In Hebrews 11:3, scripture speaks of invisible building blocks of matter, which we now know to be molecules, atoms, quarks; objects so small they cannot be seen. This verse suggests an understanding of scientific truth that may been a part of Greek philosophical theory, but would not have been “known” as true in such early times.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 are both loaded with verses that constitute prophecies that depict a suffering Messiah. The book of Isaiah, written around 700 BC by the prophet Isaiah, is demonstrably at least as ancient as the Qumram community’s Great Isaiah scroll (one of the Dead Sea Scrolls) which dates from the 2nd century BC.
Psalm 22 was written by King David at in the neighborhood 970 BC.
Both of these chapters depict a suffering Messiah that bears a striking resemblance to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. See for yourself:
Isaiah 53:
53 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they[a] made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul,[b]and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
and Psalm 22:1-18 –
22 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted[b] in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced[c] My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
Some dispute that verse 16 above means “pierced”, but instead “torn like a lion”. In which case, consider this verse from Zechariah 12, which clearly speaks about the same Messianic figure, and this one indeed uses the correct term for “pierced”:
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
Not many people know that there is talmudic evidence for the Messiah at 30 AD. Jewish writings from both the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud contain compelling evidence that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Both of these passages refer to the destruction of the temple, which occurred in 70 CE. Here is a quote from the Babylonian Talmud:
“Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot [‘For the Lord’] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves” (Soncino version, Yoma 39b).
Forty years before the destruction of the Temple would put this event at 30 CE, which is roughly the time that the historical Jesus was crucified.This date alone should be enough to arouse the curiosity of both Jewish and non-Jewish people, since Jesus was rejected as Messiah. The passage refers to four things that occurred and were worthy of note enough to write down: The western light going out, the crimson thread remaining crimson, the lot for the Lord coming up on the left hand, and the gates of the temple opening on their own. These events serve as evidence, embedded as they are in the teachings of the Jewish people, that Jesus was the Messiah.
On Yom Kippur, two goats were sacrificed. One was chosen “for the Lord” and sacrificed in the temple. The other was chosen as the “scapegoat” and was sent off into the wilderness in order to signify God forgiving the sins of the people. The “Lot of the Lord” refers to a practice in which the priest would take up two stones (one white, one black) in order to determine which of the two goats would be sacrificed, and which would become the “scapegoat”. According to chance, sometimes the priest would end up with a black stone in his left hand (meaning the goat on the left would be the scapegoat), and sometimes in the right (meaning the goat on the right would be the scapegoat). But the Talmud states that from 30 CE to the temple’s destruction 40 years later, the black stone always came up in the priest’s left hand, meaning the goat on the left was always the scapegoat. The odds of this happening by chance are astronomical.
A red cloth, signifying the sin itself, was tied to the horns of the scapegoat, and the goat was led away by an appointed man. According to tradition, the man would take the goat to a cliff and push it off, so that the goat would not perchance wander back to the temple area and bring the sins associated with it back upon the people. Now, a portion of this red cloth was removed and tied to the temple door, and normally, the portion of cloth (or the “thread”) turned white, demonstrating that the sacrifice had been accepted, and the sins of the people had been atoned for. But from 30 CE until the destruction of the temple, the “Crimson thread remained crimson”. This demonstrates that God rejected the sacrifice, since He had already provided a sacrifice, through the crucifixion of His Son.
The western light is the most important lamp in the temple menorah – used to light the other lamps. This lamp is considered the “servant lamp”, for this reason – just as Jesus/Yeshua came as a servant to give light to mankind. The fact that this light refused to remain lit demonstrates that the presence of God had removed itself from the temple because of the rejection of His Son.
That the doors of the temple would open by themselves is certainly noteworthy. But what could this signify? Perhaps that the Lord’s presence had left the temple, and concurrently, that it was no longer only high priests who can enter God’s presence, but all could enter into the presence of the Lord. That the doors would open by themselves is further substantiated by this following reference from the Jerusalem Talmud (in which the destruction of the temple is foreseen):
“Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars’ ” (Zechariah 11:1)’ (Sota 6:3).
Something of huge significance must have happened at 30 AD. If these writings were found in early Christian writings, it would not be so unusual, for we would expect Christian writings to support Jesus/Yeshua as the Messiah. But these quotes are from Jewish sources, and Judaism sternly rejects Jesus/Yeshua from being Messiah. Yet these writings (and many others) point directly at Him. To find such evidence in the holy writings of the leaders of Judaism is then powerful proof indeed that Jesus/Yeshua was indeed the true Messiah.
Scriptural references and ancient sources demonstrate that God calls the constellations by their names, that constellations start with Virgo and end with Leo, and this order could very well be divinely orchestrated.
