Tracks in the Bible

The Bible According to Isaiah

2007-10-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

A man once told of an encounter he had with woman who believed the Bible to be a false book. Her position was that the Bible contained the book of Esther, and that since the book of Esther didn't contain the name of God, it must necessarily be a false account. She reasoned that it then follows that the Bible must also be a false compilation since it contains a false book (according to her).

The man challenged her notion on the grounds that the Bible has 66 books and the book of Isaiah has 66 chapters. He continued by saying that if the book of Esther were not included in the Bible, then the Bible would only have 65 books. This would then make the number of books in the Bible different than the number of chapters in Isaiah. This was his proof that the book of Esther is supposed to be included in the Bible.

The humor in this dialog may cause us to chuckle, but as I relfected on this story I wondered; Isn't it interesting that there is one book in the Bible that has the same number of chapters as the Bible has books? I concluded that it didn't mean anything at all, but as I thought on it for the next few days my opinion changed. I asked myself; Could it mean something?

Questions sometimes make it hard to go to sleep, and I found that to be the case one night with respect to this Isaiah question. What if? What if each chapter of Isaiah had some connection to a book of the Bible? For example; What if Isaiah's sixty-sixth chapter had some connection to the book of Revelation. What if Isaiah's first chapter had some connection to Genesis? I have a fair working knowledge of the book of Revelation, so, I got out of bed and opened Isaiah chapter 66 to see what it might say.

What I made of that chapter can befound under the heading: Isaiah chapter 66 - Revelation. Perhaps you see additional connections, and will post them?

Click on the book you want from the index on the left side.

This site is under construction. As of the day you read this I have posted the connections for all but four of the Bible's sixty-six books. The four books for which the connections have not yet been found are: 2nd Corinthians, Philippians, Colosians and 1st John.

Note: Not all of the connections are of the same strength.
Some may be stretching your imagination to see the connection, but
I'm still working on these, and praying the Spirit will show me more.

Isaiah chapter 1 - Genesis

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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.

Isaiah chapter 2 - Exodus

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“And many people shall go and say, 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.”

The above passage speaks of the origination of the law and the word of the Lord. Could that be related to the “Law” of Moses and to the “Word” of God, the Bible? I am convinced that it is. Where was Israel when God gave them the Law and the Word? They were in the deserts of Sinai, and these events are first recorded in the second book of the Bible, Exodus. In fact, the giving of the Law and the Word is the primary subject of the book of Exodus. Is it just coincidence that the passage above is found in the second chapter of Isaiah? Hardly. There is more in this chapter that connects with Exodus too.

Nowhere in the Old Testament is there a more vivid picture of Israel’s idolatry than what we find at the foot of Mount Sinai while Moses is up on the mountain meeting with the Lord. Flagrant abuse and total abandon is what we see in this picture, and in Isaiah 2:6-9 Isaiah implores God to forgive [Israel] not because they are worshipping idols in his day too. Isaiah is still talking about his own people, but he’s not at the foot of Mount Sinai this time. He’s right in Jerusalem, and he’s speaking of the idolatry of the Israelites there and then, but the connection is made to an earlier time, back in the days of the Exodus. What did God do when Moses came back down from the mountain? God destroyed the idol that Aaron had fashioned when Moses threw the stone tablets at it, and what does verse eighteen of Isaiah chapter two tell us?

“And the idols he shall utterly abolish.”

Isaiah chapter 3 - Leviticus

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As I continue to look at Isaiah, I have to remember that the subject of the chapter will not necessarily be the same as the book to which it corresponds numerically, but so far I have found little tidbits in each chapter that make some kind of connection. I guess that I want there to be a connection, but I want to see a robust connection indicating that God set up the book of Isaiah as an indicator that the entire Bible was all laid out as early as the days of Isaiah.

Of course, I believe that it was laid out long before that, but I want to be able to show the critics that nothing is missing and that every book is in there that is supposed to be in there, and that there aren’t any that are missing. I have found some chapters where the connection is unmistakable, but there are others where the only connection I find is very subtle. I was highly amused by what I think is a connection between the third chapter of Isaiah and the book of Leviticus.

The first verse of the third chapter of Isaiah says:

“For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water. (Isaiah 3:1)

May I paraphrase part of the above to say that; ‘The LORD takes away all of Israel’s bread? He takes away their bread sustenance.’ Now I know what the primary subject of the book of Leviticus is. Leviticus is centered on the offerings, sacrifices and oblations as well as the special feasts. Every specific detail of the temple offerings is spelled out in Leviticus, but one word is conspicuously absent from the text.

It isn’t the word ‘bread’. ‘Bread’ occurs many times as unleavened and as leavened bread to be used in the temple service. Nope. The word that is missing is ‘manna’. Manna was the bread that Israel got to eat. Manna was the bread that sustained the people. They didn't eat the bread used in the temple service. The priests ate that bread.

God began giving manna to the Israelites in Exodus, and He continued giving them manna until they crossed the Jordan River and entered the promised-land. That takes us clear into the book of Joshua, and ‘manna’ is mentioned in every book from Exodus to Joshua, but it’s not in the book of Leviticus. This is a connection between the third chapter of Isaiah and the book of Leviticus. It’s an oblique connection, but it is there just the same. The clever part in my estimation is that Isaiah 3:1 says that God will “take away” the bread from Israel, and God took away the word ‘manna’ from the text of the book of Leviticus.

It is in the third chapter of Isaiah that the Holy Spirit says that God will take away the whole stay of bread. The third book of the Bible makes no mention of the bread that God was giving Israel to sustain them. Chapter three of Isaiah; book three of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 4 - Numbers

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The Holy Spirit used the words ‘number’ or ‘numbered’ 114 times in the 36 chapters of the book of Numbers. What was God doing in the book of Numbers? The people were wandering in the desert because they had been faithless. They did not trust the Lord to take them into and give them victory in the promised-land. They were to wander for forty years until an entire generation of Israelites died in the desert because of their unbelief. God was purging Israel of her unbelievers. And, what do we find in Isaiah chapter four?

“When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” (Isaiah 4:4)

God would purge Israel again in the time period being forecast by Isaiah’s prophecy, but here’s one connection to the fourth book of the Bible, Numbers, and notice that it is chapter four and verse four. Then, in the next verse of Isaiah chapter four we read:

“And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense.” (Isaiah 4:5)

A cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night? That’s what Numbers 14:14 says.

“And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.” (Numbers 14:14)

Finally, in Isaiah 4:6 we find the word “tabernacle”. Isaiah isn’t talking about the Holy Tabernacle that traveled with Israel in the desert. He’s talking about a shelter from the heat of the day and from the storms, but the book of Numbers uses the word ‘tabernacle’ ninety-one times. There are only six verses in the forth chapter of Isaiah, but we find the word tabernacle there, and why is that? It seems almost out of place. Look at verse six.

“And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.”

Once again, there are only six verses in Isaiah chapter four, but three of them draw a connection to the forth book of the Bible, the book of Numbers. Chapter four of Isaiah; book four of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 5 - Deuteronomy

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In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses lays out the good news and the bad news, so to speak. For forty years these people have seen one miracle of God after another, and they have watched (and probably participated) as their parents have repeatedly turned from God, following after idols, and then watched again as God encouraged them to come back to himself.

Moses is addressing Israel as they are preparing to enter into the land promised to their fathers forty years earlier, and as he (Moses) is preparing to go up into the hills to die. He lays out two scenarios.

The first is positive. Moses details all the blessings that Israel can expect if they but obey God and stay true to Him alone. It’s a beautiful thing.

The second is negative. Moses details all that Israel can expect if they do not obey their LORD and stay true to Him alone. This is not pretty.

In the fifth chapter of Isaiah, the first two verses are filled with what God has done for and on behalf of His “vineyard” and His “pleasant plant”. Isaiah tells us later in verse seven that the vineyard is a symbol of the House of Israel, and the pleasant plant is a picture of the men of Judah, and it is consistent with the promises of God that Moses had enumerated in Deuteronomy.

“And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.” (Isaiah 5:1-2)

The husbandman here did everything he knew to do to insure the production of grapes. This is a picture of Israel newly resident in the land of promise. In the first place, God selected a “pleasant plant” for the stock for His vineyard. Israel was His chosen people for the land. In addition, God protected them from outside interference by putting up a fence.

He also built a tower in the middle so He could watch over His vineyard. The stones that He removed from the land represent the abominable nations that He told Israel to destroy from the land upon entering therein. And, God looked forward to Israel bringing Him fruit.

And, they did bring forth fruit, but it was not the fruit He had hoped for. The grapes that were produced were wild grapes that didn’t taste the same as those from the vine He had planted. So, the husbandman (God) asks some questions, and then changes a few things.

“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?”
(Isaiah 5:3-4)

“And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” (Isaiah 5:5-6)

Wild grapes send out runners into other terrain rather than putting their energy into producing fruit. This is the picture of Israel going after other gods. The one, true God, the husbandman of Israel, proceeded to remove the things that He had done for obedient Israel because they had departed from Him and followed other Gods.

Instead of abundant rain, there was to be drought. Instead of His protection, their enemies would enter the land and ravage them. Even their eventual captivity is forecast in the fifth chapter of Isaiah. The entire balance of chapter five spells out doom and gloom for the nation of Israel.

All of this is consistent with the two scenarios laid out by Moses at the horizon of Israel’s tenure in the land of promise as we can read about it in the book of Deuteronomy.

Isaiah chapter 6 - Joshua

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The story of Israel’s history that is found in the book of Joshua can be easily summarized as the removal of the people groups living in the land which God was in the process of giving to Israel. The process for each of the cities was the same; kill every living soul in the city and take the possessions as prey.

The Israelites were to leave no one living. Complete and utter desolation of every city was the order of the day. We read the following from the pages of the sixth chapter of Isaiah.

“Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.”(Is. 6:11)

The connection between the book of Joshua and Isaiah’s sixth chapter is simple, but it is highly visible and succinct.

This is the sixth chapter of Isaiah, and Joshua is the sixth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 7 - Judges

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We have all read Isaiah 7:14 many times, and many of us have taught from it. Isaiah was addressing the king of Judah, Ahaz, and the virgin birth spoken of was to be a sign to him personally, but in the wider picture, this passage is where God prophesies the virgin birth of our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth.

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” (Isaiah 7:14-15)

Even though the words were spoken to Ahaz by Isaiah, the prophecy is for a point in time that would be many hundreds of years later. That is an important feature of many prophetic utterances, but it is also a feature of the connections between Isaiah’s words and the books of the Bible that the Holy Spirit wrote into the book of Isaiah.

In this same passage we find such a connection, not in verse fourteen, but in verse fifteen. Notice the second word of verse fifteen and the four words that follow it. “and honey shall he eat”.

When we think of a Bible character eating honey, who do we think of? Well, some might remember that John the baptizer ate honey and locust in the wilderness, but others will remember that Samson ate the honey from the honeycomb that the bees had built into the carcass of a dead animal. In Samson’s case, touching the dead carcass was the first violation of his Nazarite oath.

Today, Samson may be the most remembered of the Judges. Gideon was one of the Judges too, but he’s not nearly as famous as is Samson. Realizing our location within the book of Isaiah, let’s see if there is something else we might recognize in this chapter as being connected to Samson.

What part of Samson’s story comes to our mind? For me it is that he let Delilah shave off his hair and lost his strength as a result. This was another violation of his Nazarite oath. It’s in Isaiah 7:20 and it is so very specific.

“In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.” (Isaiah 7:20)

Isaiah’s words speak of the hair of the head being ‘shaved’, and the shaving is done with a “razor”. The hair isn’t said to be cut or cropped. It is ‘shaved’; not with scissors nor with a knife, but with a razor. Now look at the verse where Delilah cuts Samson’s hair.

“And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.” (Judges 16:19)

Well, there it is. She would “shave” off the seven locks of his “head”, but it doesn’t say anything about a razor. Hm. For that word we have to go back a couple of verses.

“That he told her all his heart, and said unto her. There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” (Judges 16:17)

The Nazarite vow included a prohibition on cutting the hair of the head, in other words that a razor should never touch his head. The angel had said to Samson’s mother:

“For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” (Judges 13:5)

Samson lost his strength. We must assume therefore that a razor was used.

This is the seventh chapter of Isaiah, and Judges is the seventh book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 8 - Ruth

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The story we read in the book of Ruth is true. The things told therein really did happen, but the message contained in the story of Boaz, Naomi and Ruth concerns our ‘kinsman redeemer’, Jesus. The whole process that Boaz went through as he moved to make Ruth his wife was Jewish protocol in his day, and it was still Jewish protocol in the days that Jesus walked the roads of Judea.

In is neatly tucked into the beautiful love story we have all read many times over. The one who would redeem that which had been lost had to be someone who was near of kin to the one who would be the benefactor of the redemption.

When Naomi and Ruth left the land of Moab, they went home to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was, of course, the birthplace of our Savior, the Prince of Peace, Emanuel. Moab was a land East of the Jordan River in the country we call Jordan today. As the women traveled homeward, they traveled in a westerly heading, crossing the Jordan River, then traveling through the territory of Judah to finally arrive in Bethlehem within the territory of Benjamin.

It was in Bethlehem that the love story between Boaz and Ruth played out, and it would have been in Bethlehem that they became husband and wife, and it would have been in Bethlehem that Ruth conceived and bore a son who they named Obed, who would live to become the grandfather of King David, and be one of the men listed in the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth. Now, with this much information in place we turn to the eighth chapter of the book of Isaiah.

In this chapter of Isaiah we find the following words and phrases:

“and she conceived, and bare a son.” (v3b)

Isaiah was talking about the conception and birth of his own son, but the passage applies to Ruth as well, and the same words are there in the book of Ruth.

“shall pass through Judah” (v8a)

Isaiah was talking about the king of Assyria, but it was Naomi and Ruth who passed through the territory of Judah on their way to Bethlehem.

“O Immanuel.” (v8c)

It is not clear to me why Isaiah used either this phrase or the next one in his prophecy, but both of them speak of Jesus the Christ who was born in the little hamlet of Bethlehem.

“God is with us.” (v10b)

This is the eighth chapter of Isaiah, and Ruth is the eighth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 9 - 1st Samuel

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What was the scenario in Israel that day when Goliath stood up on the side of the hill and taunted God’s chosen nation? What were their prospects that day? What did their future look to hold? Were they looking forward to the next day and the next week? Hardly.

I think that they were expecting to die. We might say that they stood in the shadow of death, and that is what Isaiah says about Israel at a time yet future to him. But God was about to bring a bright light into their day. They were walking in darkness, but a light was about to shine.

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2)

God was about to break the yoke of the Philistines from the neck of Israel.

“For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.” (Isaiah 9:4)

Perhaps no greater connection can be seen between any one book of the Bible and any one chapter of Isaiah than can be seen between 1st Samuel and Isaiah chapter nine. The first book of Samuel is the ninth book of the Bible. In 1st Samuel we see the youngest son of Jesse arrive on the stage of history, slay the great menace to Israel and be anointed as King. It is in Isaiah chapter nine that we read these memorable words:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Indeed, there is no stronger connection between our savior and any mortal man than that drawn between Jesus and David. Truly and within proportion, the following verse is true for both David and Christ Jesus.

“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:7)

This is the ninth chapter of Isaiah and the ninth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 10 - 2nd Samuel

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“For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.” (Isaiah 10:22)

“Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.” (2nd Samuel 17:11)

The first thing that stood out to me as being common to Isaiah chapter ten and the book of 2nd Samuel was the statement found in both of the above passages; that Israel would be in number as the sand of the sea. I reasoned that this was a connection, and it is, but upon further investigation I found that this statement was also found in a few other books of the Bible.

I was fairly familiar with the seventh chapter of 2nd Samuel, and I recalled that God had told David that He would chasten Solomon with a rod if he (Solomon) were to commit iniquity.

“I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:”
(2nd Samuel 7:14)

So, when I read Isaiah 10:24, I immediately made another connection there.

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.” (Isaiah 10:24)

We can remember that David did not always please God with his actions, and God did discipline David accordingly, but God’s hand was always extended to David, drawing him back to close association. I could see that in Isaiah 10:4b.

“For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”

And, yet, all of these types of connections could be found elsewhere as well, even if they were not all found in the same book, other than here in 2nd Samuel. Then I noticed something really peculiar in the latter part of the tenth chapter of Isaiah. There were more than ten names of places. It was all part of Isaiah’s prophecy, but I wondered if all those places had anything to do with David’s career. The first ones I came to were in verse nine.

“Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?” (Isaiah 10:9)

‘Damascus’ and ‘Hamath’ are two cities we find in 2nd Samuel 8:5 and 8:9 respectively, and they represent two of David’s military victories in uniting the nation of Israel and expanding its borders. The names of other cities are not mentioned in the context of 2nd Samuel chapter eight, but these two are, and they are only mentioned together in two other books, 2nd Kings and Ezekiel.

