Finding Jesus in Isaiah with Craig Evans

Key Verse: Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”

Explanation:This verse opens with a statement of unimaginable graciousness. The very idea that Almighty God would condescend to “reason with” His creatures is astounding. Which of us can even begin to comprehend the mind of God? Which of us has any right to question Him or engage in a dialogue as with an equal? And yet, like an adult stooping down to speak to a toddler—demonstrating an attitude of encouragement and engagement—God desires to be in relationship with us.

The rest of the verse once again offers a preview of the Gospel. All of us have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). All our righteous deeds are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). But God promises that while those sins are blood-red in their staining permanence, He will cleanse us of all our unrighteousness.

When it comes to Christophanies, this verse represents a preview of the coming Messiah in a way that foreshadows His ministry and mission. In His first advent, Jesus condescended to actual live among His creatures as one of them. He “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant” (Philippians 2:6-7). Actually, “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”

(Philippians 2:8).

It is insulting to be condescended to by another person—unless there is a clear delineation in knowledge or understanding (as with an adult and child). But with God, there is no other way for Him to engage with us. Jesus was willing to relate to us as a man like us—but without the stain of sin. Because He offered Himself as the perfect Sacrifice, His shed blood provides the forgiveness that we require to be in a relationship with Almighty God (Hebrews 9:22).

“How wonderful—how marvelous” it is to be washed clean. Like Naaman in the Old Testament, we can be fully restored and clean (2 Kings 5).

In Revelation 21:5, God promises at the end of time to “make all things new.” As foreshadowed in Isaiah 1:18, we can be made new thanks to the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Key Verse: Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.

Explanation:In Psalm 20:7, David exalts, “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.” He goes on to cry out, “Save, O LORD; may the King answer us in the day we call” (v. 9).

David’s confidence in God as His Savior echoes in Isaiah’s testimonial verse. As he was also living in a time of great moral decay and national upheaval, Isaiah’s challenge was not unlike our own: to remain steadfast while the cultural and political winds shifted. But Isaiah was not distracted. He did not despair. He stood firm, knowing that the LORD God would give him strength (to persevere) and a song (reflecting his joy regardless of external circumstances).

What Isaiah confidently declared as his testimony of faith was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Corrupt in our own sin, we would be hopelessly lost. But He who knew no sin “became sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Lest you think you might be able to get by on your own merits, consider that Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was called the “favored one” whom the Lord is with by the angel Gabriel, yet even she needed a savior. In her exultant Magnificat (the song expressing the joy in her heart), she testified, “my soul exalts in the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47).

If great prophets like Isaiah and Mary the mother of Jesus and every other apostle and saint required a Savior, certainly you and I need a Savior as well.

If you have embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have all the strength you need to overcome all the trials and temptations this world can throw at you. And your heart should resonate with a new song of praise to the Lord our God.

If you are overwhelmed by this life or find that your heart has no joyful song, come to Christ. He is willing and eager to become your salvation.

Key Verse: Isaiah 42:1 Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.

Explanation:This passage, dictated by God Himself, clearly points to His Anointed Messiah. Yet, God (the Father) calls the coming Anointed One (Jesus, the Son) His Servant and promises to put His (Holy) Spirit upon Him. The triune nature of God—three in one—is clearly presented.

This holy testimony was repeated at the Jordan River when Jesus came to John to be baptized by him. Emerging from the water, Matthew records that the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like a dove and a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). Luke reports that at the transfiguration a voice was also heard, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” (Luke 9:35). And John says that when Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify Your name,” a voice responded out of heaven, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 12:28).

Jesus—Servant-King, beloved Son, humble-warrior—is the One Whom the God the Father loved. Like Isaiah 61:2, Jesus has already fulfilled the first half of Isaiah 42:1. He is coming again to fulfill the second half, when He will reign from the throne of David and rule the nations with a rod of iron. Peace, righteousness, and justice will flood the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Anticipating His glorious return and the fulfillment of all the prophecies pointing to His reign should make every follower of Christ cry out, Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!!

