Bible Books Explained

The Book of Isaiah, Background

Title

The book derives its title from the author, whose name comes means "The Lord is salvation," and is similar to the names Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus. Isaiah is quoted directly in the NT over 65 times, far more than any other OT prophet, and mentioned by name over 20 times.

Author and Date

Isaiah, the son of Amoz, ministered in and around Jerusalem as a prophet to Judah during the reigns of 4 kings of Judah: Uzziah (called "Azariah" in 2 Kings), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (1:1), from ca. 739-686 B.C. He evidently came from a family of some rank, because he had easy access to the king (7:3). He was married and had two sons who bore symbolic names: "Shear-jashub" ("a remnant shall return," 7:3) and "Maher-shalal-has-baz" ("hasting to the spoil, hurrying to the prey," 8:3). When called by God to prophesy, in the year of King Uzziah's death (ca. 739 B.C.), he responded with a cheerful readiness, though he knew from the beginning that his ministry would be one of fruitless warning and exhortation (6:9-13). Having been reared in Jerusalem, he was an appropriate choice as a political and religious counselor to the nation.

Isaiah was a contemporary of Hosea and Micah. His writing style has no rival in its versatility of

expression brilliance of imagery, and richness of vocabulary. The early church father Jerome likened him to Deomsthenes, the legendary Greek orator. His writing features a range of 2,186 different words, compared to 1,535 in Ezekiel, 1,653 in Jeremiah, and 2,170 in the Psalms. Second Chronicles 32:32 records that he wrote a biography of ing Hezekiah also. The prophet lived until at least 681 B.C. when he penned the account of Sennacherib's death (cf. 37:38). Tradition has it that he met his death under King Manasseh (ca. 695-642 B.C.) by being cut in two with a wooden saw (cf. Heb 11:37)

Background and Setting

During King Uzziah's prosperous 52 year reign (ca. 790-739 B.C.), Judah developed into a strong commercial and military state with a port of commerce on the Red Sea and the construction of walls, towers, and fortifications (2Chr 26:3-5, 8-10, 13-15). Yet the period witnessed a decline in Judah's spiritual status. Uzziah's downfall resulted from his attempt to assume the privileges of a priest and burn incense on the altar (2Ki 15:3,4; 2Chr 26:16-19). He was judged with leprosy, from which he never recovered (2Ki 15:5; 2Chr 26:20,21).

His son Jotham (ca. 750-731 B.C.) had to take over the duties of king before his father's death. Assyria began to emerge as a new international power under Tiglath-Pilesar (ca. 745-727 B.C.) while Jotham was king (2Ki 15:19). Judah also began to incur opposition from Israel and Syria to her north during his reign (2Ki 15:37). Jotham was a builder and a fighter like his father, but spiritual corruption still existed in the Land (2Ki 15:5; 2Chr 26:20,21).

Ahaz was 25 when he began to reign in Judah and he reigned until age 41 (2Ch 28:,8: ca. 736-715 B.C.). Israel and Syria formed an alliance to combat the rising Assyrian threat from the E, but Ahaz refused to bring Judah into alliance (2Ki 16:5; Is 7:6). For this, the northern neighbors threatened to dethroned him, and war resulted (734 B.C.). In panic, Ahaz sent to the Assyrian king for help (2Ki 16:7) and the Assyrian king gladly responded, sacking Gaza, carrying all of Galilee and Gilead into captivity, and finally capturing Damascus (732 B.C.). Ahaz's alliance with Assyria led to his introduction of a heathen altar, which he set up in Solomon's temple (2Ki 16:10-116; 2Ch 28:3). During his reign (722 B.C.), Assyria captured Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom, and carried many of Israel's most capable into captivity (2Ki 17:6,24).

