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Does Jesus Exist?: The Quest for Biblical Truth & the Suffering Servant in Our Modern World
Jesus and the Suffering Servant: What History and Archaeology Reveal About Divine Law
Is the Jesus of the New Testament a continuation of divine truth—or a contradiction to it?
Modern Christianity teaches that Jesus came to fulfill and replace the laws of the Old Testament, ushering in a new covenant based on grace and faith. But does this claim withstand historical, archaeological, and biblical scrutiny? Further, what if the New Testament doesn’t replace divine law but affirms it?
In Does Jesus Exist?, biblical scholar Jodell Onstott, follows the same rigorous, evidence-based approach that made her book YHWH Exists a seminal work. Breaking open Jesus’ role in history, Onstott examines Divine Law, studies the irreconcilable differences between the Old and New Testaments, and reveals a universal formula for recognizing truth—one that has been suppressed, distorted, or ignored for centuries. In this impartial look at Christianity and Judaism, Onstott applies biblical archaeology and historic Christianity to investigate whether Jesus fulfills the role of the Suffering Servant from Isaiah 53.
Meticulously researched and fact-based, Does Jesus Exist? explores:
- The role of Jesus in the Torah and messianic prophecy.
- How erasing YHWH’s name from Scripture has reshaped faith and theology.
- Rarely discussed—often controversial—ancient texts, including writings from Celsus, the Talmud, Josephus, and Tacitus, to uncover what history really says about Jesus beyond Christian dogma.
- Whether Paul’s teachings diverge from those of Jesus and the Hebrew prophets.
- The seven universal precepts of truth that expose theological distortions.
Does Jesus Exist? is a bold and compassionate call for scholars, truth-seekers, and skeptics alike to examine faith through the lens of historical evidence. Presenting hard questions around atonement theology, Divine Law, and historical silence surrounding key gospel claims, this book is an unapologetic quest for the original truth.
Book text: 189 pages
Endnotes: 61 pages
Bibliography: 26 pages
Scripture Index: 8 pages
Is the Jesus of the New Testament a continuation of divine truth—or a contradiction to it?
Modern Christianity teaches that Jesus came to fulfill and replace the laws of the Old Testament, ushering in a new covenant based on grace and faith. But does this claim withstand historical, archaeological, and biblical scrutiny? Further, what if the New Testament doesn’t replace divine law but affirms it?
In Does Jesus Exist?, biblical scholar Jodell Onstott, follows the same rigorous, evidence-based approach that made her book YHWH Exists a seminal work. Breaking open Jesus’ role in history, Onstott examines Divine Law, studies the irreconcilable differences between the Old and New Testaments, and reveals a universal formula for recognizing truth—one that has been suppressed, distorted, or ignored for centuries. In this impartial look at Christianity and Judaism, Onstott applies biblical archaeology and historic Christianity to investigate whether Jesus fulfills the role of the Suffering Servant from Isaiah 53.
Meticulously researched and fact-based, Does Jesus Exist? explores:
- The role of Jesus in the Torah and messianic prophecy.
- How erasing YHWH’s name from Scripture has reshaped faith and theology.
- Rarely discussed—often controversial—ancient texts, including writings from Celsus, the Talmud, Josephus, and Tacitus, to uncover what history really says about Jesus beyond Christian dogma.
- Whether Paul’s teachings diverge from those of Jesus and the Hebrew prophets.
- The seven universal precepts of truth that expose theological distortions.
Does Jesus Exist? is a bold and compassionate call for scholars, truth-seekers, and skeptics alike to examine faith through the lens of historical evidence. Presenting hard questions around atonement theology, Divine Law, and historical silence surrounding key gospel claims, this book is an unapologetic quest for the original truth.
Book text: 189 pages
Endnotes: 61 pages
Bibliography: 26 pages
Scripture Index: 8 pages
551 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 29, 2025
6 people are currently reading
506 people want to read
About the author
Jodell Onstott
3 books13 followersJodell Onstott is an author and socio-biblical researcher specializing in comparative biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies. Her work critically examines the intersection of history, archaeology, and theology, applying an evidence-based approach to biblical texts. With decades dedicated to rigorous research, she challenges conventional interpretations and engages with primary sources often overlooked in mainstream religious scholarship.
As the author of YHWH Exists and the YHWH Exists series, Onstott presents groundbreaking research that explores the historical and archaeological foundations of ancient Israel. Her work dismantles preconceived religious narratives by applying source criticism, historical validation, and a deep examination of divine law. She approaches religious texts with independence, free from institutional influence, allowing her to trace evidence wherever it leads. Her research highlights how biblical law and extrabiblical sources provide a coherent, unified system of truth with profound implications for theology, ethics, and modern society.
A frequent contributor to theological discussions, Onstott has been featured on Focus Today with Perry Atkinson, On the Air with Jeff Crouere, Hebrew Nation Radio, and TeNak Talk. She was also a featured author in Tim Mahoney’s Patterns of Evidence documentary series. Educated at the University of Texas at Arlington, she has devoted her career to independent scholarship, using historical, archaeological, and textual analysis to uncover the foundations of biblical authenticity.
