[The Ethiopian] was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet (Acts 8:28-30).
Before the printing press, copies of Scripture were written by hand. That was a laborious process, which made the copies expensive. The Ethiopian was privileged to have a copy of Isaiah. If it was like the copy from which Jesus read, it was a “scroll” (Luke 4:17, 20). Scrolls were long, rolled up sheets, usually made of animal skin or papyrus (pressed reed pith). Yet the scroll of Isaiah was just one of many scrolls that made up the Scriptures. Today, printing and binding allow us to combine the full collection—all the inspired books—into one book, the Bible. But it helps our understanding of the Bible to remember that it is like a library collected across the centuries.
This library is unique because its production spanned 1,500 years. Only God could bring together a team of some 40 authors from different places and periods of history. God used Old Testament writers like the prophets Moses and Isaiah to predict future events, including the coming of the Messiah. Later writers reported the fulfillment of those prophecies. Isaiah, for example, was written 700 years before Christ. Yet, because God was working through him, Isaiah described in detail the future death of Jesus. Eyewitnesses saw those amazing details come true. The New Testament contains their Spirit-inspired reports (Acts 1:8; Matthew 10:20). Human ability cannot foretell with such accuracy. Along with other strong evidences, the prophecies and fulfillments of the Bible provide convincing proof of its inspiration.