23) The Book of Isaiah

ISAIAH is one of the most well known books of the Old Testament because it is the book most frequently quoted by the Lord Jesus and the writers of the New Testament. Isaiah was a prophet of the eighth century before Christ. God used prophets during times of declension to preach against abomination, apathy, apostasy, and anarchy. They were primarily revivalists of the ceremonial and moral laws of Judaisrn and secondarily patriots of the civil laws of the commonwealth of Israel.
Isaiah was closely associated with the kings and priests of Judah.

Isaiah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah, but he was aware of the captivity of the northern kingdom in 722 B.C. Isaiah warned the southern kingdom of their pending doom if they refused to obey the word of God (5:24). He prophesied of the Babylonian captivity of Judah and he also foretold of Cyrus the king of Persia. The main prophecy or doctrine of all of the prophets is the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they did not see the gap of 2000 years between the sufferings and the glory of their Messiah because the secret of the church was first revealed to the Apostle Paul (Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 3:1-7; 1 Peter 1:11).

Isaiah is a Bible inside the Bible. It is the largest book in the Bible with chapters. Certain chapters parallel certain books in the Bible. This helps to verify the canon of the entire Bible. Jesus Christ clearly verified the canon of the Old Testament as the Pentateuch, the psalms, and the prophets (Luke 24:44-45). The same 39 books of the Hebrew Bible are found in the Old Testament. The 66 chapters of Isaiah help to verify the canon of the New Testament also. Isaiah 1:2 parallels Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 6:1 parallels the sixth book of the Scriptures, Joshua (Jesus — Acts 7:45); Isaiah 40:3 parallels the fortieth book of the Bible, the Gospel according to Matthew; and Isaiah 66:22 parallels the book of Revelation, the sixty-sixth book.

The clear division between chapters 39 and 40 is used by foolish scholars to question the authorship of the book (Gen. 3:1; 2 Cor. 2:17). The textual critics foolishly theorize a Second or Deutero-lsaiah, but the Lord Jesus stated a few times that Isaiah wrote the entire book (Matt. 3:3; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:14; 15:7; Luke 4:16-20; John 12:37-42). Chapter fifty-three records a clear presentation, of the sacrificial sufferings and atonement of the LORD Jesus at Calvary. The book contains 66 chapters and 1,292 verses.

King James Bible.