Hezekiah began his reign over Judah in 715 B.C. and continued for 29 years to ca. 686 B.C. (2Ki 18:1,2). Reformation was a priority when he became king (2Ki 18:4,22; 2Ch 30:1). The threat of an Assyrian invasion forced Judah to promise heavy tribute to that eastern power. In 701 B.C. Hezekiah became very ill with a life-threatening disease, but he prayed and God graciously extended his life for 15 years (2Ki 20; Is 38) until 686 B.C. The ruler of Babylon used the opportunity of his illness and recovery to send congratulations to him, probably seeking to form an alliance with Judah against Assyria at the same time (2Ki 20:12 ff.; Is 39). When Assyria became weak through internal strife, Hezekiah refused to pay any further tribute to that power (2Ki 18:7). So in 701 B.C. Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, invaded the coastal areas of Israel, marching toward Egypt on Israel's southern flank. In the process he overran many Judean towns, looting and carrying many people back to Assyria. While besieging Lachish, he sent a contingent of forces to besiege Jerusalem (2Ki 18:17-19:8; Is 36:2-27:8). The side-expedition failed, however, so in a second attempt he sent messengers to Jerusalem demanding an immediate surrender of the city (2Ki 19:9 ff.; Is 37:9ff.). With Isaiah's encouragement, Hezekiah refused to surrender, and when Sennacherib's army fell prey to a sudden disaster, he returned to Nineveh and never threatened Judah again.

Historical and Theological Themes

Isaiah prophesied during the period of the divided kingdom, directing the major thrust of his message to the southern kingdom of Judah. He condemned the empty ritualism of his day (e.g., 1:10-15) and the idolatry into which so many of the people had fallen (e.g., 40:18-20). He foresaw the coming Babylonian captivity of Judah because of this departure from the Lord (39:6,7).

Fulfillment of some his prophecies in his own lifetime provided his credentials for the prophetic office. Sennacherib's effort to take Jerusalem failed, just as Isaiah had said it would (37:6,7,36-38). The Lord healed Hezekiah's critical illness, as Isaiah had predicted (38:5; 2Ki 20:7). Long before Cyrus, king of Persia appeared on the scene, Isaiah named him as Judah's deliverer from the Babylonian captivity. (44:28; 45:1). Fulfillment of his prophecies of Christ's first coming have given Isaiah further vindication (e.g., 7:14). The pattern of literal fulfillment of his already-fulfilled prophecies gives assurance that prophecies of Christ's second coming will also see literal fulfillment.

Isaiah provides data on the future day of the Lord and the time following. He details numerous aspects of Israel's future kingdom on earth not found elsewhere in the OT o NT, including changes in nature, the animal world, Jerusalem's status among the nations, the Suffering Servant's leadership, and others.

Through a literary device called "prophetic foreshortening," Isaiah predicted future events without delineating exact sequences of the events or time intervals separating them. For example, nothing in Isaiah reveals the extended period separating the two coming of the Messiah. Also, he does not provide as clear a distinction between the future temporal kingdom and the eternal kingdom as John does in Revelation 20:1-10; 21:1-22:5. In God's program of progressive revelation, details of these relationships awaited a prophetic spokesman of a later time.

Also known as the "evangelical Prophet," Isaiah spoke much about the grace of God toward Israel, particularly in his last 27 chapters. The centerpiece is Isaiah's unrivaled chap. 53, portraying Christ as the slain Lamb of God.

Interpretive Challenges

There are numerous interpretive challenges especially in the long and significant sequences of Isaiah's book. The most critical of them focuses on whether Isaiah's prophecies will receive literal fulfillment or not, and on whether the Lord, in His program, has abandoned national Israel and permanently replaced the nation with the church, so that there is no future for national Israel.

On the latter issue, numerous portions of Isaiah support the position that God has not replaced ethnic Israel with an alleged "new Israel." Isaiah has too much to say about God's faithfulness to Israel, that He would reject the people whom He has created and chosen (43:1). The nation is on the palms of His hands, and Jerusalem's walls are ever before His eyes (49:16). He is bound by His own Word to fulfill the promises He has made to bring them back to Himself and bless them in that future day (55:10-12).

