by Nate Powell
In this past week’s sermon, I said the following:
“This book is not going away. There are some in the current Christian community that question the helpfulness or the use of this OT text we were given. We must stand on Jesus’ words here and believe him firmly. We will treasure all of God’s words. They stand forever (Isaiah 40:8).”
I wish we had more time to examine in the sermon last week about what we know of the trustworthiness of the text of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus said it best last week: “Neither the smallest letter, nor the smallest stroke of a letter will pass away.” (Matt 5:18) As we said, neither the Iota or the Yod (the two smallest letters in Greek and Hebrew) will pass away.
The question can come: How do we know this is true? How do we know that the biblical text didn’t get doctored up over time? I’d love for you to read this great article on the Dead Sea scrolls and how their discovery points us toward the truth of what Jesus said … This Word endures. Check out this excerpt:
“One of the most important Dead Sea documents is the Isaiah Scroll. This twenty-four foot long scroll is well preserved and contains the complete book of Isaiah. The scroll is dated 100 B.C. and contains one of the clearest and most detailed prophecies of the Messiah in chapter fifty-three, called the “Suffering Servant.” Although some Jewish scholars teach that this refers to Israel, a careful reading shows that this prophecy can only refer to Christ.
Here are just a few reasons. The suffering servant is called sinless (53:9), he dies and rises from the dead (53:8-10), and he suffers and dies for the sins of the people (53:4-6). These characteristics are not true of the nation of Israel. The Isaiah Scroll gives us a manuscript that predates the birth of Christ by a century and contains many of the most important messianic prophecies about Jesus. Skeptics could no longer contend that portions of the book were written after Christ or that first century insertions were added to the text.
Thus, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide further proof that the Old Testament canon was completed by the third century B.C., and that the prophecies foretold of Christ in the Old Testament predated the birth of Christ.”
Click here to read the whole article. The Dead Sea Scroll discovery was certainly a monumental find in assuring us that was the Bible says is true. It is God’s word, and as Jesus told us, it is unbreakable. (John 10:35)