It is written:
Psalm 138:2-I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
Jewish rabbis through the centuries have noticed something incredible while studying the Old Testament Scriptures: there appear to be messages hidden within the text of God’s Word! When a person counts an equal number of spaces between letters, these codes may sometimes be discovered. Thanks especially to the advent of the computer age, many of these ELS (Equidistant Letter Skipping/Sequencing) codes are able to be identified much easier than in previous generations.
As an example of the ELS phenomenon, consider these words from Chuck Missler regarding the “Torah” code in the Pentateuch (the first five Books of the Old Testament):
“At the age of 13, Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl acquired a commentary by a 13th century sage named Rabbenu Bachya ben Asher of Saragossa, in Spain. Young Weissmandl was fascinated by the notes made by this ancient Hebrew sage, because the rabbi kept making cryptic notes about the importance of skipping certain letters. That intrigued Weissmandl. He took the 304,805 letters of the Torah and wrote them out on 10 by 10 cards. For the rest of his life, Weissmandl maintained his certainty that divinely ordered information was embedded within the Torah. By writing out the letters in a grid, he was able to facilitate the identification of skipped-letter sequences. Thus, he rediscovered what we today call equidistant letter sequences (ELS). It happens that ELS codes are not a very sophisticated form of encryption. It’s not good at hiding messages because anybody can start counting letters. No, the strength of ELS codes is that they authenticate the identity of the messenger. Rabbi ben Asher had said, “The secrets of the Torah are revealed in the skipping of the letters.” Now what does that mean? That’s an invitation to spend some time skipping letters. It was Dr. Gerald Schroeder, a world-famous nuclear physicist, who first showed me what I’m about to lay out here. Dr. Schroeder resides in Jerusalem, and I’ve had the privilege of spending Passover with him. We’re good friends, and he was the one that showed me this, but it’s common knowledge among serious Hebrew scholars. While dedicated rabbis counted the letters carefully for years, we now have the number crunching power of computers at our disposal. I am grateful to mathematician Dr. Eliyahu Rips for the work he has done to reveal the words hidden in the Hebrew Scriptures.[ 41] We find an interesting series of ELS codes from the very beginning of the Bible, starting in the first chapter of Genesis. Remember that Hebrew reads from right to left. The Hebrew word Torah–“law”–is made up of four letters, תורה, a tau (ת), vav (ו), resh (ר) and a heh (ה). These are the equivalent of our letters T O R H. Beginning in the first verse of Genesis in the Hebrew, we can count from the first tau (ת) 49 letters. Doing so brings us to a vav (ו). We then count another 49, which brings us to a resh (ר), and then another 49 letters brings us to heh (ה). In other words, counting the product of 7×7 systematically from the first word of Genesis spells out the word “Torah” in Hebrew. That might be a coincidence. There are just 22 letters in the Hebrew “alephbet,” and it’s not statistically inconceivable. We might find any number of words in Genesis by skipping letters. What starts to make us scratch our heads, however, is that we also find the letters T O R H by counting every 49 letters in the first chapter of Exodus. Once is interesting. Twice begs a closer look. In Leviticus, we get a break, and we almost feel a sigh of relief rise inside us. Nor do we find T O R H in Numbers as we did in Genesis or Exodus. Well then, that seems to be the end of the matter–until we look even more closely. If we take a more careful consideration of Numbers, we find something startling. Counting every 49 letters gives us the word from back to front-ה-ר-ו-ת. There’s still a 49-letter interval, but it spells T O R H backwards. In Deuteronomy, the same thing happens again! Again it spells Torah backwards (this time starting on the 5th verse, and including the 49th letter in the count). This no longer appears like mere coincidence. The word “Torah” is found spelled forward in Genesis and Exodus–at 49-letter intervals–and backwards in Numbers and Deuteronomy. When we reexamine Leviticus, we find something we didn’t notice before. When we count by sevens–the square root of 49–from the beginning of Leviticus, we find the interval of seven letters gives us the Hebrew word Yahweh[ 42]-יהוה-the I AM of the Burning Bush. These equidistant letter sequences do not just form words. They paint a picture. We see a design here: Genesis and Exodus spell “Torah” forwards, Numbers and Deuteronomy spell “Torah” backwards. In the four books together, the word Torah points to the name of God in the middle. The conclusion is that the Torah always points to יהוה-YHWH-the name of God.” (Chuck Missler, The Fulcrum of the Entire Universe: ISAIAH 53: THE PIVOT POINT OF ALL HISTORY, 987-1032 (Kindle Edition); Coeur d’Alene, ID; Koinonia House)
Astonishing!
Another fascinating thing to consider are some of the many ELS codes found throughout certain sections of the Old Testament that deal specifically with the Messiah. Let’s notice some.
