100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
91. The Dead Sea Scrolls
The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in the Qumran caves in 1947 remains perhaps the most astounding archaeological discoveries of all time. The scrolls and scroll fragments contain portions of every Old Testament book (with the exception of Esther), as well as a plethora of other writings. Many of these writings have been securely dated to as much as 200 years before the birth of Christ. Before this discovery, the earliest manuscript evidence from the Old Testament was dated to about 900 A.D. A comparison between this manuscript with those found among the Dead Sea scrolls reveals that the Old Testament has been remarkably preserved for over a millennium A.
This is important because the within the Old Testament are numerous references to the coming Messiah, in shadows, types, and in direct predictive prophecy. If the New Testament contains accurate history (and the evidence suggests that it does), and the Old Testament contains detailed prophecies concerning Jesus, impossible for Him to orchestrate, then we are confronted with a powerful evidence for the divine authorship of these 2 collections of writings. The next section highlights some of the amazing passages of Old Testament scripture, which point decisively to Jesus Christ as Messiah.
91. The Dead Sea Scrolls - Notes and References
A. “It is a matter of wonder that through something like a thousand years the text underwent so little alteration. As I said in my first article on the scroll, ‘Herein lies its chief importance, supporting the fidelity of the Masoretic tradition.” Millard Burrows, “The Dead Sea Scrolls”, p. 304, as cited by Geisler, “Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics”, Baker Books, 1999, p. 187