Ezekiel’s passage is a description of the boundary of Israel (established during David’s reign). The passage in 2nd Kings speaks of Jereboam recovering the lands which had been lost) up to that same boundary, originally drawn by David’s military conquests. Both of these are then, references to the original events.

Continuing with the inquest into the several cities mentioned in Isaiah chapter ten we find that the following were all cities within the territory of Benjamin: Migron (v28), Geba (v29), Ramah (v29), Gallim (v30), Gebim (v31), Anathoth (v30) and Madmenah (v31). The territory of Benjamin was one of the smallest of all the tribal territories. This list of seven city names must have included most of the cities in that territory. Additionally, Michmash is said to be a city near Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was inside the territory of Benjamin. Maybe Michmash was too?

Why would this list include so many cities in the territory of Benjamin? Isaiah’s purpose is unclear to me as far as the details of Isaiah chapter ten are concerned, but the territory of Benjamin is significant to David. The city of David was in the territory of Benjamin. Do you remember the actual name of that little town? Here’s a clue. Luke 2:4 and 1st Samuel 16:1-4. Look them up. Now, we didn’t exhaust the list of city names.

There are two cities named in Isaiah chapter ten that are not in the territory of Benjamin. Laish (v30) was a city in the territory of Dan, but when we look for “Laish” in 2nd Samuel, we don’t find it given as a city, but rather as a man’s name, and that man was the father-in-law of Saul’s daughter Michal, who was taken from her husband by Saul’s son and was given as wife to David.

“And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines. And Ish-bosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish.” (2nd Samuel 3:14-15)

The final name we need to look at in Isaiah chapter ten is Gibeah of Saul (v29). We do find it in 2nd Samuel, and in 1st Samuel. There was a major event in David’s live that took place there. I include it here because it is so significant. It is 2nd Samuel 21:1-9.

“Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD? And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.”

The ten cities found in Isaiah chapter 10 are all connected to David's life.

We have been looking into Isaiah chapter ten, and 2nd Samuel is the tenth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 11 - 1st Kings

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As the first book of the Kings opens, David is dying, and he has anoints his son Solomon to take the throne of Israel. After Solomon consolidates his position as king by killing his brother Adonijah, we come to chapter three and find the account of Solomon’s dream, the dream in which he asks God for wisdom to rule Israel, and the dream in which God gives to him according to that request.

And, the rest, as they say, is history. Solomon did, in fact, rule over Israel with great wisdom. So much so that, according to the Bible account, he was known as one of, if not the most wise men in all the earth.

“And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.” (1st Kings 4:29-34)

Certainly, the primary theme of this passage is the attribute of wisdom that God gave to Solomon. We might say that the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and the spirit of counsel and knowledge were given him by God. Sound judgment was the trademark by which we all have come to think of Solomon. The proverbs he wrote down and the songs he composed attest to the depth of his understanding. The following passage is obviously a prophecy of our Lord and Savior, but in a limited way, it is also a picture of Solomon.

“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” (Isaiah 11:1-4)

This is the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, and 1st Kings is the eleventh book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 12 - 2nd Kings

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I'm looking for more meat on this book and chapter. If you see something, please let me know.

“And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
5 Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.”

The entire chapter of Isaiah twelve is comprised of six verses. The above words which are not emphasized (either as italics or bold print) would probably occur in every chapter of the Bible. Those that are emphasized may be slightly less common, although even some of them are heavily used. Those that are in bold type above do not occur in the chapters of 2nd Kings. Those that are in italics above are found in the pages of 2nd Kings.

This chapter of Isaiah is an expression of joy. Isaiah speaks of singing songs of praise, and of trusting the LORD. He knows that God has turned away His anger. God is comforting Isaiah. There are really no words here with any negative connotation. God is nurturing and comforting His people. Isaiah invites them to join him in praising the exalted Holy One of Israel. You can read this chapter and sense Isaiah’s emotions and feelings.

There are many verses in the Bible that contain the words that are highlighted in yellow above, not just 2nd Kings. Biblically speaking, these words are quite common. However, though all of the words in yellow can be found in 2nd Kings, several of them occur together in the verses of 2nd Kings. Some of these pairs of words can be found in verses throughout the Bible in many of the other books. Those that are found in 2nd Kings are presented here. Note the sense of despair that the following verses bring to your mind as you read these. The words in yellow are the same words that are in yellow above, but the sense of the following verses is nothing akin to that of Isaiah chapter twelve. Not one of the following verses is uplifting. They are all very negative. There are twenty of them.

“And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.” (2nd Kings 2:3)

“And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.” (2nd Kings 2:5)

“And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.” (2nd Kings 2:24)

“And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.” (2nd Kings 3:19)

“And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.” (2nd Kings 4:8)

“And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.” (2nd Kings 4:11)

“But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.” (2nd Kings 5:11)

“Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.” (2nd Kings 5:12)

“He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.” (2nd Kings 14:7)

“And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:” (2nd Kings 17:11)

“Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.” (2nd Kings 17:23)

“Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?” (2nd Kings 18:20)

“But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?” (2nd Kings 18:22)

“How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?”(2 Kings 18:24)

“And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.” (2nd Kings 19:3)

“Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.” (2nd Kings 19:22)

‘Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.”
(2nd Kings 21:15)

“And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.” (2nd Kings 23:19)

“Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.” (2nd Kings 23:26)

“And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.” (2nd Kings 23:34)

The above verses that have just one pair of words are like many other verses in the Bible that have the same two words in them. The uniqueness of these is that where the words of Isaiah chapter twelve are positive, theses are ALL negative.

There are some of the above verses where there are THREE words highlighted. For some of these verses, it is because one of the words is the word ‘LORD’. If we eliminate the verses above that include the word ‘LORD’ in order to have three words, and then select the remaining verses that have three words taken from the list for Isaiah chapter twelve other than the word ‘LORD’, we are left with only two verses. 2nd Kings 5:11 has three words in addition to the word ‘LORD’ so it still falls within the selection criteria.

“But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.” (2nd Kings 5:11)

“Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.” (2nd Kings 19:22)

The three words in 2nd Kings 5:11 are ‘call’, ‘name’ and ‘away’. Those three words are found in this verse and nowhere else in the Bible, except Hosea 1:6, so that verse is eliminated as being anything special, but our second verse is the one we are looking for.

There is only one place in the entire Bible where ‘exalted’ and ‘Holy One of Israel’ occur in the same verse, and that verse is the one seen above, 2nd Kings 19:22. The phrase ‘Holy One of Israel’ is found throughout the Bible, but not in combination with the word exalted. The computer tells me that this combination can be found in fourteen different CHAPTERS in the Bible, among them Isaiah chapter twelve, but there is only one place where this combination occurs in one, singular VERSE, and that is 2nd Kings 19:22.

Is it just a coincidence? Is this all just playing games with words, or is there a special reason that the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to put those words in his chapter twelve, and Ezra to put those same words in verse twenty-two of 2nd Kings? No. It’s not a coincidence. They were connected on purpose long ago, and they are still connected today for God’s own reasons.

Isaiah chapter 13 - 1st Chronicles

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Isaiah chapter thirteen is a prophecy against Babylon. Isaiah says so in the first part of the first verse. That said, we need to realize that this chapter has a prophecy against the physical city/land of Babylon and a prophecy against spiritual Babylon as well.

The first part of the chapter is the prophecy against spiritual Babylon, and by verse fifteen Isaiah is speaking about physical Babylon, the Babylon that we know as Iraq today. Take note of the language used in the first thirteen verses of the chapter.

“The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.” (Isaiah 13:4-6)

“Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.” (Isaiah 13:9-13)

This speaks of the time of Jacob’s trouble, the tribulation period. The images in the above verses can be nothing else. But, the verses which follow can only pertain to the earthly, physical city/land of Babylon.

“Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.” (Isa. 13:15-22)

When God destroys spiritual Babylon at the end of the tribulation period, wives will not be ravished, and the Medes will not be doing the job for Him. The Medes are known today as Iran. Wild beasts will not lie down in spiritual Babylon after it is destroyed, and owls will not dwell there either. So, we see that the prophecy must necessarily be about two distinct Babylons.

Now what does any of this that we have read from the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah have to do with the thirteenth book of the Bible, 1st Chronicles? It may help us if we realize that originally, the two books, 1st and 2nd Chronicles were all the same scroll/book. The two were divided later, and are divided in the Jewish Bible as well. The second follows the first, not just in order of placement in the Bible, but also in story line.

Knowing this, we should also take note that chapter thirteen and chapter fourteen of Isaiah are also closely related. While chapter thirteen is about the Day of The LORD, chapter fourteen is about God’s judgment of Satan/Lucifer and his demonic host. The second follows the first, not just in order of placement in our Bible, but also in the chronology of what is going to happen in a time period which is yet future as of this writing.

In addition to this relationship between these two chapters of Isaiah and the parallel relationship between the books of 1st and 2nd Chronicles, there is another strand of connective tissue running between Isaiah’s chapter thirteen and 1st Chronicles, and as we will see later, a similar strand connects Isaiah’s chapter fourteen and 2nd Chronicles.

That which is like spiritual Babylon, is treated by God as He treats spiritual Babylon. He is no respecter of persons. That may sound confusing at first, but it is like this. Israel, came to political and military greatness during the reign of David, and the time period of that reign is the time period covered in 1st Chronicles.

But, Israel was not spiritually strong during the time period of 1st Chronicles. David’s personal life was a mess, and as the leaders of a nation go, so goes the nation. The spiritual life of Israel was as much a roller-coaster ride as was the personal life of David.

Low points like David’s affair with Bathsheba, and the murder (effectively) of Uriah, were followed by the revolt of David’s son. Then in 1st Chronicles chapter twenty-one, David numbers Israel and brings the wrath of God down upon himself and his nation.

There are high points, but they are just like the high points on our roller-coaster analogy; they are short lived. Murder, adultery and self-aggrandizement by claiming as your own that which is God’s; this is all part of spiritual Babylon type behavior.

We might think of Israel under King David as the highest point in Israel’s history, but from the high point, there is only one direction to go. The high point is really the beginning of the end, and that is what the tribulation period is; the beginning of the end. The Day of The LORD spoken of in Isaiah chapter thirteen is the beginning of the end for spiritual Babylon, and the period of time covered in 1st Chronicles was the beginning of the end for Israel.

The beginning of the end for spiritual Babylon is described in the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah. The beginning of the end for Israel is described in the thirteenth book of the Bible. They are connected as the beginning of the end in each case.

Isaiah chapter 14 - 2nd Chronicles

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As we noted in the previous discussion about 1st Chronicles, 1st and 2nd Chronicles were originally two halves of the same scroll/book. Even the Jewish Bible has them as two separate books.

We also noted that chapters thirteen and fourteen of Isaiah treat related subjects. We saw that chapter thirteen deals with God’s judgment of two distinct entities called Babylon, the spiritual Babylon and the physical Babylon we call Iraq today.

In that study we concluded that the connection between Isaiah’s chapter thirteen and the thirteenth book of the Bible, 1st Chronicles was that each one was a description of the beginning of the end; Isaiah chapter thirteen for the beginning of the end of spiritual Babylon, and 1st Chronicles as the beginning of the end of the Kingdom of Israel. This is not to be the final status of Israel, but it was the final status as far as the monarchy of the house of David was concerned.

Isaiah chapter fourteen begins with God placing Israel in the own land, and making that land a place of peace and rest for them.

“For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve” (Isaiah 14:1-3)

The prophecy then moves to God’s judgment of the king of Babylon, and we note that the name that comes up is the name of the king of spiritual Babylon, Lucifer. This is the subject of verses four through verse twenty. We read such statements as;

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.” (Isaiah 14:12-20)

Who owns the title deed to the Earth right now? Lucifer/Satan/the Devil, and in these verses he comes to a ‘temporary’ end. We can read in the book of Revelation, chapter twenty, verse ten as to what will be the final status of Lucifer.

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

Going down into the pit is only a temporary end to Lucifer, much like the temporary end of the kingly line of Israel with Zedekiah, and that just happens to be a connection between Isaiah chapter fourteen and the book of 2nd Chronicles.

Isaiah chapter 15 - Ezra

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There is really no reason for any chapter in Isaiah to have the same number of verses as its corresponding book has chapters, but I usually look for that anyway, just because the idea of this study is based in the numerical comparison of the chapters of Isaiah and the books of the Bible, each one containing sixty-six component units.

A quick look let me know that while the book of Ezra has ten chapters, its corresponding chapter of Isaiah (15th chapter) has only nine verses. While I was looking at the numbers and before I actually started to read the words of Ezra, I compared the book of Nehemiah with its thirteen chapters to the sixteenth chapter of Isaiah and found that chapter to be divided into fourteen verses. So, I didn’t find a match there, but I did notice that the total number of chapters in Ezra and Nehemiah was twenty-three and the total number of verses in Isaiah chapter fifteen and sixteen was also twenty-three, but what could that mean?

So, I took a cursory look at Ezra and found that it was a prophecy concerning the nation of Moab. I didn’t see anything else there, so I moved on to Nehemiah, only to find that it too was about Moab. Both books were about Moab, but the principle character in Ezra was, of course, Ezra, and the principle character in Nehemiah was, you guessed it, Nehemiah. Other than their principle characters, both books were about God’s judgment of the land of Moab.

Well, that was sort of a link, so I took a look at the information at the beginning of Ezra that had been written and placed therein by a writer from the 20th century. It started out by stating that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah had originally been part of the same book called Ezra, but that the original book had been divided into two books and the second part had been renamed for the principle character, Nehemiah. BINGO!

The original book of Ezra contained all of the material from the two books we now call Ezra and Nehemiah. That means that the total verses in that original book would have been twenty-three, and that’s the same as the number as the number of chapters in Isaiah chapters fifteen and sixteen. That’s a nifty numerical alignment, but was that to be the only correlation that the Holy Spirit created between the two books and the two chapters when He inspired the writers to pen the words in them? Probably not. I began my search for more of a link, and I wondered if there was a connection between the words in Isaiah chapter fifteen and the words of the book of Ezra. What did I find?

I found about seven words or word pairs that I thought were significant and/or unique within the text of Ezra. This is a quick list:

laid waste my heart
destruction desolate
carry away brook
laid up.

There were actually a lot of other words, words that were more than just prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and the like, but the above list shows the words that are found in the book of Ezra as well as the 15th chapter of Isaiah.

My first impression was that this list actually paints a picture of Jerusalem in Ezra’s day, so, I was hopeful of there being something more definitive of a direct link. When I did a computerized word search for these words, I found that this group of words does not appear in any other chapter of the Bible. Let me say that again. This list of words does not appear in any other chapter of the Bible. Is that just a coincidence?

Then, looking at the list, I realized that it was quite a big list of words (seven words or word pairs), and I thought perhaps that was why only one Bible chapter had them all, so, I reduced the number of words in my search to the two word pairs, ‘laid up’ and ‘carry away’. No other chapter in the Bible contains these two pairs of words. They are both found only in the book of Ezra and again in the fifteenth chapter of Isaiah.

In combination with the fact that not one, but two additional word pairs from the book of Ezra are found in Isaiah chapter fifteen this is even more significant. But, trying to be completely objective about it, I ran a search for ‘desolate’, ‘brook’ and ‘destruction’. No other chapter of the Bible contains these three words. Only Isaiah chapter fifteen has them. With that, I turned my attention to the book of Nehemiah.

This is the fifteenth chapter of Isaiah, and Ezra is the fifteenth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 16 - Nehemiah

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I found sixteen words in Isaiah chapter sixteen that are also found in the text of the book of Nehemiah. I was particularly impressed that in the very first verse there were three words (‘ruler’, ‘wilderness’ and ‘mount’) that are also found in Nehemiah. I ran a quick check and the three words are not found in any other CHAPTER of the Bible, not to mention any other verse.

These are not just insignificant words picked at random. The burden of Nehemiah was specifically to rebuild the wall around the ‘mount’ upon which Jerusalem was seated, and he had to get permission from the ‘ruler’ of the empire that ruled the then-known world.

Nehemiah’s mission took him first to the ruler, then through the wilderness to his destination, God’s holy mountain. Does Isaiah 16:1 paint a picture of just that?

“Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.” (Isaiah 16:1)

Nehemiah was not a lamb, and Isaiah was not writing about Nehemiah, but the Holy Spirit was giving us a clue that the book we are reading was not written by man, but rather by God himself.

This is Isaiah chapter sixteen, and Nehemiah is the sixteenth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 17 - Esther

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“And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.” (Isaiah 17:14)

What does this verse have to do with the rest of Isaiah chapter seventeen? It doesn’t seem to fit. The rest of the chapter is broad in its scope. It speaks of nations and peoples and multitudes. It speaks of Damascus (still the capital of Syria today). Then here in the last verse of the chapter we come down to a ‘he’ in the first sentence of the verse. Which eveningtide holds trouble? Who “is not” before the morning? Those who spoil God’s people and those that rob them are to have trouble in the evening and by morning vanish?

