Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — not Entertainment
INSPIRED? INERRANT? INFALLIBLE?
Absolutely! From the very beginning.
Introduction
Another post on Medium, PROPHECY 101 Introduction to Bible Inerrancy, was triggered by the regular cycle of articles giving derogatory opinions of Bible Inerrancy. What is sad about the continuous parade is that it seems as many “professional” professing Professors as atheists have joined the throng. The Written Word of the Living Word of God is being subjected to friendly fire.
PROPHECY 101 pointed out that Jesus gave equal billing to Torah (the Teaching) and Prophecy (what the Teaching was about), when He highlighted the most important aspects of the OT, but the Prophecy bit has been almost universally ignored (at least in my part of town) by the NT Saints. And the question was asked, “How can anyone say they follow the teachings of Jesus if they ignore half the Instruction He gave when pointing to the important bits of the Bible? That is a question that each person must answer for themselves — if they think it is important enough to answer.
PROPHECY 101 gave a very brief, entry level, description of the mechanics of Prophecy, Bible Style. This was in preparation for this present discussion about the specific Prophecy, Isaiah 11:11–12, and some associated ancillary ones. If you haven’t read it, it will give more clarity if you do.
It is claimed that there are in excess of 1000 Prophecies in the OT. Let’s see where this one takes us. It may even start a fire in your soul.
It is written in Isaiah 11:11–12 ||
It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
This promise to bring Israel back to the Land the second time was Prophesied about 720 BC, about 120 years before Israel was subjected to the first exile, to Babylon.
The wording should also tickle the fancy of anyone who has not been in a coma after World War Two. The first return from exile was from the Babylonian Empire. This latest one is from the four corners of the earth. The Aliyah (Return of the Jews to Israel) has been going on, in earnest, since after World War One (as shown in this figure).
Even when pared back to the bare bones, the verification of this Prophecy is not a trivial exercise. Anyone trying to follow the computations without prior exposure to the topic would likely become bogged down and the meaning lost. An appendix post, which presents the evidence backing-up the chronology, presented here in dot point, has been released in conjunction with this one. (INSPIRED? INERRANT? INFALLIBLE? (Appendix) Israel is back in the Land)
Like most detailed appendices, it is neither necessary, nor expected, that anyone should read it. It is provided only as a record of evidence to show that the presented deductions are not merely brain-farts grasped out of thin air.
The evidence presented in the Appendix Post shows:-
- In about 720 BC, 120 years before Israel’s First Exile, God prophesied through Isaiah that He (God) would bring Israel and Judea (just Israel from now on) back to the Land a second time.
- The beginning of the First Exile began in 605 BC (1st Year of Nebuchadnezzar). At that time Israel became a Vassal State which had no control over it’s own Foreign Policy.
- It was an extended affair which dragged on until the 19th Year of Nebuchadnezzar (587 BC) on a specific day, 9th Av, when the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians
- During that 19 year period, a Prophecy was given through Jeremiah that the exile would last 70 years. This was a double Prophecy that the Exiles would return to Jerusalem (536 BC) and the Temple rebuilt 19 years later (518 BC). Both of these happened as God had Prophesied.
- During the time spent in Babylon, a Prophecy was delivered by Ezekiel that the total period of discipline for Israel whoring after other gods would be 430 years. But Israel did not behave upon return to Jerusalem and the remainder (360 years) was extended sevenfold, as Prophesied in Leviticus. The total period of discipline, therefore, was 932,400 days. The unit of calculation used was days because that eliminated the clash between the various Gentile and Hebrew calendars.
- Adding these days to the 1st year of Nebuchadnezzar resulted in 1948. The year of the creation of the Modern State of Israel when it regained control over its own foreign policy.
- Adding them to the specific day of the destruction of the First Temple resulted in 7th June, 1967 when Israel regained control of Temple Mount. In the 19th year after the creation of the Modern State.
THE JEWS WERE BROUGHT BACK THE SECOND TIME, AS PROPHESIED BY ISAIAH.
The Prophecies are recorded in the Bible for the world to see.
Was it Inspiration? How would Isaiah know about 1948?
