Antonio was making an effort, in his mind he called it “sacrifice”, to read and study the text of the book of Isaiah, and he was totally amazed. His Bible was the Reina Valera version 1909 and many of those old Spanish words were hard to understand.

Through the documentation at the very small library in the church and consulting with Luis, Antonio learned that Isaiah lived approximately between 760 and 690 BC. He served and prophesied against the Kingdom of Judah or Southern Israel during the reign of King Uzziah (Azariah; 783-742 BC), Jotham (742-735 BC), Ahaz (735-715 BC), and Hezekiah (715- 687 BC).

In his studies of the Bible, Antonio was learning the Jewish history and relationship between the Bible, the land of Israel, the Jews, and other Nations. It was obvious to him that no other nation seemed to have such in interesting history.

Isaiah had clearly prophesied about the coming of Jesus Christ (is name in Hebrew was “Anointed Salvation”).

In Isaiah 11 Antonio read:

Isaiah 11:1-2 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah wrote these words around 740 BC about 300 years after King David was ruling in Jerusalem.

Isaiah prophesied that, after David’s dynasty fell, a ‘branch’ would ‘shoot’ up from the stump left from that reign. This Branch was a man who would ‘bear fruit’.

And Jesus came, died, resurrected, and went to His Father.

Israel eventually was destroyed by the Romans around 135 BC and the scattering of the Jewish people away from their ancestral, God-given homeland continued.

The land, since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and mainly Judea, passed through many dominations.

135 AD Roman Empire
390 AD Byzantine Empire
614 AD Sassanid Persians
635 AD Umayyad Caliphate
750 AD Abbasid Caliphate
909 AD Fatimid Caliphate
1071 AD Seljuk Turks
1099 AD Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
1187 AD Ayyubid Sultanate
1260 AD Mongolian Empire
1291 AD Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt
1517 AD Ottoman Sultanate
1660 AD Druze Dynasty
1799 AD French Napoleon
1844 AD Tanzimat Ottoman Empire
1864 AD Ottoman Vilayet of Syria
1917 AD British Mandate

But Isaiah, divinely inspired, knew that the chosen people of God were not going to disappear as many other peoples in that area of the world. He read:

Isaiah 14:1-2 The Lord will once again be merciful to his people Israel and choose them as his own. He will let them live in their own land again, and foreigners will come and live there with them. Many nations will help the people of Israel return to the land which the Lord gave them, and there the nations will serve Israel as slaves. Those who once captured Israel will now be captured by Israel, and the people of Israel will rule over those who once oppressed them.

This means that, as Moses had said in his “Blessings and Curses” (Deuteronomy 28) speech, Isaiah predicted a return of the Jewish people. However, Isaiah said that it would be the “second time”.

In fact, there have been two different returns of Jews dispersed into different nations back to Israel. These were to happen after Isaiah died.

After Isaiah’s time (750 BC), Israel was captured in 586 BC by the Babylonians and taken away to Babylon. However, they returned to Israel after 70 years in captivity. That was the first return. But then:

Isaiah 11:10-12 In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a “second time” to bring back the remnant of his people— those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands. He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth.

Then the “second time” and only other return, is the one that officially started in May 14, 1948 when the United States recognized the State of Israel.

Isaiah’s description of the return from the ‘four quarters of the earth’ precisely describes what was occurring according to the newspapers. Antonio was amazed that Jews from every continent in the world were returning to Israel about 2700 years after Isaiah wrote about it.

Obviously, God, as established in Isaiah’s prophecies, was guiding precise events in our times.

Antonio was smitten. Biblical prophecy was coming true right now!

Also, his heart was pounding with the realization that Christ was a practicing Jew. He had been taught that the Jews killed Jesus. But nobody bothered to clarify that Jesus was also a Jew, and that His death was necessary to save the world from sin. The apostles were also all Jews. After Christ ascended to Heaven, they gathered in Synagogues not in churches!

In Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus said: “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.“

Jesus said He came to fulfill the law so the exuberant and exaggerated rules added to the law of Moses will stop.

In Matthew 5:20, “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”

He needed to learn more, and he needed to do it soon. So, he had a long talk with Luis and prepared to take a bus to Lima.