It’s hard to know what this might have meant in the context of Isaiah’s prophecy, but when we look at this verse as if it is inserted into the context of the book of Esther, the lights flash and the bells and sirens go off.

It fits into the story of Haman and Esther and the king as the second night of the banquet for the three of them. The evening spelled trouble for Haman from the moment that Esther told the king of Haman’s plan for the Jews. And, before the night was over, before morning came, Haman was hanging from the gallows he had built for the execution of Mordecai. “at eventide trouble; and before the morning he” was dead. “This is the portion of them that spoil” God’s people, the Jews, “and the lot of them that rob” God’s people, the Jews.

This is the seventeenth chapter of Isaiah, and Esther is the seventeenth book in the Bible.
They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 18 - Job

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The story of Job is one of the longest in the Bible. His three friends and his wife take us through forty-two chapters of questions and answers. We learn much from this dialog, but the basis of the story, the subject of all the discussion is the series of events of the first few chapters.

Satan is given limited reign in the life of Job, and he takes away from Job everything that has any value in Job’s life; his family, his possessions and his emotional health. But, the one thing that Satan cannot take from Job is his faith in the living God.

Everything else is stripped from Job. We might say that everything is ‘cut off’ or ‘taken away’ from him, and that is the wording we find in the following verses from the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah.

“For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.” (Isaiah 18:5-6)

It is also interesting to note here that Isaiah does not say (speaking for God); “I will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks” nor; “I will take away and cut down the branches.” The pronoun used in these verses is “he”, i.e. someone other than God. That is consistent with the fact that Satan is the one who did the cutting down and taking away in the case of Job.

This is the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah, and Job is the eighteenth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 19 - Psalms

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There is a strange word that we find in the nineteenth chapter of Isaiah. The word is Zoan. It is quite possibly the name of a man who lived in Egypt, or it could be the name of a people group in Egypt, but whichever it is, it is something that was in Egypt. The entire nineteenth chapter of Isaiah is directed at Egypt, and the name of Zoan occurs twice in the chapter.

It’s sort of a strange name, as so many Biblical names are, and it can be found only seven times in the Bible; once each in the books of Numbers, Ezekiel and the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah, and then twice in Isaiah chapter nineteen and twice in Psalm seventy-eight. Even though ‘Zoan’ is in the Bible seven times, there are only three places where it is found to be in the same chapter with the word ‘Egypt’, and in all three of those places, it is not only in the same chapter, both words are in the same verse. Here are the three verses.

“And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)” (Numbers 13:22)

“Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.” (Psalm 78:12)

“How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:”
(Psalm 78:43)

The mention of Zoan in the book of Numbers appears to be parenthetical. Also notice that both references in the book of Psalms are in the same Psalm. So, we have Zoan and Egypt mentioned twice in Isaiah nineteen, and twice in Psalm seventy-eight. Nowhere else in the Bible is this the case. The pair of names only occurs once in Numbers.

In the context of Egypt and the field of Zoan in Psalm chapter seventy-eight, we find another verse that speaks of something that happened there.

He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. (Psalm 78:49)

And, in the nineteenth chapter of Isaiah we find the same thing happening.

“The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.” (Isaiah 19:14)

The wording is different, but the connotation is very similar. Psalm 78:49 says; “evil angels”, and Isaiah 19:14 says; “perverse spirit”. Did Egypt have problems in each case? This is Isaiah chapter nineteen, and Psalms is the nineteenth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 20 - Proverbs

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Chapter twenty of Isaiah has six verses, few enough to print the entire chapter right here.

“In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it; 2) At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3) And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; 4) So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5) And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. 6) And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?” (Isaiah chapter 20)

As a warning to Israel, God told Isaiah to take off his clothes and walk around naked and barefoot for three years. It was to be a picture of what the future held for Israel. That’s it; six verses and an interesting story; not much detail; not many words. How could such a story connect with the book of Proverbs? Would there be a similar prophecy tucked away in Proverbs? Hardly! Would there be something in there about Isaiah? Not once is his name to be found in the Proverbs. How could the two possibly be connected?

I prepared a list of sixteen words, mostly nouns, that are found in the above passage. It isn’t a long list. Some of them occur more than once in the six verses. Here they are, and the number of times the occur is indicated as 2X for two occurrences, 3X for three occurrences and so on.

And all of these occur just one time in Isaiah twenty
expectation 2X shame afraid old glory
king 3X young flee escape delivered
Egypt 3X ashamed three years servant foot

There are many other words in the twentieth chapter of Isaiah, but since they don’t show up in Proverbs, I haven’t included them in the above list. As for the book of Proverbs, the above words occur many more times than they do in Isaiah, as you might expect.

expectation 5X shame 14X afraid 3X old 6X glory 9X
king (numerous) young 4X flee 2X escape 1X delivered 4X
Egypt 1X ashamed 1X three 4X years 4X servant 10X
foot 6X

Perhaps this is boring, (no question about that) but after finding out where each of these words were located, it was possible to see if any of them occurred in the same CHAPTER of Proverbs. After that, it was possible to see if any of them occurred in the same VERSE in Proverbs, and guess what? ‘Shame’ and ‘servant’ appear in the same verse in the book of Proverbs, not once, but twice, but they also appear in the same verse in some other books. Here they are anyway.

“The king's favour is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.” (Proverbs 14:35)

“A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.” (Proverbs 17:2)

“Shame” and “glory” show up in the same verse of Proverbs 3:35, and they don’t show up in the same verse of any other book in the Bible.

“The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.”
(Proverbs 3:35)

“Old” and “glory” occur in the same verse of Proverbs 17, and they don’t show up in the same verse of any other book in the Bible.

“Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.” (Proverbs 17:6)

But, the best connection to Isaiah chapter twenty is Proverbs 20:29. Nowhere else in the Bible do THREE words in our list from Isaiah chapter twenty occur in the same verse.

“The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.” (Proverbs 20:29)

I once tried to outline the book of Proverbs in order to teach a Sunday school class on it. Impossible! Practically every verse deals with a new subject. Finding any connection between the Psalms and Isaiah chapter 20 is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. [The pun is absolutely intended.]

Is it just a coincidence that the above verse from the twentieth book of the Bible has a verse in it that has three words in the verse that are also in the twentieth chapter of Isaiah, a chapter with only six verses of its own? And, is it just a coincidence that no other verse in the Bible has those same three word in it? No. Proverbs is connected to Isaiah’s twentieth chapter. And what is also interesting is that the number of the chapter of Proverbs is also, twenty.

Isaiah chapter 21 - Ecclesiastes

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“Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” (Isaiah 21:5-6)

In the twenty-first chapter of Isaiah, “the LORD gives Isaiah a directive. Part of the above assignment is; “watch in the watchtower”, “set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” God’s directive is carried out, as we read in the very next two verses.

“And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: And, behold…”
(Isaiah 21:7-8a)

Without being particularly interested in what the watchman saw here in Isaiah 21:7, we do take note of the fact that “he saw”. He did his job of watching, and he saw something. Later, he is asked;
“Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

And again the watchman declares what he has seen. Verse twelve begins with the words; “The watchman said…”

The LORD had directed that a watchman sit in the tower and watch, and that he then declare what he saw. The watchman of Isaiah chapter twenty-one saw come chariots, some horsemen, some asses and some camels. Later he reported that the sun was coming up, and even later he declared that the sun was going to set. He declared what he saw.

As the preacher, Solomon says;

“I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. (Ecclesiastes 1:12-13)

Solomon gave his heart to the task of observing ALL THINGS done under heaven. As the King of Israel, Solomon sat in the palace, not the pinnacle of the temple, but definite a high place in the city of Jerusalem, a place where he could overlook the city and observe whatever was going on. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon ‘declares’ what he sees as he looks at his world.

Ten times in the ten chapters of this book we read about Solomon ‘seeing’, and he tells us what is going on around him.

“And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 1:17)

“I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.” (Ecclesiastes 2:3)

“The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 2:14)

“I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.” (Ecclesiastes 3:10)

“Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18)

“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:”
(Ecclesiastes 6:1)

“All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.” (Ecclesiastes 7:15)

“All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.” (Ecclesiastes 8:9)

“This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:” (Ecclesiastes 9:13)

“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler: Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place. I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.” (Ecclesiastes 10:5-7)

Solomon, of course, sees different things than the watchman of Isaiah chapter twenty-one sees, but Solomon is just as much a watchman as the man in Isaiah chapter twenty-one. It comes as no surprise that the twenty-first chapter of Isaiah is connected to the twenty-first book of the Bible in this way.

Isaiah chapter 22 - Song of Solomon

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Isaiah’s chapter twenty-two and the Song of Solomon have a lot of words in common. Of course all of the books of the Bible have a lot of words in common; conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, adverbs and adjectives, but there quite a number of nouns that are common in this chapter of Isaiah and the Song of Solomon. Here’s a partial list.

daughter gladness sword bare house
walls sheep shield two covering
comfort wine armour choicest waters
valley David chariots mountains gate

There is nothing too unique about these words. They are ordinary words of common usage. In fact, every one of these words can also be found in 2nd Samuel and Ezekiel, but look at the third column of words. They are military words. It’s not surprising that we find that third column of words in 2nd Samuel and Ezekiel. Those two books are books about times of war and trouble, but the Song of Solomon is a love story.

What in the world are these words doing in a love story? (Note: Although the word ‘armour’ is found in Isaiah twenty-two, the word in the Song of Solomon is ‘armoury’, the place where the armour is kept.) How are these words used in the Song of Solomon?

armoury “Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there shield hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.” (Song of Solomon 4:4)

chariots “Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
(Song of Solomon 6:12)

sword “They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his
thigh because of fear in the night.” (Song of Solomon 3:8)

These words are not in some part of the Song of Solomon that departs from the ‘love’ theme and takes an excursion into the operations of war. They are right in the middle of the love story. Have you ever wondered why Solomon used such weird words in his love story? So, we have words of war in the middle of the love story. What other words are noteworthy? How about these words found in Isaiah chapter twenty-two?
shoulder flesh ears

These words are more consistent with the theme of the Song of Solomon love letter. But, although these three words are found in Isaiah chapter twenty-two, they are not to be found in the Song of Solomon. Wouldn’t you think that will all of the descriptive language of the love story Solomon would have included the word ‘flesh’? He talks about every other part of ‘her’ body, but he doesn’t mention her ears or shoulders? Wow!

I think that this is a connection between the twenty-second chapter of Isaiah and the twenty-second book of the Bible, the Song of Solomon.

Isaiah chapter 23 - Isaiah

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Tyre was originally a small island off the coast of modern day Lebanon. Hiram, the king of Tyre connected the island kingdom to the mainland in the tenth century B.C. Alexander the Great conquered it in 322 B.C. It fell to Roman conquest in 64 B.C. and was taken by Islamic armies in 634 A.D. At the end of WWI, Tyre became part of Lebanon. It is still there today, but much of it is just ruins of the once-great island kingdom. Is this the subject of Isaiah chapter twenty-three?

Yes. The destruction of Tyre is very much the subject of this chapter, but notice that its demise was only to last for a finite period of time, in this case seventy years, and then it was to return to its former life. Some historian somewhere can probably point to that very period of time. It is not my purpose here to prove that the prophecy came true.

It is significant that the period where this political entity was to lay dormant consisted of seventy years. The Holy Spirit, speaking through Isaiah’s pen continually prophesied about Jerusalem, the apple of God’s eye, a city very familiar to Isaiah himself. Is this seventy-year period concerning a foreign city/kingdom somehow a ‘type’ of some particular seventy-year period from Israel’s history? This is almost always the case with prophecy, and Isaiah chapter 20 is no exception. Jerusalem’s seventy-year period of captivity in Babylon is, of course, what comes to mind. Does this mean that this chapter is a picture of the then future history of Jerusalem? I think it does.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.” (Isaiah 23:15)

Was this true of Jerusalem and her citizens? Absolutely. And, what happened at the end of the seventy years?

“And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.” (Isaiah 23:17)

Did Israel come back to their homeland after seventy years? Yes. Did the people rise to become a righteous people before the LORD? No. They returned to everything they had done previous to the Diaspora. How did the populace get from Jerusalem to Babylon. On foot. All of the men of Tyre were slaughtered by Alexander when he conquered that city, but Nebuchadnezzar took the Jews captive and marched them off to Babylon en masse. Note also that Tyre’s period of captivity was not permanent. It was a “sojourn”.

“Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.” (Isaiah 23:7)

Who made this happen to Tyre? Alexander.
Who made this happen to Judah/Jerusalem/Israel? Read it for yourself.

“The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.” (Isaiah 23:9)

Was Tyre “the pride of all glory? No. But Jerusalem was/is the pride of God, the apple of His eye.

Was Tyre ever to see the land of the Chaldeans? No. And yet, the passage says; “Behold the land of the Caldeans.” That’s where Judah/Jerusalem was taken; to the land of the Chaldeans. Did they “behold” that land? Yeah. From the inside.

“Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.” (Isaiah 23:13)

Now, the final verse eliminates Tyre as being the ONLY subject of this prophecy.

“And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.”

What shall be holiness to the LORD in the end of days? Certainly not the harlotry of Tyre. Other than here in this chapter of Isaiah, there is only one place where these words occur and that is in the description of the mitre of the high-priest. You can find that in the book of Exodus. I believe that the final verse of chapter twenty-three is speaking of a time in Israel that is yet future to us today; a time when Israel will again be Holiness to the LORD. This is certainly not speaking of Tyre except as Tyre in this chapter is a picture of Israel.

In this chapter four places are mentioned that are mentioned nowhere else in the book of Isaiah. That would mean that the book of Isaiah (twenty-third book of the Bible) has these four places in common with the twenty-third chapter of Isaiah and thus is consistent with the other connections we find between the books of the Bible and the chapters of Isaiah. The four places are found in other books of the Bible, but not in any other of the chapters of Isaiah. This does not define the connection, but rather it is consistent with our pattern. The four places are Tyre, Zidon, Chittim and Sihor.

Now what connection can we see between the prophecy of Isaiah chapter twenty-three and the book of Isaiah? This is it. Isaiah is a book of prophecy. Isaiah is not a book filled with prophecy about the Church, nor about the Gentiles. It is a book filled with prophecies about Israel, and that is what this prophecy in Isaiah chapter twenty-three is; a prophecy about Israel hidden behind a prophecy about Tyre.

This is the twenty-third chapter of Isaiah, and Isaiah is the twenty-third book in our Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 24 - Jeremiah

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Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. He had the task of being God’s witness to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon. The ministry that God gave to him is described for us in Jeremiah 1:10, and in it we see why Jeremiah had great cause to weep.

“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

Jeremiah was to be God’s witness as his beloved city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah were rooted out, pulled down, destroyed and thrown down, and that’s what he did. He was also to preside over the rebuilding and planting of the remnant, but that story is not covered in the book that bears Jeremiah’s name.

The connection between the book of Jeremiah and the twenty-forth chapter of Isaiah is one that I would describe as very strong. Almost all of the unique words that we find in this chapter of Isaiah can be found in the book of Jeremiah. Many of them occur more than once in Jeremiah, and some can be found as many as twenty times, but there are two pairs of words that occur in the twenty-forth chapter of Isaiah, and in the book of Jeremiah which do not appear in any other chapter of the Bible. The pairs are:

burned - inhabitants and pit - snare

These word pairs in common is one thing, but the fact that they don’t appear anywhere else in any chapter of scripture is highly significant. Be that as it may, the most significant connection between the twenty-forth chapter of Isaiah and the book of Jeremiah is a two entire verses which are almost identical. I have highlighted the words and phrases that are common to both passages.

“Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD. He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 48:43-44)

“Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.” (Isaiah 24:17-18)

There is much that is the same in these two passages.

God’s prophecy through Jeremiah is to the inhabitants of Jerusalem who were inside the city walls, besieged by Babylon. God’s prophecy through Isaiah was against the nation of Moab. There is a striking connection here between Isaiah chapter twenty-four and the book of Jeremiah, which is the twenty-forth book in the Bible.

Isaiah chapter 25 - Lamentations

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The twenty-fifth chapter of Isaiah is a prophecy of Christ, both at His first coming and at His second advent. The following verses from Isaiah 25 are declarations of great joy as Isaiah envisions that entire scenario.

1) O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
3)Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
4) For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
6) And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7) And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8) He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9) And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10) For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.”
(Isaiah 25, verses shown)

Verses seven and eight picture the cross. We particularly might notice; “He will swallow up death in victory”. Then, in verse nine we might recognize the day when Israel will recognize Him whom they pierced. The rest of the above verses picture the glorious days when the Kingdom of Israel will be restored.

But, there are other verses here too. The following verses speak of something entirely different, and they are mixed right in there with the rest of the chapter. They do not speak of either advent of Christ. These verses in Isaiah’s twenty-fifth chapter speak of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem.