The following excerpts (unless otherwise noted) are from R. Edwin Sherman with Nathan Jacobi, PH.D., and Dave Swaney, in their book, Bible Code Bombshell: Compelling Scientific Evidence That God Authored The Bible (Kindle Edition; Green Forest, AR; New Leaf Press).
The authors note:
“What follow is a collection of the most cogent Jesus codes, drawn from only four locations in the Old Testament: (1) Isaiah 53, (2) Psalm 22, (3) the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), and (4) Proverbs 15. The forcefulness and forthrightness of many of these codes is breathtaking. Within each topic, codes are presented in their descending order of: (1) relevance and appropriateness of content, and (2) length. Twice as much weight was given to relevance as to length in determinism in each ranking.” (R. Edwin Sherman with Nathan Jacobi, PH.D, and Dave Swaney, Bible Code Bombshell: Compelling Scientific Evidence That God Authored The Bible, 184-194 (Kindle Edition); Green Forest, AR; New Leaf Press)
Notice some of the codes which their scholars have uncovered through meticulous research.
Table 7A (Top Crucifixion Codes)
“You will cry out for the blood of the Messiah.” (Psalm 22)
“The guilt offering, the son of man, humbled himself.” (Psalm 22)
“Golgotha, where his reputation came from.” (Psalm 22)
“And where are they? The Sanhedrin is finished.” (Isaiah 53)
“Dreadful day for Mary.” (Isaiah 53)
“And chief cornerstone found guilty.” (Psalm 22)
“Piercers of my feet.” (Isaiah 53)
“Deer of the Dawn.” (Isaiah 53)
“Who crucified Jesus?” (Psalm 22)
“Deer of the Dawn.” (Proverbs 15)
“Who is Jesus? The guilt offering.” (Psalm 22)
“Those who hated me without cause.” (Isaiah 53)
“Three holidays, Mount of Olives is a witness.” (Exodus 20)
“Extinguish the light A living sacrifice.” (Proverbs 15)
“Final guilt offering.” (Psalm 22)
“She wept much.” (Isaiah 53)
“Living offering.” (Psalm 22)
“She weeps much.” (Psalm 22)
“Mt. Moriah.” (Psalm 22)
“My God, Why?” (Psalm 22)
“He was oppressed.” (Exodus 20)
“It is finished.” (Isaiah 53)
“The evil Roman city.” (Isaiah 53)
“Yeshu be judged.” (Isaiah 53)
“Struck by God.” (Psalm 22)
“It is finished.” (Proverbs 15)
“His spirit on a tree.” (Isaiah 53)
Table 7B
“He offended. The resurrection of Jesus. He is risen indeed.” (Isaiah 53)
“And command fleets of resurrection from above to flee with raging excitement.” (Isaiah 53)
“Rejoice, he said, with fire from his soul, and he arose.” (Proverbs 15)
“And bless her people as in the resurrection.” (Proverbs 15)
“It is enough for us. And the resurrection is lofty. And God (Jehovah) died. And God (Elohim), the prophet of the temple is afraid.” (Psalm 22)
“He will know the turmoil of resurrection. I will carry this declaration, my mother.” (Psalm 22)
“The value of resurrection is thus dear.” (Isaiah 53)
“Long live the risen God of action. It is finished. And where is the resurrection of Jesus of blessed memory? For whom are the twelve?” (Psalm 22)
“The ascension of Jesus, and light preserved for them.” (Proverbs 15)
“Resurrection, his end will be built up into a humble messenger.” (Proverbs 15)
“His word was defeated. The people have turned and nourished the shoot of my womb in the resurrection of last evening.” (Proverbs 15)
“The sea in the land of promises, and the head of resurrection, are repeated with me here.” (Proverbs 15)
“From my fear of the resurrection he made a monument, or the power of the mouth.” (Isaiah 53)
“I will be asleep. Take bread and water. I will console the living by the resurrection of my cedar, the lamb of everybody’s daughter.” (Proverbs 15)
“Keep resurrection for heaven. You were a man.” (Psalm 22)
“The memory of resurrection is in me.” (Psalm 22)
“Resurrection, let it be obscure.” (Psalm 22)
“God-which God?-is resurrection.” (Psalm 22)
Table 7D (Top Divinity Of Jesus Codes)
“Please be merciful, miracle of God, rule gently, the Son soars from on high.” (Psalm 22)
“They are for him-God and Jesus are one-and for you.” (Proverbs 15)
“God is for them, and long live the exalted flame. God is Jesus.” (Isaiah 53)
“Jesus has laid the foundation for existence. Where is the I AM?” (Exodus 20)
“And the Son of God loved you.” (Psalm 22)
“Mary is the mother of God.” (Isaiah 53)
“Jesus is God Almighty.” (Proverbs 15)
“God’s Son will count for them.” (Psalm 22)
“Jesus (Yeshu) is the living God.” (Psalm 22)
“Jesus (Yeshu) is the living God.” (Proverbs 15)
“It will be understood. Jesus created.” (Isaiah 53)
“Jesus (Yeshu) is man and God.” (Proverbs 15)
“Yeshu is Son of the name.” (Proverbs 15)
“Jesus created to the Father.” (Isaiah 53)
“Jesus created a high gift.” (Isaiah 53)
“Son of the name.” (Proverbs 15)
“Son of the highest.” (Proverbs 15)
‘Your God is Jesus” (Proverbs 15)
“God and man.” (Psalm 22)
“King of kings.” (Psalm 22)
“Man and God.” (Proverbs 15)
“Son of God.” (Proverbs 15)
“Son of Elohim.” (Isaiah 53)
“Son of Elohim.” (Exodus 20)
