Is it possible to clearly determine, through the Holy Scriptures, who is the true messenger of the Most High? Let's examine this based on what the Most High Himself has said.
Believers in Allah, according to Islamic doctrine, claim that Muhammad is the final prophet and messenger of Allah, to whom the Holy Book, the Quran, was given through the angel Gabriel. They assert that the Most High gave a new and final law that will remain valid until the Day of Judgment. According to this belief, the laws of other prophets were temporary and were abrogated by God with the beginning of Muhammad's prophetic mission. Muslims accept the Torah (Taurat), the Psalms (Zabur), and the Gospel (Injil) as divine revelations, but they do not recognize their commandments and teachings as currently binding, arguing that these books have been corrupted by humans (tahrif).
However, Muslims themselves cannot prove that the angel who spoke with Muhammad was sent by the Most High.
What does the Most High say about how He frees people from sin and through whom He does it? Let's examine this in order, from the beginning.
The story of humanity's fall is written in the Bible, in the book of Genesis, chapter 3. It tells how the first humans, Adam and Eve, violated the command of the Most High and ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. THE TRUTH IS THAT THE MOST HIGH IMMEDIATELY REVEALED HOW HE WOULD SOLVE THIS PROBLEM AND HOW HE WOULD DELIVER HUMANITY FROM THE SLAVERY OF SIN.
God announced from the beginning what would happen in the end and how He would save people from the slavery of sin; the hundreds of fulfilled prophecies in the Bible are irrefutable proof of this.
Isaiah 46:10 (NIV): I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'
Let's see what the Most High said about how He would solve the problem of humanity's fall. Does He say anything about the law and teachings given to Muhammad?
Adam and Eve sinned and lost God's glory, and they tried to fix the problem by their own efforts, making clothes for themselves from fig leaves.
Genesis 3:7 (NIV): Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
But then we read that this was not acceptable to God, and that He Himself provided Adam and Eve with garments made from animal skins.
Genesis 3:21 (NIV): The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
From this, we see that because of human sin, an innocent animal was killed, because according to the law of the Most High, the wages of sin is death, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
The Most High shows that the problem of the fall can only be solved by God Himself, and that man is incapable of solving it on his own. God Himself provided the sacrificial animal that covered the nakedness of the people, which points to the fact that God Himself would decide who would pay for humanity's sins and He Himself would choose the sacrifice for the sin of all mankind.
The sacrificial Lamb was chosen and destined by God before the creation of man, because the Most High knows from the beginning what will happen.
Who is this sacrificial Lamb chosen by God who would become the offering for the sin of all humanity? Let's read about this in the same book of Genesis. Observe what the Most High says to the serpent (Satan), who deceived Adam and Eve and led them into rebellion against God.
Genesis 3:14-15 (NIV): So the LORD God said to the serpent... 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
The Most High announces a war: Satan (the serpent) and his offspring (his army, all beings under his influence) would fight against the woman and her offspring. That Offspring, born of the woman, would crush Satan's head, destroying his work in the world and solving the problem of humanity's fall.
Who would solve the problem of the fall and be the sacrifice chosen by the Most High? Who is that woman who would receive the Seed of God? Who is that man who was not born of an earthly father, but had God as his Father? Who is the one who would destroy the works of the devil, crushing his head?
In whom are all these images shown by God from the beginning united? This is what God reveals through His prophet, and how it was later fulfilled.
Isaiah 7:14 (NIV): Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Matthew 1:23 (NIV): "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").
Luke 1:26-35 (NIV): In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."
Interestingly, the Quran also tells us that Mary was a virgin and that she conceived a son from the Most High.
· Quran 66:12: And [the example of] Mary, the daughter of 'Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into it [i.e., her garment] through Our angel [Gabriel]. And she believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures and was of the devoutly obedient.
· Quran 3:45,48: [And mention] when the angels said, "O Mary, indeed Allah gives you good tidings of a word from Him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary – distinguished in this world and the Hereafter and among those brought near [to Allah]... And He will teach him writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel."
· Quran 21:91: And [mention] the one who guarded her chastity, so We blew into her [garment] through Our angel [Gabriel], and We made her and her son a sign for the worlds.