“For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. (v2)

“Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. (v5)

“And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. (v11)

“And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust. (v12)

And these four verses connect directly to Jeremiah’s Lamentations. Together the express the exact scenario that gave Jeremiah reason to lament. He had watched the Babylonian Empire come into the land and completely destroy his city and the temple. The apple of God’s eye had been reduced to a ruinous heap of stones by strangers. There was no life left in it. The dry winds would now blow over it and whistle through the gaping holes in the walls. The fortress that had been the city of Jerusalem had been reduced to dust. It had been laid low.

This is the imagery we see in verses the four verses (2, 5, 11 and 12) of the twenty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, and it is exactly the same as that of Lamentations, the twenty-fifth book of the Bible. They are connected

Isaiah chapter 26 - Ezekiel

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The twenty-sixth chapter of Isaiah has the book of Ezekiel written all over it. Beginning with verse five:

“For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.” (Isaiah 26:5)

The subject of the first twenty-four chapters of Ezekiel is the impending fall of the city of Jerusalem as the judgment of God falls upon the city for because of the sins of the people. The ‘he’ of our verse above is none other than God, and the ‘city’ is none other than the city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel himself even portrays the siege and fall of Jerusalem as he fulfils his God-given assignment in Ezekiel chapters four and five. In chapters six and fourteen of Ezekiel we find that the most offensive sin of Jerusalem is idolatry.

As Isaiah laments the sin of his people in his chapter twenty-six, he specifically mentions idolatry.

“O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.” (Isaiah 26:13)

Isaiah’s prophecy then moves on to speak of the removal of the people from their land and their deportation to a distant land. This is the subject of Ezekiel’s chapters eleven and twelve.

“Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 26:15)

Finally, in Isaiah 26:19 we see wording reminiscent of the ‘Valley of Dry Bones’ prophecy in Ezekiel chapters thirty-seven and thirty-eight.

“Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” (Isaiah 26:19)

This is Isaiah chapter twenty-six, and Ezekiel is the twenty-sixth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 27 - Daniel

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The first verse of Isaiah chapter twenty-seven says:

“In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)

The destruction of the dragon is a theme that immediately takes us to the book of Revelation. There, in chapter twelve the dragon is identified as Satan, and he is also referred to as that “old serpent”.

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Revelation 12:9)

But in the book of Revelation the dragon is not killed. We find his ultimate demise and banishment to the lake of fire, but not his death. In fact, Satan is an immortal being, and he will never die, so the dragon being slain in Isaiah 27:1 is not Satan himself. However, I believe that the dragon in Isaiah 27:1 is directly connected to Satan. The dragon of Isaiah 27 is an entity in the image of Satan, if you will. The most unique thing about the dragon of Isaiah 27:1 is where he is to be found: “in the sea”.

Isaiah uses the word ‘dragon’, and without challenging that word at all, we can compare this “dragon that is in the sea” to a beast that comes out of the sea in the book of Daniel. The story of Daniel chapter seven is that of a beast coming out of the sea and reigning in the world during history and then… being slain. The critical verses are Daniel 7:1-3 and Daniel 7:11.

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.” (Daniel 7:1-3)

“I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” (Daniel 7:11)

Isaiah uses the word ‘dragon’ in chapters twenty-seven and fifty-one, but here in the twenty-seventh chapter is the only place Isaiah speaks of the dragon coming out of the sea and being slain. One more look at Isaiah 27:1 for purpose of connection.

“In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)

This is Isaiah chapter twenty-seven, and Daniel is the twenty-seventh book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 28 - Hosea

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What about Isaiah, chapter twenty-eight? The opening lines of the chapter speak of God’s judgment of “Ephraim”, the northern kingdom of Israel.

“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:” (Isaiah 28:1-30)

So, that is a direct quote from chapter twenty-eight of Isaiah. What is the 28th book of the Bible? Hosea. Is the book of Hosea about God’s judgment of Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel? Absolutely. That is the subject of the entire book. Hosea was called by God to act out with his personal life what God was about to do with the northern kingdom, the house of Israel (as opposed to the house of Judah, the southern kingdom). Perhaps the strongest statement is found right in the first chapter of Hosea.

“And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away” (Hosea 1:6)

“Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.” (Hosea 1:9)

“And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.” (Hosea 2:4)

These three verses reflect upon the names of Hosea’s three children. God would no longer have mercy upon the northern kingdom; He would no longer be their God, and they would no longer be His people. Did God bring judgment upon the northern kingdom, the House of Israel? Absolutely. The story of Hosea is the story of that judgment.

This is the story from the twenty-eighth book of the Bible, and it is the subject of the twenty-eighth chapter of Isaiah.

Isaiah chapter 29 - Joel

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What is the prophecy of Isaiah chapter twenty-nine all about? It is about the coming demise of Jerusalem. It is not hard to see this. We need only observe the opening words of the chapter:

“Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!”

Verse two continues the theme, where God says:

“Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow”

God’s condemnation of Israel is presented with the details of military tactics that will be used against Jerusalem, and God says that this attack is coming from Him. There are many specifics given as to how far the destruction will be allowed to proceed, what kind of warfare will be conducted, but one detail that stands out is in Isaiah 29:6.

“Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.” (v6)

Another detail of the prophecy is that the prophesied destruction will be terminated, and Israel will be restored. Beginning in verse seventeen and continuing through the end of the chapter, the prophet is painting a picture of a renewed and regenerated Israel.

It is clear that the destruction shown here and the regenerated state of Israel following that destruction is a prophecy of the Day of The LORD. As with all prophecy, there may also be another application of this one, but The Day of The LORD is certainly one certain application.

The book of Joel is a prophecy of the Day of The LORD. Joel tells us so in three places.

“Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” (Joel 1:15)

This is exactly the theme of the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. Also;

“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;” (Joel 2:1)

“And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” (Joel 2:11)

Some of the signs always connected with the Day of The LORD can be seen both in the book of Joel and in the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. These are signs in the heavens and in the Earth.

“The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” (Joel 2:10)

We have already seen it here, but here it is again for comparison.

“Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.” (Isaiah 29:6)

Also:

“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.” (Joel 2:30-31)

Finally, as in the last part of Isaiah chapter twenty-nine, a large passage from the book of Joel speaks of the time of peace that follows the Day of The Lord.

“Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. 19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: 20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. 21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. 22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. 23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” (Joel 2:18-29)

This is the same theme that we read about in Isaiah 29:17-24.

“Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.” (Isaiah 29:17-24)

Both texts speak of the same things. The two texts have some specifics in common. Both concern the Day of The LORD and the events which surround that time period. One text is the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. The other is the twenty-ninth book of our Bible, the book of Joel. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 30 - Amos

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The first part of the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah is a prophecy against the northern kingdom, the House of Israel, as opposed to the House of Judah. It was to this northern, ten-tribe kingdom that Amos’ ministry was primarily aimed, and in the first part of this chapter of Isaiah, The Holy Spirit prompted these words to be written:

“Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:” (Isaiah 30:1)

“That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” (Isaiah 30:9-11)

In God’s prophecy through Amos, we find this conversation between Amos and the priest of Bethel (Amaziah), a pagan priest, in a pagan temple, for a pagan God.

“Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.” (Amos 7:10-17)

The text of other part of Isaiah’s thirtieth chapter also contains some connective words, and although these words occur in many Bible verses, their occurrence here and in the book of Amos is in the context of the prophecy against the northern kingdom found in these two texts; therefore, these words that connect the two texts, function to compound the connection already established.

“The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.” (Isaiah 30:6)

“Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?” (Amos 3:4)
The word ‘lion’ is found in at least three other places in the book of Amos, which is quite a large number considering it has nothing to do with the subject of the book, but the word ‘fire’ is found nine times in the book of Amos, including this one which specifically calls out Bethel and the northern kingdom of the House of Israel, a.k.a. house of Ephraim, a.k.a. house of Joseph.

“Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.” (Amos 5:6)

Other words occurring in Isaiah chapter thirty and having their multiple counterparts in the book of Amos are; ‘wall’ (5X in Amos), ‘breach/breaches’ (3X in Amos) and ‘rain’ (5X in Amos). As interesting as these connective words may or may not be, they are nothing like the first connection we identified above where Amaziah told Amos not to prophesy in his territory. Perhaps the second most visible connection is the following.

“And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.” (Isaiah 30:28)

God says the same words in Amos.

“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” (Amos 9:9)

The word ‘sieve’ is found in only two places in the entire Bible, and they are both printed above. The word ‘sift’ is found in only three places in the entire Bible, in Luke and the two printed above. Is that a connection or what?

The words ‘prophecy not’ are found in only five places in the entire Bible, three of those are in Amos, one in Isaiah chapter thirty, and once in the book of Jeremiah. This is also a connection, even though it is not exclusive to Amos/Isaiah.

We have read from the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah, and Amos is the thirtieth book of the Bible. They are connected

Isaiah chapter 31 - Obadiah

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The prophecy of Isaiah chapter thirty-one condemns Israel’s reliance on the military strength of Egypt, and points out how foolish Israel is to trust in the horses and chariots of Egypt for their protection and security. God says that He is the one who deserves their trust, and that He will bring his full power against any enemy of Israel who dares to attack.

He chastises Israel for failing to rely solely upon Him, and tells them that there is coming a day when they will discard their idols and return to Him. In that day the enemy will flee from swords brandished by inexperienced soldiers. In the final verse we are given a picture of Israel’s delivery as if by FIRE in Zion, like the fire of a furnace burning outwardly from Jerusalem.

The first ten verses of the book of Obadiah are God’s pronouncement of the ultimate and complete destruction of the house of Edom/Esau. Jacob/Israel and Esau/Edom were brothers. The descendants of both men knew of their family relationship all through the days of the Old Testament. Herod, who ruled in Jerusalem in the days of Jesus was called an Idumean, which is a Greek transliteration for a descendant of Edom. Many today believe that the Palestinians are part of the final remnant of this family line.

When Israel was carried away into bondage, the nation of Edom didn’t just stand idly by and watch it happen. The text of verse eleven through fourteen indicates that the house of Esau was an active participant in sharing the spoils, and had even gone so far as to block the escape of some that were fleeing.

But, God says that the Day of the Lord is coming, and in that day He will destroy all the heathen, and that’s when He will settle the score with Esau. In that day, Jacob will be back in his land, and he will possess the city of Jerusalem. Then in verse eighteen we see a connection to the wording of Isaiah chapter thirty-one.

“And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.” (Obadiah verse 18)

Compare the above picture with the following.

“And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 31:9)

This is chapter thirty-one of the book of Isaiah, and the book of Obadiah is the thirty-first book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 32 - Jonah

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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.

Isaiah chapter 33 - Micah

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There seem to be several identifiable parallels to Isaiah chapter thirty-three in the final chapter of Micah. In the first part of chapter seven we read:

“The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.” (Micah 7:2-4)

As you read the next passage which is taken from the thirty-third chapter of Isaiah, compare the words here with the words in Micah 7:2-4 above.

“He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;” (Isaiah 33:15)

The sentiment is the same even if the two passages are written from different angles. The words in each passage make the same claim. Moving down the pages so to speak, (at least in Micah) we find another pair of parallel statements.

“Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” (Micah 7:7)

“O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.” (Isaiah 33:2)

And, in the next pair different persons are speaking, but the sentiments are similar.

“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.” (Micah 7:8)

“Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.” (Isaiah 33:10)

There are other ideas conveyed in each text (Isaiah and Micah) that are not quite so similar, but seem to have ideas in common, more than just a shared word or two. They are just listed here in a group.

“In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.” (Micah 7:11)
“The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.” (Micah 7:16)

“Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.” (Isaiah 33:13)

“At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.” (Isaiah 33:3)

“For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.” (Isaiah 33:22)

“Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.” (Micah 5:1)

“The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them” (Micah 2:13)

Chapter seven of the book of Micah appears to have a parallel theme with the thirty-third chapter of Isaiah, that of the corruption of the nation and the loss of any morality.

Chapter seven is, of course, part of the thirty-third book of our Bible, and we have shown here that in theme, and in specifics, it is parallel and connected to the thirty-third chapter of Isaiah.

Isaiah chapter 34 - Nahum

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Let’s begin with five short statements from Isaiah chapter thirty-four.

“For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations” v2a

“And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled
together as a scroll:” v4a

“The sword of the LORD is filled with blood” v6a

“For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance” v8a

“It shall not be quenched night nor day” v10a

There is no ambiguity here as to the subject. The entire chapter is a prophecy about THE DAY OF THE LORD, the time period when the King of kings and Lord of lords returns to Earth to judge the unbelieving world. Indeed, verse four immediately brings to mind the words of Revelation 6:14:

“And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” (Revelation 6:14)

The opening verses of chapter one of the the book of Nahum present the subject matter for the entire book, and that subject is the same as Isaiah chapter thirty-four.

“The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” (Nahum 1:1-6)

It is always easiest for me to make the connection when the theme in a chapter from the book of Isaiah is the same as the theme of the corresponding book. In that case, it’s just right there in front of me, and it’s not only easy for me to see it, but it is also easier for me to explain it to someone else, as is the case above.

However, I don’t want to overlook the two ‘word’ links that I found between the book of Nahum and the thirty-forth chapter of Isaiah. Here they are. They are pairs of words, and both words in each pair occur in individual verses is Isaiah’s chapter, as well as in the book of Nahum.

“For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.”
(Isaiah 34:2)

“Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” (Nahum 1:6)

“Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.” (Isaiah 34:3)

“The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases” (Nahum 3:3a)

In each case, just two words found in the same verse; AND NOWERE ELSE are they found in the same verse other than in Isaiah chapter thirty-four and the book of Nahum.
Nahum is the thirty-forth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 35 - Habakkuk

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Chapter 1
Habakkuk asks God how much longer before He saves His people.
Recognizes the pollution of his own nation, people and government
God says He is going to bring the Chaldeans across Israel in judgment
They will completely cover the land taking everything in their path
Habakkuk recognizes God’s greatness as He judges Israel in this way
He uses the heathen to judge God’s people relentlessly

Chapter 2
God tells Habakkuk to write down the vision He is going to give him
The vision is for a time yet way in the future, and things will surely come to pass
“He” (not identified) is proud, doesn’t stay home, cannot be satisfied, gathers all nations
Enlarges his desire as hell, heaps up all people unto himself
“These” (not identified) shall question “him” and his actions
Takes that which is not his, spoils many nations, blood, violence, Woe to him
“These” shall rise up and bite him, woe to him that takes by violence
Woe to him who seduces with wine to take what is not his
“He” will be judged in turn and will receive according as he has dished out
Woe to makers of and worshippers of idols. They have no life in them

Chapter 3
Habakkuk’s prayer
In the midst (middle?) of the years revive and make known
His (God’s) glory and power have been temporarily hidden from man
His judgment comes now upon the nations
Everlasting mountains (kingdoms?) were scattered, hills (governments?) bow
The nations tremble before Him
Was He angry with the rivers and seas and oceans?
Sun and moon stand still, heavenly lights dim compared to His arrows and spears
God now comes to save His anointed people
I (Habakkuk) tremble as I watch what He is doing to His enemies
Plant and animal production will cease, yet Habakkuk will rejoice
I (Habakkuk) walk securely upon high places. God is not going after me

Isaiah chapter 35 outline
Wilderness and desert shall come to life and blossom with joy and receive glory
They shall see the glory of Him and be strengthened and encourage each other
God comes to save His own and wreak revenge upon their enemies
Great healing, physical and spiritual shall happen
The land will be healed, water in the desert, pools, and lush growth
The way of Holiness shall be the highway into this haven, and only His people
will pass into this land. The ransomed will return singing with joy

The prophecy of Habakkuk is for the last days tribulation period, and Isaiah’s chapter thirty-five speaks of the end of that period and the restoration of Israel at the end of it. The two fit together like a glove slipping on to a hand. Habakkuk details the nature of events in the time of Jacob’s trouble and prays for the end of that period to come. Then, Isaiah chapter thirty-five pictures the end of the tribulation and the complete restoration of God’s people in their God-given land.

This is Isaiah chapter thirty-five, and Habakkuk is the thirty-fifth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 36 - Zephaniah

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Let’s begin at the beginning and recognize that this is an account that concerns the cities of Judah indirectly, but which concerns the city of Jerusalem directly. The first verses tell us:

“ Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.” (Isaiah 36:1-2)

There is one overarching theme in this true story, and it is broken into two concepts. The first is trust, and the second is deliverance. The word ‘trust’ or some form of that word is used seven times in the twenty-two verses of this chapter. The word ‘deliver’ or some form thereof is used eight times in this chapter. Over and over again the leaders and citizens are told to not trust in their LORD because He cannot deliver them from the army of the Assyrian king. They hear ‘trust not’.

“What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?” (v4c)

“now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?” (v5b)

“But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?” (v7)

Then they hear ‘your God cannot deliver you’.

“Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.” (v14-15)

“Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?” (v18-22)

Early in the book of Zephaniah, the LORD God begins His prophecy.

