Posted on 01/03/2003 8:18:09 PM PST by Quix
[Q: I find this an exciting section. It takes some thoughtful scrutiny to apprehend it's depth and awesomeness. But it's worth the time and effort.]
When we calculated the odds of a cluster similar to that of Isaiah 53 occurring by chance, we ignored a critical factor—how tightly packed many of the most improbable codes are around the longest code.
If we were to reflect this in our calculation of the odds, the chances of it being a coincidence would be far more unlikely. Reflecting this is quite complicated, and the odds are already extremely small, so we will just display in the following table the minimum distance (in letters) between the letters of the most improbable ELSs and any of the letters of the 22-letter "Gushing from above…" code.
From the above chart we can see that 47 of the 75 most improbable ELSs either share a common letter with the focal code or are less than ten letters away from it. This focal code is located in the last third of the 1,584 letter long text that is crossed by each of the more improbable ELSs.
The closeness of ELSs that are tightly related thematically is common in Isaiah 53. The following table provides an example drawn from only four consecutive letters from Isaiah 53:12 where the literal text reads, "He poured out to death his soul":
Mary (skip of 3) and Mother of God (skip of 33) also exactly overlap at Isaiah 53:3:10:2. The intersection of these two ELSs is at the center of another thematically arranged collection of dozens of ELSs that intersect a very short set of consecutive letters.
What Does It All Mean?
Given that it has been demonstrated that a large number of codes about Jesus of Nazareth were intentionally embedded within the Hebrew text of Isaiah 52-53, what does this mean?
First, the Dead Sea Scrolls include virtually complete copies of the book of Isaiah that date back at least a century before Jesus lived. Thus, this cluster evidence shows that the author of Isaiah 52-53 had prior knowledge of the life of Christ at least 100 years before he was born . According to tradition, and to the literal text, the book of Isaiah was written by that prophet about 700 years before the birth of Jesus . If that is true, the prior knowledge of its author should be viewed as being even more far-reaching. In either case, what we have here is proof that the Bible code is real.
Second, the literal text of Isaiah 52-53 describes a suffering servant who would be humiliated and executed as a "guilt offering" for the wrongdoings of others . The intentional placement of dozens, if not hundreds, of codes about Jesus of Nazareth in the heart of this text is compelling evidence that he was the one prophesied in the literal text . Whether the suffering servant described in Isaiah 53 was or was not the Messiah is a matter Jewish and Christian scholars have hotly debated for centuries. We leave that question to the reader to decide. But the encoded evidence is so extensive that the conclusion that Jesus is the person the passage is describing is inescapable.
Third, this cluster is compelling evidence that significant encoded material exists in the Hebrew Scriptures outside the Torah.
These are dramatic and controversial findings, but the evidence is exceptionally extensive and compelling.
At the outset of this report we commented that the mere appearance of the ELS "true messiah" in this cluster is not, per se, proof of that belief but is only a phrase relevant to the topic of Jesus—because it is well known that some people hold to that belief. As noted in the chart above, the odds are 1 in 12 that the "true messiah" ELS could appear in the Isaiah 53 cluster simply by chance.
One aspect of the "true messiah" ELS that makes it more intriguing is that it is only two letters away from the "My Name is Yeshua" portion of the 22-letter focal code . In contrast, no "false messiah" ELSs with skips of any size (including those up to a maximum skip of 199,486) appear anywhere in the vicinity of Isaiah 52-53.
Nevertheless, these pieces of evidence, by themselves, are not significant enough statistically to serve as "proof" of a particular belief. This illustrates why Bible code research should emphasize the gathering of as much evidence as possible regarding any particular topic. The jury is still out on such questions and a verdict may never come in.
It is possible that subsequent discovery and mathematical analysis could provide an example that is so improbable that it could be regarded as both intentional and unambiguous in its message. Such an example could include a definitive doctrinal statement.
For example, some day someone may find an incredibly long ELS that would read, "Let there be no doubt, such and such is absolutely true- no ifs, ands or buts." It would be hard to dismiss such an extremely improbable code as mere coincidence.
SECTION 6 BIBLE CODE DIGEST SITE IS AVAILABLE AT:
SECTION 6 BCD SITE HERE: http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/14
SECTION 6 FR DISCUSSION THREAD IS AVAILABLE AT:
SECTION 6 FR DISCUSSION THREAD HERE AT: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/816588/posts
For any fair-minded student of the Text, it should be at least fascinating if not awesome.
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