By Charles Gardner, UK Correspondent
We are surely moving a step closer to the day when all Israel will recognise Yeshua as their true Messiah.
As reports come in of increasing numbers of Jewish people now following Jesus — long regarded by many of them as the ‘Christian’ God — a highly significant development has taken place in Jerusalem’s Israel Museum, where state recognition of the New Testament is apparently being witnessed.
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Alongside the Great Isaiah Scroll — one of the greatest archaeological treasures ever discovered — is a panel with an excerpt from Luke’s Gospel, hitherto seen by generations of Jews as part of a ‘forbidden’ book, demonstrating how Christianity is strongly influenced by the prophet.
All 66 chapters of the latter’s book were unearthed, along with many other ancient manuscripts, as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls findings in 1947 when a young Bedouin shepherd went looking for a stray, reminiscent of Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep.
Looking up at the limestone cliffs above the Dead Sea at Wadi Qumran, he noticed a small cave in the rock face, threw a stone into the darkness, heard the sound of breaking pottery, and the rest is history. It was to prove another ‘voice in the wilderness’ preparing the way for Christ’s return.
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The Isaiah scroll was the oldest complete manuscript of a biblical book ever discovered, copied around 125 BC, more than a thousand years older than previous finds of the prophet’s work. Scholars later found remarkable overall agreement with later manuscripts — powerful confirmation for the reliability of what we read today.
Usually exhibited as a facsimile due to its priceless value, the entire original scroll is on public display for just a few months as part of the museum’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
Commenting on the significance of the New Testament exhibit, Nick Syrett, speaking for CMJ Israel (headquarters in the land of the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people), said: “This was unexpected. After all, this is Israel’s national museum, but the curators are making an important historical observation.
“The Book of Isaiah became one of the foundational texts of the early church. It is impossible to tell the story of the Great Isaiah Scroll without also telling the story of its profound influence on Christianity.”
The museum’s accompanying text panel explains: “The Book of Isaiah is cited 66 times in the New Testament. Christian tradition interprets many of Isaiah’s verses as prophetic fore-tellings of the coming of the Redeemer. Historically, these verses helped shape the conceptions of early Christians regarding the mission and destiny of Jesus as Saviour and Messiah.”
The passage displayed as an example (Luke 4:16-21) tells how Jesus presented himself as the promised Messiah by fulfilling the opening words of Isaiah 61 which he read in the Nazareth synagogue.
Nick adds: “For those of us serving with CMJ Israel, this exhibition beautifully captures something that has always been at the heart of our ministry. We are called to help people see that the Old and New Testaments are one unfolding story of God’s redemptive purposes.
“The New Testament cannot be fully understood apart from the Jewish Scriptures that shaped the world into which Jesus was born, the Scriptures he read, taught, and ultimately fulfilled.
“Standing before a manuscript copied around 125 BC, then turning to see the Gospel of Luke displayed beside it, was a vivid reminder that Christianity emerged from within Israel’s story. That is one of the reasons CMJ Israel exists.”
Affected like so many others by Covid and the ongoing conflict, CMJ’s Christ Church compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, near Jaffa Gate, is reopening their guesthouse in September, having recently reopened their popular coffee shop. In addition, they offer fascinating heritage centres both in Jerusalem and Jaffa, along with an international school. They also assist those in need — both Jew and Arab — and strive to help Christians understand the Jewish roots of their faith.
In case you were wondering, backing for a mass Jewish turning to Jesus in the last days is found throughout the Bible — for example, Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 36:24-26, Zechariah 12:10, Romans 11:26 and Revelation 1:7.
And so, as John the Baptist heralded the coming of Christ by preaching in the wilderness in fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa 40:3), in these last days we can marvel at how a voice from the [Dead Sea] desert continues to point to Jesus, the Messiah who has come for both Jew and Gentile.
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