“I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham; And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.” (Zephaniah 1:4-6)

These verses also give us God’s reason for the prophesied judgment of Jerusalem; their idolatry; their trusting of other God’s; their trusting of something/someone other than Himself. Their true God is going to judge them because of their ‘misplaced trust’. Chapters two and three have this same theme of deliverance/salvation for those who trust the LORD. (Zephaniah 3:7-8a is directed to Israel’s enemies rather than to Israel.)

“Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD's anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3)

“Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.” (Zephaniah 3:1)

“I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD,”
(Zephaniah 3:7-8a)

“I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.” (Zephaniah 3:12)

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.”(Zephaniah 3:16-20)

What is the message of the thirty-sixth book of the Bible, Zephaniah? Salvation is by trust in the LORD. Trust in anything/anyone else is misplaced trust. Only the LORD can save, and He does so when we trust. That message is as true today as it was in the days of these authors.

We have examined the thirty-sixth chapter of Isaiah and, Zephaniah is the thirty-sixth book of the Bible. The two are connected.

Isaiah chapter 37 - Haggai

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The account of Isaiah thirty-seven and the account from the book of Haggai are both familiar to most of us. The thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah is one place we can read the story of God protecting Jerusalem from the Assyrian King by having an angel destroy the 185,000 men of the Assyrian army during the night. This was in response to King Hezekiah’s prayer to God when he received a blasphemous letter from Sennacherib.

The book of Haggai tells of the time when Israel had returned from Babylon and was under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Shealtiel. The people of Jerusalem were busily going about their lives, and they were not rebuilding the temple.

God tells them to get at it, and get it done, and then He tells them to take note of the change in the productivity of the land, comparing the time prior to their getting His work done and the time after the work on the temple was begun.

Isaiah chapter thirty-seven is about God protecting His people from foreign enemies, and Haggai is about God blessing His people when they do what He asks. The two themes are not the same, but there is more to these two stories. If we have a general knowledge of the account from the book of Haggai, we may be able to see the connection to this verse from Isaiah’s thirty-seventh chapter.

“And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.” (Isaiah 37:3)

This is a description of the situation in Israel at the beginning of Haggai’s first chapter. God has brought His people back to their land, and He wanted to bless them there with growth and prosperity. It is like the time had come for the new beginning for the people of Israel, but they didn’t seem to be interested in participating with their God in the process. God had brought them “to the birth” but there was no strength “to bring forth” the new baby.

The situation was troublesome to God, and He rebuked them for it. They had put the building of their own residences before the work for which God had brought them back to the land. Was this a blasphemous attitude? I think so. Later in the second chapter of Haggai, God announces that He is going to do something really big.

“For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Haggai 2:6-7)

This is a prophecy of the coming of Christ, but included in the language is the idea that God is going to shake the nations, and in the case of Isaiah chapter thirty-seven, God was really going to shake up Assyria. Toward the last part of the second chapter there is more of this language.

“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.” (Haggai 2:21-22)

After Hezekiah’s prayer (Isaiah 37), God proceeded to send an angel and destroy the entire army of Assyria encamped outside the city of Jerusalem. It is in total agreement with the language of Haggai 2;21-22 above. There was no army left for Sennacherib to take home with him. It was all destroyed.

As a final connective thread between the thirty-seventh book of the Bible (Haggai) and the thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah, we find the interesting wording of the last verse above. Included in God’s destruction of Sennacherib’s power was his own death at the hands of his own sons, and that assassination put their brother on the throne of Assyria.

“every one by the sword of his brother.”

Is the thirty-seventh book of the Bible connected to the thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah? Yes. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 38 - Zechariah

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The account of Isaiah chapter thirty-eight is that of God promising to extend the life of Hezekiah by fifteen years, and supernaturally moving the sundial shadow back ten degrees as a sign that He would do what He promised to Hezekiah.

Don’t you think that is odd? Why did God move the sundial shadow back ten degrees? Why didn’t He move it fifteen degrees to agree with the number of years He promised to add to Hezekiah’s life?

“Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.” (Isaiah 38:5-8)

I think that God had a definite purpose in doing what He did; don’t you? Maybe He had even more than one purpose. Suppose God wanted to make a connection to the book of Zechariah. Was that something God could do? Of course it was. Would that have been something God wanted to do? That is the premise of this treatise. Take a look at this.

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.” (Zechariah 13:7-9)

What is the ratio of ten to fifteen? We might write it as; 10/15 but we usually write it this way; 2/3 (two thirds or two parts out of three). Isaiah was saying ten DEGREES and fifteen YEARS, so the units of measure are not the same, but the ratio is still there. And, don’t you think it is kind of strange wording to say; “I will bring again the shadow…”?

So, within the story of God extending the life of Hezekiah there is a numerical connection to something in the book of Zechariah. There might be a similar numerical connection to some other book of the Bible as well. I don’t know, but there is more to this one if we look again. What was Hezekiah doing to obtain this promise from God?

“Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.” (Isaiah 38:2-3)

And what was the LORD’S response?

“Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears:” (Isaiah 38:5a)

What did God tell Zechariah?

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.”

Now, God hearing the cry of His people and responding to it is a theme that can be found everywhere in the Bible, but it is found here, and it is in combination with the 2/3 ration in both books. Continuing, in the eleventh chapter of Zechariah we find the following.

“Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.” (Zechariah 11:8)

“For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.” (Zechariah 11:16)

Certainly, this is not a thematic connection between our text in Isaiah and the book of Zechariah, but it is a connection of word combinations in single verses, and like the following verse, THESE WORD COMBINATIONS DO NOT OCCUR ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE BIBLE.

“Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.” (Isaiah 38:12)

Three distinct usages of the word ‘shepherd’ are seen here. A different one in each verse, and yet, they occur in this usage and in these combinations nowhere else, and that fact is made even more significant when you consider that shepherd, shepherds or shepherd’s is found in nine places in the book of Zechariah.

There is also the thematic connection between the death of Hezekiah and the destruction of Jerusalem both being prevented by God in Isaiah chapter thirty-eight and Zechariah respectively. But, then, Zechariah is the thirty-eighth book of our Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 39 - Malachi

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Chapter 1
God loves Israel/Jacob and hates Esau/Edom Israel asks; How have you loved us?
He has cursed Edom’s lands and has laid waste his governments and heritage
God asks where is the return love from Israel?
They have responded to Him with disdain, foul offerings of their left-over
God has no pleasure in them, and will turn His attention to the gentiles
They will make oblations to Him in every corner of the world
Israel has turned up their nose to God and His temple sacrifices
Israel has profaned the temple by offering inferior animals

Chapter 2
God curses the priests because of their polluted offerings, Priesthood is corrupt
Covenant is with Levi who was godly, (feared God), iniquity not found in him
Priests have used the law for their personal benefit. Sounds like the Pharisees
Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord by marrying the daughter of a strange god.
God will cut off those who do this
God will also cut off the priests because they have covered His altar with tears
Something else has replaced the ‘heart’ of giving offerings at the temple
God no longer regards their offerings
The priests have dealt treacherously against the wife of their youth
This is a form of divorce and God hates divorce
They have wearied the Lord with their words, saying that; “We’re all doing goodness.”

Chapter 3
God will send his messenger before Him to prepare the way
He (God) will come suddenly to His temple
Who shall abide the day of His coming?
He will purify and purge the sons of Levi at that time
Then Judah’s offering shall be pleasant to the Lord
God will then come near to Israel again and will judge the wicked
Because God does not change, if Israel will return to Him, He will return to them
Even though they have departed from Him since the days of their fathers
They have robbed God of His due tithes and offerings
Bring God what you owe! And He will pour out over-abundance of blessings
Your land will prosper and nations will call you blessed
Israel has spoken against God
They have said that it is vain to offer offerings to Him. What good has it done us?
They have glorified proud men instead of God, the wicked are exalted
Those who feared God, understood His word, and talked about Him together
They thought about Him all the time. They shall be His
When God makes up His jewels, they shall be among them, like His own Son.
Then Israel shall return and discern the truth, and know the good man from the bad man

Chapter 4
A day is coming when wickedness shall be burned up
The righteous shall be healed and grow like young calves in the stall, (healthy and fast?)
Remember the Law of Moses (to Israel).
Elijah will come first to turn the hearts to God, so that He doesn’t smite the earth with a curse.

Summary of Isaiah 39

Hezekiah had been ill, and he received get-well presents and cards from the king of Babylon. In response he had an open-house for that king, and he showed him all of his wealth and goodies. Isaiah then chastised Hezekiah for doing so, and prophesied that a time would soon come when not only all of that wealth, but also Hezekiah’s sons would be taken to Babylon as spoils of war. Hezekiah said, ‘God is good’.

Hezekiah’s first sin was that he boasted in the wealth as if it was a result of his accomplishments. When Nebuchadnezzar did this same sort of thing, God punished him by taking it all away from him, and making him go mad.

God was going to be consistent, and would take it all away from Hezekiah as well. The point of this first sin was that the wealth was not the result of anything Hezekiah was or anything he had done. It was God’s wealth, not Hezekiah’s.

Hezekiah’s second sin was to laud his wealth and property in front of a king other than God. Presumably this was to aggrandize himself. It was a pride issue again, but the point of this second sin was that Hezekiah should have been holding up his wealth to God and praising Him instead. Hezekiah was not sacrificing praise to God, but to a foreign king.

God’s punishment for these sins was that it would all be taken away from Hezekiah and from Israel too. All the blessings of wealth and property that had been accumulated in the coffers of Israel would be removed, and would be held by Gentiles.

Isaiah’s chapter thirty-nine story of the actions of King Hezekiah is a picture of what God was saying in the chapters of the book of Malachi. Those in charge of offering to God had profaned the offerings.

They thought it needless (“vain”) to make offerings to God. They thought that such activity didn’t bring them any material gains, so they worked to impress the lofty men of Israel, the proud and exalted men.

Judah (Israel) and the priests praised themselves and each other instead of praising their Holy God. That was their sin, and the first sin of Hezekiah. God’s punishment for this sin would be the same for Israel in the time frame of Malachi’s prophecy as it was in the time frame of Isaiah’s prophecy: That which God had given them would be taken away and given to the Gentiles.

I believe that the prophecy concerning Hezekiah in the thirty-ninth chapter of Isaiah was realized when Babylon took Judah into captivity in the early part of the sixth century B.C. That captivity was certain, but it was temporary. That which Israel had was taken to Babylon as booty, but the Bible record shows that it was also returned during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

I believe that much of the prophecy in Malachi was realized at the first advent of Christ, and that at that time, what God had given to Israel by way of spiritual blessing was taken from them and given to…? The Gentiles.

God deprived Israel of what they had boasted of, but it was to be a temporary deprival as well. There is coming a day when the full wealth of Israel’s spiritual standing and blessings will be returned to that people.

This has been the thirty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, and Malachi is the thirty-ninth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 40 - Matthew

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“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”

Is there something in the above passage that would be inconsistent if it were inserted into the text of Matthew, or for that matter, into the text of any one of the synoptic gospels? What do we see in the first five verses of Isaiah chapter forty? Especially verse three.

“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (v3)

This verse connects to Matthew 3:3, but then it also connects to Mark 1:3 and also Luke 3:4, so, Isaiah 40 3 could be a connection to any one of the synoptic gospels. Then in verse nine we read:

“O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” (v9)

Is there something in this verse that looks like this passage from Matthew?

“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:” (Matthew 24:16)

That seems to be a connection to Matthew, but then Mark 13:14 and Luke 21:21 say the same thing in almost the same words, so, Isaiah 40:9 could be a connection to any of the synoptic gospels. Perhaps verse eleven will be a unique connection to Matthew.

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” (Isaiah 40:11)

Does it have something in common with one of the following verses?

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36)

“Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” (Matthew 26:31)

Isaiah 40:5a says: “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed”. Did Matthew do it?

So, the shepherd in Matthew is connected to the shepherd in Isaiah 40:11, but then there are similar ‘shepherd’ verses in both Mark and Luke. What is there that is unique to Matthew’s account, that is also found in Isaiah chapter forty, but it not found in Mark and Luke? Perhaps it is this passage.

“O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.” (Isaiah 40:9-10)

Matthew is the gospel that presents Jesus of Nazareth as the promised King. Early in the book of Matthew2:6 we read:

“And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that Shall rule my people Israel.”

It is not that Mark and Luke do not speak of Jesus being the King of the Jews, because both books have the same details of His crucifixion; where the title on His cross was, ‘King of the Jews’ and where someone said, ‘if He is the king of Israel, let Him come down from the cross’, but only Matthew quotes Micah 5:2 and specifically identifies Jesus as the one who would rule over Israel.

This is Isaiah chapter forty, and Matthew is the fortieth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 41 - Mark

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The carpenter is one of the appellations frequently given to Jesus of Nazareth when stories are told of what His vocation might have been in the years prior to the time He would have begun His ministry. I use the word ‘stories’ because the word carpenter is certainly not used frequently in the actual scriptural accounts of Him. In fact, the word carpenter can be found in only one place in the New Testament; the Gospel of Mark. In book number forty-one of the Bible, here is what Mark wrote:

“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.” (Mark 6:3)

The word carpenter can be found in two places in the Old Testament, but both of them are in the book of Isaiah.

“The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.”
(Isaiah 44:13)

“So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.” (Isaiah 41:7)

These then, are the only three places where the word carpenter occurs in the Bible. A parallel statement to that of Mark 6:3 can also be found in Matthew’s Gospel, but Matthew’s phrasing of the sentence uses a different form of the word than Mark uses.

“Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?” (Matthew 13:55)

We might be able to see here that the word carpenter (singular and not possessive) only shows up in two books of the entire Bible, Isaiah and the Gospel of Mark. Considering how many times Jesus is pictured as a young carpenter assisting Joseph in the shop, isn’t it interesting that the word carpenter is only found once in the New Testament, in the Gospel of Mark? Mark is the forty-first book of the Bible, and both of the Old Testament occurrences of the word carpenter are in the book of Isaiah, and one is in the forty-first chapter of Isaiah. The forty-first book of the Bible and the forty-first chapter of Isaiah are aligned and connected by the common usage of this one word; carpenter.

Isaiah chapter 42 - Luke

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Luke is the third of the synoptic gospels in our Bible, and it has several passages in common with both Matthew and Mark. These common themes are identified in this writing under the heading ‘Isaiah – Chapter 40 & Matthew’. None of them are to be found in Isaiah chapter forty-two, but our task with the gospels is to find those verses which are distinctive to each of Isaiah’s chapters and are correlated to their corresponding book of the Bible.

What story from the book of Luke is the most famous? Think about Christmas time. Which of the gospels is always the one that we read in conjunction with the birth of Jesus? Luke. Why is that? It is because Luke is the only one that has that story. Mark doesn’t even mention the birth of Jesus, and Matthew covers only the part where Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant, and the part where the Magi meet King Herod and then go to Bethlehem.

The whole story of Mary’s pregnancy and the trip to Bethlehem, and the shepherds and the wise men is only found in Luke. This story is the distinctive we are looking for between the three synoptic gospels. Is the forty-second chapter of Isaiah somehow connected to this story as well? Look at these phrases from Isaiah 42.

“I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.” (v14)

“Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth” (v10a)

You can probably connect “a travailing woman” with Mary, but you may wonder how verse 10a is a connection. Read Luke 1:46-56. It is Mary’s song of praise to God after she finds out that she will be the mother of the LORD. Isaiah is certainly not talking about Mary, but he is talking about a travailing woman and about a song of praise to God, and Luke chapters one and two talks about both, and it is the only gospel that does.

In addition to the story of the birth of Jesus, Luke chapters one and two connect well with Isaiah 42:6-7.

“I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” (Isaiah 42:6-7)

The following verses from Luke chapters one and two connect well with the highlighted words from Isaiah 42:6-7 above.

“A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” (Luke 2:32)

“To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant” (Luke 1:72)

“To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:79)

These last two verses are from the prophecy of Zacharias at the time of the birth of his son John (the baptizer). John would be the one who would prepare the way for Him who would be the LIGHT, not just to the Gentiles, but to the whole world.

This is the forty-second chapter of Isaiah, and Luke is the forty-second book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 43 - John

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What was and is the purpose of the Gospel written by the apostle John? What is there about the message of the Holy Spirit through John the beloved that makes this book unique? Those who have read John’s Gospel can readily answer these questions, and we’ve all heard it said many times that John wrote to convince his readers that Jesus of Nazareth was the very Son of God. We need to say that differently because it was the Holy Spirit that was giving John the words to write, so we might better say that the message from the Holy Spirit through John is that Jesus of Nazareth is God, the very deity that they had been worshipping for almost two millennia. As John opens with chapter one, he gets right after the heart of the matter and sets the tone for the rest of the book. One out of every five verses in the first chapter addresses this subject.