The larger image above is from the Dendera zodiac from the ceiling of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the temple of Hathor in Dendera, Egypt. The various constellations have been highlighted and named for easier understanding. This bas-relief is dated variously from 3500 BC to 50 BC, and is currently on display at the Louvre.
The inset image is from the Temple of Esneh in Egypt. An image of s sphinx is placed between the signs for Leo (on the left) and Virgo (on the right, holding a branch). The word sphinx means “to bind closely together” (from the Greek Sphiggo). This indicates that this is the point at which the constellations begin and end. And, like the head of the sphinx, which is that of a woman, the constellations begin with Virgo, and end, like the tail of the sphinx, which is that of a lion, with Leo.
The true riddle of the sphinx is that it binds together the first sign in the zodiac with the last sign in the zodiac, and gives us the correct beginning of the year according to the constellations. This understanding gives us a new light to see Virgo (the Virgin) as the first sign (and the first coming of the Messiah), and Leo (the Lion) as the second coming of the Messiah (the Lion of Judah) at the end of the age.
He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out Mazzaroth (constellations) in its season?
Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you set their dominion over the earth?
Isaiah 7:14:
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (which means God with us).
Isaiah 9:6,7:
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”
Read more in-depth about the evidence here on Mazzaroth.com.
What makes the solar eclipse possible is that the Moon is about 400 times closer to the Earth than the Sun, yet the Sun is about 400 times larger than the Moon. This means that the apparent size of both the Moon and the Sun is about the same, as seen from Earth.
Because these sizes match up so well, it makes both a total and annular (in which we can see the edges of the Sun) eclipse possible. There is no other planet in our solar system that has this kind of possibility. While there are 166 moons orbiting eight planets in our solar system, the moons are all either too close, too far away, too oddly shaped, too big, or too little to permit it. While Jupiter does have three moons that can block the Sun’s light, the fit is not perfect as it is with the Earth and Moon. Our Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has this design feature. Thus the solar eclipse is against the odds in any solar system. See this link for more information about the solar eclipse.
Is this by sheer chance, or could it be the hand of God that designed it this way? We can look back to Genesis for part of our answer:
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.
The Hebrew word for “signs” is Moed, which means “appointed time”, “meeting”, and “appointed sign”. It is entirely possible and worth considering that the perfect size matchup between our two nearest and most influential heavenly bodies is by divine design, rather than chance. Yet another reason to consider that God exists.
We find “the Earth hangs upon nothing” in the book of Job – which is one of the oldest books of the Bible, probably being written sometime between 1900 and 1700 BC. Job 26:7 states that:
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
This view of the earth hanging in space was considerably ahead of its time, and well ahead of western astronomers. Despite some confused ideas of the Catholic church in the middle ages, the Bible itself shows itself to accurately represent the modern astronomical conception of a spherical earth moving through space.
Skeptics have seen their historical and archeological arguments against the bible removed, one by one, over the years. The name “Canaan” was once attacked as fictitious, but this was recently found in a clay tablet found in the city of Elba, dating from around 2300 B.C.
The Hittites were thought to be a biblical legend, until their records were discovered.
A king of Babylon, Bleshazzar, was in doubt, until the record of his existence, and his father’s existence, were found in tablets in ancient Babylon.
There are three main points of non-biblical evidence for Jesus; Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Josephus.
Tacitus, in discussing Emperor Nero’s decision to blame Christians for the fire that destroyed Rome in 64 AD, (cited in Annals, 15.44):
Nero fastened the guilt . . . on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of . . . Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome. . .
Pliny the Younger also writes about Christ and the habits of Christians, in a letter dated AD 112 (Pliny, Letters, translated by William Melmoth, Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1935):
They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food–but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.
Josephus (in Jewish Antiquities, 18.63-64), mentions Jesus as well:
About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he . . . wrought surprising feats. . . . He was the Christ. When Pilate . . .condemned him to be crucified, those who had . . . come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared . . . restored to life. . . . And the tribe of Christians . . . has . . . not disappeared.
Though it is not clear if all of this passage indeed came from Josephus, indeed some suggest that parts of it were altered, it seem clear that Josephus at least authored part of the above passage.
The Babylonian Talmud also mentions Jesus (probably authored somewhere between 70AD and 200AD, Babylonian Talmud, Vol. III, Sanhedrin 43a, 281). Here they use his real name, instead of the Greek “Jesus”, they use “Yeshua”, or in this case “Yeshu”:
On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald . . . cried, “He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy.”
Lucian, a second centuray Greek Satirist, mentions Jesus in The Death of Peregrine, 11-13,
The Christians . . . worship a man to this day–the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. . . . [It] was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.
I will not go into detail on any of these accounts but instead point you to one source where there is more discussion, Ancient Evidence for Jesus from NonChristian Sources.
Israel in prophecy has several key points which have been fulfilled:
Destruction of Israel – Deuteronomy 28:49-52
49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. 51 And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. 52 “They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you.