Was it Inerrant? There were a number of ancillary Prophecies. Did they happen as God proclaimed? Check the Secular History records.
Was it Infallible? Satan tried numerous times to make the Plan fail. Where is Israel today? Check your newspaper.
What a coincidence
You can believe the provided workings and results or not. But it remains that a Prophecy already existed two millennia ago — who knows for how long before that. Perhaps it has occurred to you that Isaiah 11:11–12 is written in the Book of Isaiah which is the Jewel in the Crown of the Dead Sea Scrolls. When were the Scrolls found? 1947. The figure here shows that was the year that the UK handed responsibility of the “Palestine Territories” to the UN; just before the UN formed an ad hoc committee on the Eve of Yom Kippur, which was now the Hebrew year that the provided workings show that God promised to bring Israel home. This Promise has come to fruition in the lifetime of today’s Boomers. Not only was there no error, the precision was eye-watering.
Not only, but also
It is written in Jeremiah 32 that the Lord instructed Jeremiah to buy land and seal the deeds in an earthenware vessel, left behind, so that the land could be reclaimed when the people return from the Exile. This was God’s assurance, before they left, that Israel would return the first time. The pattern is maintained with what happened to the Promise written in the Great Isaiah Scroll, to be found at the critical time, in the Qumran Caves.
Plus
Personal Account of Jewish soldier in Six Day War
A video of a personal account of Major Gideon Biger, an officer in Battalion 163 of the Jerusalem Brigade in the 6-Day War, tells of an enforced delay of the Israeli troops heading north on the Temple Mount. They had to be careful that they didn’t clash with Israeli paratroopers heading south in order not cause friendly-fire casualties. It meant that the Temple Mount was re-taken for Israel on the third day of the six days of fighting. Another example of the third day pattern in an unexpected place. Exciting information for any Biblically literate Christian.
Make of these things what you will.
Further information
If you’re interested there is more on this subject in these three posts:-
Discussion
There are numerous verses where God speaks about the veracity, power, and survival ability of His Word. Some examples being Isaiah 55:11, 1Peter 1:25, but the most interesting comment about the Word of God is written in Psalm 12:6–7 || “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep (H8104) them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve (H5341) them from this (H2098) generation for ever.”
Keep — H8104 šāmar: verb | to keep, retain, treasure up (in memory) — never stop doing it.
Preserve — H5341 nāṣar: verb | to preserve, guard from dangers to keep, observe, guard with fidelity — never stop doing it.
This — H2098 zû: demonstrative pronoun | the generation that is alive today, whenever today happens to be — never stop doing it.
So YHVH treasures His Word, never forgetting it, and never stops protecting it from each generation because each generation keeps attacking it. (He has been waiting for all you clever people. More than likely very sad knowing that you were coming.)
The questions the Qualified must ask are, “Am I one of the generation God is protecting. Or am I one of the generation from whom God is protecting His Word?”
Conclusion
Again I may be wrong but, as I read the Bible, I see that God’s main concern is His Redemption Plan. It is hoped it can be seen here that He is about His Good Work while Humanity miss-spells, miss-translates, misunderstands and corrupts while Satan (he’s there whether you believe it or not) sows deception with his oldest trick. Do you believe he said, “Has God really said?” Perhaps not. Unfortunately, he doesn’t need many new tricks. It has been said by someone wise, “There is no new news. Just old news happening to new people.”
But what do YOU say the Bible is? If you decide that you can’t believe some bits, why do you believe the other bits?
Having no Theological qualifications I’m open to correction but it seems that criticising the Bible, with regard to Inerrancy, when ignoring half the important topics which the Son of God uses to describe the Old Testament while, at the same time, shying away from the Old Testament itself, leaves qualified people uniquely unqualified to criticise God’s Word.
Israel has been God’s clock since Genesis 15
The late English Bible teacher, Derek Prince (1915–2003), became a champion of the resurgence of Christian interest in Modern Israel when he remained in Jerusalem after serving in the Middle East during World War 2. He was one of the early pioneers to publicise that Prophecies concerning Israel have been the time piece for God’s Redemption plan. Don’t believe me. Check it out.
As can be seen, time is almost up.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
