Divinely Ordained

I discovered earlier in the week that the book of Isaiah has been called a "mini-bible". The Bible has sixty six books in it collectively. Thirty nine are from the Old Testament and twenty seven make up the New Testament. Isaiah has sixty six chapters. The first thirty nine are about judgment and the last twenty seven are about restoration. {Exactly like the Old Testament being about judgment and the New Testament being about redemption.}

After pondering and studying this matter for several days, I have to conclude that it is a divinely ordained "coincidence", and not the work of human beings at all. Because of biblical history, there is no way that the people who put the Bible together could have made decisions with forethought to end up with this configuration.

I say that because the Old Testament canon (collection of writings deemed to be sacred by the Jews) was completed about 400 years B.C. And the New Testament canon (the writings deemed to meet the standard considered Christian) was finalized 400 years after Christ. Those who knew how many writings (or books) would be in the Old Testament, could not have known how many would be in the New Testament eight hundred years later, nor could Isaiah have known. Only God.

This is just one of many amazing and incredible little facts about the Bible. For me, the history of the Bible is almost as amazing as its content. How we ended up with this particular collection of sacred writings had to be directed by the very hand of God.

Or so I believe!