The opening verses of the first chapter of Isaiah are where I find the first connection to the book of Genesis. Verse two of Isaiah chapter one says, in part:
“I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.”
What is the subject of Genesis chapter three? The rebellion of man against God, and the resultant fall of mankind. What is the subject of Genesis chapter six and following? God saving a small remnant of creation, Noah and his family. What does Isaiah 1:9 say?
“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.” (Isaiah 1:9)
We read about God saving a remnant of His people in several Bible passages, but this one says a “very small remnant”. It would be hard to get a smaller remnant than eight people saved on the ark, but these are the words that the Holy Spirit gave Isaiah to use in his first chapter. Of course, an even smaller remnant was saved out of Sodom and Gomorrah, but then, they were just the remnant of one city, whereas Noah et.al. were the remnant of the entire human population. Either way, Noah or the twin cities, the remnant was small.
In verse nine and then again in verse ten, Isaiah compares Jerusalem and Judah to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Certainly, Israel’s time in Egypt was more recent in the Israelite memory than going all the way back in time to Sodom and Gomorrah. The likeness of Israel to Egypt would have been just a powerful as the comparison to the two cities that had not existed for so long.
I believe that the Holy Spirit coordinated all three writings, and in doing so, He had the comparison of Isaiah's first chapter connect with what only He knew would come to be the first book of the Bible.
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1 comment:
Dear Tracker,
I enjoyed your intro story. Neaerly 40 years ago I heard about the "Isaiah" connection. 5 years ago I decided to work on it. I too was stunned with Rev and Genesis. Note in Gen God first speaks creation into exiestence. Note the crimson and wool. Is this were we get the idea that God made Adam and Eve's cloths from sheep skin -- connection even stronger with Gen/Isa chpt 1 in mind. Hope I can send this. Have never bloged.
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