On the former issue, literal fulfillment of many of Isaiah's prophecies has already occurred (See "Historical and Theological Themes"). To contend that those yet unfulfilled will see non-literal fulfillment is biblically groundless. This fact disqualifies the case for proposing that the church receives some of the promises made originally to Israel. The kingdom promised to David belongs to Israel, not the church. The future exaltation of Jerusalem will be on earth, not in heaven. Christ will reign personally on this earth as we know it, as well as in the new heavens and the new earth (Rev 22:1,3).

Outline

I. Judgment (1:1-35:10)

A. Prophecies Concerning Judah and Jerusalem (1:1-12:6)

1. Judah's social sins (1:1-6:13)

2. Judah's political entanglements (7:1-12:6)

B. Oracles of Judgment and Salvation (13:1-23:18)

1. Babylon and Assyria (13:1-14:27)

2. Philistia (14:28-32)

3. Moab (15:1-16:14)

4. Syria and Israel (11:1-14)

5. Ethiopia (18:1-7)

6. Egypt (19:1-20:6)

7. Babylon continued (21:1-10)

8. Edom (12:11,12)

9. Arabia (21:13-17)

10. Jerusalem (22:1-25)

11. Tyre (23:1-18)

C. Redemption of Israel through world Judgment (24:1-27:13)

1. God's devastation of the earth (24:1-23)

2. First song of thanksgiving and redemption (25:1-12)

3. Second song of thanksgiving and redemption (26:1-19)

4. Israel's chastisements and final prosperity (26:20-27:13)

D. Warnings Against Alliance with Egypt (28:1-35:10)

1. Woe to drunken politicians (28:1-29)

2. Woe to religious formalists (29:1-14)

3. Woe to those who hid plans from God (29:15-24)

4. Woe to pro-Egyptian party (30:1-33)

5. Woe to those trust in horses and chariots (31:1-32:20)

6. Woe to the Assyrian destroyer (33:1-24)

7. A cry for justice against the nations, particularly Edom (34:1-35:10)

II. Historical Interlude (36:1-39:8)

A. Sennacherib's Attempt to Capture Jerusalem (36:1-37:38)

B. Hezekiah's sickness and recovery (38:1-22)

C. Babylonian Emissaries to Jerusalem (39:1-8)

III. Salvation (40:1-66:24)

A. Deliverance from Captivity (40:1-48:22)

1. Comfort to the Babylonian exiles (40:1-31)

2. The end of Israel's misery (41:1-48:22)

B. Sufferings of the Servant of the Lord (49:1-57:21)

1. The Servant's mission (49:1-52:12)

2. Redemption by the Suffering Servant (52:13-53:12)

3. Results of the Suffering Servant's redemption (54:1-57:21)

C. Future Glory of God's People (58:1-66:24)

1. Two kinds of religion (58:1-14)

2. Plea to Israel to forsake their sins (59:1-19)

3. Future blessedness of Zion (59:20-61:11)

4. Nearing of Zion's deliverance (62:1-63:6)

5. Prayer for national deliverance (63:7-64:12)

6. The Lord's answer to Israel's supplication (65:1-66:24)

MacArthur Study Bible, NASB, Updated Edition. 2006. Nelson Bibles, Thomas Nelson. La Habra, CA.

Introduction to The Bible

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Tim 3:16,17

The Bible is the Word of God. This maxim is very familiar in most Christian circles and for the most part, deeply revered in many hearts. The Scriptures are the Words of God, a love letter to us. God loves us and greatly desires, and even commands us, to know His mind and heart. By studying the Word(s) of God we grow closer in relationship to Him.

I’ve created this online resource, surely one of thousands on the web, as a means by which you have an introduction to all 66 books of the Bible at the tip of a click. I hope you find richness and true understanding in your daily Bible reading.

Think of the academic rigor of studying the chapter introductions as a humble and thirsty approach to finding out “What does God mean?” As one of my favorite pastors exhorts, “It's not enough to read the text and jump directly to the application; we must first determine what it means, otherwise the application may be incorrect.”

Sixty-Six books comprise the Bible. These documents are gathered into two testaments, the Old (39) and the New (27). Prophets, priests, kings, and leaders from the nation of Israel wrote the OT books in Hebrew (with two passages in Aramaic). The apostles and their associates wrote the NT books in Greek.