“Living Yahweh.” (Proverbs 15)
“The Trinity.” (Proverbs 15)
“Immanuel.” (Proverbs 15)
“Immanuel.” (Proverbs 15)
Table 7E (Top Messiah Codes)
“And only Messiah; dwell in those words that he taught on high as our prince.” (Psalm 22)
“You will cry out for the blood of the Messiah.” (Psalm 22)
“Give them a Jewish Messiah who will become a priest.” (Isaiah 53)
“For the weak ones, the prophesied Messiah is a prevention.” (Exodus 20)
“Jesus the Messiah.” (Proverbs 15)
“True Messiah, lift up God almighty.” (Exodus 20)
“Every eye is looking for a true Messiah.” (Exodus 20)
“Hello, the one mentioned above! Where is the rib (i.e, the basis) founded by the convert of Jesus my Messiah?” (Psalm 22)
“Wonderful Counselor.” (Proverbs 15)
“Newborn infant is a king.” (Proverbs 15)
“Your God Jesus is putting on a crown.” (Proverbs 15)
“What is the false messiah?” (Exodus 20)
“Prince of peace.” (Exodus 20)
“Jesus reigns.” (Isaiah 53)
“Ruler In Israel.” (Proverbs 15)
“Prince Who Is Light.” (Proverbs 15)
“And father root of Jesse.” (Proverbs 15)
“True Messiah.” (Isaiah 53)
“My Messiah is Jesus.” (Psalm 22)
“Only Messiah.” (Psalm 22)
“King Jesus.” (Psalm 22)
“Jesus is Messiah.” (Proverbs 15)
“Son of David.” (Exodus 20)
“Everlasting Father.” (Exodus 20)
“The Promised One.” (Proverbs 15)
“He will be great.” (Proverbs 15)
“The king.” (Psalm 22)
“Messianic.” (Psalm 22)
There are many other codes which may be considered.
Someone may ask, “Well, what are the odds that these are just random coincides in the text, and not actually codes?”
Our authors respond to this question in great detail.
Notice some of their comments:
“In this book, we will examine two clusters of codes that are so extensive and complex that it is hard to see how anyone who truly comprehended them could think that they were simply the product of chance. Each cluster includes dozens of lengthy ELSs, all crossing a fairly short portion of the Hebrew Bible that are topically related to one another and to the subject matter of the surface text. In chapter 4, we arrive at the conclusion that the odds that a cluster as extensive as that found in Isaiah 53 could be due to chance are less than 1 in 2,189,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Odds so remote are virtually impossible for the human mind to comprehend. It is truly staggering. Something as improbable as the Isaiah 53 cluster has about the same odds as someone buying only one lottery ticket in each of 33 different states and winning the one-in-a-million jackpot in every state. In other words, the chances are about as zero as you can get. In chapter 6, we arrive at the conclusion that the odds that a cluster as extensive as that found in Ezekiel 37 could be due to chance are less than 1 in 640,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Such odds, though less remote than those for the Isaiah 53 cluster, are nevertheless far beyond the range of what chance can produce. Real or Coincidental? The code clusters we have researched and verified in the past five years, taken altogether, present strong evidence that the phenomenon of Bible codes cannot be coincidental. This begs us to somehow reckon with it. If the phenomenon is not coincidental, is not the alternative that they are intentional? If that is indeed true, then a new chapter in the saga of the long struggle between science and religion is now being written. I believe that it must be true and that there can only be one creative mind behind the phenomenon—the same Intelligence that created the cosmos, God himself. There is a growing contingency of mathematicians and intellectuals who have closely examined this phenomenon and are of the opinion that the evidence strongly supports the hypothesis that it is real. They may stop short of claiming publicly that God wrote the Bible, but some have had their lives radically changed by what they have seen in Bible codes. The three authors of the paper, “Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis,” published in the August 1994 issue of the journal, Statistical Science (Dr. Eliyahu Rips, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Doron Witztum and Yoav Rosenberg, researchers at Jerusalem College of Technology—the WRR mentioned earlier). Professor Rips is a top-ranked mathematician who was able to leave Lithuania following the fall of communism. After immigrating to Israel, he became interested in Torah codes. His work with them influenced his decision to transition from atheism to orthodox Judaism. 12 Professor Robert Haralick, mentioned earlier, has written an academic paper, “Testing the Torah Code Hypothesis: The Torah Code Effect is Real,” showing how the primary skeptic publication refuting the WRR paper in Statistical Science used “cooked” data. Harold Gans, a senior code-breaker at the National Security Agency, 13 and Robert J. Aumann, considered to be Israel’s most famous mathematician, one of the world’s experts in game theory, and a member of both the Israeli and the U.S. National Academy of Science. 