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How the Bible does not Prophecy the blessed Jesus but does Prophecy the blessed Muhammad - House of the Crescent Moon -
How the Bible does not Prophecy the blessed Jesus but does Prophecy the blessed Muhammad
Introduction
Christian evangelists are constantly using Old Testament passages which they falsely interpret as prophecies of the crucifixion or incarnation as evidence for these doctrines. In this article I will show that there are no such prophecies, whereas the Bible does prophecy the coming of Muhammad (on whom be peace).
THE PROPHECY IN DEUTERONOMY 18
Christians and Muslims disagree, and frequently argue, over whether this passage prophecies Muhammad (on whom be peace), being the prophecy of him in the Pentateuch that the Koran mentions in surah 7, verse 157, or if it prophesies Jesus (on whom be peace):
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren--him you shall heed--just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, or see this great fire any more, lest I die.” And the LORD said to me, “They have rightly said all that they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like [Moses] from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)
I will not get into the issue of whether Moses (on whom be peace) had more in common with Jesus (on whom be peace) or Muhammad (on whom be peace), because I have found that such debates tend to go nowhere and never convince either party of anything. But I must show the flaw in the argument Christians sometimes use by referring to the particular interpretation of the above passage that Acts 3 appears to have. The book of Acts and the book of Deuteronomy had different authors who didn’t necessarily agree with each other, and unless the Christian can prove the complete accuracy of the Bible on this matter or in general (as none ever have), by making this argument they are committing the fallacy of appeal to authority. We Muslims will never be convinced by the argument, since we do not believe in the Book of Acts.
PSALM 22
This is the part of the Bible that I have most often seen called a prophecy of the crucifixion. There are several reasons why this interpretation does not and cannot fit. First, Psalm 22:7-8 says, “All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads [saying] ‘He committed his cause to the LORD; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’ whereas the Gospels depict many people who saw him being crucified as not mocking him, such as one of the criminals being crucified with him (Luke 23:39-42). Second, Psalm 22:14 mentions the figure being spoken of as having all of his bones broken, which was not part of the tortures mentioned in the Gospels.
Third, Psalm 22:16 mentions piercing through the hands, whereas in reality the Romans put the nail through the wrist instead, because nailing people through their hands won’t hold them up. Fourth, Psalm 22:22 mentions the figure being spoken of as prasing God in his congregation in the future. So Psalm 22 is not a prophecy but merely a poetic description, frequently metaphorical, of the suffering David (on whom be peace) was experiencing at the time that he wrote it.
ISAIAH 53
The next most common part of the Old Testament said to be a prophecy regarding Jesus (on whom be peace) is Isaiah 53. This interpretation does not fit either, due to three reasons. First, the chapter is in the past tense, whereas it is in the nature of prophecies that it would make no sense for them to be in the past tense instead of the future tense. Second, Isaiah 53:9 says, “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” The Gospels do not speak of Jesus (on whom be peace) being buried but instead emtombed.
Finally, Isaiah 53:10-11 says, “He shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand; he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” This obviously did not happen after the man’s alleged death! So this passage too is not a prophecy, but only discussing some person or another who had already died. I don’t know who, but it doesn’t matter.
2 SAMUEL 7:12-15 AND PSALMS 2:7
Another passage of the Old Testament commonly claimed to be such a prophecy is this one, which reads as follows:
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men; but I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
This passage refers to this “son of God” as committing iniquity. Both Christians and Muslims agree that Jesus (on whom be peace) never committed iniquity, and so this passage cannot be referring to him. Instead, it plainly referred to Solomon (on whom be peace), who was one of many people in the Bible other than Jesus (on whom be peace) who were referred to as sons of God. For more on this, see this site’s article The Gospels Do Not Support the Trinity Doctrine. The same goes for Psalms 2:7, which reads, “I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you.’” This is also not in the future tense, and makes itself quite clear that it is about the author and no one else (“He said to me”). Once again, I refer you to the link above which explains what the term “son of God” actually meant in the Bible and all the other different people who were given that title.
THE ANIMAL SACRIFICES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT:
Christians often claim that the sacrificing of animals in Old Testament times was done to gain God’s forgiveness, and it stopped because of the alleged sacrifice of Jesus (on whom be peace). But the purpose of an animal sacrifice in any religion is for it to be simply that, a sacrifice, a waste of an animal you could have used for food, clothing or whatever just to show your devotion to your god, that you’re willing to give things up for him. There is no indication anywhere in the Old Testament where animal sacrifices are mentioned that they are to be annulled in the future by this certain kind of human sacrifice. Try to find such a reference; there are none.