Tim Moore: Last year I had the honor to meet Dr. Craig Evans at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas. Dr. Evans is a distinguished professor of Christian Origins at Houston Baptist University. He founded the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University and is a renowned expert on the Scrolls as well as historical and archaeological evidence for Jesus and the Bible. Dr. Evans, I’m so glad the Holy Spirit allowed our paths to cross last year, and I’m glad you could join us today on this episode of Christ in Prophecy.

Craig Evans: Good to be with you.

Tim Moore: Well, it is a blessing for us. I know it will be a blessing for our viewers as well. So, Craig just tell me how did the miraculous discovery of the Scrolls rock the world in the middle of the 20th Century.

Craig Evans: It rocked the world for a lot of reasons. It was a surprise discovery. Nobody was looking for them. It wasn’t the result of an archeological excavation; they just came to light all of a sudden at the end of 1947 beginning of 1948. And it wasn’t just one or two artifacts, it was an entire library as it turned out. And one of the very first things that was noticed was a complete book of Isaiah, the whole thing, all 66 chapters. And immediately it was recognized as being quite old, probably at the time of Jesus if not earlier. And later tests and studies confirmed that. So, it was astounding. The count now is just under 1,000 documents, more than 200 of them Bible scrolls. So, it is indeed the greatest archeological discovery ever made relating to the Bible.

Tim Moore: Wow.

Nathan Jones: That is amazing! Do you think the timing of it is important? That it was found in the 40’s is it relevant to our modern day and age? Do you think it was a God thing?

Craig Evans: Well, either you believe in unbelievable coincidences.

Tim Moore: We don’t.

Craig Evans: Or you recognize there is something going on there, because 1947-48 Israel was in the center of world politics. The debate on whether or not the country could even come into existence, as the free standing independent country, and that was being hotly debated in the UN. And of course, the UN decided Israel can exist, and immediately there was a civil war. There were two young postdocs there, John Trever and William Brownlee they were among the very first to see the first discoveries from Cave 1, including the great Isaiah Scroll. John Trever photographed that scroll and three others and those photographs are famous to this day. And so here it is right in the middle of everything, Israel’s legacy, Israel’s heritage has been rediscovered, in a sense, at the same time the country is re-founded. So, is that just a coincidence? I don’t think so. I think it is indeed providential.

Tim Moore: I certainly believe it is providential. And Craig you and I have discussed the fact that they were discovered in such a time that the world could preserve the scrolls for future use. In other words, if they had been discovered many, many years ago they probably would have been lost to antiquity just over time. But I’m also amazed when I go to Israel and take pilgrims to the Israel Museum where they have a facsimile of the famous Isaiah Scroll. I’ve actually stood and watched as little boys and girls, Israelis stand and read the scroll in Hebrew that they are able to understand. It was transcribed by a scribe over 2,000 years ago, and of course the original text of Isaiah is even older than that. To me that is another modern day miracle.

Craig Evans: Well, it certainly is. And I know I mentioned this to you, Tim last year, but please don’t think you can do that now, but Bill Brownlee brought the Great Isaiah Scroll home with him. He was a newly appointed assistant professor of Hebrew Bible at Duke University. He had it in a shoebox and he brought it into to the classroom for his Hebrew students to read it. They actually unrolled it in a classroom. That is an extraordinary thing. But I think it shows you how well preserved it was.

Nathan Jones: That’s amazing. Now, previously when people had a Bible they could only go back, what 1,000 years or so? But doesn’t the finding of the Isaiah Scroll move the oldest literal Bible that we have a copy back even more hundreds of years?

