The book of Isaiah has been described as a “miniature Bible.”

For example the book of Isaiah has 66 chapters and there are 66 books in the Bible.

Isaiah divides into two main sections: chapters 1-39 (39 chapters) and chapters 40-66 (27 chapters). The Bible also divides into two main sections: The Old Testament (39 books) and the New Testament (27 books).

The focus in the first section of Isaiah – chapters 1-39 – is on God’s righteousness, holiness, and justice. The Old Testament (39 books) also focus on God’s righteousness, holiness, and justice.

The focus in the second section of Isaiah – chapters 40-66 – is on God’s glory, compassion, and grace. Likewise, the 27 books of the New Testament focus on God’s glory, compassion, and grace as revealed in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Isaiah chapters 40-66 foretell God’s future provision of salvation for His people through a “Suffering Servant” while the New Testament describes God’s provision of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ who suffered and died on the Cross for our sins.

Isaiah begins with a description of Israel’s rebellion and ends with the promise of restoration. Likewise the Bible begins with a description of mankind’s rebellion and ends with the promise of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

This is the message of Isaiah: a Holy God will gain glory by judging sin and restoring His people. The message of the Bible is the same: a Holy God will gain glory by judging sin and saving those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

Some refer to Isaiah as the “St. Paul of the Old Testament” because of his Jewish background and education. His wife was also a “prophetess” – i.e., a woman who spoke for God – like “Deborah” in Judges and “Huldah” in 2 Chronicles 34. Together Isaiah and his wife had at least two sons. According to Jewish tradition, Isaiah’s persecutors sawed him in two toward the end of his life. Some see a reference to this in Hebrews 11:37 where the Bible says, “... they were sawn in two, ...”

No other book in the Old Testament presents us with a clearer and more explicit portrait of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ than the Book of Isaiah.

For example, in Isaiah 7:14 he prophesied about 700 years before Christ, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel” i.e., “God is with us.”

The New Testament gospel of Matthew confirms that this prophecy has been fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ: “Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 7:14]: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name ‘Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’”

“[Jesus] is the visible image,” writes Paul, “of the invisible God,” (Colossians 1:15; see also Colossians 2:9).

(Jessie J. Charpentier Sr. is pastor of Jenkins Memorial Baptist Church in St. Martinville.)