ABC of the Bible

ABCs of the Bible

The Bible is divided as the Old and New Testaments and is a compilation of several separate books. Tell me, how many books does the Bible have? Yes, 66. Now the Book of Isaiah consists of 66 chapters and there is a distinct mood shift from chapter 40 onwards. A sense of a new hope and salvation dominates the second portion of the book of Isaiah, pretty much like the New grace covenant between God and man through the cross of Jesus Christ replaced the old law covenant that was given to Moses.

The book of Isaiah is the first of the four Major Prophets and is more quoted in the New Testament than all the other prophets put together. So it is by narrowing down our perspective to the book of Isaiah that I hope to present the ABCs of the Bible to you.
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Isaiah 1:1-9 Can you hear the agony of God’s heart in the verses that we just read?

If you’ve watched the animation movie “The Prince of Egypt” I wonder if you remember the part where the firstborn of every house in Egypt where slain by the LORD, a cry was heard in all of Egypt like never before. After this judgment had befallen the Egyptians, Moses comes away from the presence of the Pharaoh who finally allows the Hebrews to leave. He doesn’t come out pumping his fist for the victory. Instead he is pictured as groaning because of the judgment that the people had to face because of the stubbornness of their heart. When I heard Moses crying I could hear the voice of Val Kilmer who lent his voice to the character of Moses but could I hear the anguish in the heart of God that resonated through that voice.

Oh, how familiar Isaiah was to the agony of the Father’ heart! When God’s heart raced, Isaiah’s heart raced as well. When God groaned, Isaiah groaned. Isaiah’s heart no doubt bled with God’s very own agony.

- Here was Isaiah trying to establish his career as the spiritual adviser to the King of Judah, almost having cemented his place as the undisputed conscience of a nation. But somehow thoughts of his own success had failed to cloud his thoughts from sensing God’s heart. I thought of how the busyness of my business plans often numbed my sensitivity. His career wouldn’t serve as an anesthetic for Isaiah.
- I remember one night when I watched the “Just for laughs gags” program on the POGO channel for a whole hour just to distract myself from something that was disturbing me. I wonder what would have been the equivalent of that in Isaiah’s times. Hey, did you know that TV hadn’t caught up yet in Isaiah’s time? It wasn’t so popular yet. He’d probably go the King’s court and watch the court jester or the clown. Imagine Isaiah watching the exciting donkey race for sport fun, instead of the Indian Premier League or the Barclay’s Premier league.

Nothing could numb Isaiah, and nothing ought to numb us either.

A- Agony of an angered Father

Isaiah 3:18-24

Doesn’t the whole passage swell with abundance? What great blessing!! But beneath the veneer of affluence lies the extreme poverty of the soul.

Oh what good times God’s people are experiencing but what’s Isaiah’s weather forecast? He could see beyond the present prosperity to a time of slavery under the Babylonians. But thankfully he didn’t stop with that but he spoke of a more distant future, one of hope and restoration.

I know of another person who looks beyond.
“The Power Office accident, incident”
He was so interested in his own promising tomorrow to afford time to consider the death that will befall him one day.

B – Beneath and Beyond


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Isaiah 6:1-4

That however was the turning point of Isaiah’s life. He saw the Lord. He saw the Christ who became Jesus 750 years later in Bethlehem. He saw the image of the invisible God. He saw the one has made the Father known. The Son reflects God's own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly.

How many of have seen the sun, the sun that rises in the east and sets in the west? Well that’s because you’ve got light in your eyes, to see the light that emanates from the surface of the sun. So if you’ve the light of the sun, then you have seen the sun. Jesus said he who has seen me has seen the Father; I am the light of the world. So when Isaiah saw Christ, he had seen God.

What that did to him, we read in Isaiah 6:5. He fell down before this God aware of his inadequacy, his insufficiency.

Onto verses 6 and 7, we see that his sin is atoned for, his guilt removed. God is sufficient to make up for our insufficiency.

And verse 8, Isaiah say’s Lord I’ll go, send me, because he realized whose merit and power he was to thrive on, not his own but that of Christ.

C- Christ, the Cross and the Commission