After a busy day of touring, friends and I were lingering over our evening meal in the dining room of Jerusalem’s Crowne Plaza Hotel.
I noticed a dignified woman scanning the room, then making a bee-line for us. “May I share your table?” she inquired. We welcomed her to join us. Dr. Barkay was responsible for a division of Israeli health services.
As she seated herself, she asked, “Do you know why I wanted to join you? I’ve been watching your group for several days, and you’re all so happy. I want to know the reason.”
“Actually, we’ve only met recently,” I replied. “But we do have one thing in common.”
“What’s that?”
“We all love your Messiah.”
“Ah, that’s where we differ,” she responded. “I only believe in one God.”
“I think you may misunderstand. We believe the Shema with all our hearts: ‘The Lord our God, the Lord is one!’ (Deut 6:4) Jesus believed the Shema, too. He quoted it!” (Mk 12:29)
“But don’t you believe that Jesus is also God?” she asked.
“Yes, but we didn’t get that from our Book; we got it from yours. We idol-worshiping Gentiles would never have come up with such an idea.”
“Where is this idea in our Book?” she wondered.
“The very first verse declares Him as Elohim, the plural form of God. His is a compound unity. When He created us, He said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image.’ (Gen 1:26) To whom was He speaking?”
“I’ve never thought about it,” she replied.
“What about Isaiah’s description of Messiah? ‘Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.’ That sounds like a man. But Isaiah continues, ‘And His name will be called…Mighty God…Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David…’ (9:6-7) He’s describing Messiah as both God and Man.”
I could tell this was all new to her. “Have you ever read Proverbs 30:4? It asks: ‘Who has gathered the wind in His fists?…Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know?’”
“That’s in our Bible?”
“Yes, and so much more!”
“For the first time in years,” she said, “I’m going home to read my Bible.”
Statistical Science, journal of the American Institute of Mathematical Statistics, published a paper in 1994 titled “Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis.” Its authors, including Eliyahu Rips (Math professor at Hebrew University), argued that the Bible contains a hidden code with words spelled by equal-sized letter skips. These supposedly predicted events like Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. Soon people were finding Clinton, Arafat, and others, all seemingly hidden in the text.
But here’s what fascinated me. Alfred Edersheim noted that rabbinical scholars had found 456 separate Old Testament passages referring to Messiah. Yet with all their fancy formulae and computer programs, modern researchers couldn’t find Him anywhere!
Some people don’t find the Lord for the same reason that a thief doesn’t find a policeman. But His promise still holds true: “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13)
Is the Savior, the secret of true happiness, the missing Man in your life?
Article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch, Sunday, February 12, 2023