The Old Testament record starts with the creation of the universe and closes about 400 years before the first coming of Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures take on a timeline in the following chronology:

- Creation of the Universe

- Fall of man

- Judgment flood over the earth

- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) - fathers of the chosen nation

- The history of Israel

~ Exile in Egypt - 430 years

~ Exodus and wilderness wanderings - 40 years

~ Conquest of Canaan - 7 years

~ Era of Judges - 350 years

~ United Kingdom - Saul, David, Solomon - 110 years

~ Divided Kingdom - Judah/Israel - 350 years

~ Exile in Babylon - 70 years

~ Return and rebuilding the land – 140 years

The details of this history are explained in the 39 books divided into 5 categories:

~ The Law – 5 (Genesis thru Deuteronomy)

~ History – 12 (Joshua thru Esther)

~ Wisdom – 5 (Job thru Ecclesiastes)

~ Poetry – 2 (Psalms and Song of Solomon)

~ Major Prophets – 5 (Isaiah thru Daniel)

~ Minor Prophets – 12 (Hosea – Malachi)

After the completion of the Old Testament, there were 400 years of silence, during which God did not speak or inspire any Scripture. That silence was broken by the arrival of John the Baptist announcing the arrival of the Promised Lord Savior. The New Testament records the rest of the story from the birth of Jesus Christ to the culmination of all history and the final eternal state; so the two testaments go from creation to consummation, eternity past to eternity future.

While the 39 Old Testament books focus on the history of Israel and the promise of the coming Savior, the 27 New Testament books emphasize the person of Christ and the establishment of the Church. The four gospels give the record of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Each of the four writers views with distinctive perspective, the greatest and most important event of history – the coming of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Each are listed below:

~ Matthew looks at Jesus through the perspective of His kingdom

~ Mark through the perspective of His servanthood

~ Luke through the perspective of his humanness

~ John through the perspective of His Deity

The book of Acts tells the story of the impact of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord Savior – from His ascension, the consequent coming of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the Church, through the early years of gospel preaching by the apostles and their associates. Acts records the establishment of the church in Judea, Samaria, and into the Roman Empire.

The 21 epistles were written to churches and individuals to explain the significance of the person and work of Jesus Christ, with its implication for life and witness until He returns.

The New Testament closes with Revelation, which starts by picturing the current Church Age, and culminates with Christ’s return to establish His earthly Kingdom, bringing judgment on the ungodly and glory and blessing for believers. Following the millennial reign of the Lord Savior will be the last judgment, leading to the eternal state. All believers of all history enter the ultimate eternal glory prepared for them, and all the ungodly are consigned to hell to be punished forever.

To understand the Bible, it is essential to grasp the sweep of that history from creation to Christ's consummation and beginning of the church age. It is also crucial to keep in focus the unifying theme of Scripture. The one constant theme unfolding throughout the whole Bible is this: God for His own glory has chosen to create and gather to Himself a group of people to be the subjects of His eternal Kingdom, to praise, honor, and serve Him forever and through whom He will display His wisdom, power, mercy, grace, and glory. To gather His chosen ones, God must redeem them from sin. The Bible reveals God’s plan for this redemption from its inception in eternity past to its completion in eternity future. Covenants, promises, and epochs are all secondary to the one continuous plan of redemption.

There is one God. The Bible has one Creator. It is one book. It has one plan of grace, recorded from initiation, through execution, to consummation. From predestination to glorification, the Bile is the story of God redeeming His chosen people for the praise of His glory.