14 Second are three other authors who have published on the subject: Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, author of the excellent Cracking the Bible Code, which was published in 1997 by William Morrow and Company, Inc. Dr. Satinover is a practicing psychiatrist and former William James Lecturer in Psychology and Religion at Harvard. He holds degrees from M.I.T., the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the University of Texas. 15 Satinover is so intrigued with the potential of Bible codes that he has earned a masters in physics since completing his book and is now working on a doctorate in the field. D.J. Bartholomew, author of the article, “Probability, Statistics and Theology,” in a 1988 issue of the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Daniel Michelson, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the Weizman Institute of Science in Rehovat, Israel, has posted a supportive article at www. 600000men.com/ book/ bo.htm. Third, it should be noted that the research behind WRR’s paper was peer reviewed three times by various mathematicians before the editors of Statistical Science would publish it. These unnamed reviewers must have signed off on Dr. Rips’ research or it would not have appeared in that professional journal. In addition, four professors (H. Furstenberg of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, I. Piatetski-Shapiro of Yale, and David Kazhdan and J. Bernstein of Harvard) have issued a joint statement regarding the results of their review of Dr. Rips’ research stating that the work was carried out by serious researchers, but that it is a controversial topic that may require a higher level of statistical significance than would be required of more routine research. They also stated that the results deserve further study. 16 Finally, we have the chairman of Harvard’s mathematics department, Dr. Kazhdan stating that Bible codes are a real phenomenon, but that the conclusions derived from them are left to each individual to decide.” (R. Edwin Sherman with Nathan Jacobi, PH.D, and Dave Swaney, Bible Code Bombshell: Compelling Scientific Evidence That God Authored The Bible, 45-49 (Kindle Edition); Green Forest, AR; New Leaf Press)
Later we are told:
“The Christian point of view about the link between the prophecies in these chapters and Jesus Christ is bolstered significantly by the discovery of the great number of codes in this section. There is simply overwhelming evidence of a prophetic concurrence beyond human capability in the huge number of phrases and words straight out of the Gospel’s account of Christ’s execution that appear in these two chapters of Isaiah. The fact that so many codes in the underlying Hebrew text contain the details of the playing out of the prophecy of Isaiah, Moses and many other Old Testament prophets is totally beyond human comprehension. Could Not Have Been Written After Christ’s Death The existence of so many ELSs in this passage also argues vehemently against the possibility that the text of Isaiah 52 and 53 was written following the death of Jesus. If this passage in Isaiah was written after Jesus had died, then why did its author implant such an amazingly complex web of underlying codes authenticating Jesus as the messiah? Such a possibility makes no sense whatsoever. Not only that, but the Dead Sea Scrolls contain complete copies of this passage made 100 years before Jesus was born. In The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, the authors note that an intact scroll containing the entire Book of Isaiah was found in Cave 1, and that Isaiah and Psalms both have very large manuscripts preserved. 23 Other comments make it clear that Isaiah is the only book for which the complete manuscript was found. Is it not ironic that Jewish people, who to date have been the strongest proponents of Bible/ Torah codes, are faced with the possibility that the most conclusive evidence in their favor was a passage that provided the strongest challenge to their skeptical views about Jesus? What other ironies await us as we continue to explore this incredible labyrinth of ELSs? All that is certain is that the controversies will rage on.” (R. Edwin Sherman with Nathan Jacobi, PH.D, and Dave Swaney, Bible Code Bombshell: Compelling Scientific Evidence That God Authored The Bible, 91-92 (Kindle Edition); Green Forest, AR; New Leaf Press)
My friends, the ELS codes provide another astonishing evidence that the Bible is indeed the Word of God. Not only do the specificity of these codes defy naturalistic explanation, but the fact that they are found in the Bible text centuries before the Christian Age is indeed further profound confirmation that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.