel
exists is evidence that God is in control, that He knew from the
beginning exactly how many books the Bible would contain, and that
those who reject His Word will not escape His judgement.