Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

We traveled south with the Dead Sea to the East and the Mountains of the Judean Dessert to the West. We came to the vitally important sight of Qumran. A community of hermits called the Essenes lived in Qumran. They felt they were in the end times and needed to separate themselves as the people of light from everyone else who they considered darkness. What they really needed to do was to spread the light of the Word that God had revealed to them around. They were people of God’s Word who spent their days studying, copying, and seeking to live the word. In one of their records they mention one by the name of John who joined their community. It is very likely this reference is referring to John the Baptist who spent time here preparing for his ministry in the Judean Dessert. This community was wiped out around 69 AD during the revolts of the Jews against the Jewish empire. Many were killed and a few fled just South to a Jewish stronghold in Masada.

The importance of Qumran is found as we fast forward to around 1947. (The time that Israel was being restored as a Nation-is no coincidence- more than anything they needed to be restored in the Word and promise of God and brought to faith in the fulfillment of Scripture – Jesus Christ) In 1947 a shepherd boy was watching his flock and noticed that one of the sheep had disappeared. He went looking for the lamb … threw a rock in a cave and heard pottery break. He went to look at what the stone had hit and found jars full of scrolls. Eventually ever book of the Old Testament was found except the book of Easther. More important than anything else was the date of these scrolls. The scrolls at Qumran predate Christ. They are more than 2000 years old. All the ancient writings of the Old Testament we had before this time dated from just before 1000 AD. The scrolls found at Qumran were fully a 1000 years older… The amazing truth related to this – They were virtually identical with the exception of a few minuscule copying mistakes. What does this mean for the Jew … what does this mean for the Christ follower? God’s Word is trustworthy to the last syllable. Promises fulfilled in Christ and Promises made in Christ are trustworthy to the last syllable.
1 Peter 1:23-25 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. [24] For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, [25] but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.