ISAIAH 9:6-7
Yet another Old Testament passage commonly claimed to be a prophecy of the coming of God incarnate is this one, which reads:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Once again, this is in the past tense, referring quite obviously to an event that was contemporary at the time of the book’s writing, and in addition to that it speaks of Jesus (on whom be peace) having governmental power, which he never did. So this passage too is not a prophecy.
THE NONEXISTENT PROPHECIES REFERRED TO IN THE GOSPELS:
There are at least two prophecies that the Gospels refer to which are nowhere in the Old Testament, so as such they were either from books not included in the Old Testament (which shows you just how good a compilation it was), or they refer to prophecies that never existed at all. One is Matthew 2:23, which reads, “And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’” There is no mention of Nazareth or Nazarenes anywhere in the Old Testament.
The rationalization frequently offered by Christian apologists is that the reference is to Isaiah 11:1, which reads, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots,” and that the Hebrew word for “branch” (neser) sounds somewhat like “Nazarene”. Come on, now: the fact that two words sound alike does not by any means indicate that they are referring to the same thing. And besides, Isaiah 11:1 doesn’t even come close to the actual quotation of Matthew 2:23.
Another “phantom prophecy” in the Gospels is actually a misquotation not only of the Old Testament passage being referred to, but also an attribution of the passage to the wrong book! This is Matthew 27:3-10, which reads:
When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.” So they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in….Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
The passage that the author of Matthew seems to be confusing with the book of Jeremiah is Zechariah 11:12-13: “And they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver. Then the LORD said to me, “Cast it into the treasury”--the lordly price at which I was paid off by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.” This is not only the wrong book but also a very different passage from the quotation in Matthew. We can see both from “phantom prophecies” like these and from the misunderstandings of Old Testament passages which I refuted above also being made in the Gospels that the Gospel authors who wrote them didn’t know what they were talking about when it comes to the issue fulfilled prophecies.
THE INESCAPABILITY OF THE FACT THAT THE BIBLE PROPHECIES THE COMING OF THE BLESSED MUHAMMAD
I am not going to get into John 14-17, because discussion of this part of the Bible in Muslim-Christian dialogue is never any more fruitful than discussion of Deuteronomy 18. Instead, I will simply refer you to the prophecy implied as a logical corollary in John 1:19-21:
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
”Are you the prophet?”
And he answered, “No.” (John 1:19-21)
So as you can see, here a man by the title of “The Prophet” (there are no capital letters in Greek) is shown to have been expected when Jesus (on whom be peace) and John the Baptist (on whom be peace) were around. Not “one of the prophets” but “The Prophet”. He is mentioned here as being distinct from Jesus (on whom be peace), John the Baptist (on whom be peace) and Elijah (on whom be peace). The only man to come who was known by the title “The Prophet” was Muhammad (on whom be peace). Therefore this passage is undeniably prophesying his coming. As for the evasive response Christians sometimes give that we are selectively believing in these three verses while disbelieving in John 1:1 for no good reason: we have perfectly good grounds for doing this, since the two passages are in two, completely different contexts. One is the author’s personal commentary, his own beliefs, and the other is an event that he was reporting. By the faulty logic of this evasive response, you would have to believe whatever a television news reporter said if they commented on the news they just reported, even though the news itself was fact and their comments were opinions.
CONCLUSION
So as you can see, the Old Testament passages which Christians frequently point to as prophesying the crucifixion and divinity of Jesus (on whom be peace) are not real prophecies at all, whereas the Bible does indeed prophecy the coming of Muhammad (on whom be peace). Neither of these facts actually proves anything beyond any reasonable doubt, since there is no good reason to believe that the Gospels were necessarily accurate in everything they said, but since Christians believe in them, they should recognize that the fulfilled prophecies they (and other Christians, particularly evangelists) referred to are misunderstandings, and since the Christians believe in the book of John, they should believe in the coming of Muhammad (on whom be peace), which is clearly and unmistakably prophesied in that book, as I have shown. Therefore, Christians have good grounds for embracing Islam.
If you are a Christian, dear reader, don’t think that the idea of embracing Islam automatically indicates the total rejection of Christianity per se. The fact is that Islam contains Christianity and adds to and revises it just as Christianity did the same with Judaism. So accept the truth and become a Muslim. God will forgive every sin you’ve ever committed when you become a Muslim, no matter how bad or many your sins were, giving you a clean slate. You will also be rewarded beyond reckoning in the afterlife for being a sincere Muslim. The ahadith speak of mountain after mountain of rewards in Paradise: do you not want that? Think about it, dear Christian reader. Embracing Islam, as you should see, is the only thing to do, and the results of it will be so very rewarding. We Muslims are always glad to welcome new brothers and sisters in the faith into our family