Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Isaiah chapter 32 - Jonah

Each chapter of Isaiah that I’ve examined so far has a connection to one of the books of the Bible, and not just to any one of those books, but to the book that holds its place in the Bible with the same number as the chapter of Isaiah under consideration. That’s significant. So far we’ve looked at eight chapters. Perhaps the most dramatic connection made evident so far is chapter thirty-two. Don’t look to see what the thirty-second book is yet. Take a look at these words first.

tempest shadow wind water

Now think of a book where these elements comprise a major element in the story of that entire book. Don’t just pick a book that has a story about these things. Pick a book where these are one of the major elements. In fact, when most of us think of this book, we think of the part of this book that has these elements in it. Did you select Jonah? I started reading the Isaiah chapter thirty-two and there they all were, right in the second verse. There was the Holy Spirit’s connection to the book of Jonah.

Here was the thirty-second book of the Bible connected to the thirty-second chapter of the ‘KEY’ book of the Bible, the book of Isaiah. Are these four words to be found, all four of them, in any other chapter of the Bible? No. Leaving out the word ‘shadow’ changes nothing. There is still no other Bible verse that has all three of the other words. All three words appear in the chapters where Jesus calms the storm on the sea of Galilee, but they’re not in the same verse there. But look at Isaiah 32:2:

“And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” (Isaiah 32:2)

What was Jonah doing on that ship? He was down below deck in a nice dry place hiding from God. The Holy Spirit has not included the word ‘hiding’ in the text of the book of Jonah, but that’s what Jonah was doing, wasn’t it? Also, the word ‘dry’ is in both the thirty-second book (Jonah) of the Bible and the thirty-second chapter of Isaiah. So, that makes five significant words (underlined) that comprise this connection. What exactly does God say in Jonah?

“But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.” (Jonah 1:4)

The word ‘sea’ is consistent with the word ‘water’, and the words ‘sea’ and ‘shadow’ are found elsewhere in the book of Jonah. Now, these words are found in chapter thirty-two of Isaiah, and the book of Jonah is the thirty-second book in the Bible. They are connected.

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