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (v3)

“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”(v10)

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (v14)

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (v18)

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (v29)

“And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” (v34)

“And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” (v36)

“He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” (v41)

“Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (v45)

“Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.” (v49)

Keeping in mind that these ten verses are all from chapter one, let’s compare the content with the words of Isaiah chapter forty-three. As God speaks through His prophet Isaiah, He tells Israel of their special place in His heart and in His plan. Then, He presents himself as the Son of God, the LORD, the Holy One of Israel and also as their Savior.

In this first chapter of John, God is speaking to the children of Israel in Isaiah’s day, but like the writings of all the prophets, the application can be for more than just the people of that day. Also, we should take note of the concentration of verses dedicated to declaring that God is speaking; about one out of every three. The following are all from Isaiah’s forty-third chapter.

“For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:” (v3)

“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me”. (v10)

“I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” (v11)

“I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.” (v12)

“Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;” (v14)

“I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.” (v15)

“Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;” (v16)

“But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.” (v22)

“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” (v25)

Isaiah 43:12 presents us with another important connection to the gospel of John. In this verse God says:

“I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.” (v12)

Here God speaks of himself as the one who ‘saves’. Perhaps no other statement about God can better connect with the New Testament message. In combination with the words of verses eleven, fourteen and twenty-five we are clearly told that God himself is our Savior and Redeemer. The fact that His ‘saving’ in verse twelve is combined with His ‘declaring’ and His ‘showing’ should not be missed. God says that He “declared”, “saved” and “shewed”. These two additional actions by God (declaring and showing) are also presented to us in John’s Gospel.

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:18)

What does this verse from the first chapter of John tell us? That no person had previously seen God, AND that God is ‘declaring’ himself in the person of Jesus for all to SEE. God made this ‘declaration’ to Israel as recorded in the first chapter of John, and Isaiah 43:12 tells us why? So that Israel could be a His witness.

“I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.” (v12)

There are two things to consider in conjunction with this statement. First, Isaiah didn’t write that Israel would be the only witness. The multiple application of this verse from Isaiah’s prophecy enables the church to be another witness.

Secondly, had Israel accepted Jesus as their Messiah and King, it would have been Israel who would have gone on to be the only witness, and God would never have given the job to the Gentiles.

The connection between Isaiah chapter forty-three and the Gospel of John is definite and unmistakable. John was telling the world that Jesus of Nazareth was their long-awaited Messiah and King, and that Lordship is the prominent subject of Isaiah chapter forty-three. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 44 - Acts

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If we were to look at the New Testament book of Acts we would find it to contain some major, identifiable elements. Most would remember the birth of the Church in chapter two, the stoning of Stephen in chapter seven and then, the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus and his missionary journeys taking the gospel to the gentiles.

This hardly mates with the subject matter of Isaiah forty-four, which is a presentation of just how ridiculous idolatry is. But, hidden among Isaiah’s words is a series of phrases that speak of the events we read about in the book of Acts, beginning with the day of Pentacost. Speaking of Israel, God says through Isaiah in verse three:

“For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:”

Isaiah was not speaking about the day of Pentacost particularly, but these words state what happened that day in direct correspondence with the description of the events of that day in Acts chapter two.

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:2)

God poured out his Spirit upon the apostles in this case, and as thousands of believing Jews were added to the Church, God poured out his Spirit again and again. Literally, this was the beginning of the Spirit’s continual presence on the Earth which continues until today. A second reading of Isaiah 44:3 shows us another event from the book of Acts.

“For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring”

We may not think of Saul of Tarsus as being thirsty for the truth of God, but he was. Saul was pointed in the wrong direction, but his thirst was evident from his exuberance
in the persecution of the believing Jews. On the road to Damascus, God simply changed Saul’s direction and gave him what? Water! The water of the Word of God.

Isaiah 44:5 gives us another phrase connecting to the book of Acts.

“One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.” (Isaiah 44:5)

The word ‘Church’ is commonly said to derive from the Greek word ‘ekklesia’, but that word should better have been translated as ‘assembly’, as it is in some places. One of the origins of our word ‘Church’ comes through the Scottish word ‘Kurch’ which derives from Greek words meaning “the Lord’s”, as in those that belong to the Lord. Isaiah 44:5 says that some will refer to themselves as “the Lord’s” i.e. the Church.

What was happening in the book of Acts? God was extending his grace to include the whole gentile world. God, as the carpenter from Galilee had paid the redemption price, the Jews had rejected Jesus as their king, and now God reached out to the gentiles. That is not what Isaiah is talking about in verses thirteen and fourteen. Isaiah is talking about the making of idols for worship, but notice the words we find in those verses.

“The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.” (Isaiah 44:13-14)

“The carpenter stretcheth out his rule;”. God stretched out from the Jew to the rest of the world.

“and maketh it after the figure of a man,”. What is the figure of a man? A body, and the Church is often referred to as the body of Christ.

“which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.” God called out a people for himself, and he strengthens that people to his own glory. He plants and nourishes what he plants.

It should be noted too that in verse twenty-two, God speaking through Isaiah says: “for I have redeemed thee.”

It is not part of the book of Acts, but I think that it is significant that we find the following words in Isaiah’s forty-forth chapter concerning that which the carpenter has built. In the case of Isaiah forty-four, it is an idol, but in the case of the body of Christ, we may see here a picture of what many believe to be the basis of salvation.

“And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.” (Isaiah 44:17)

Many today have made the Church to be their benefactor. They as much as pray to the Church for salvation when they believe that their membership in their Church is what is going to take them to eternal life.

This is Isaiah Forty-Four and the book of Acts is the Forty-Forth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 45 - Romans

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How many times have you quoted the following verse to someone? Or something like it?

“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” (Romans 14:11)

I’ve paraphrased this statement many times, but I’ve never paid much attention to where it might be found. Actually, I thought perhaps it might be in the book of revelation or some other eschatological text. I was surprised to find that it is in the book of Romans. Of course, the reason that I’m making reference to it here is because Paul was actually quoting from the prophet Isaiah when wrote these words. Maybe I should say that Paul was paraphrasing the words of Isaiah, but the most correct statement would be to say that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use a set of words very similar to those HE had inspired Isaiah to write down six or seven hundred years earlier.

“I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”
(Isaiah 45:23)

This is a connection between the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah and the forty-fifth book of our Bible, but if we look into the book of Philippians we find similar phraseology.

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)

I realized after reading Philippians 2:10-11 that this is the passage I had actually heard the most. So, this would be a connection between Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:10-11. We have two New Testament letters in the running for being the one that is connected to the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah.

Any guesses on which one it turns out to be? Somehow we need to fine tune this connection a bit, and to do that we going to look at another verse in the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah.

“Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?” (Isaiah 45:9)

Again, another verse was familiar, but I hadn’t realized that this is where it is located. As With the help of my concordance, and some reading in Romans, I found a parallel text.

“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” (Romans 9:20-21)

I realized that this was the verse I had heard quoted so much. It is similar wording, but more importantly, the idea is the same. However, the idea of the potter and the clay is also found in Jeremiah chapter eighteen. Still, the connection between Romans 9:20-21 and Isaiah 45:9 is valid and strong. (We should also note that the book of Philippians has noting in its pages about the potter and the clay.) There is a third passage in Isaiah chapter forty-five that connects to the book of Romans.

“But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” (Isaiah 45:17)

There are plenty of passages that speak of the salvation of Israel. Perhaps the proof text for this concept is in Romans.

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Romans 11:26-27)

Three passages in the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah are directly correlated to passages in the book of Romans. Other books of the Bible have verses which parallel one or the other of these three passages, but NO other book in the Bible has all three, in fact NO OTHER BOOK OF THE BIBLE HAS ANY TWO OF THE THREE.

Only the forty-fifth book of the Bible, the book of Romans is thus connected to the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah. Surprise. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 46 - 1st Corinthians

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From verse one to verse seven of Isaiah chapter forty-six, God speaks of idolatry, the idolatry of Israel, condemning it, of course. Of all of the things that Israel did to provoke God, it was their periodic idolatry that offended Him the most.

He considered Israel’s turning to idols as a man would consider his wife turning to the arms of another man. God considered idolatry as infidelity to Him, and of course, it was. Then, beginning in verse eight, God stakes His claim.

“Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.” (Isaiah 46:8-13)

The focal point of this passage is Isaiah 46:9b & c:

“I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me”

And, God’s truth never changes. What was true of God in Isaiah’s day was still true in Paul’s day, and it is still true in our day, and it will still be true for eternity. Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says:

“As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”

And the focal verse here that connects to Isaiah’s passage is:

“there is none other God but one.”

There are other places where God tells us the truth about His unique status as God, but nowhere in the New Testament is it more strongly stated than in 1st Corinthians. The forty-sixth chapter of Isaiah is connected to 1st Corinthians, the forty-sixth book of the Bible.

Isaiah chapter 47 - 2nd Corinthians

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Isaiah chapter 48 - Galatians

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The forty-eighth chapter of Isaiah is a powerful statement by God to the house of Jacob/house of Israel/Israel/the Jews. They were (and are even today) his chosen people. They have been the recipients of his special blessings and will be again in the near future. Even during the centuries between A.D. 70 and our present time, God has held them together as a people and has preserved their culture and language.

They knew fully well that they had a special standing before the one true God, but God demanded (and did not get) absolute adherence to the Law of Moses in order for them to retain that extraordinary relationship. Every Jew knew the demands of the Law, whether or not he abided in them.

When God, through Paul, brought forth the gospel of Jesus Christ, salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone, it was something new and very different. Such a thing had never been heard of before that time in history.

For the Jew, who had lived under the rigorous demands of the Law of Moses, it was inconceivable. Yet, there were many Jews who believed Paul’s message and became Christians, and in doing so, totally abandoned the demands of the Law. Those who did were initially small in number when compared with those Jews who rejected the gospel.

In Jerusalem, the heart of Judaism, converts to Christianity typically embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ but held on to their visits to the synagogue, their prayer times and some may even have continued in the temple worship, including the animal sacrifice part of it. We don’t have a lot of information on this subject in the pages of the Bible, but we do find a book of the New Testament where these Jewish Christians in Jerusalem and Judea came into direct conflict with the gentile believers who had never been a part of the Jews’ religion, and who had no part in any of the practices demanded by the Law of Moses.

Paul’s letter to the believers in Galatia is that book, and it is there that we read about the conflict between Paul and the gentile church on one side, and Peter and the Jerusalem church on the other. It is in Galatians that we find the believers from the house of Jacob stiffly resisting the totally new idea that God was bringing forth among the Gentiles.

The Jews had never known in advance that the gentiles would be invited into special relationship with the God that the Jews had known for almost two millennia. This gentile church was a mystery, something kept secret from the world (including God’s chosen people) since the beginning of time. And now, we read Isaiah’s words as the Holy Spirit speaks to the House of Jacob.

“Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. 7) They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.” (Isaiah 48:6-7)

This is chapter forty-eight of Isaiah, and the book of Acts is the forty-eighth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 49 - Ephesians

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The Gentile Church was a mystery, hidden in God and brought forth only after the work of the cross was completed by Jesus. Jesus did not build his church before Calvary. He did not speak of his Church in the four books which record his earthly ministry, the gospels, but the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ is translated as ‘church’ three times. That Greek word is also translated as ‘assembly’ three times in the four gospels.

We like to quote Matthew 16:18 to support the permanency of ‘the church’, but this statement by Jesus is speaking of the body of Christ, and perhaps the idea would have been equally well expressed had the word been translated as ‘assembly’ instead. The same is true of its use in Matthew 18:17. The fact that the word church does not occur anywhere else in the four gospels speaks volumes. The church was never mentioned in the Old Testament.

Paul’s letter that bears the name Ephesians is believed by many to have originally been intended for all the churches to circulate. Perhaps no other of his letters better expresses the basic tenets of Christianity. Ask a Christian to quote a verse from scripture, and most will probably try to quote John 3:16, but running a close second and maybe even neck-and-neck with John 3:16 would be Ephesians 2:8-9. That may be because this verse so clearly and precisely articulates the most basic premise of Christianity, that we are saved by grace and not by our works.

A basic analysis of the words common to Isaiah’s forty-ninth chapter and the book of Ephesians indicates that every word in one phrase of that chapter is found in the book of Ephesians. While such a correlation of words common to the two may not be all that convincing, the content of that one statement definitely is.

“I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”

This is Isaiah 49:6b. Paul was the apostle called specifically to minister to the Gentiles, as God revealed the mystery kept secret in God for so long. The words recorded here were penned at least 600 years before Paul came on the scene, and yet Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit speaks of the gentiles being brought into the household of God. Later in the chapter a second witness of this fact can be identified.

“Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers:” (Isaiah 49:22-23a)

Again, the ministry to the Gentiles is identified here, and it comes in conjunction with the mention of ‘fathers’, “mothers”, “sons” and “daughters”. So, we return to Ephesians.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1-4)

We have read from chapter forty-nine of Isaiah, and Ephesians is the forty-ninth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 50 - Philippians

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Isaiah chapter 51 - Colosians

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Isaiah chapter 52 - 1st Thessalonians

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“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.” (Isaiah 52)

But, let me clip some little tidbits. The whole chapter is about God’s delivery of Israel out of bondage, but these lines remind me of a different event.

Awake, awake;
Shake thyself from the dust; arise
ye shall be redeemed without money
(we have been in) Egypt to sojourn there
for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion
he hath redeemed (us)
The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
go ye out from thence

The above sounds a lot like the rapture to me. The most intriguing passage is in verse twelve where it says;

“For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you;”

Why did He tell Israel that they would not go in “haste” and that they would not go by “flight”? I know that He meant to say that they would not be running away, and would be able to take their time leaving Egypt, but Isaiah wrote these words under the direction of the Holy Spirit long after Israel had left Egypt. They had been back in the Holy Land for centuries.

It is of interest to me that the rapture will be instantaneous, and it will be by flight. Was God connecting these words in the fifty-second chapter to the fifty-second book of the Bible that hadn’t even been put together yet? I believe so. What is the fifty-second book of the Bible anyway? It is 1st Thessalonians. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 53 - 2nd Thessalonians

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It might not be the best known, but certainly it is one of best known verses from the Old Testament:

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

It is the opening verse from one of the most quoted chapters in Isaiah, chapter fifty-three. The chapter itself is filled with prophesies of the first advent of Christ. The first several verses are a good example of this.

“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:2-7)

The first advent is all over this passage and the rest of the chapter, but is that all that is there? Can we see any thing in this fifty-third chapter of Isaiah that also shows up in the fifty-third book of the Bible, 2nd Thessalonians? The book of 2nd Thessalonians is one of the New Testament books that speak much about another advent of Christ, the rapture of the Church. Let’s take a second at the very first sentence of Isaiah fifty-three.

“Who hath believed our report?”

When I read 2nd Thessalonians in conjunction with Isaiah fifty-three this question jumped up and hit me in the face. Do you see a connection with the following verses?

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” (2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3)

What is Paul talking about here? What report? Someone had circulated a report that the rapture had happened already, and Paul was refuting that notion. Paul was saying; ‘Don’t believe that report.’ He might have asked; ‘Who has believed that report?’ Now look at the last three words of that verse. There is a second question in that first verse as well.

“To whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

What happens in the rapture? The LORD is revealed to some but not to all. We might ask; ‘To whom is the LORD revealed at the time of the rapture?’ The second part of the second verse continues the connection:

“when we shall see him”

Isaiah was speaking of the first advent of Jesus, and he tells us that Jesus was not some spectacularly dazzling figure of a man. People were not attracted to Him because of His looks. However, 2nd Thessalonians is definitely about a time “when we shall see him”. What does the forth verse say?

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4)

Isaiah is still speaking of Jesus’ work of the cross, but notice some words here that speak of the rapture.

“borne” and “carried” and this whole phrase; “we did esteem him”

We will be borne off of this planet and carried to be with Him, and why is that? Because, in this world, we did esteem Him to be worthy and deserving of our trust. Let’s pick it up again in verses eight and nine.

“He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9) And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:8-9)

Is there anything here that links to 2nd Thessalonians? How about these words from verse eight?

‘out of the land of the living”

Is that where we are going when Christ comes for his body, the Church? Absolutely. We will be the most alive human beings in this world that day when Christ takes us out of the (so called) land of the living. The graves (notice verse nine) of the saved will be opened that day, and the dead will rise out of those graves and go to be with Him too. Even the last two verses of Isaiah fifty-three contain connective words to 2nd Thessalonians.

“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:11-12)

Do you see them? How about; “shall my righteous servant justify many” and “a portion with the great”. He has justified us. That’s why we can go with Him when He comes, and what is our lot in eternity? A portion with our Great LORD, Jesus the Christ.

This is chapter fifty-three of Isaiah, and 2nd Thessalonians is the fifty-third book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 54 - 1st Timothy

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What is the subject of the entire book of 1st Timothy? The subject is the Church. From beginning to end, 1st Timothy is Paul’s instruction to his disciple in the faith. The Church is the subject, nothing else.