This prophecy was fulfilled by Babylon in 586 BC and by Rome in both 67 AD and 132 AD.
Israel to become a wasteland – Deuteronomy 29:23
23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’
This was fulfilled from about 135 AD to the 1800’s. Here is what Mark Twain wrote about Israel in 1867:
Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes… the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies… Palestine is desolate and unlovely… It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land.
People of Israel to be exiled, scorned, ridculed – Deuteronomy 28:36-37
36 “The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. 37 And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.
This prophecy has been fulfilled many times throughout history, being conquered by Babylon, Assyria, Seleucids, and Rome. There was much persecution against Jews in the Middle Ages, including forced conversions and massacres, reaching an apex during the Crusades of 1096 and 1147. Jews living in Muslim lands had to pay a special “dhimmi” tax. The Caliph of Baghdad imposed a law in the 11th century requiring Jews to wear yellow badges on their heads and a girdle around their waists; women had to wear one black shoe, one red shoe, and have small brass bells that signaled their presence, and mobs used to regularly beat Jews in the streets of Baghdad. All Jews were banished from England in 1290, and 100,000 Jews were expelled from France in 1396. In the 1300’s, Jews were blamed for the Black Death, partially since their rituals of handwashing before eating in large part kept them safe from contamination and made them suspected of being the root cause of the epidemic. In 1348, 900 Jews were burned alive in Strasbourg, and in persecution also went on in India and South India between 1500 and 1700. Space does not permit the full story of the persecution of the Jews throughout history, but suffice it to say that the Holocaust claimed the lives of over 6 millions Jews, and persecution of Jewish people goes on today, particularly in the middle east and Russia. Read more about Persecution of the Jews here.
Israel to be inhabited by enemies – Leviticus 26:31-32
31 I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. 32 I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
This prophecy was fulfilled by invasions from Assyria, Babylon, Rome, and during this time others took advantage of the displacement and moved in. To this day, the Jewish people are surrounded by enemies, and live among them.
People of Israel will never cease to be a nation of people – Jerimiah 31:35-36
Thus says the Lord,
Who gives the sun for a light by day,
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who disturbs the sea,
And its waves roar
(The Lord of hosts isHis name):
36 “If those ordinances depart
From before Me, says the Lord,
Then the seed of Israel shall also cease
From being a nation before Me forever.”
The prophecy is fulfilled in many ways – uniquely, the Jewish people are the only people who, after being displaced from their homeland thousands of years ago (via Babylon 2600 years ago, and Rome 1900 years ago), still retain their original language, culture, and religion, even when exiled from their homeland.
Exiled and scattered people of Israel will one day return – Jerimiah 32:37-41
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. 38 They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. 41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’
This prophecy was fulfilled during the last 200 years. Many skeptics of the Bible used to use these verses to prove that the Bible was not accurate or God’s word – until it started to happen. Jeremiah wrote the words of this prophecy approximately 2600 years ago; currently there are approximately 6 million Jews in Israel.
Land of Israel will once again become fruitful – Zechariah 8:12
‘For the seed shall be prosperous,
The vine shall give its fruit,
The ground shall give her increase,
And the heavens shall give their dew—
I will cause the remnant of this people
To possess all these.
Written about 520 BC, this prophecy has been fulfilled all over Israel during the past 100 years – as of 2001, there had been 200 million trees planted in Israel. One small example of the fruitfulness of Israel is Gush Katif; before it was evacuated in 2005, the sum of exports from the greenhouses of Gush Katif came to 200 million dollars a year.
These are just a few of the prophecies concerning Israel which have been fulfilled, against enormous odds. See more fulfilled prophecies about Israel here.
Proverbs 30:4-6 speak of a mystery, particularly to followers of Judaism, as it asks the question, what is God’s Son’s name?
Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,
If you know?5 Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
6 Do not add to His words,
Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
Verse 6 warns us not to add to His words, which many are guilty of various faiths are guilty of doing.
But now, if we take those verses in Hebrew, which runs from right to left, and lay them out rows of 22 letters per row (which is quite elegant, since Hebrew has 22 letters), here is what we find:
We could call this the Proverbs 30:4 Symmetry; the red squares note the start and end of verses 4-6. The green text (seven characters long) are the words “what is his son’s name”. The yellow text states “add not to his words”. The horizontal purple text spells “Hashem” (or “the name” which is the Jewish traditional reference to God’s name), and the vertical purple text spells “is Yeshua”. So together, the purple text spells “the Name is Yeshua”.
Although in itself, this proves nothing, it is nevertheless noteworthy because of the perfect cross form symmetry of the positioning of the two statements in purple, as well as their symmetry with the previous words, and the fact that this the name “Hashem” is perfectly inside of “what is His Son’s name” and both are tied together by the words “is Yeshua”.
See a video on this here.