One thing that confirms the Existence of God is prophecy. Jean Dixon was a prophetess, but was usually as wrong as right. Nostradamus had a very good record, or possibly his prophecies were interpreted to fit the event. The prophets were always absolutely correct, but few consider them credible. Many believe that Jesus merely read the scripture and acted them out. That seems reasonable unless it is questioned: How did he make others act their parts?
In Isaiah chapter fifty-three, Isaiah spoke of Jesus 900 years before Jesus was born. Parents cannot even guess the destiny of their children, how could Isaiah be so accurate? He saw God. He saw God birth Himself, minister, tried, judge, and die. Isaiah also saw God's character after he appeared in the flesh. Now take a look at how Isaiah saw Jesus:
2 He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with 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 hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt 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 of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isa 53).
The accuracy and fulfillment of that vision is convincing. Isaiah saw Jesus, not just the man, but God in the flesh. Prophecy compresses time. God brought the future to Isaiah's present. It seems that Isaiah's spirit, that is God's indwelling within him, was with Jesus all the time. Jesus often recounted the words of Isaiah. Why so? It was his Words which Isaiah (Greek Esaias) spoke: Paul wrote, "Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers" (Acts 28:25).
Jesus spoke to Isaiah. Not Jesus in bodily form, but Jesus's Ghost. Jesus, after his death, came unto Isaiah and told him of his death! Jesus, as he was dying, "gave up the ghost" (Mark 15:37). After Jesus died, he came back to the apostles and made them believers. Not to be defied by time, Jesus's Ghost communicated with Isaiah.
Backward time travel is impossible because the past is the past. Rather than Jesus's Ghost going backward in time to speak with Isaiah, it makes more sense that Isaiah moved forward in time. The scholars believed that John the Baptist was Elijah. Perhaps they also thought that Isaiah was pre-incarnate Jesus because they believed his prophecies so intensely. Isaiah's name means, "salvation is of the Lord." Jesus's name means, "Yahweh is salvation." Isaiah's name points toward Jesus. Indeed, his prophecies all point toward Jesus. Perhaps the religious scholars thought Isaiah was there in Jesus's time because he knew in advance all that would occur. Mind you, that is speculation, but it must be remembered - God is not obedient to time. He is omnipresent and was with Isaiah whether it was in the past or future.
In chapter fifty-three, Isaiah described in detail Yahweh's salvation. Who killed Jesus? I wrote an entire book, Killing God, about who killed Jesus. The conclusion I made was that we all did. Isaiah identified the killer: "It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin" (verse 10). Yahweh killed Jesus. Yahweh presented Himself as a dying sacrifice, but only asked that we be a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). That is the "reasonable service" of Christians, but God sacrificing Himself was unreasonable when it is mankind who deserved to die.
God sacrificed Himself to redeem mankind. He took His own life so that we need not. However, all mankind, "whosoever" (John 3:16) is why Yahweh willingly sacrificed Himself. Thus, everyone is responsible but God did the awful deed. Sure, he used men to drive the nails and pierce His side, but they were doing only what God willed. Jesus told Pilate, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin" (John 19:11). Yahweh allowed Himself to be killed; not that Pilate was exonerated for his role, but that everyone else had greater sins. Pilate was the only "innocent" man there other than Jesus, albeit he was as guilty as the others up until that time.
In Isaiah chapter fifty three, Jesus's true killer came forward. God said that he would cause the grief, and nine -hundred years later he followed through. It really goes back much earlier than Isaiah, though. Jesus showed Adam and Eve how he would die; not in a vision, but with his Word: "And I will put enmity between thee (the Serpent) and the woman, and between thy (the Serpent's) seed and her seed; it (Eve's seed) shall bruise thy head, and thou (the Serpent) shalt bruise his heel" (Gen 3:15). Jesus was Eve's seed.
"It" was Jesus's purpose - to step on the Serpent's head. That's what happened on Calvary. God vicariously crucified the Serpent on a pole on Calvary. He only bruised the serpent's head when He was crucified, but it represented Satan's death as presented in the Book of Revelations. For Christians, Satan is as if already dead! However, from his supernatural grave he can still taunt and tempt. Yahweh can deliver us from his temptations.
I believe in the Word of God because He will do all that He says He will do, and sealed it with His own life. He was willing to die for truth, and for our lives.
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