So, how is that subject connected to chapter fifty-four of Isaiah? Chapter fifty-four is a song of joy for the people of God. Isaiah was prophesying concerning the people of God in his day, Israel. The book of 1st Timothy concerns the people of God in Paul’s day, the Church.

Does this mean that Israel became the Church and the Church is Israel. Absolutely NOT! They are two separate people groups in two distinct periods of time. Israel had God’s full attention first, from Abraham’s day to Jesus’ day. God turned His full attention to the Church with Paul, and the Church still has His full attention. There is coming a day when Israel will again be the recipient of God’s full attention, and that day is coming soon at this writing.

It is noteworthy to point out the message of Isaiah 43:17.

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”

Have there been weapons formed that have prospered against Israel. Yes, but not in the eternal perspective. Have there been weapons formed that have prospered against the Chruch. Yes, but not in the eternal perspective. The words to notice in this verse are these:

“This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD”

Of course, the God is speaking through Isaiah concerning Israel, but in 1st Timothy, the God is speaking through Paul about His servants, the Church. Take a close look at Isaiah 54:3. God speaking to Israel says:

“thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles”

Does this mean that Israel was going to become Gentile? No. Does it mean that the Gentiles were going to be an inheritance gift from God to Israel? No. What ‘seed’ of Israel was going to inherit the Gentiles? The Messiah of Israel was going to inherit the Gentiles.

Israel calls him their Messiah, and Israel does not believe that He has come yet. Israel is still waiting for Him. The Church calls Him Christ, who came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the ‘seed’ of Israel has inherited the Gentiles, and they are the Church.

The subjects of each of these two texts are clear and unmistakable. Again, we can take a quick note of the fact that the fifty-forth chapter of Isaiah is connected with the fifty-forth book of the Bible. And on we go.

Isaiah chapter 55 - 2nd Timothy

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“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1)

What in the world is Isaiah writing about here? He is calling to all the thirsty, telling them to come and consume something for free. They don’t have to pay to eat and drink; just come eat and drink.

What does he mean? It will help us when we realize that the one who is actually speaking here is the Holy Spirit and not Isaiah. What would the Holy Spirit mean by inviting people to come and partake for free? I wonder. Not really.

When God speaks of something that is ours without “price”, without any expenditure on our part, it can only mean one thing; His offer of eternal life which we call His grace. Isn’t that what we read about in 2nd Timothy 2:1-2?

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (2nd Timothy 2:1-2)

Here, Paul is doing the writing, but once again it is the Holy Spirit speaking, and He is telling Timothy to be strong in what? Grace. And, verse two says to invite everybody else to come and partake of His free gift, and then they can pass the invitation along to others.

“ Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” (Isaiah 55:2)

He wonders why men spend money and effort for something that isn’t nourishing, for something that isn’t satisfying. They are spending their time looking in the wrong place. And Paul says:

“No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” (2nd Timothy 2:4)

What does “The affairs of this life” mean? That is the world. That’s the wrong place to be looking, and it does not please God for us to do so.

Is it just a coincidence that after both Isaiah and Paul speak of God’s grace (that which is without price) that they both mention David?

“Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” (Isaiah 55:3)

“Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2nd Timothy 2:8)

In Isaiah 55:7 the Holy Spirit speaks of the wicked and of the unrighteous. Through Isaiah He says that these people can repent and be pardoned, but the point we want to observe is that He is speaking of the wicked here.

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)

In the first nine verses of the third chapter of 2nd Timothy, Paul speaks exclusively of wicked men and the nature of their existence.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” (2nd Timothy 3:1-9)

In Isaiah 55:10-11 the Holy Spirit turns to the subject of God’s Word and how it will always accomplish His intent, and how it will always be effective.

“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

It should come as no surprise that some familiar passages about God’s written word can be found in the text of 2nd Timothy chapters two and three.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2nd Timothy 2:15)

“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2nd Timothy 3:14-17)

This is Isaiah chapter fifty-five and 2nd Timothy is the fifty-fifth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 56 - Titus

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Chapter fifty-six of Isaiah opens with admonition to those who are part of the household of God, the children of Israel. The Sabbath was/is not ordained for anyone other than Israel, and in the first five verses of the chapter, the keeping of the Sabbath is mentioned twice along with some other general admonitions for the people of God.

“Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.” (Isaiah 56:1-5)

In today’s vernacular we might call this a sermon on ‘walking the walk’ of a believer. In verses six through nine the same message is applied to “the stranger”, those who are not of the Israelite blood lines but who have chosen to “join” themselves to Israel.

“Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.” (Isaiah 56:6-9)

Finally, in verses ten through twelve God speaks His indignation against those who have the responsibility of taking care of the flock.

“His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” (Isaiah 56:10-12)

There is a statement in this chapter which serves as the portal through which all of the above is connected to the book of Titus, and that portal statement is verse seven. God, speaking of “the strangers” says;

“Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isa. 56:7)

On the Titus side of that portal there is of necessity a parallel statement, and we find it in Titus 2:11.

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11)

The book of Titus is letter that Paul wrote to his disciple in the faith, Titus. Titus was a shepherd of the flock of his day, and Paul addresses parallel issues to those addressed by God through Isaiah in chapter fifty-six. Titus 2:1-3:2 is an exhortation to those who “talk the talk” to ‘walk the walk” so that they can be effective witnesses to those around them.

“But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncor-ruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. Put them in mind to be subject to prince-palities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.” (Titus 2:1-3:2)

In Isaiah’s fifty-sixth chapter, the message concludes by identifying a problem area within the household. In Titus 1:10-12, Paul gives advice to Titus on dealing with those who have become a problem for the household of God.

Again we see that the fifty-sixth chapter of Isaiah is linked to the book of the Bible that has the corresponding number, fifty-six, Titus. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 57 - Philemon

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Here are four statements from the text of the fifty-seventh chapter of Isaiah.

“I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.”
(Isaiah 57:12)

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15)

“For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.” (Isaiah 57:16)

“I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.” (Isaiah 57:18)

What do the above statements have to do with the story of Paul, Philemon and Onesimus? The letter from Paul to Philemon concerns a slave named Onesimus, who had run away from his legal master and who had found shelter in the person of Paul.

The letter we know as Philemon was written by Paul and sent with Onesimus to Philemon, and the plea of the letter is that Philemon would forgive the capital offense of a slave running away. Paul tells Philemon that he (Paul) has led Onisimus to saving faith in Jesus. We learn that Philemon had also been led to the LORD by Paul. Now, some specifics are in order.

Paul declares that Onisimus is a changed man from what he had been before. This is parallel to Isaiah 57:12 where Isaiah says; “I will declare thy righteousness”.

Paul was esteemed as the high man on the totem pole so to speak. The speaker in Isaiah 57:15 is none other than God, who is called there; “the high and lofty One.”

We see that Onesimus is humble and contrite, which idea is also part of Isaiah 57:12. Paul has been involved as God has “revive[d] the spirit of the humble”.

Paul atti tude toward Philemon as the rightful master of Onesimus is one of contrition. He is not trying to argue the point that Onesimus has done something very wrong, but he pleads with Philemon to forgive.

One thing that we learn in Philemon is that Paul considers both Onesimus and Philemon to be his ‘sons’ in Christ a parallel idea to Isaiah 57:16b; “and the souls I have made.”
What Isaiah says in verse eighteen, Paul did with Onesimus in the book of Philemon.

Chapter fifty-seven of Isaiah is connected to the fifty-seventh book of the Bible here.

Isaiah chapter 58 - Hebrews

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The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah opens with a call from God for Isaiah to show His people their transgression (singular).

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” (Isaiah 58:1)

What would have been Israel’s transgression at the time of Isaiah?

“Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?” (Isaiah 58:2-3a)

It looks like Israel was doing what they were supposed to do, but God doesn’t seem to be pleased with their actions.

“Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?” (Isaiah 58:3b-5)

Israel was going through the motions, but they had lost the purpose of their works. In the verses that follow, God explains what He is really after.

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 58:6-14)

It appears that Israel was pretty consistent in their behavior. Behind what God indicates through Isaiah for the people of his day as to what their motive should have been, we see that what God desired to do was to bless them, but they were so busy going through the motions that they completely missed what He intended. Nothing had changed by the time Jesus of Nazareth came on the scene. They crucified their God and went right on performing the temple ordinances. Let’s take one last look at Isaiah 58:9.

“Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity” (Isaiah 58:9)

What was God talking about through Isaiah when He said; “If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke”? What was Israel’s yoke? It was the Law of Moses. What part of the Law of Moses was in “the midst” of the people of Israel? The temple was the central and focal point of Jewish life. That was where they did all that business but they missed God’s intended purpose. The writer of Hebrews wrote to the Church in Jerusalem to help them get the idea straight. And, one of the primary messages of the book of Hebrews is…

“Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8)

With the work of the cross completed, God was finished with the Law of Moses and with the Levitical priesthood and with the temple, but the Jews would have none of that. The temple made them special. The temple made them good in their own eyes. The temple gave them many ways to think of themselves as giving to God. And, as with the words of Isaiah chapter fifty-eight, they missed the point again. Hebrews chapters six, seven, eight, nine and ten was written because the Jewish Christians needed those words. That says that things had not changed much since the days of Isaiah.

This is Isaiah chapter fifty-eight, and Hebrews is the fifty-eighth book in the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 59 - James

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It is one of the most used passages in our New Testament as far as treating the subject of faith verses works, James chapter two. Those who use it might begin their quotation with verse fourteen.

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” (James 2:14)

The verses of chapter two that follow present an argument based upon this question. Can faith save him? And, James’ answer is; No. As we open the fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah we read the following.

“Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:1)

Do you see a connection? Isaiah is not talking about salvation by faith in Christ. Isaiah is speaking about the LORD being able to save His people, but the words are right there.

“it cannot save”

It is very important to notice the context of this phrase in James 2:14. The faith spoken of is the faith we see often where someone says to us; ‘Oh, I have faith.’ It is a faith that is nothing more than words, and that is James’ point. It is interesting that the Holy Spirit, speaking through Isaiah poses His statement in the way that He does.

He could have just said; ‘Behold, the LORD’s hand is capable of saving.’ But, He uses a double negative type of construction. “The LORD’s had is NOT shortened, that it CANNOT save”. And, that particular sentence construction makes it line up with the words of the Holy Spirit in the book of James. Check out Isaiah 59:6.

“Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.” (Isaiah 59:6)

Certainly, Isaiah is speaking about people trying to save themselves by their works, but he says that their works of evil. Is this not the subject of James chapter two? James 2:14-26 is a debate over whether salvation is by God grace or by our works. I think there is another oblique connection to be found in Isaiah 59:10.

“We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.”

Can you find anything in common between the above and James 2:25?

“Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?” (James 2:25)

Where did Rahab have here apartment? It was on the outside WALL of the city. It’s only one word, and if it were the only thing we could find in common between the fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah and the book of James, it would be nothing, but in conjunction with what we have seen here, I will claim it as a connecting word. Besides that, had not Rahab marked her window with the scarlet ribbon, the Israelites would not have been able to SEE which home to leave in tact, and they would have been BLIND to it.

This is chapter fifty-nine of Isaiah, and James is the fifty-ninth book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 60 - 1st Peter

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Chapter sixty of Isaiah is another chapter of joy. It is primarily, if not exclusively about the Zion of a future time, a time when the kingdom of God is finally established, and all nations flow unto it. A period of spiritual darkness preceding this glorious time, is also pictured in the chapter, but only in a one verse.

Also mentioned is the time when the world hated the nation and people of Israel. We will look at these negative comments first because they are so much in the minority that they are more easily isolated. The time of spiritual darkness can be seen in verse two, and the contrast between what will have been in the past (at that time) and what will be (at that time) are found in verses twelve, fifteen and eighteen. The rest of the chapter is joyous.

“For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” (v2)

“For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” (v12)

“Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.”(v15)

“Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.” (v18)

Is this consistent with something in the book of First Peter? Here are a few passages from the first chapter of First Peter.

“To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice,”(1st Pet. 1:4-6a)

“found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ”
1st Peter 1:7b)

“ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” (1st Peter 1:8b)

“and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ;” (1st Peter 1:13b)

Peter is not speaking to the same people as is Isaiah. Peter is speaking to Gentiles. He identifies the recipients of his letter in verse one as “strangers” who live in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Isaiah is speaking to Israel about the glory of Israel.

Notice the joy that Peter feels as he writes about the salvation of the Gentiles. As though to accent the connection between Isaiah’s words and Peter’s words, the Holy Spirit has included statements about gold and silver in both writings.

It may be that this combination of precious metals and the joyous message could be found elsewhere in the Bible, but the important thing to this analysis is that the combination is found in both of these writings. It need not be exclusive to indicate a connection between the two. The first letter of Peter (1st Peter) is the sixtieth book in the Bible, and herein we have examined the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 61 - 2nd Peter

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It is the passage of Old Testament scripture from which Jesus quoted in Luke 4:17-19. It was then and is now a passage that was familiar to listeners.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:1-3)

By reading this passage from Isaiah, Jesus presented himself as a new rabbi to his home-town synagogue crowd, and detailed for them the assignment He had from the Father. It was not an introduction that was well received. He laid out the direction and focus of His ministry and the ministries of those He would call to continue His work after He was gone.

Jesus didn’t read the entire first three verses of Isaiah chapter sixty-one that day in the synagogue; He stopped after reading aloud the first phrase of verse two; “To preach the acceptable year of the LORD” (Luke 2:19). It is interesting that when Jesus read from scripture, the word was ‘preach’ rather that ‘proclaim’ as it is found in Isaiah 61:2.

Of course, He may have been reading from the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, from which the word is translated into English as ‘declare’. He stopped after that statement and sat down. He had just brought forward into the New Testament record and times, a passage of Old Testament scripture that validated Him and His ministry; words that He said were speaking of Him.

Jesus was not saying anything here about His offering for sin, His work of the cross nor His resurrection. This passage speaks of preaching, proclaiming, comforting and raising the spirits of mankind. Nor does Jesus even mention the gospel of God’s grace that would come later and be taken to the Gentiles by Paul. Although there were to be eleven men (plus Paul) under whom this assignment would continue after the departure of Jesus, first among those eleven would be Peter.

It was Peter’s (as well as the others’) calling to preach and proclaim, and to thereby bring hope to mankind. This passage from the text of Isaiah chapter sixty-one then, does not uniquely connect that chapter to Second Peter, but it does connect that chapter to the New Testament. It also defines the application of the rest of the chapter to the New Testament. Continuing in Isaiah chapter sixty-one:

“But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God” (Isaiah 61:6a-6b)

We have another link in this verse. Within Israel were to be found the “Priests of the LORD”, and the priests of the New Testament are the believers, and the first of those were the apostles. The apostles who wrote the pages of our New Testament referred to them selves as ‘servants’ of the LORD, and ‘servants’ is the meaning of the word that is translated as “Ministers” in Isaiah 61:6b.

Still, this does not uniquely specify Peter, because Paul also referred to himself as the ‘servant’ of the LORD. One more verse to connect Isaiah chapter sixty-one to the New Testament apostles, and then we’ll take a look to see why it connects specifically to 2nd Peter.

“And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.” (Isaiah 61:9)

“Their seed”; whose seed? What kind of seed of any Israelite could be known among the Gentiles? “Their offspring”, the biological offspring of the Israelites would be Israelites, and it says that their offspring would be among known among “the people”. That would necessarily be the “people” of Israel, but what is “their seed” spoken of?

What we find in the New Testament is that those who led someone to faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah often referred to the new Christian as their son or their daughter, and they were also known to call themselves the ‘father’ or ‘mother’ of that new Christian. The “seed” of the apostles, especially the “seed” of Peter and Paul was where? It was among the Gentiles.

So, where is the connection to 2nd Peter that uniquely connects that book to the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah? Let’s return to the first three verses of Isaiah’s chapter sixty-one. When Jesus read this passage, He stopped with the words; “To preach the acceptable year of the LORD” (Luke 2:19). The following line applies to the book of 2nd Peter more than to any other book of the Bible. What does it say?

“and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2b)

The men we have identified herein, specifically the men who took the gospel to the Gentiles, Peter and Paul, (remember that John’s gospel, his letters and the book of Revelation were written primarily for Israel, and James opened his letter with a greeting; “to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad”) were to proclaim/declare “the day of vengeance of our God”. Paul didn’t do that, but Peter did. 2nd Peter chapter three is exactly that, and the picture that Peter paints is vivid.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” (2nd Peter 3:10-12)

This is chapter sixty-one of Isaiah, and 2nd Peter is the sixty-first book of the Bible.

Isaiah chapter 62 - 1st John

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Isaiah chapter 63 - 2nd John

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Of the three letters written by John, two of them, the first and the second use a word that is found nowhere else in scripture. That word is ‘antichrist’, and John uses this word in both the singular and plural form.