Originally from Texas, Onstott now resides outside Greenville, South Carolina. She is a devoted mother and grandmother who enjoys hiking, biking, and exploring archaeological sites that inform her research.
Engage with Onstott’s research and insights by visiting www.JodellOnstott.com or following her on YouTube, Facebook, and X (@JodellOnstott).
As the author of YHWH Exists and the YHWH Exists series, Onstott presents groundbreaking research that explores the historical and archaeological foundations of ancient Israel. Her work dismantles preconceived religious narratives by applying source criticism, historical validation, and a deep examination of divine law. She approaches religious texts with independence, free from institutional influence, allowing her to trace evidence wherever it leads. Her research highlights how biblical law and extrabiblical sources provide a coherent, unified system of truth with profound implications for theology, ethics, and modern society.
A frequent contributor to theological discussions, Onstott has been featured on Focus Today with Perry Atkinson, On the Air with Jeff Crouere, Hebrew Nation Radio, and TeNak Talk. She was also a featured author in Tim Mahoney’s Patterns of Evidence documentary series. Educated at the University of Texas at Arlington, she has devoted her career to independent scholarship, using historical, archaeological, and textual analysis to uncover the foundations of biblical authenticity.
Originally from Texas, Onstott now resides outside Greenville, South Carolina. She is a devoted mother and grandmother who enjoys hiking, biking, and exploring archaeological sites that inform her research.
Engage with Onstott’s research and insights by visiting www.JodellOnstott.com or following her on YouTube, Facebook, and X (@JodellOnstott).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 6, 2025
Meant to be a follow-up to her magnum opus, YHWH Exists, as well as a prequel to her next series on the “suffering servant”, this book also pulls back the curtain on the personal crises of faith that the author (and her husband) went through before she found the answers she sets forth. Another theme is the relevance of these facts to a society that is crumbling before our eyes, and holds out hope that, despite our fragmented and divergent opinions and the interpolation of human interpretations, there is a solid core of reliable bedrock that is adequate to weather any storm of doubt, fear, or persecution.
Before getting to the question the title poses, Mrs. Onstott sets the stage, through a review of the pagan deities that vied in ancient Israel for YHWH’s place, for how not to understand Jesus. This is an important preface, for it is all too easy to carry over ideas from the nations around us and mix them with the truth YHWH revealed about Himself first. This dilutes the truth and muddies the uniqueness of our Elohim, making room for relativism to flourish and undermine our sense of how starkly Israel’s Elohim stood out from the gods of the nations. She therefore first lays some ground rules given by the Creator Himself for how to approach the question the title poses.
I won’t give away the conclusion she comes to as a spoiler, but the subtitle (“the quest for Biblical truth and the Suffering Servant in the modern world”) may be as strong a theme as the title throughout the book. She does eventually deal with evidence, but the foundation she first builds for how to ask the right questions is just as valuable.
A separate question from whether Jesus is historical is whether the New Testament agrees with the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures) that preceded it, and if it is as trustworthy as she proved the “Old” Testament to be in her first volume. She lays out the parameters by which this can be tested, and this also makes the volume a valuable one to have in your library. Much shorter than the first volume, this book nonetheless raises many important questions that an honest reader of Scripture needs to face, and provides a framework by which to satisfactorily answer them.
Before getting to the question the title poses, Mrs. Onstott sets the stage, through a review of the pagan deities that vied in ancient Israel for YHWH’s place, for how not to understand Jesus. This is an important preface, for it is all too easy to carry over ideas from the nations around us and mix them with the truth YHWH revealed about Himself first. This dilutes the truth and muddies the uniqueness of our Elohim, making room for relativism to flourish and undermine our sense of how starkly Israel’s Elohim stood out from the gods of the nations. She therefore first lays some ground rules given by the Creator Himself for how to approach the question the title poses.
I won’t give away the conclusion she comes to as a spoiler, but the subtitle (“the quest for Biblical truth and the Suffering Servant in the modern world”) may be as strong a theme as the title throughout the book. She does eventually deal with evidence, but the foundation she first builds for how to ask the right questions is just as valuable.
A separate question from whether Jesus is historical is whether the New Testament agrees with the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures) that preceded it, and if it is as trustworthy as she proved the “Old” Testament to be in her first volume. She lays out the parameters by which this can be tested, and this also makes the volume a valuable one to have in your library. Much shorter than the first volume, this book nonetheless raises many important questions that an honest reader of Scripture needs to face, and provides a framework by which to satisfactorily answer them.
May 30, 2025
I have found myself deeply engrossed in the revolutionary ideas “Does Jesus Exist” presents. I am curious for the following sequels and their contributing concepts! I highly recommend you to come to this novel open-minded and searching for truth.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews