It's Supernatural

Sid: I’m speaking to my friend Bob Fischer in Tiberias, Israel. We’re talking about his book “Full circle” which has information that’s in the Dead Sea Scrolls that fills in the missing blanks. How would you like to know the mindset of Jewish people just before Yeshua came in the flesh? How would you like to know what the Essenes believed? The Dead Sea Scrolls tells us and based on their belief Yeshua had to be the Messiah and that’s why, if not the majority almost all the first followers of the Messiah were from the Essene group. The other two groups were Sadducees, Pharisees and then the third were the Essenes. But when you hear these quotes I mean of them they sound like a message from the New Covenant. How could they possibly sound like a message from the New Covenant written way before Yeshua came in the flesh? Easy, the same Spirit that was in Jesus was on these. Because this was Bob Fischer, this was the godly remnant within Judaism of the day.

Bob: Absolutely Sid, its mind boggling to read their understanding for example of the divinity of the Messiah who they expected. They said for example from one of the fragments from Cave 4, and I quote in part “I will be a Father to him and He will be a Son to Me.” This referred to the Branch of David who will rise with the interpreter of the law in the last days as it is written.” Wow! “I will be a Father to Him and He will be a Son to Me from the house of David.” Then we read from another fragment “And He will be great over the earth, He will be designated by His name, He will be called the Son of God. And they will call Him the Son of the Most High. His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom and all of His paths in truth and uprightness; the earth will be in truth and all will make peace. The sword will cease in the earth and all of the cities will pay Him homage. (And get this now) “He is a great God among the gods.”

Sid: Hm. Now when was this written approximately?

Bob: Sometime between 250 BC and the time of Yeshua, but probably most of these were written early.

Sid: So this could have been written Mishpochah 250 years before Jesus came to earth in bodily form and read that quote again that is so amazing.

Bob: “And He will be great over the earth, Great will He will be called and He will be designated by His name He will be called the Son of God. And they will call Him the Son of the Most High. His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom and all of His paths in truth and uprightness; the earth will be in truth and all will make peace. The sword will cease in the earth and all of the cities will pay Him homage. He is a great God among the gods.” For those that are interested that’s 4Q246 I7-9. And there’s one more I’d like to…

Sid: So you feel these quotes came approximate 250 BC and I mean I never knew that Judaism believed this and taught this at that time.

Bob: It’s fascinating…

Sid: How could it be so hidden from us today?

Bob: You know that’s a good question, these Dead Sea Scrolls now remember were only discovered in 1947. By the way, the first 3 of the Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered were sold to the Hebrew University on the very eve of the day that Israel became a State. And I am absolutely convinced that God was saying something here “I’m giving you your land and simultaneously I’ve telling you more about Myself.” Now I think that this was rather remarkable, why? Because this is very contemporary really in terms of historical events and remember what happened. These scrolls were spread out in the hands of all kinds of people who had no idea of their value or their importance.   People were trying to make a dollar or a shekel. They were suppressed, they were hidden, they were bartered you know they weren’t…it was an absolute colossal exercise in avarice and greed and misunderstanding.

Sid: Listen, I can understand why the devil tried to put a monkey wrench in this but it’s out now. Tell me some more quotes written a few hundred years before Yeshua came in the flesh.

Bob: Okay, let’s talk about I’ve got two or three more that refer to His divinity, how about this one from Cave 1. “For behold God leaves His place and descends upon the heights of the earth. The mountains beneath Him melt and the valley’s split apart like wax next the fire, like water poured down a slope; all because of Jacob’s crime, because of the sins of the House of Israel.

Sid: Hm.

Bob: Here was another one that I think was interesting. “And You Yahweh chose the land of Judah and established your covenant with David so that he would like a shepherd like a prince over your people; and would sick in front of You on the throne of Israel forever.” I’m only reading a small portions of them; some of these are pages long.

Sid: Now when they referred to God back then they referred to God by the name of Yahweh or other names?

Bob: They understood Him to be Yahweh of the Father.

Sid: And for those that don’t understand the name Yahweh explain where that came from.

Bob: It is a Jewish, or a rather Hebrew word that means “I AM.” You know when He was asked what His name was He actually said “I Will Be.” He actually said “I Was, I Am, and I Will Be.” And in Hebrew the form this takes are the letters YHWH. It’s actually its pronounced Yahweh. And this is His name and it really means “I AM, or I Was, or I Will Be.”

Sid: Read me a few more quotes.

Bob: Okay, “They will be My people and I will be there God; and I chose the descendants of Jacob from among all of those I saw; and I registered for Me the first born son and consecrated him to Me forever, and ever.” Now He when I said “For Me.” I had written in Yeshua there because it’s a blank. You have to remember these are fragments. Now we can get into the characteristics of the Messiah, they wrote… they understood that He would be atoning in His nature. You know that He would atone for the sins of the world and they understood that He would be from the lion of the tribe of David. They understood that he would appear in the eschatological end time future. And there are many really exciting…

Sid: So did they from what you can extrapolate did they believe in the two comings of the Messiah?

Bob: Yes they did and it was rather fascinating they believed in His coming the first time and they believed He’s coming back in the same sense that Christian theology had an understanding, believed in the first coming and the second coming.

Sid: Was there anything within their belief system from your study of the Dead Sea Scrolls that would cause them to question whether Jesus was the Messiah?

Bob: Absolutely not! They… that’s why they embraced Him in droves you know when He showed up they were hanging around waiting for Him to come. You know remember we’re talking about probably 100’s of 1000’s of these Nazarene Essene Jews that had all of this information available to them in the Dead Sea Scrolls. And out of the mainline history of idiots that understood the three part God head.

Sid: Now most Christians will say grace came in the New Testament not the Old Testament age yet the Essenes understood grace.

Bob: Oh, you could find Pauline theology written all over the Dead Sea Scrolls and of course that was just one of those…

Sid: So do you think Paul was an Essene?

Bob: I don’t know Paul said he was a Pharisees.

Sid: Well that’s true.

Bob: But you know Paul certainly had an appreciation for the Essene theology.

Sid: So you’re saying to me that Paul would quote things that sounds like it came directly from the Essenes.

Bob: Absolutely. And you know what happened Paul had a miraculous change in his life on the road to Damascus. You know he was walking to Damascus for the purpose of abusing the Nazarene Essenes. And somewhere along the way Yeshua stopped him. And when this encounter was complete Paul continued on his way to Damascus to minister to these people rather than to bring them harm. So there was an incredible transformation in his life at that point on the Damascus Road.

Sid: Well I guess from what you told us what the Pharisees believed for him to go from the Pharisaical belief to the Essene belief, or the New Covenant belief he had to have something supernatural to happen. I mean basically the Pharisees had like their minds were engrained with cement. And as you point out the major views of the Pharisees were they believed in the Talmud, the oral law, they believed in only one God, not a God with a triune nature, and they believed that there would be peace on earth when Messiah comes. So therefore those 3 basic beliefs would stop someone from believing that Jesus is the Messiah.

Bob: Of course. Let me read you a couple of quotes that sound like they came right out of the pages of one of Paul’s Epistles and yet they’re out of the Dead Sea Scrolls with respect to grace. Just short quotes from much longer ones but the point being and here’s an excerpt that I quote from a scroll from Cave 4. “He was…He had circumcised their hearts and He has saved them by His grace, and He has set their feet on firm ground.” That’s one quote, here’s another quote from Cave 1. “For no one is just in Your judgment or innocent at Your trial, only by Your grace is man justified; by the abundance of Your compassion is He purified.”

Sid: Now you point out that our knowledge of the Essenes comes from people like recognized Jewish Historians like Josephus. How about any of the church fathers did they talk about the Essenes?

Bob: Only to criticize them, it’s interesting we get a lot of our information from the church, the early church father who were in the process of de-Judaizing the early church. They went off…

Sid: We’re out of time, Mishpochah this is the most fascinating reading for such a time as this.