With all of the words used in scripture to speak of this person, it is quite amazing that we do not find the word ‘antichrist’ used in either of Paul’s letters to the believers at Thessalonica, nor in the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians.

Another word we encounter when we read John’s letters is the word ‘deceiver’, and John uses this word in both the singular and plural form as well, but this word is only found in the second of John’s letters. It’s not like this word is found only in John’s letters, but isn’t all that common to the Bible.

It is only found in a few places. It’s just that John only uses it in 2nd John, so, what we have are two words used rather sparsely in scripture; (antichrist/ antichrists is used a total of five times, and deceiver/deceivers is used only eight times).

Only in 2nd John do we find both words used. Nowhere else in the Bible. 2nd John has the fewest verses of any book in the Bible, so the fact that we find both of these rather unique words within the same book of only thirteen verses adds to the uniqueness of this matter. However, it gets even better. These two words are found in the same verse of 2nd John, verse seven, where we read:

“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” (2nd John v7)

This one verse tells us something very important about anyone who is “an antichrist”, and we can apply this same characteristic to ‘the’ antichrist. He is to be a “deceiver”. We can read of several things that the coming antichrist will be, and will do, but this one may be the most significant of his characteristics because it is the trademark of Satan himself.

Yes, he will be the man of sin. Yes, he will be the lawless one. But, most of all, he will be the deceiver of all deceivers that have ever been in this world. Now, we want to see if we can find this deceiver in the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah.

You can read the entire sixty-third chapter of Isaiah and never find either of the two words we identified in 2nd John. They’re not in there, but look at the first two verses of the chapter. What do we see here?

“Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?” (Isaiah 63:1-2)

Someone coming out of Edom is wearing clothes made in the capital city of that nation, Bozra, and he is wearing clothing that has been dyed red. Why? His clothing is “glorious”. He is making some sort of power move; “travelling in the greatness of his strength”. The one speaking here is asking this person why his clothes are red like the clothes of “him that treadeth in the winefat”. Who is “him that treadeth in the winefat”?

The one whose clothes are red because He “treadeth in the winefat” is none other than Christ. In verses three and following He explains how His clothes got to be red. Here we have someone coming out of Edom (the nation populated by the children of Esau), and this person is mimicking Christ. He is trying to appear to be Christ. Who is that going to be?

The Antichrist, and he has dressed himself up so people will think that he is the one who “treadeth in the winefat”. This person is trying to pull off a deception. He is trying to deceive people and thereby pass himself off as Christ. (Note: Edom here could be either a literal or a spiritual reference or it could be both.)

This is a clear presentation of the Antichrist, and the specific characteristic that he is using in this case is that of being a deceiver. He’s not presented here as the lawless one, nor as the man of sin. Here we are seeing him as the deceiver. As with the 2nd letter of John, we see deception and we see the Antichrist. Neither word is used, but that’s who we are seeing just the same.

We have found this in Isaiah’s sixty-third chapter, and 2nd John is the sixty-third book of the Bible. They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 64 - 3rd John

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The sixty-forth chapter of Isaiah opens with a plea by Isaiah for God to “come down”.

“Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.” (Isaiah 64:1-3)

These three verses would support a lengthy treatise by themselves, but that would be the subject of another writing at another time. I include it here simply to show that it is not going to be a part of this comparison. The last verses of this chapter will be treated in this same way.

They speak of the future desolation of Jerusalem, Zion and the temple, and together they have been used herein to connect this chapter to the letters written by John because they speak of a time following the destructive events of A.D. 70 at the hands of Rome. (It is possible if not probable that they also speak of the Babylonian destruction circa B.C. 600 which is covered in the notes on the three letters of John as a group.)

“Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?”
Isaiah 64:10-12)

The scope of our analysis here has therefore been narrowed to Isaiah 64:4-9 which says:

“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.” (Isaiah 64:4-9)

Isaiah’s words are very clear as to the total depravity of man. We read that man has sinned and will continue to do so, even though he is saved. Isaiah says in verse six that the things we do that we think are righteous, are in reality, just filth in God’s eyes.

He continues by saying that our iniquity has taken us away, just like a tornado. We see that it is not in man’s nature to lift himself up to take hold of God, and that we do not even call upon Him of our own accord. For all of this, God is “wroth” and has “hid” His face from us.

The passage also speaks of the goodness of God, and the passage closes with a plea that God not remember our iniquities nor be “wroth” forever, on the grounds that we are but the clay in His hands, and that we are His people after all.

Isaiah 64:5 and 3rd John 11 will be the focal points of this analysis. We look first at Isaiah 64:5

“Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.” (Isaiah 64:5)

Word origins are important and interesting. The original meaning of words can help us to understand what is being said when we read what someone has written. For example, why do we call a get-together of two or more people “a meeting”? We attend church and say that we have been to a meeting. Why?

Answer: Because we met someone there. It need not even be the first time we meet them. ‘Meeting’ denotes seeing someone in person; face-to-face so to speak. If we speak of a ‘meeting of the minds’ we are trying to communicate the idea that our minds are together. There is a sense of unity, the idea of fellowship and association.

Isaiah says that God meets the person who “rejoiceth and worketh righteousness”, but in this same passage, Isaiah says that what we think is righteousness is not righteous in the eyes of God, so, what does Isaiah mean by “worketh rightwousness”? He defines his meaning in the words that follow after that comma; “those that remember thee in thy ways”. In other words; God meets the person who rejoices in God and remembers God. Now, what does Isaiah mean by “meetest”? What is God doing when He meets someone?

Scripture tells us that no human being has ever seen God, so, this is not saying that God comes to your house and sits on you sofa and has a cup of coffee with you. The Holy Spirit is conveying the idea that God has fellowship with the person who rejoices in God and remembers God. God meets us in that way, and on those terms. Is our sinlessness a prerequisite for this meeting? Not according to the rest of the verse we’re reading.

“behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.”

God is angry at our sin, but according to this verse, we are going to keep on sinning, and God is going to save us anyway. Our being saved is not contingent upon our eliminating sin from our behavioral patterns. It is contingent ONLY upon our ‘meeting’ Him.

This concept is consistent with the Christian claim of salvation through a up-close-and –personal relationship with God. It is the foundational doctrine of the New Testament, so, let’s move on to John’s third little letter which opens with a greeting to one believer.

“The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” (3rd John 1-4)

This letter was not written to the unbelieving world, and John states his message in terms that apply to the believers, not to unbelievers, so, when we come to verse eleven, and we read the following, it means something different that it might to an unbeliever. Note that John is still addressing his message to the “beloved”.

“Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” (3rd John 11)

John had just spoken in the two previous verses concerning the particular evil that he now refers back to in this verse, namely, the ill treatment of missionaries by Diotrophes, one of the believers in the same local church body as was Gaius.

“I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.” (3rd John 9-10)

In the last sentence of verse eleven, John says;

“He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” (v11b)

Has anyone ever seen God? NO! What is John saying here when he says that those who do evil have “not seen God”? Those who do good have NOT seen God in the way we normally would think of seeing someone. John is saying that those BELIEVERS who persist in that which is evil (you can use whatever evil you want to think of here) have not seen God, so what does John mean by “seen God”?

Do you see what I mean? How many times have you asked this question? How can someone ‘see’ what you mean? They can’t see what you mean. They can get their mind close to yours on an idea, but they are not seeing with their eyes. Nor can they see in the present what you just laid out for them a few minutes ago.

It would be better to say; are you seeing what I mean, but that’s now how we word it, and that’s not how John worded it in his statement to Gaius. John’s words convey a continuing condition rather than an idea that is only present tense or only future tense or only past tense.

He writes; “he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” “Doeth” can be past tense as well as continuing into the present and possibly into the future.

John says; He who is involved in some evil is not seeing God, and John is not talking about seeing with the human eyes. He is talking about relating to God, and having fellowship with Him, and in verse eleven, John says that in order to have relationship with God, we must not plunge ourselves into evil, but rather seek after and do as much good as we can. Verse eight bears this out.

“We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.”

“Fellowhelpers to the truth”? The evil in which Diotrophes was involved was refraining from supporting the missionaries who were taking the “truth” to the Gentiles. We usually thing of the truth as some sort of absolute in the area of knowledge, but in this case, the “truth” being take to the Gentiles was Jesus, who is the Christ, the Savior of the world.
Now read verse eight again.

“We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.”

The opposite of Diotrophes’ evil would have been for the believers to support the effort of the missionaries and thereby have fellowship with Him who is The Truth. It is about fellowship with God; “seeing” Him on a regular basis; knowing Him, and that was a big part of Isaiah’s message in chapter sixty-four.

“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways:” (Isaiah 64:4-5a)

The Holy Spirit inspired both Isaiah and John, and they both wrote what He gave them to write. I wonder if they had had each other’s texts if they would have seen the connection between chapter sixty-four of Isaiah and the third letter of John? They are connected.

Isaiah chapter 65 - Jude

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Jude begins his one-chapter book with a greeting and an exhortation to earnestly contend for the faith. That takes us up to and through verse three. Then, in verse four he speaks of some men who have “crept in” unbeknowns to the body of Christ. About whom was Jude writing? We may be able to eliminate some possibilities by looking at the attributes Jude assigns to these men in verse four.

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this
condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lascivious-ness, and
denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude v4)

First of all Jude says that they were ordained to this condemnation. That’s a strong statement, but he also says that these men were ordained “of old”. I think that we have to eliminate those we normally refer to as the ‘Judaeizers’, those Christian men who were still hooked up to the Law of Moses. The Judaeizers insisted on a compliance with the Law of Moses in addition to the concept of grace. They were not advocating “laciviousness” which would be an abandonment of any self restraint.

Second, Jude doesn’t say that these men were ordained before the foundation of the world or anything consistent with that idea. He just says that they were “of old ordained to this condemnation”. I think that we have to rule out any of the new Christians, even those who might have turned the grace of Christ into “lasciviousness.

Thirdly, these men were “denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ”. Once again that eliminates any of the Christians. These men must have “crept in unawares” into society, rather than into the Church. These men were neither Gentile Christians nor Jewish Christians. This does not tell us who they were, but we do see who they were not. They could have been fake Christians, Christians in name only. Jude moves on. Verse five may be Jude’s statement of what God would eventually do with these men.

“I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord,
having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed
not.” (Jude v5)

Of those who God save out of Egypt’s bondage, only the true believers entered the promised-land. That would have been only Joshua and Caleb, and of course, all the younger generation who left Egypt as children. God destroyed the ‘fake’ believers forty years after they came out of Egypt, and I think that Jude is saying that at some point in the future God will destroy those “certain men crept in unawares”.

If we don’t recognize who these “men” are, verses four, five and six seem to be a jumbled up mess, and I think that in verse six Jude tells us who he was talking about in the previous two verses.

“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great
day.” (Jude v6)

Who were the angels which kept not their first estate? Are these the angels that followed Satan, the angels we read about being cast out of heaven in the book of Revelation? No. Those angels haven’t lost their first estate yet. They still have access to heaven, but there is some of their number who gave up their first estate. We read about them in Genesis.

“That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them
wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with
man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There
were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in
unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty
men which were of old, men of renoun." (Genesis 6:2-4)

These “sons of God” are the angels of Jude verse six who “kept not their first estate”. These angels who sired a race of mutants on the earth are reserved in God’s chains, and are awaiting their sentencing on that “great day”. Not all of the angels participated in the activities of Genesis 6:2-4, but the offspring of those who did were destroyed in the great flood. The
status of the angels involved in this passage is known from Jude v6, but Peter also tells us:

"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;" (2nd Peter 2:4)

Satan never gives up, and he most certainly tried again the tactic that had worked once.
Scripture speaks of more of this ungodly activity after the flood, and apparently Jude is telling us that there were some of these “men” (mutant, half-breeds) around after the Church came into being. Again, if we do not connect Jude’s verses in this way, they become a jumbled assortment of subjects. In verse seven Jude appears to change the subject once again.

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving
themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an
example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” (Jude v7)

Why does Jude now turn to Sodom and Gomorrha and tie those two cities and their inhabitants into this discussion? Most of us have been taught that the great sin of Sodom was the sin that now carries that name, Sodomy/homosexuality. Truly, homosexuality is a sin, but it is just a sin. How many of us have read the above verse and assumed that the words “strange flesh” means homosexuality? I think that the flesh that is mentioned in Jude was “strange” because it was either fallen angels or their half-breed offspring.

To make this assumption ties verse seven to verses four, five and six, as well as to other verses in Jude. These “men” are further described in the rest of the book. Try reading it with the idea that Jude is speaking of some really bad dudes. Notice verses fourteen and fifteen.

“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard [speeches] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 14-15)

How many times does Jude use the “ungodly” description in verse fifteen? No less than four times. These must have been some really polluted beings. Jude has quoted passages from the book of Enoch, so perhaps we can reference that book too. In the book of Enoch we are told that 200 fallen angels came down and mated with the daughters of men prior to the flood. We should keep that in mind just so we don’t get to thinking that all of Satan’s wild bunch came down prior to the flood and are therefore bound in chains awaiting the judgment of the “great day”.

[Note: This author acknowledges that the book of Enoch is extra-biblical, but Jude does quote from it here, so I feel free to reference it as well.]

Who are the people of Isaiah’s chapter sixty-five? It may help us to look at Isaiah 65:8-9.

“Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it
not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them
all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my
mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” (KJV)

The Septuagint has it as follows;

“Thus saith the LORD, As a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say,
Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for the sake of him that serves me, for his
sake I will not destroy them all. And I will lead forth the seed that came of Jacob and of
Judah, and they shall inherit my holy mountain; and mine elect and my servants shall
inherit it, and shall dwell there.” (Isaiah 65:8-9 Septuagint)

God was going to call out a small group (seed) from all of mankind (cluster), unto whom He would give his holy mountain. Yes, Jerusalem sits on God's holy mountain, but the word mountain is also understood to be a kingdom when used in prophecy. (i.e. The stone cut out without hands was to become a mountain that filled the whole earth. Daniel 2:35. Interpretation; Daniel 2:44)

Of the cluster of mankind prior to God's call to Israel we read in Isaiah 65 that they;
'sacrificied in garden' v3
'burnt incense upon altars of brick' v3
'remained among the graves' v4
'lodged in the monuments' v4
'burned incense upon the mountains' v7
blasphemed God upon the hills' v7

Was there a group of people who remained in the graveyards and lived among the grave markers? Who do we find living in the graveyards at the time of Jesus?

“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a
man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could
bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and
chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in
pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the
mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.” (Mark 5:1-5)

Who was there, living in the graveyard with this poor man? Demonic personalities; Devils; Fallen angels. Jesus cast them out of the man, so we know they were there. Now, knowing that Isaiah 65:4 is speaking about demonic beings, can we extend that thinking to the other verses of Isaiah 65:1-8? Were these beings involved in the activities of verse three through seven? And, who is God talking about in verse eleven? Who is “that troop”? Who are “that number” to whom drink offerings were being offered?

“But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a
table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number." (Is. 65:11)

These things were not acts of worshipping the one true God of Israel. This was devil worship, usually referred to as idolatry in the Bible. The idols of old were physical representation of the demonic beings people were familiar with, and they were usually phallic in shape. The occult religions are solar-phallic religions with Satan at the head. Did Satan repeat his old tactic of sending his angels to earth to corrupt the human family? The book Joshua indicates that this was the case, and judging from how many evil spirits Jesus cast out of people in His day, it was still happening then.

I find this to be a strong connective idea between the book of Jude and the 65th chapter of Isaiah.

Isaiah chapter 66 - Revelation

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Look at the last chapter of the book of Isaiah. The general subject of that chapter is God’s judgment of the nations of the world. What is the subject of the last book of our Bible?... God’s judgment of the nations of the world. Last chapter of Isaiah; Last book of the Bible; both have the same subject? Is this just a coincidence: There are some phrases found in the last chapter of Isaiah that are noteworthy.

“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where
is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” (Isaiah 66:1)

What do we read in the book of revelation about the throne of God? Read all of Revelation chapter four for a picture of it.

“A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that
rendereth recompence to his enemies.” (Isaiah 66:6)

The book of Revelation speaks of a voice coming out of the temple.

“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your
ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.” (Rev. 16:1)

“Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a
man child.” (Isaiah 66:7)

The quotation above caught my eye because Revelation 12:5 reads;

“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:
and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”

But the last reference God showed me in Isaiah chapter sixty-six is connected to a verse in
the latter part of the book of Revelation.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,
saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.” (Isaiah 66:22)

And, we read in the book of Revelation:

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away; and there was no more sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

In the book of Revelation we read about the throne of God (chapter 4). We read about a woman travailing and bringing forth a “man child” (chapter 12). We read about voices coming out of the Temple (chapter 16). We read about “a new heaven and a new earth “ (chapter 22). To be sure, this wording might be found other places in the Bible, but what are the odds all four of these ideas from the book of Revelation would be found in any other chapter of Bible?