Here’s something you won’t read anywhere: The 66 books in Bible correspond with the 66 chapters in Isaiah!

In other words, whatever chapter you’re reading in Isaiah, you’ll find striking comparisons to its numerical equivalent in the Old or New Testament.

I first heard about this phenomenon only a few weeks ago in a study given by my pastor, who, for all I know, came up with this discovery. He says he’s been researching the similarities for many years.

Jordan explains, “If you know enough about the book that compares with the chapter in Isaiah, you’ll see thought parallels out of the book that will be in the chapter. There won’t be prophecies about it; there’ll just be parallel thoughts.

“Isaiah starts out, ‘Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord,’ and Genesis starts out, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, earth, earth.’ Isaiah ends with a new heavens and a new earth. The Book of the Revelation ends with a new heaven and a new earth.

“When you come to Isaiah 40, which corresponds to the Book of Matthew, you know who shows up in Isaiah 40:3? John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. You know who shows up in Matthew 3? John the Baptist.”

“If Isaiah 40 gives you a whole new idea, a whole new concept—now comfort and salvation’s going to be talked about—what’s the 40^th book in the Bible? There are 39 books in the Old Testament and the book of Matthew is the 40^th book.

“Doesn’t that ring your bell a little bit?! Does mine! It’s one of the most fascinating things. Now, you’ve got to have read your Bible a little bit to appreciate these things, but when you do . . . Somebody knew how to divide the canon of Scripture up between Old Testament and New Testament and divide the book of Isaiah right at the same numerical place!”

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Because the first half of the book of Isaiah (chapters 1-39) is so diametrically different in tone and content from the second half (chapters 40-66), seminary schools and commentaries often comment how Isaiah is presumed by textual critics to have been written by two different men. Sometimes they even credit three Isaiahs, designating chapters 60-66 to yet another writer.

Jordan says, “The first half is about judgment, doom and despair, and the second half is all sunshine and redemption—comfort and glory and wonder—and they say one guy couldn’t have written such different (halves).

“The problem with that is in John 12 Jesus Christ quotes the book of Isaiah twice. First He quotes Isaiah 53 from the second half and then Isaiah 6 from the first half, and He says the same guy wrote both of them.

“Now, if Jesus Christ says the same guy wrote both of them, you know what, I bet the same guy wrote both of them. You know why? Because that guy really didn’t write them at all—it was God the Holy Spirit who really wrote them!”

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Jordan continues, “If you look at Isaiah 45, he’s talking there about salvation and righteousness. Isaiah 45:8 says, ‘Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness,’ and I’ve often thought, ‘If I ever wrote a commentary on the book of Romans (the 45^th book), man, there’s the title for it!’

“Isaiah 50 compares with the book of Philippians, which is the 50^th book. In Philippians, every chapter Paul points to Christ as the sum of the Christian life. In chapter 1, he says, ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’ In chapter 2, he says, ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’

“Now, look at Isaiah 50 and you’ll see the mind that was in Christ Jesus. There are only a handful of these types of passages in all of Scripture. Psalm 22 is one; Psalm 69 is another.

“These are places in the Old Testament where God draws back the curtain and allows you to see into the thinking processes the Messiah had during His earthly ministry, and especially when He hung on the Cross.

“It’s the thinking going on in the invisible realm that you can’t see, feel or touch with your senses. It’s what Paul says in Ephesians 6, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness. Well, Christ was doing that. The hour of spiritual darkness had come, and He literally enters into personal hand-to-hand combat with it.”

In Isaiah 50: 6-8, for example, Christ says, ‘I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
[7] For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
[8] He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.”

Jordan explains, “It’s as though Christ is standing there as He goes to the Cross and He says, ‘Hey, who is this adversary?’ That’s what the name Satan means—adversary. It’s as though He says, ‘All right, c’mon, it’s your turn; take a lick!’

“You read the depth f what is happening in the heart, mind and soul of Jesus Christ. He’s literally going into hand-to-hand combat with an enemy whom He has enraged to the point of just blood lust.”

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Even within the second half of Isaiah (chapters 40-66) there are three recognizable divisions: chapters 40-48, 49-57 and 58-66.

Jordan says, “In Isaiah 40-48, you have a polemic where the Lord Jehovah stands up and says to all the false gods and religions of the world, ‘Come on, let’s talk. Can’t we talk? You come and mosey up and we’ll see who can get it on.’ In chapters 49-57, He talks about the Redeemer and His redemption; the salvation. In chapters 58-66, you see the glory of the kingdom.”

Similar to Isaiah 48:22 (“There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked”), Isaiah 57:21 reads, “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Then, in Isaiah 66:24, the last verse of the whole book, God gives His answer for why there’s no peace to the wicked:

“And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”