Craig Evans: Yeah, you are quite right, Nathan that is right on the money because up until the discovery of the scrolls with one or two very small exceptions a couple of fragments, one of them the Nash Papyrus, all we had was the great codices the Leningrad Codex that dates precisely to the year 1008, now that is 1008 AD. And then the damaged partially preserved Aleppo Codex which is probably 50, 60 years older. So, to go back to the Dead Sea Scrolls is indeed a leap in time. Now, Isaiah you go from AD 1000 to about 150 or 250 BC, you are talking about 11 maybe 12 centuries back in time, and it is the same text. And see, there were skeptics who wondered, well, you know in the passage of time the text is probably changed, chapters have disappeared or maybe other chapters have been added. Maybe Isaiah 53 was added by a Christian, it was actually suggested. And then so, we find a text that pre-dates Jesus and His ministry by more than a century, and it is all there, all 66 chapters. So, that was astounding.

Tim Moore: One of the things that is maddening to us who love Israel and who love the Jewish people as Scripture commands, is to watch as the Palestinian Authorities and others try to discredit the Jewish culture and history in the land of Israel. They’ve tried to erase the archeology, actually ripping up things that could be found to this day and dumping them in refuge heaps. And that includes even a claim that a mosque existed on the Temple Mount literally since the foundation of the world, which is just so irrational given the history of Islam even as a belief system. But too many Christians, sadly, have been dupped by this indoctrination and by this propaganda regarding the Jewish origins of our faith and even the Jewishness of our Messiah.

Craig Evans: Oh, you are absolutely right, and I follow that with great interest when years ago dump truck load after dump truck load of rubble and soil removed from the Temple Mount in order to get at the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and repair it, that was fine, Israel said go ahead and do that, but what we like is to have some archeologist standing by and watching what is being dug up. And the authorities on the Temple Mount, which are Islamic, they said, no you can’t do that. The good news is they found the 400 dump truck loads of soil and debris, where it got dumped, it has been picked up and placed in another location where there is wet sifting going on, and amazing things are being discovered. So, some of that lost archaeology probably will be recovered.

But I can give you firsthand accounts from archaeologists who have had their dig sites vandalized, especially in areas if it is West Bank. So, you are quite correct. I think what it all boils down to is who tells the story correctly involving Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael and so on. Is it the Quran which dates to the 7th century AD or is the truth told in Genesis which dates more than a 1,000 years BC? Well, I know what you would say. And historians would say, hey, you go with the older source. Well, the problem is that biblical archaeology supports Genesis, it doesn’t support the Quran, and so that is why there is this effort to try to literally erase and crush into dust the past.

Nathan Jones: That is tragic. It really is tragic. We have been going through our Jesus in the Old Testament series, every book of the Bible, we are looking for Christophanies, pre-incarnate Jesus appearance, typologies, symbols and messianic prophecies. Some of the books I think we’ve had to struggle a little to find the Messianic prophecies and the Christophanies in there. But with Isaiah, Isaiah is absolutely filled with Messianic prophecies. Could you give us a few Dr. Evans?

Craig Evans: Well, yes, by the way my dissertation was on Isaiah, and it was on chapter 6 where Isaiah sees God. That was quite something. But I’m look at Isaiah chapter 9, often we hear its words or some of the words in Christmas hymns every year. But Isaiah foresees a different kind of a king, and he utters these words where he says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the government will be upon His shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end.” And ancient interpreters wondered who in the world could this be? And remember the Jewish people when they were in their best game they were strict monotheists, so how is it that there is going to be some son born to them who is going to be called mighty God, or every lasting Father, Prince of Peace? This was an extraordinary prophecy. Who has fulfilled it?

And then in chapter 11 Isaiah says, “That even though it looks like it is all over for the dynasty of David, out of the stump of Jessie, that is David’s father, a shoot will arise a “neser” and of course from a Christian point of view that is “neser” that is Nazareth, that is Nazareth town where that shoot finally did arise, and He is none other than Jesus of Nazareth.

So, those are two very powerful prophecies. And He comes and He just speaks the word and He judges. Who is this person? And for the early church they realized that it is Jesus of Nazareth who has fulfilled these. But others would say, well, wait a minute He suffered. Rome defeated Him. He died on a cross. How could He be the Messiah? And Christians would point at Isaiah 53 and say He is the suffering servant. In His suffering, His death on the cross that made it possible for humankind to be saved, not, just Israel, but for all of humankind.

