Problem: Isaiah writes that God is the one who “[causes] well-being and creating calamity” (Isa. 45:7). Older translations render this Hebrew ra’ as “evil” (ASV). Is God the author of evil?
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Problem: If Isaiah really wrote from Israel before the Exile (739-681 BC), then he would have predicted King Cyrus by name—over two hundred years in advance. Cyrus didn’t reign until roughly the 500’s BC (Ezra 1:1-5; 6:1-5). Critics claim that this is evidence against the single authorship of Isaiah, because a singular author could not predict such a thing in the 8th century BC. Rather, it makes more sense to conclude that a post-exilic prophet added chapters to Isaiah’s original work. Is this the case?
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Problem: Is Jesus or God the creator of all things? Since Jesus is God in flesh and God created all things, then the answer is easy.
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Problem: How many Gods are there, one or many? The Bible speaks of both one and many. There is only one God in actuality, but there are many false gods that idolators believe in.
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Problem: Mark cites from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3. Why does he do this?
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Promise: Isaiah writes that God punishes the Jews “double for all her sins” (Isa. 40:2). Was God punishing them in an unfair way?
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Problem: Isaiah said, “‘I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.’ So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down” (Isa. 38:8). Did God turn back time?
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Problem: Isaiah says that the people will go to “Sheol” in judgment (pronounced SHE-ole). What is Sheol?
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Problem: In Matthew 11:4-5, Jesus claimed to fulfill Isaiah 35:4-6. This passage states, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah.” How did Jesus fulfill this passage?
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Problem: For years, critical scholars claimed that there is a division in authorship for the book of Isaiah. As we have already argued, no such division is warranted. However, the Isaiah scroll of Qumran has a considerable space between Isaiah chapters 33 and 34. Does this support the concept of dual authorship? What is the significance of this gap in the manuscript evidence?
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Problem: Isaiah writes, “And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper” (Isa. 29:4 ESV). Mormon apologists argue that this passage predicts the Book of Mormon being discovered in the ground. Is this the case?
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Problem: Why does Paul quote Isaiah 28:11 in this passage? Did he rip this passage from its original context?
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Problem: “Most of the scholarly world agrees that there is no concept of immortality of life after death in the Old Testament.”[1] With these words, George Mendenhall summarizes the consensus of critical academics regarding the afterlife in the Hebrew Bible. Even many Jewish thinkers deny an afterlife. For instance in a 1991 interview, Jewish professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz said,
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Problem: The Scriptures teach that all people will be raised bodily from the tomb (cf. Dan. 12:2; 1 Cor. 15:22; Rev. 20:4–6). Indeed, Jesus said that one day “all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth” (John 5:28–29). However, Job seems to say just the opposite, when he wrote: “he who goes down to the grave does not come up” (cf. also Job 14:12; Isa. 26:14; Amos 8:14).
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Problem: The Bible makes a number of predictions about the devastation of specific ancient cities, mentioning details about their destruction. This type of predictive prophecy demonstrates that the God of the Bible is in charge of secular nations and cities—not just spiritual matters. In my opinion, while these predictions are not the most persuasive evidence for the inspiration of the Bible, they still help to support the cumulative case that the Bible is a uniquely inspired book.
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