EPISODE 13 ISAIAH AND LIFE AFTER DEATH
EPISODE 13 ISAIAH AND LIFE AFTER DEATH
Isaiah is the man who gave us the criteria that only God could fulfill. Only God could identify the themes of history from beginning to end. Only God could tell us the future of human events. This same prophet described the life, trial, death and resurrection of the Messiah. He included Jesus’ purpose 700 years before Jesus defeated death.
Isaiah began with a brief summary. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Then Isaiah described his trial. “… he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” The temporary covering for the sins of the Israelites had been the sacrifice of unblemished lambs, a symbol of the coming Messiah. He was called “the Lamb of God.”
Next, Isaiah confirmed that the Messiah would die. “And who could speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.
The confirmation of his death concluded with a recognition of his innocence -
he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Then Isaiah predicted the defeat of death. Though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life, and be satisfied.”
Jesus had no descendants before his death. But following his resurrection he had offspring. People found eternal life, accepting that he had paid their penalty. By asking for the forgiveness only he can give, we become ‘children of God.’ We confirm our adoption by following him.
Isaiah points to Jesus’ reward, then concludes with a statement of his purpose. “For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.” After death we will stand before God.
He will defend those who have become his children by making intercession in the court of heaven.
If we believe in the love of God, we must also believe in the wrath of God. When we reject the love of God, we choose the wrath of God whose son went through death for us.
How do we know that Isaiah’s description came long before Jesus Christ? Is there any possibility that these predictions were not predictions but written after the event?
In 1947 a 12 year old Arab boy was herding goats on a hillside just above the Dead Sea. Picking up a rock, he threw it into a cave and heard the sound of breaking pottery. What he discovered was a cave floor covered with the pieces of ancient scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a large collection of ancient copies of the books of the Bible. There are also books on math, science, astronomy, and proper hygiene.
95% of the writings were written on sheep or goat skins. These copies pre-date the life of Christ. They have been put on display in much of the modern world. Isaiah’s prophecy of the life, death, resurrection and purpose of God was included in that display.
Just below the caves are the ruins of a small community called Qumran. The years of their careful copying had become piles of brittle pieces in a series of caves. It had to be the most complex jig saw puzzle ever attempted. Only modern science could make the task possible.
There were 19,000 fragments. The edges of 12,000 of them were difficult or impossible to read. The discovery of infrared in the 1960s solved the problem. The faded areas could be photographed and read.
The pieces were also mixed and difficult to separate. By the 1980s teams of scholars were examining the work for accuracy. The recent discovery of DNA separated the small portions by the individual sheep or goat skin they were written on. The DNA information made it possible to complete the work correctly.
There are 200 scrolls covering the 39 books of the Old Testament. The most important books of history and predictions have many complete copies: Genesis 19 copies, Exodus 17, Deuteronomy 30 copies, Psalms 36 and Isaiah 21 copies.
What is the importance of these discoveries? They are accurate. When the books were copied, each line had a specific number of letters and the middle letter in each line was identified. They are ancient. Handwritten copies checked for letter count, line by line, take years to complete. The accurate ancient copies confirm the exceptional reliability of today’s Bibles.
The ancient copies prove that the prophecies of Moses, Isaiah and the many prophets were written centuries before their New Testament and current fulfillments.
Daniel’s 490 year prophecy on the first and second coming of the Messiah; Isaiah’s account of the rejection, trial, death, resurrection and purpose of the Messiah, each has complete evidence of its age and the accuracy of its claims or hypotheses.
King David wrote, “He has caused his wonders to be remembered.” Psalms 111:4
We see the truth of that again and again, from the evidence of the Egyptian chariots on the floor of the Red Sea to the physical science of the Shroud of Turin, and Isaiah’s account of the Messiah’s death and resurrection.
It is beyond all comprehension to compute the mathematical probability of this accumulation of impossible predictions that the Creator has caused us to remember.