So, those are just three passages, we could look at others. And when we found Isaiah prior to the Christian period we knew that those prophecies are genuine prophecies, they are not Christian interpellations trying to show how Jesus fulfilled something that perhaps He did not. But they are genuine, authentic, pre-Jesus prophecies and that’s what makes the book of Isaiah so amazing.

Tim Moore: Well, Dr. Evans speaking of incredible prophecies we know that Isaiah’s prophecies demonstrate the reality that He gazed forward into the future and sometimes saw the mountaintops as we would say in the prophetic realm, without seeing the valleys in between, the passage of time. And so, for instance when Jesus spoke at the Nazareth synagogue and cited Isaiah 61:1-3, He read the first half of at least verse 2 before declaring, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” That of course in Luke chapter 4. But He pointedly closed the book and did not yet declare the rest of the passage fulfilled, but it will be someday. And of course, you have seen the Qumran Scrolls with all of these incredible prophecies and insights. So, what are some of the other important texts from those Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran?

Craig Evans: Well, you put your finger right on a very important one from Cave 11, that is the 11th cave, and a 12th cave has since been found with nothing in it, no text. But the first 11 caves had texts adding up to almost 1,000 documents. Cave 11 doesn’t have very many documents in it but boy does it have an important one, and it is document number 13, it is also called 11Q, Qumran Cave 11-13 or Melchizedek because it talks about this mysterious figure in Genesis 14 before whom Abraham bowed and paid a tithe. Well, he is seen as an eschatological figure. And what it says about him is extraordinary. And if you read the text it appears that in some sense he is the incarnation of God.

So, I’m not surprised that the author of Hebrews in the New Testament uses Melchizedek as a model for explaining who Jesus is, both His suffering and His priestly work, but also His divinity. In this text, which is very eschatologically oriented it talks about the forgiveness of sin, and the forgiveness of debt. It actually quotes Leviticus 25:13 which promised great debt relief for the ancient Israelites, it was called a Jubilee. But it had come to be understood as promising an eschatological Jubilee where all debts and sins would be forgiven.

And by the way you notice I keep saying debt/sin as though they are interchangeable and that is because they are both from the same Aramaic word “ḥōb” and that is why for example in the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our debts and forgive us our sins,” you have those two variations when you compare Matthew and Luke, and that is because it comes from the same Aramaic word which Jesus would have uttered.

And so, the coherence between Jesus’ sermon in Luke 4 where He quotes, as you said Isaiah 61 and then what He says about it, is illustrated for us so very helpfully by 11Q13. In other words, a lot of the eschatology, a lot of the prophecies Jesus in the early Christian movement, agreed with the Jewish people. How exactly it got fulfilled, that is where there was some disagreement. And of course, we see that in the synagogue at Nazareth. Jesus then went on to say that the Messianic blessings foretold by Isaiah would in fact be shared with Gentiles. And man, the people didn’t want to hear that, and they drove Him out of the synagogue.

So, that episode more than anything else makes it so clear that yes these prophecies are being fulfilled, Jesus is the fulfiller, but how He fulfills them just might be controversial.

Tim Moore: Yeah.

Nathan Jones: I guess so. Professor Evans you talked about the blessings that can be found in Isaiah. I don’t know about you but I find that a lot of Christians approach Isaiah as a terrible book, filled with wrath and judgment and God is going to destroy the world. But then you go all the way up to Isaiah 12:2 for instance it says, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.” I heard a Messianic Jewish group actually sing that as a song. Would you say that Isaiah has encouragement for those of us living today?

Craig Evans: Oh, yes definitely. Isaiah had a vision of God, and ultimately that is what a true prophet is. The true prophet has seen God, has seen who He is, and it breaks the person out of the anthropocentric mindset. We all tend to want to make things fit our comfort. We want things to fit our desires. So, in other words we are very ethnocentric, or anthropocentric.