As God’s redemptive purposes and plan unfold in Scripture, five recurring motifs are constantly emphasized:

~ The character of God

~ The judgment for sin and disobedience

~ The blessing for faith and obedience

~ The Lord Savior and sacrifice for sin

~ The coming kingdom and glory

Everything revealed on the pages of both the Old and New Testament is associated with those five categories. Scripture is always teaching or illustrating: 1) the character and attributes of God; 2) the tragedy of sin and disobedience to God’s holy standard; 3) the blessedness of faith and obedience to God’s standard; 4) the need for a Savior by whose righteousness and substitution sinners can be forgiven, declared just, and transformed to obey God’s standard; and 5) the coming glories end of redemptive history in the Lord Savior’s earthly kingdom and the subsequent eternal reign and glory of God and Christ. It is essential as one studies Scripture to grasp these recurring categories like great hooks on which to hang the passages. While reading through the Bible, one should be able to relate to each portion of Scripture to these dominant topics, recognizing that what is introduced in the Old Testament is also made more clear in the New Testament.

Looking at these five categories separately gives an overview of the Bible.

1. The Revelation of the Character of God

Above all else, Scripture is God’s self-revelation. He reveals Himself as the sovereign God of the universe who has chosen to make man and to make Himself known to man. His standard of absolute revelation is established in this self-revelation. From Adam and Eve through Cain and Abel and to everyone before and after the law of Moses, the standard of righteousness was established and is sustained to the last passage of the New Testament. Violation of it produces judgment, temporal and eternal.

In the Old Testament, it is recorded that God revealed Himself by the following means:

~ Creation – primarily through man – who was made in His image

~ Angels

~ Signs, wonders, and miracles

~ Visions

~ Spoken words by prophets and others

~ Written Scripture (Old Testament)

In the New Testament, it is recorded that God revealed Himself again by the same means, but more clearly and more fully:

~ Creation – the God-man, Jesus Christ, who was the very image of God

~ Angels

~ Signs, wonders, and miracles

~ Visions

~ Spoken words by apostles and prophets

~ Written Scripture (New Testament)

2. The Revelation of Divine Judgment for Sin and Disobedience

Scripture repeatedly deals with the matter of man’s sin, which lead to divine judgment. Account after account in Scripture demonstrates the deadly effects in time and eternity of violating God’s standard. There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. Only four of them do not involve a fallen world: the first two and the last two – before the Fall and after the creation of the new heaven and new earth. The rest is the chronicle of the tragedy of sin.

In the Old Testament, God showed the disaster of sin – starting with Adam and Eve, to Cain and Abel, the patriarchs, Moses and Israel, the kings, priests, some prophets, and Gentile nations. Throughout the Old Testament is the relentless record of continual devastation produced by sin and disobedience to God’s law.

In the New Testament, the tragedy of sin becomes clearer. The preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles begin and end with a call to repentance. King Herod, the Jewish leaders, and the nation of Israel – along with Pilate, Rome, and the rest of the world – all reject the Lord Savior, spurn the truth of God, and thus condemn themselves. The chronicle of sin continues unabated to the end of the age and the return of Christ in judgment. In the New Testament, disobedience is even more flagrant than Old Testament disobedience because it involves the rejection of the lord Savior Jesus Christ in the brighter light of the New Testament truth.

3. The Revelation of the Divine Blessing for Faith and Obedience

Scripture repeatedly promises wonderful rewards in time and eternity that come to people who trust God and seek to obey Him. In the Old Testament, God showed the blessedness of repentance from sin, faith in Himself, and obedience to His Word – from Abel, through the patriarchs, to the remnant in Israel – and even Gentiles who believed (such as the people of Nineveh).

God’s standard for man, His will, and His moral law were always made known. To those who faced their inability to keep God’s standard, recognized their sin, confessed their impotence to please God by their own efforts and works, and asked Him for forgiveness and grace – there came merciful redemption and blessing for time and eternity.

In the New Testament, God again showed the full blessedness of redemption from sin and repentant people. There were those who responded to the preaching of repentance by John the Baptist. Others repented at the preaching of Jesus. Still others from Israel obeyed the gospel through the apostle’s preaching. And finally, there were Gentiles all over the Roman Empire who believed the gospel. To all those and to all those who will believe through all history, there is blessing promised in this world and the world to come.