The Quran states that Jesus was born of "Our Spirit" ("We blew into her from Our Spirit"). The Spirit of God entered Mary as an incorruptible seed, and she conceived from the Spirit of God. It is clear WHO "blew" into Mary "from Our Spirit" – WHO PLACED that incorruptible SEED into Mary... and that SEED is from the Most High Himself. That is why it is written in the Gospel of Luke 1:35: ...The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Jesus, born of Mary, is called the Son of the Most High because the SEED for his birth was given by the Most High.
IN SUMMARY, WE HAVE SEEN THAT THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB PROMISED BY GOD AND THE OFFSPRING WHO WOULD CRUSH THE SERPENT'S HEAD IS JESUS CHRIST, BORN OF THE VIRGIN.
JESUS CHRIST, WHEN HE WAS CRUCIFIED ON THE CROSS OF CALVARY, FULFILLED WHAT THE MOST HIGH HAD PROMISED, BECOMING THE SACRIFICE THAT GOD HIMSELF PROVIDED TO DESTROY SIN.
1 Peter 1:18-20 (NIV): For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
Ephesians 1:3-4 (NIV): Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
The Most High knows from the beginning what will happen in the end.
Isaiah 46:10 (NIV): I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'
Both Jesus Christ and Muhammad are descendants of Abraham. Why is this important? Because the Most High called Abraham His friend, and because Abraham obeyed His commands, God promised Abraham that through one of his descendants, He would bless all humanity. The Most High would accomplish a great blessing by saving people from the slavery of sin through that Descendant or Seed of Abraham.
Genesis 22:18 (NIV): and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.
Let's find out who this Seed of Abraham is, through whom the Most High would bless all the nations of the earth.
Abraham had two sons. The older, Ishmael, was born of the slave woman Hagar; and the younger, Isaac, was born of Abraham's wife Sarah.
1 Chronicles 1:28 (NIV): The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.
From Ishmael came many Arab peoples, and it is believed that Muhammad is a descendant of Abraham through Ishmael. Through Isaac came the Jewish people and, ultimately, Jesus Christ.
God Himself specified through which of Abraham's sons He would bless all nations and through which line that Seed would come.
Genesis 21:9-12 (NIV): But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac." 11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."
So we see that the Most High declared His will, saying that the Seed would come through the line of Isaac, while Ishmael was excluded from this specific inheritance.
Later, God renews the promise directly with Isaac, confirming that because of his obedience, the blessed Seed would come through him.
Genesis 26:4-5 (NIV): I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.
The apostle Paul also writes about this:
Galatians 3:8,16 (NIV): Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."... 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.
Thus we have discovered that the Most High accomplishes the salvation of all nations through the Seed of Abraham, which came not through his firstborn son Ishmael, but through Isaac, and that this Seed is Jesus Christ.
The fact that an angel spoke to Muhammad, claiming to be sent by God, does not prove that he actually was. The message of that angel does not correspond to what the Most High said from the beginning. God, being omniscient and knowing the future, announces through His true prophets what is to come. In the Bible, there are no prophecies about the introduction of a new law or new teaching through Muhammad. In contrast, the coming of Jesus Christ as Messiah and Savior is confirmed by all the prophets of the Old Testament through hundreds of prophecies that were literally fulfilled in Him.
There are many angels, and among them are fallen ones.
The appearance of an angel to Muhammad is not a unique case. For example, there is the well-known religious movement of the Mormons: in 1823, an angel named Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith, also claiming to be sent by God to give the true teaching.
There is also the Unification Church (Moonies), founded in the 20th century in Korea. Its founder, Sun Myung Moon, claimed that Jesus Christ, Buddha, and other religious figures appeared to him, who could be considered heavenly messengers.
From this, we conclude that not every appearance of an angel means that the angel is sent by the Most High. The apostle Paul warns us about this:
Galatians 1:8 (NIV): But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!
The Most High fulfilled what He promised from the beginning. We must follow this truth, because truth and salvation are in Christ, and his teaching grants eternal life.
Ephesians 3:11 (NIV): according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Any distortion of the doctrine given by Christ and His apostles, even if presented by an angel, brings a curse and leads away from the truth, eternal life, and the Most High God.
No comments:
Post a Comment