The prophet sees God and he becomes theocentric. And that is why Isaiah when he saw God said, “I’m a dead man. I have unclean lips.” In other words, I am a liar, and I’ve seen God and it has transformed me. I ought to just be dead. And God’s angel then touches his mouth and he says, “Your lips now are pure, you can speak my truth.” And every true prophet has that experience, they see God. And that’s why we have, to go to your question, your observation, Nathan, that is why we have these two themes everywhere in the prophets, and by the way in the Psalms, where on the one hand you are praising God, you are thanking Him for His salvation, the comfort and deliverance that He offers, and yet on the other hand there is an awareness of His judgment. God is holy. God is pure. He does not tolerate sin. He forgives it. But if you reveal in it and pursue it, there will come judgment. So, you have these twin themes that run throughout Scripture. And that’s why.

Tim Moore: Well, Dr. Evans, your insights on Isaiah are incredible because not only of your study and your experience with the Scrolls, but just your love of the Lord and that comes through in everything that you’ve talked about with us even today. What other insights would you highlight from Isaiah, or really any of your other experience in Israel on archaeological digs, important finds that our viewers would be just shocked and blessed to hear about today?

Craig Evans: Well, let me mention one more scroll. Jesus is in His ministry; John the Baptist is in prison. John the Baptist is discouraged. John sends messengers to Jesus and the story is told in Matthew 11, and Luke 7, and of course this is not the kind of thing that Christians were happy about because John says, “Are you really the Messiah or should we look for somebody else?” And Jesus gets it, John is discouraged. He says, “Go back and tell John what you are hearing about, what you are seeing. Tell him that the blind receive their sight, the dead are being raised up, the lame can walk, the poor have good news proclaimed to them.” And what He is doing, He is alluding to phrases from Isaiah. And everybody recognizes that. It is Isaiah 35:5-6, it is Isaiah 26:19, it is the passage we just talked about Isaiah 61:1-2. But what does Qumran do? Qumran has a text from Cave 4, we number it #521 and it says, “When the Messiah comes whom heaven and earth will obey, all these things will happen: the blind will regain their sight, the wounded will be healed, the dead will be raised up, the poor will have good news proclaimed to them.” And the amazing thing is this text is describing the Messiah who seems to have the power of God Himself. And so, here again Qumran underscores a very important teaching that for Christians will become Christology.

So, we could go and on, by the way if the program was about Paul, or James, or Hebrews we could say a whole lot of other things also about how the Scrolls have shed light on the New Testament. Archaeology that is a whole another thing too, time and time again. I go to Israel every year, except recently because of the pandemic, I go to Israel as often as I can, I’ll be going again in May, and I visit the dig sites and talk to the archaeologists. Sometimes I volunteer and dig for a week or two, and boy is it fun. And it always shows again and again as we excavate we’ve studied about 5% of the biblical world, so we have a lot of work left to do, but again, and again it sheds light on the Gospels, other parts of the Bible. And that would not be the case if the biblical writings were fiction, if they were full of errors, full of mistakes, had the story wrong, then archaeology would not be a friend, archaeology would not shed any light on it, there would not be this coherence between archaeology and the biblical records. But in fact, there is coherence and sometimes stunning proof that what the Bible is talking about is absolutely correct. So, that is one of the reasons I like going to Israel and I wish more people did, get to the land of Israel, visit the digs and you’ll be instructed and you’ll also be blessed.

Nathan Jones: It’s amazing how both the archaeology proves the Bible, and the Bible, the historical records prove the Bible so that people could put their faith and trust in the Bible as their foundations for their beliefs. If I can change topics a little bit I’ve heard that you’ve extensively taught throughout Canada. Tim and I have been following what is going on with Justin Trudeau breaking up the Freedom Convoy, pastors being arrested, LGBT groups calling hate speech anything that comes out of the Bible. Are you concerned about the censorship and oppression that is growing in what should be a democracy?

