As we approach the end of the age we are overwhelmed with the amount of evidence of the reliability and accuracy of the Bible. In the last century, archaeological discoveries have significantly reinforced the Bible’s credibility. A pivotal moment was in 1947 with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, an event whose significance was underscored with the timing of the reestablishment of the nation of Israel.
Let me take you back to 1947: a Bedouin named Mohammed ed-dib discovers ancient scrolls in a cave near Qumran. After this initial find, even more scrolls are discovered and in November of 1947, some of the scrolls are sold to Professor Eliezer Sukenik, a professor of archaeology at Hebrew University. The significance of the timing of these events should not be overlooked. Professor Sukenik writes in his journal:
“While I was examining these precious documents in my study, the late news on the radio announced that the United Nations would be voting on the resolution that night—whether or not Israel would be allowed to become a nation… It was past midnight when the decision was announced while I was engrossed in a particularly absorbing passage in one of the scrolls, and my son rushed in with the shout that the vote on the Jewish State had passed. This great event in Jewish history was thus combined in my home in Jerusalem with another event, no less historic, the one political, and the other cultural.”
The very day the first Dead Sea scrolls were purchased and the 2000-year-old parchments containing prophecies of Israel’s restoration to the Land were being read, the UN General Assembly was casting votes to decide whether Israel would become a modern nation, and decided in its favor. As God providentially unveiled the documentation of Israel’s ancient history through the discovery of the scrolls, the very words of those scriptures were being fulfilled concerning the nation’s future rebirth!
The Isaiah scroll, now the earliest known copy of this ancient prophetic book, contains numerous predictions of the regathering of the Jewish people to the Land and the restoration of their nation:
Isaiah 11:11-12 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
This prophetic fulfillment, evident to everyone, is a clear and powerful sign of God’s sovereignty over History, and of the reliability of our Scriptures!
Are you in doubt that God is in control? Have no doubt, nor fear of the enemy who is plotting to “rob, kill, and destroy” … for just as the scriptures proclaim the restoration of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland … they proclaim the Kingdom of God is coming that shall never pass away!
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
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In his letter to the Colossians, Paul reveals the prophetic nature of Shabbat and the Biblical Feasts as “shadows of things to come”, whose substance is the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). My study of the feasts therefore seeks to discover their relevance to the Lord, His identity, work, and purpose for my life in relationship to Him.
A few years ago, I was in a debate with an atheist who had a legal background, and the Lord gave me a revelation about the tactics of the enemy. At Yeshua’s first coming, his tactic was to destroy the infant before He could grow up; [Revelation 12:4-5]. After the Lord’s death and resurrection, Satan continued his direct assault by attacking the church through persecution, which lasted through the first three centuries. The tactics of the enemy were to destroy any “eyewitnesses” of God’s goodness.
An interesting parallel exists between these two passages of scripture: Isaiah 53:9 and Acts 3:15. Isaiah renders the “death” of the messiah in the plural form, “deaths” (“motav”). Acts renders the life of the Prince of Life as “lives” (“chaim”). Some scholars suggest that the plurality of the word death indicates a violent death this servant would suffer, and that making the noun plural is a way of emphasizing the terrible intensity of his experience. Jewish counter-missionaries suggest that the “death” in plural shows that the suffering servant is not an individual man, but a group of people, specifically the nation of Israel, thus denying that the passage refers to an individual messianic figure.
Proverbs says the “highway of the upright is to depart from evil”. It’s a highway — a way of life so to speak. And this proverb coincides with the central teaching of Yeshua (Jesus) — “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” What does it mean to repent? The Greek Word is “metanoia” which simply means to change your mind about sin or to depart from evil.
A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.