4. The Revelation of the Lord Savior and Sacrifice for Sin

This is the heart of both the Old Testament, which Jesus said spoke of Him in type, picture, and prophecy. The New Testament gives the biblical record of His coming. The promise of blessing is dependent on grace and mercy given to the sinner. Grace means that sin is not held against the sinner. Such forgiveness is dependent on a payment of sin’s penalty to satisfy holy justice. That requires a substitute – one to die in the sinner’s place. God’s chosen substitute – the only one qualified – was Jesus. Salvation is always by the same gracious means, whether during Old Testament or New Testament times. When any sinner comes to God, repentant and convinced he has no power to save himself from the deserved judgment of divine wrath, and pleads for mercy, God’s promise of forgiveness is granted. God then declares him righteous because the sacrifice and obedience of Christ is put to his account. In the Old Testament, God justified sinners that same way, in anticipation of Christ’s atoning work. There is, therefore, a continuity of grace and salvation through all of redemptive history. Various covenants, promises, and epochs do not alter that fundamental continuity, nor does the discontinuity between the Old Testament witness nation, Israel, and the New Testament witness people, the Church. A fundamental continuity is centered in the cross, which was no interruption in the plan of God, but is the very thing which all-else points.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Savior and sacrifice are promised. In Genesis, He is the seed of the woman who will destroy Satan. In Zechariah, He is the pierced one to whom Israel turns and by whom God opens the fountain of forgiveness to all who mourn over their sin. He is the suffering substitute spoken of by the prophets. Throughout the Old Testament, He is the Messiah who would die for the transgressions of His people; from beginning to end in the Old Testament, the theme of the Lord Savior as a sacrifice for sin is presented. It is solely because of His perfect sacrifice for sin that God graciously forgives repentant believers.

In the New Testament, the Lord Savior came and actually provided the promised sacrifice for sin on the cross. Having fulfilled all righteousness by His perfect life, He fulfilled justice by His death. Thus God Himself atoned for sin, at a cost too great for the human mind to fathom. Now He graciously supplies on their behalf all the merit necessary for His people to be the objects of His favor. That is what Scripture means when it speaks of salvation by grace.

5. The Revelation of the Kingdom and Glory of the Lord Savior

This crucial component of Scripture brings the whole story to its God-ordained consummation. God controls redemptive history, and it will culminate in His eternal glory. Redemptive history will end with the same precision and exactness with which it began. The truths of eschatology are neither vague nor unclear – nor are they unimportant. As in any book, how the story ends is the most crucial and compelling part – so with the Bible. Scripture notes several very specific features of the end planned by God.

In the Old Testament, there is repeated mention of an earthly kingdom ruled by the Messiah, Lord Savior, who will come to reign. Associated with that kingdom will be the salvation of Israel, the salvation of Gentiles, the renewal of the earth from the effects of the curse, and the bodily resurrection of God’s people who have died. Finally, the Old Testament predicts that there will be the “uncreation” or dissolution of the universe, and the creation of a new heaven and new earth – which will be the eternal state of the godly – and a final hell for the ungodly.

In the New Testament, these features are clarified and expanded. The King was rejected and executed, but He promised to come back in glory, bringing judgment, resurrection, and His kingdom for all who believe. Innumerable Gentiles from every nation will be included among the redeemed. Israel will be saved and granted back into the root of blessing from which she has been temporarily excised.

Israel’s promised kingdom will be enjoyed, with the Lord Savior reigning on the throne, in the renewed earth, exercising power over the whole world, having taken back His rightful authority, and receiving due honor and worship. Following that kingdom will come the dissolution of the renewed, but still sin-stained creation, and the subsequent creation of a new heaven and new earth – which will be the eternal state, separate forever from the ungodly hell.

Those are the five topics that fill up the Bible. To understand them at the start is to know the answer to the question the question that continually arises – Why does the Bible tell us this? Everything fits the glorious patter of those five topics. As you read, hang the truth on these five hooks and the Bible will unfold, not as 66 separate documents, or even two separate testaments – but one book, by one divine Author, who wrote it all with one overarching theme.

(MacArthur Study Bible, NASB. Quoted and Paraphrased. xi-xiv.)

Bible Books Explained

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