Craig Evans: I am. You know, Nathan if we had a long, long time I could tell you about things, I lived in, for our viewers might not know, but I am a dual citizen. I’ve lived more than half of my life in Canada. My first 35 years as a professor were in Canada. And way, way back 30 years ago or so a Canadian Prime Minister actually ordered the RCMP to, without warrant, go onto private property, even go inside homes, and tear down signs that people had hung out their windows telling the Chinese to get out of Tibet. Telling the Chinese to quit oppressing people. And that was when the Chinese Premier 30 years ago was visiting Vancouver, British Columbia. And I though at the time, oh, my goodness, isn’t free speech protected? Isn’t there supposed to be due process?

Now, that was 30 years ago, there was no pandemic, there was no panic. But the desire was not to offend the visiting premier. Well, why not offend him? Why not let him know what people really think about human rights? Here we see it again, this time pushing people around, trampling them with horses, spraying them in the face with pepper spray because they are not allowed to protest. And so, I don’t know it is a trend, if you are a Christian you are told to shut up, but if you are something else it is okay, you can talk all you want. I have observed that bias for more than 30 years. Yeah, I am very concerned. And I’m afraid it is starting here too in the United States.

Tim Moore: Well, Dr. Evans you just touched on what we would call a sign of the times, we try to share one of those every week with things that are happening around the world, not always making the news, obviously what has happened in Canada has made a lot of news until it was pushed off the front page so to speak, but it is definitely a sign of the times of the erosion of rights, and religious liberty even in a traditionally Christian West. Well, again, I am so glad that we were able to cross paths last year. How can our viewers get in touch with you, or at least follow the incredible teachings that you have, the books you have written, and just follow up with your ministry?

Craig Evans: Well, it is easy to find me on the internet just type in craigaevans. If you leave the “a” out you’ll bump into a couple of rugby and soccer stars. I get confused with them all the time. I don’t know why. But anyway, there you are. So, insert my middle initial and of course .com, www.craigaevans.com and I have a webpage, and all kinds of information. Links to books that I’ve published. Speaking engagements which recently have been few and far between, and other things, videos that people might find interesting.

Tim Moore: Well, Dr. Evans I’m so glad again, the Holy Spirit allowed our paths to cross in what some would label a coincidence, just like the timing and the finding of the Scrolls, I consider it a God-incidence and I have been blessed not only by our interaction last year, but again today and I so appreciate you joining us.

Craig Evans: Well, you are very welcome. Good to be with you.

Tim Moore: Well, thank you sir.

Closing

Tim Moore: The Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrate again that God’s Word is faithful and true.

Nathan Jones: The fact that the scrolls were discovered just as Israel was being reestablished as a modern nation also proves that God’s timing is perfect.

Tim Moore: It really is. When I visit Israel, I’m also amazed to watch little Jewish children stand and read the ancient text of the Isaiah scroll in the Israel Museum. We would find it hard to read English from just a few centuries ago, and yet God preserved the Hebrew language just like He preserved the Jewish people. He keeps all His promises, which is why we can trust Him.

Nathan Jones: Isaiah was blessed to see the Lord sitting on His throne high and lifted up. His prophetic commission established him as the first of the major prophets. Well, we could cite so many passages in Isaiah that have Messianic overtones, but our key verses this week clearly point to the Blessed One of Israel, our Messiah, Jesus Christ. So, check out 1:18, 12:2, and 42:1 for yourself.

Tim Moore: Isaiah is such an important book of prophecy. We’ll return here again, and again, even after our Jesus in the Old Testament series is complete. But, next week, we’ll move on to Jeremiah, God’s prophet of doom. His message of warning is just as relevant today. Well, that’s all the time we have. So, until next week, I’m Tim Moore.

Nathan Jones: And I’m Nathan Jones, saying, Look up and be watchful, for the chosen One who is our salvation is drawing near!

End of Program